9 Significant moments that led to WWE becoming the global phenomenon in sports entertainment

#2 Stone Cold arrives

Steve Austin was the reason WWE garnered groundbreaking ratings to compete with WCW!

When he first arrived in early 1996, Steve Austin was brought in as The Ringmaster, given Ted Dibiase as a manager, and was Dibiase's handpicked Million Dollar champion. Austin had struggled to get past mid-card status in WCW and was fired while recovering from an injury. He went to ECW for a brief time, where the seeds for a new character were planted. But Vince initially didn't see Austin as a big-time player, rather a 'mechanic' who had good matches with everyone.

But with the times changing, and Vince under pressure from WCW, McMahon re-thought his strategy, and decided to try Austin's idea, that of a wrestler with black tights and black boots, who kicked arse.

When that character was allowed to shine, it would culminate into the next big era for the World Wrestling Federation, as Austin would be the leader of the new Attitude era. Not only that, but according to Vince himself, Austin actually overtook Hogan as the biggest moneymaker in the history of the company. Had Austin been kept as the Ringmaster, and the Stone Cold character never was given the light of day, it's possible that WCW, not the WWE, would be around today.