Stone Cold Steve Austin

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is a professional wrestler who wrestled for USWA, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (among others) before signing with the World Wrestling Federation in 1995, under whom he'd wrestle almost exclusively for the rest of his career.

Originally a heel, Steve had a respectable four-year run in Atlanta as one half of the tag team The Hollywood Blondes. Eric Bischoff took over the company in the mid-nineties, and "Stunning" Steve Austin was a victim of his red marker. While wrestling in Japan, he received the standard Bischoff pink slip ("not marketable") and drifted to ECW, where his former manager Paul Heyman held open a spot for him. Since Austin was recuperating from injury, Heyman characteristically used "The Extreme Superstar" to run down WCW every chance he got ( "Where the Big Boys Play With Each Other! ). Meanwhile, the recently-fired WCW announcer Jim Ross convinced his new boss, Vince McMahon, to give Austin a try. Which wouldn't be the last time Eric screwed himself.

When the nWo came onto the scene, the American Professional Wrestling landscape changed overnight, redefining the type of personality that could headline a show. WWE chose to react by elevating "The Ringmaster" Steve Austin, who solidified his identity with that famous  King of the Ring '96  speech. The "Stone Cold" personality, which Austin had been refining since his ECW days, was a hard-drinking, bald-headed  Man's  Man in addition to being just a Big Man.

As the poster boy for WWF's Attitude Era, SCSA drew more money in two consecutive years than the previous three  combined, and more than  all  of the Hogan years. Vince McMahon decided to put the heat generated from Montrealto good use by becoming a rival — a juiced-up corporate bigwig. The Rock also became a rival; the heir apparent to Hulk Hogan who constantly feuded with "Stone Cold" (which boosted his popularity).

Unfortunately, Steve's accumulated neck injuries caught up with him, and he bowed out of wrestling once the Monday Night Wars were over. (WCW died the week before  WrestleMania X7, ECW died shortly after, and the Austin/McMahon feud ended the night of. Crazy how much the industry changed in a short amount of time.) WWE almost immediately went back to Rock as its main attraction, and the product gradually returned to its PG roots.

Personality
Steve was a Sociopathic Hero when he first turned, although he lightened into an Unscrupulous Hero during his nicer periods.

Never under any circumstances waste beer in front of him. Especially if you challenge Austin to a drinking contest. He doesn't care if it's Canadian beer, if you are willing to challenge him, you will drink it. JBL learned that the hard way.

Despite the outlandishness of pro-wrestling, this was probably the key to Austin's success. He didn't have a weird gimmick, he had a normal-sounding name, he didn't look like some overly musclebound bodybuilder, he spoke plainly, his moves weren't crazy high-flying or technical ones, and, possibly most important of all, the person he loved beating up the most was his own boss, a.k.a. every average person's secret fantasy.

Abilities
Steve is often unpredictable and unstable against his enemies, and would sometimes Stun people for no real reason.

Steve is a combat pragmatist. In fact, Austin turned this into an art form. Even as "Stunning" Steve Austin, his finisher, the Stun Gun, essentially involved dropping his opponent's throat onto the top rope. In the WWF, he took it Up to Eleven, using chairs, vehicles and, at one point, shooting Scott Hall with a net gun.

The Stone Cold Stunner. The move was popularized through Austin to the point where it's exclusively called a "Stunner" whenever anyone performs it. It is a lot simpler than saying "Three-quarter facelock jawbreaker."

Trivia

 * Steve and Brian Pillman formed the Hollywood Blondes in WCW: Austin went on to become the biggest star of all-time. Pillman, however, is revered as a legend in his own right, pioneering the high-flying cruiserweight style in North America that would go on to be a staple of the late 90s. Pillman was poised for super-stardom, avoiding the trope, but his untimely death stopped that.
 * WWE don't want an all-star lineup, because they won't necessarily be loyal like Cena and the Undertaker. They got burned by Goldberg, Rock, and Lesnar in the 2000s. And Steve is probably the reasons why they don't want megastars. He walked out on them (twice) in 2002, the second time leading to his departure from the company. He was also very difficult to deal with; Vince McMahon said he was "perhaps the most demanding star I've dealt with". By his own admission, Austin would veto ideas, without proposing a suggestion of his own. (This is no shade on Austin, by the way; he was probably right 90% of the time.)
 * Austin's "Stone Cold" moniker was inspired by a comment from his wife at the time; she handed him a cup of tea, and remarked that he should hurry up and drink it before it got "stone cold".