Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the development and success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) during the Attitude Era, an industry boom period in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

He and Arn Anderson then defeated Raging Staff (Super Strong Machine and Tatsutoshi Goto) in a tag team bout held in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

[31] Austin would later say that he was not excited about being placed into a tag team,[32] as he was earmarked for a run with the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship with Harley Race as his manager.

[17][33] Initially billed under their individual personas, Pillman decided the pair needed their own finishing move, ring gear and team name,[31] with traveling partner Scott Levy proposing The Hollywood Blonds, used in the 1970s by Buddy Roberts and Jerry Brown.

[39][40] The influence of Hulk Hogan and the Hulkamania era was beginning to take hold in WCW, with vice president Eric Bischoff saying this was likely the reason Austin lost to Duggan, who had been a popular figure during that period of time.

In April 1995, Austin took part in a tournament for the vacant United States Championship, defeating Jim Duggan via countout in the first round but losing to Randy Savage in the quarter-final.

In late May and June 1995, Austin again appeared with New Japan Pro-Wrestling as part of its "Fighting Spirit Legend" series, primarily teaming with Arn Anderson and Ron Simmons.

At the "Super Power Group Declaration VI" event in the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Austin, Anderson, and Mike Enos lost to J-J-Jacks (Akira Nogami and Takayuki Iizuka) and Junji Hirata in a six-man tag team match.

[48] While in ECW, Austin used the platform to develop his future "Stone Cold" persona as well as a series of vignettes running down WCW in general and Bischoff in particular, most memorably in several promos that mocked his then-status as Nitro host by introducing Monday NyQuil, where he was joined by "Bongo" (a set of drums, meant to represent Steve "Mongo" McMichael) in promoting the show "where the big boys play with each other.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley was originally scheduled to win the tournament, but plans changed as he was punished for taking part in the Curtain Call incident.

At Survivor Series, in a match to determine the number-one contender for the WWF Championship, Hart defeated Austin by using a turnbuckle to push himself backward while locked in the Million Dollar Dream.

Austin managed to retain the championship despite McMahon acting as the self-appointed referee and his "Corporate Stooges" (Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson) as timekeeper and ring announcer, respectively.

McMahon decided to vacate the WWF Championship[19] and award it based on a match between The Undertaker and Kane, in which Austin was the guest referee on Judgment Day: In Your House.

Due to events revolving around Vince, Stephanie and Linda McMahon made Austin the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company as part of the storyline.

[19] The segment was to write him off television, with the neck injury suffered two years prior posing a real threat of early retirement,[85] and was advised to undergo surgery.

[87] Austin made a one-off appearance at Backlash on April 30, 2000, attacking Triple H and Vince McMahon to help The Rock reclaim the WWF Championship.

He continued to align himself with McMahon and began feuding with Jericho and Benoit by himself, leading to a triple-threat match at King of the Ring on June 24; despite interference from the debuting Booker T, Austin retained the championship.

[95] The following night on Raw, Vince McMahon decided he was going to strip Austin of the championship and award it to Angle, before Ric Flair returned and announced he was now co-owner of the WWF.

[112] The following month, Linda McMahon brought Austin back to be the co-general manager of the Raw brand, a role he played for the remainder of the year, often getting into physical altercations with talent and personnel.

[citation needed] Austin appeared on-and-off as 2004 began, culminating in him being the special guest referee for the Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg match at WrestleMania XX on March 14.

[113] He returned to WWE to face John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in a beer-drinking contest at March 18, 2006, episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII.

He then began drinking beer with McMahon before hitting him with a one more iconic Stone Cold Stunner, paying homage to how the majority of on-screen interactions between the two have ended for almost 25 years.

His contributions in saving WWF and winning the Monday Night Wars against WCW helped future superstars like John Cena, who would go onto establish WWE as a global brand.

During his time in WCW, Austin used the Stun Gun (a move innovated by Eddie Gilbert as the Hot Shot) and the Hollywood & Vine (a standing modified figure-four leglock) as his finishers.

[152] Sporting a bald head and goatee, coupled with his ring attire which consisted of plain black trunks and boots,[153][154] Austin relied solely on his personality to become popular.

[153][155] As "Stone Cold", Austin was portrayed on-screen as an anti-authority rebel who would consistently cuss and defy the company rules and guidelines of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.

[179] Austin had guest roles on Celebrity Deathmatch and Seasons 4 and 5 of CBS's Nash Bridges, where he played San Francisco Police Department Inspector Jake Cage.

[200][201] An arrest warrant was issued by the Bexar County district attorney's office on August 12 and Austin turned himself in the following day, at which point he was charged with domestic abuse.

[204] In 2007, Marshall told Fox News that[205] WWE knew of the abuse, but worked to keep her from revealing that Austin had hit her as it would cost the company millions of dollars.

[209] In 2003, Austin denied allegations that he was an alcoholic, stating that wrestling fans had mistaken his character's excessive consumption of beer as a real-life trait of his and insisting that he drinks responsibly.