Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Pillman vs. Austin
History
Brian Pillman and Steve Austin had a storied career together. Both had come up through WCW, where they were eventually paired together as the Hollywood Blonds, a tag team that is still fondly remembered by fans. Besides winning the WCW Tag titles, both had also held singles gold in the company – Pillman was a two-time Light Heavyweight champion and Austin had held the Television and United States titles twice each.
Both would also leave WCW and make their way to the WWF via ECW. Austin had suffered a knee injury and was fired. By 1995 he was in ECW, perfecting the persona that would define his WWF run.
Pillman’s WCW departure was a bit slyer. In 1996, he was feuding with Kevin Sullivan (who was also the booker at the time). Sullivan defeated Pillman in a Loser Leaves WCW match. To make it seem more real, Pillman convinced WCW to give him an unconditional release. When WCW complied, Pillman thanked them by immediately signing with the WWF. After a brief stop in ECW, he made his way to the WWF.
Here their paths diverged. Austin (after a brief run as Ted DiBiase’s Ringmaster) was becoming Stone Cold Steve Austin. Pillman, however, having originally broken into wrestling by training with Stu Hart, allied himself with Bret Hart, who had been gone from the WWF for some time to film the Lonesome Dove series.
Bret returned on the October 21, 1996 episode of Raw. Bret gave an interview where he admitted that WCW had been pursuing him, but he had decided that he wanted to stay with the WWF forever. Then he turned his attention to Austin, who had challenged him to a match. Bret accepted the challenge, and the match was set for the Survivor Series.
Backstage, Pillman was thrilled. Still, the cameras caught an odd look that Austin gave him…
The problems exploded on that weekend’s episode of Superstars. Pillman was walking with a cane while he recovered from an ankle injury due to a car accident. Austin did an interview where he called Pillman a crippled freak, then attacked Pillman with his own cane. Austin finished the attack by placing Pillman’s injured ankle in a steel chair and stomping it multiple times before Pillman was taken from the ring on a stretcher.
The night wasn’t over, however. As the EMTs tried to load Pillman into an ambulance, Austin pulled up in front of the ambulance and threw his keys away. He continued to verbally assault Pillman while the backstage crew frantically searched for the keys so the ambulance could leave.
Raw saw an interview between Austin and Hart. Austin was at the arena, while Bret’s comments were delivered via a satellite feed. Austin was berserk, while Bret remained calm. The segment closed with Austin trashing the studio and attacking a backstage crew member. Needless to say, Austin was arrested before the night was over.
Things continued to deteriorate on the next episode. Kevin Kelly was conducting an interview with Pillman at his home when word came in that Austin had been spotted circling the area. Pillman responded by pulling out a pistol and asking which was better – Austin 3:16 or Pillman 9mm.
Austin was next seen fighting his way to the house through some of Pillman’s friends. He finally got past them, broke into the house, and was face to face with Pillman. And then the feed went out.
For several segments, we saw the broadcast crew frantically trying to restore contact. Finally we got word from Kevin Kelly that he had heard “explosions” (read that as gunshots). Just then, Austin broke into the house again and Pillman’s friends were holding him back. Pillman was waving his gun and telling them to let him go.
The next week on Raw, Austin was back in prime form. He was threatening Bret Hart, and even said he’d see if Bret had his Glock ready.
He took on Bob Holly in the main event, as Jim Ross announced that Austin would be fighting Vader the next week. We also saw Bret, who was relaxing in the back. Austin won, and then headed for Bret’s locker room. Austin reached for the doorknob, then said he wouldn’t give away the Survivor Series match for free before he walked away, threatening Bret the entire way.
At the pay-per-view, Bret wound up winning the match cleanly. Austin simply walked away afterward.
Analysis
It’s amazing to think of the levels of heat this angle brought. USA was reportedly furious when the Pillman’s home angle aired – not only because of the usage of the gun, but because of Pillman’s language. He said he would kill the son of a b**** and even dropped the f bomb. Of course, Raw was live that night, and the WWF and USA were unable to censor anything.
Even more surprising is the fact that the lead-up to the Survivor Series match is what is remembered and not the match itself. To this day stomping a chair that has a body part inserted in it is commonly referred to as “Pillmanizing.” The match itself, of course, was overshadowed by Austin and Bret’s rematch at Wrestlemania XIII that was an I Quit match.
The Pillman-Austin bickering only showed how great a feud between the two of them could have been.
Where are they now?
Steve Austin went on to win the first of his WWF World titles at Wrestlemania XIV. Unfortunately, his wrestling arsenal had already been greatly thinned following a botched piledriver from Owen Hart at Summerslam 97. Austin would go on to feud with Vince McMahon in a feud that would help drive the WWF to new heights. As time went by, Austin began to grow dissatisfied with the WWE and he walked out in 2004. He soon returned in 2005, but then left again soon thereafter. Today Austin makes only occasional appearances on WWE television (his most recent was at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in April of 2006).
Brian Pillman went on to join Bret Hart, Owen Hart, the British Bulldog, and Jim Neidhart in the new Hart Foundation. Pillman soon found himself feuding with Goldust in a feud that would never be completed. Pillman passed away on October 5, 1997 of a heart attack.
Next Week
By any means necessary.
