Stone Cold Steve Austin On Raw

RAW kicks off with Shane and Stephanie McMahon in the ring, thanking all of the WWE employees and fans on behalf of the McMAhon family for 25 years. They introduce a video package looking back at 25 years of RAW. They then want to introduce the person who made all of this possible -- Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Vince gets a huge pop from the crowd and they sing along with his entrance song. Vince says the last 25 years have been amazing as the crowd thanks him. Vince says he's going to do something tonight he usually never does - he's going to stop and smell the roses and enjoy the moment. He thanks everyone and gets ready to head to the back, but Stephanie says they have a gift for him. They present him with a commemorative plaque, but Vince doesn't seem impressed and says it feels a little cheap. "It feels cheap, but then again we are here in Brooklyn," and Vince starts cutting a promo about the cheap gift. Vince says "plaque" is what each and every one of our teeth, and says plaque is what's clogging up our arteries from eating "all those damn hot dogs." Vince continues to trash the plaque, and says he's sick of everyone thanking everyone. Vince says he only has one person to thank, and it's not his family, it's him, because he did it all by himself. He says he didn't need the fans, the family members, and not one person in the world has ever helped him, only himself. The glass shatters, and Stone Cold comes out to interrupt. Stone Cold hits the ring and Vince yells at the fans not to encourage him. Vince says he wants to explain a few things to Steve because it's been a while since they've seen each other. Vince says he's a member of AARP now, has a heart problem now, and arthritis and brittle bones. Vince claims to live in a retirement community now, and says he's now a senior citizen, so Steve can't hit him. Vince says Shane's in his prime, and points Austin towards him. Vince backs up and Austin shake's Shane's hand. Austin shakes Shane's hand, then proceeds to give him the Stone Cold Stunner. Vince hands a Miller Lite to Austin, then has one himself. Austin hits cans with Vince, and Vince seems disgusted in the beer spilling towards him. They take a sip, then hug. They raise hands, and Vince pours some beer on Shane. Vince goes to leave, but Austin gives him a Stunner instead. Austin grabs a couple more Miller Lites, bashes them on the corner and chugs them. He gives a beer to Shane, who is now back on his feet. Austin has a drink with him, then gives Shane another Stunner while he's drinking. Austin drinks another beer on the corner before leaving, with both McMahon men down.

I will move your post to here Double H. I agree with all you said and he was a big highlight of Raw.

You are absolutely deluded if you think non wrestling fans dont know stone cold 

Rico Len wrote: They don't. Not by name. They'd recognize the picture from video game covers, and posters and such, but they don't know the name. This was proven many years ago when Austin was far more relevant.

It might be a difference between US and UK audiences, but John Cena IS a household name because he's done a lot of things Austin never did, whether it was showing up on Good Morning America to be recognized for breaking the record for the most Make-A-Wish appearances, or for his big-budget Hollywood movies like Transformers, where he was the front-man to do all the press for the talk-shows, not to mention that Cena has a lot of mainstream commercials for household products like garbage bags, and Public Service Announcements advocating diversity, all of which see major circulation in the general public.

Cena people know, Austin never did any of that kind of thing and never got anywhere near the same amount of recognition in the public eye because he was just a wrestler, and at least here in the US the majority of the public despises pro-wrestling for being anti-woman, pro-violence & bullying, Chris Benoit and the steroid scandal, and most of all fake wannabe UFC fighters who are more well known for their sex scandals and racial slurs than anything else.

Wrestling has a horrible reputation in the US, and no matter how out-of-date the views of wrestling are, people aren't keeping up with the evolution of WWE and how far they've come since the attitude era thru about 2010 or so. They still think wrestling is just like it was back then and Austin was the poster boy for that era of being the bionic redneck, drinking beer in the ring, flipping off the crowd, and attacking everyone and everything that moved.

There's a million and one things wrong with the way people here look at wrestling, but all of them contribute to Steve Austin not being a big deal today, or even 10 years ago. The only way Austin could make mainstream headlines anymore is if he were to die and have it linked to steroids.