#3
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold was hired by the WWF after Jim Ross convinced McMahon to hire him. Austin would come into the WWF as The Ringmaster being managed by Ted DiBiase. Austin would eventually drop the Ringmaster gimmick and become Stone Cold Steve Austin. A harsh, angry, and malevolent character Austin would beat the crap out of opponents in the most vicious way possible. This character is seen by many as the character who helped set the WWF in motion towards the Attitude era.
Austin would eventually gain crowd popularity. Eventually he'd get to win the King of the Ring where he'd cut a promo on Jake the Snake saying, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"
T-shirts that said Austin 3:16 would become one of the best selling WWF shirts of all time.
On an episode of Raw Austin would break into Brian Pillman's home. Pillman would famously pull a gun on Austin.
At Wrestlemania 13 Austin would face Bret Hart in a submission match where the only way to win is to get your opponent to tapout. Austin would get cut during the match. Hart would lock in the Sharpshooter and Austin would pass out in a pool of his own blood from the pain never tappingout earning him the nickname toughest SOB in the WWF.
At Wrestlemania 14 Austin would beat Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship. This would put the attitude era into full swing
McMahon would be angry that the champion for the WWF was Austin cause Austin refused to follow rules that the WWF had put in place. This would put create Austin's most famous feud of him vs. McMahon. This feud would give way to The Rock vs. Steve Austin and other popular feuds in the WWF.
Steve Austin was the WWF's flag bearer heading throughout the companies most profitable decade. He had countless classic matches & a ability to connect with a crowd that no other wrestler has been able to match.