Wrestlers Who Can't Stand Steve Austin

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is one of the most famous professional wrestlers of all time. Austin was the face of WWE's most popular period in history, the Attitude Era, a time where backstage politics ran as rampant as the company's crazy, boundary-pushing storylines in the ring. "The Texas Rattlesnake" had a meteoric rise in the then-WWF, starting with his King of the Ring win in 1996 and subsequent "Austin 3:16" promo.

Austin would go on to have some of the most memorable moments not just in the Attitude Era, but in WWE history, including his legendary feud with boss Vince McMahon in the late 90s and early 2000s, the infamous "Pillman's Got a Gun" segment, and other moments up until his retirement from in-ring action in 2003. Austin has continued to make many appearances throughout the years, including being part of a No Holds Barred match against Kevin Owens at WWE WrestleMania 38, and appearing on night two of the event to hit McMahon with a Stone Cold Stunner one final time.

During his fast rise to super stardom and through his prime, "Stone Cold" rubbed some other stars the wrong way backstage. He's had heat with others due to disagreeing with their working style to what's been said on podcasts. Austin appears to try and mend fences, but there are still wrestlers who can't stand him.

Steve Austin's meteoric rise in the then-WWF may have caused the biggest star in professional wrestling up until that time, Hulk Hogan, to be a little nervous. Austin was the face of the Attitude Era, and Hogan was no longer perceived as the main man when he returned to WWE following the demise of WCW in the early 2000s. Hogan believed that the nWo coming to WWE and challenging Austin to the top spot caused legitimate heat between them. Despite the fact a match between the two could have made money and drawn plenty of eyes to the product, Hogan and Austin never worked together.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross confirmed that Austin thought their styles were oil and water, and he didn't feel enough chemistry with Hogan to be able to put on a great match. Ross said that Austin had a list in mind of people he could work best with, and Hogan wasn't on it. Ross said Austin was stubborn and just didn't feel it, despite Ross and others pitching the two go face-to-face at WrestleMania.

Despite the rumors and the pair never getting in the ring together, Hogan appeared on "The Steve Austin Show" in 2021. On the podcast, Austin said he had no heat with the "Hulkster" and respected him. In 2023, Hogan again said, this time on "The MMA Hour," that he didn't have heat with Austin, but they did not have a relationship.

Before his death in May 1999, Owen Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin weren't exactly enemies. However, they certainly weren't friends after Hart broke Austin's neck in the ring at WWE SummerSlam 1997. Near the end of the match, Hart attempted to hit a reverse Tombstone Piledriver on Austin, but instead of dropping to his knees to protect his opponent, he sat down, planting Austin directly on his head. After a few moments of Austin laying flat on the mat, he was able to roll Hart up for the victory. He suffered from temporary paralysis and a bruised spinal cord, putting him on the shelf for months.

While Hart didn't mean for the injury to happen and felt bad about it, Bret Hart revealed that his brother forgot to call Austin after the injury. "The Hitman" explained that his brother didn't think about wrestling once he left the arena, and he thought Austin was upset that Hart didn't seem to care about his injury. Austin has said he was hurt by the lack of concern Hart showed him after breaking his neck. 

Austin and Hart worked together again, after the birth of the "Stone Cold" character and before Hart's tragic passing. Their last televised match occurred in July 1998.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper may have missed out on facing each other in the ring, but they certainly didn't miss each other when it came to drama in the podcasting world. Both WWE legends were contracted to PodcastOne back in 2015, and that April, Piper invited comedian Will Sasso on his show, who proceeded to impersonate several wrestlers, including Austin. On the episode, Sasso and Piper made fun of "The Texas Rattlesnake" and said he only got over with the fans due to his "What?" and "Hell yeah" chants. 

The show was taken off the network hours after it first aired. Piper disappeared as a host for a period of time, and his entire show was pulled from PodcastOne. According to Ric Flair, Piper was also dropped from his WWE Legends deal. After Piper re-emerged on another podcast network, he claimed that Austin was behind his removal at his first gig.

Austin admitted that he requested that the network removed the episode where he was impersonated in jest, because he felt like a few personal things he didn't necessarily want out in public were mentioned. He denied that he had Piper removed completely from the network, however. He went on his own show, "The Steve Austin Show," to put out a statement saying he had nothing to do with it.

Piper died months after the incident in July 2015, and it was never revealed publicly if they had buried the hatchet. Austin has not commented on the situation ever since, but said he was saddened by Piper's passing, and called him one of the greats in a post on his Twitter account.

Another star from WWE's Attitude Era who had heat with Steve Austin was Ahmed Johnson, who claimed that the "Texas Rattlesnake" was racist to him backstage. The heat between the pair escalated when the "Texas Rattlesnake" had Mark Henry as a guest on his podcast, where Austin claimed that he wasn't Johnson's biggest fan, either. 

After Johnson won the Intercontinental Championship back in the '90s, he went back to his vehicle to find racist terms spray-painted all over it. Johnson claimed he heard through fans that Austin was seen near the vehicle that night. Austin shot back at the allegations on "The Steve Austin Show" episode featuring Henry, and said that the allegations were untrue.

"That's a completely fabricated story and is complete horse s*** and I've maintained my silence and this is the first time ever I've addressed it or talked about it," he said.

Henry told Austin he didn't have to validate what he called Johnson's stupidity. "The World's Strongest Man" said he was glad they could address it, because the source, meaning Johnson, wasn't valid anyway. Neither man has addressed the claims since.

While their rivalry set the Attitude Era ablaze and was gold for the WWE in both a business and storyline sense, former executive Vince McMahon and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin seemingly had heat behind-the-scenes at one point in history. Austin walked out of the company in 2002 after refusing to put over a young Brock Lesnar in a King of the Ring qualifying match on an episode of "Raw," which caused friction between him and his boss. 

Austin has gone on to explain that it wasn't about Lesnar, but rather, the fact the match was being put on free TV with no build. Feeling disrespected, Austin didn't show up for the match, as tensions between "The Rattlesnake" and the company had been brewing for months prior. Austin was subsequently buried on live television, with McMahon cutting a promo saying that the Texan had taken his ball and gone home.

Jim Ross ultimately mended fences between WWE and Austin by sending him a simple postcard to get talks started once again. Austin and McMahon have since made up as well, with the former inducting "Stone Cold" into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. The pair went on to work together for the final time at WWE WrestleMania 38, before McMahon left the company for good at the beginning of 2024.

Rumors regarding heat between Jeff Jarrett and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin swirled across the wrestling world beginning way back in October 1997. It started on an episode of "Raw" where Jarrett cut a worked-shoot promo criticizing then-WCW President Eric Bischoff, Vince McMahon and Austin, who was a top guy at the time. 

Jarrett shot on Austin's look and how he spoke and cursed. He dove in hard to his famed "Austin 3:16" promo, calling it blasphemous, which wasn't in the script written for him by Vince Russo. Jarrett said it offended him because Austin was ripping off the Bible to make a profit. The contents of the promo were apparently never discussed with Austin, who then refused to work with Jarrett.

Austin's heat with the Jarrett family, however, went back even further than the promo. Austin worked for Jarrett's father, Jerry Jarrett, in Memphis as he was coming up in professional wrestling, and was famously underpaid to the point he had to survive on raw potatoes while wrestling for a living.

The pair seemingly buried the hatchet, however, and Jarrett appeared on "Broken Skull Sessions" in June 2022. Austin and Jarrett dispelled rumors of any heat between them in the first few minutes of the podcast, saying that the rumors took on a life of their own throughout the years.