#2 Stone Cold Steve Austin
Austin was the WWE’s biggest star during its most successful ever period in the late-‘90s, with his hell-raising, beer-swigging, anti-authoritarian persona resonating with fans in a way that no other wrestler has managed to replicate before or since. His forced retirement in 2003 – due to a piledriver-induced broken neck suffered years before – has left a void in the company that no one has yet managed to fill.
Edited by Rohit Nath