Old School

Edge & Christian Talk About How WCW Helped Guys Like Steve Austin To Rise To The Top, King of the Ring’s Importance To The Attitude Era, How The Undertaker Fit Into Every Era

Edge & Christian Rated R Christian Cage Tag Team

During a recent edition of Edge & Christian’s “E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness” podcast, the former WWF Tag Team Champions discussed the role WCW played in the rise of guys like Steve Austin, King of the Ring’s importance to the Attitude Era, how The Undertaker fit into every era & more. Below are the highlights:

Christian: I feel like at this point, with WCW offering big money contracts to top stars that were established, they had to change things up to start developing their own new stars instead of relying on guys that were already established.

So it was a good opportunity for a guy like Steve Austin, who had been around for a while but never had a chance to work at the top of the card, to elevate himself and to be himself in order to elevate himself. And I think things started like getting away from these character based wrestlers to actual like real people’s names and things like that you know.


Steve Austin – Shawn Michaels Brawl (RAW 1997) by WWFOldSchool

Edge: Well, I think probably the slamming down of the gauntlet through the Attitude Era, if you want to say, “Okay, now it’s rolling” was the King of the Ring promo. Because I’ve never heard one promo when a guy is not necessarily they don’t really know what his deal is or anything like that and that tournament didn’t fully solidify it but that promo after when he says the Austin 3:16 line you hear the crowd like just start to boil.

I remember watching it going something just happened there. And I think that’s the major kind of striking of the match that really lit everything up and then it became okay well.. now Shawn sees it and “well okay I’ll take it this direction of any kind of se*ual deviant. And him and Hunter take it and go that route. So now that’s covered and then you have your a$$-kicking… you know…. finger flippin’.

And then you have the perennial – The Undertaker who somehow is able to morph that to fit into every era. He tweaks it just enough to find a way to slot it in.


The Rock, Kane & The Undertaker (WWF 2000) by WWFOldSchool

Christian: I think, to me, with the way that he portrayed that character so it was very much like a Goldust one too but obviously on a much, much different level, right?

I mean he committed to that character and the name ‘The Undertaker’ is a revered name. So he’s an attraction and he got himself to that point where he could believably slot into any of these eras and whatever version of the Undertaker he was gonna bring, it was always just a slight twist like you said was gonna work.


The Undertaker vs. The Rock (RAW 1998-10-05) by WWFOldSchool


        
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