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Jim Cornette's case against making Stone Cold a villain

VICE Sports revisits Austin's WrestleMania alliance with Vince McMahon and asks why audiences were expected to abandon wrestling's favorite rebel.

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VICE Sports Story of October 29, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? 916,192 views so far, and here is what is inside it.

When WWE Ruined Stone Cold Steve Austin | Cornette Side of the Ring

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1:39Austin arrives as The Ringmaster before developing a character closer to his own personality.
4:12Cornette connects Austin's appeal to the fantasy of standing up to an overbearing boss.
6:05The episode examines the decision to refresh Austin by turning him into a villain.
6:30Austin accepts McMahon's help against The Rock, reversing the relationship that defined his rebellious character.
8:12Cornette argues that ratings declines and Austin's comedic shift exposed the turn's weaknesses.
10:12Cornette warns promoters against alienating audiences when an organically popular character is already succeeding.

Austin sided with the boss. After years of defying Vince McMahon, Stone Cold Steve Austin accepted his help to defeat The Rock at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001. For Jim Cornette, that handshake broke something more important than a wrestling rivalry.

In VICE Sports' "When WWE Ruined Stone Cold Steve Austin | Cornette Side of the Ring," Cornette argues that the villain turn misunderstood what people wanted from Austin. The beer-drinking, authority-defying character let audiences watch someone stand up to a boss and get away with it. Making him McMahon's ally took away the very conflict that had made him compelling.

These were scripted wrestling roles, but Cornette's point is that the audience's attachment wasn't pretend. "All those fans, they knew it's a show, but Steve Austin was real. We believed in that guy," he says.

The episode traces how Austin found that connection: frustration after his WCW dismissal, outspoken ECW promos, an unpromising arrival in WWF as The Ringmaster, and then the emergence of Stone Cold. Cornette describes the strongest wrestling characters as natural personality traits with the volume turned up.

Around six minutes in, the retrospective reaches the decision promised by the title. Cornette explains the urge to refresh Austin's character, then argues that his more comedic villain persona and the subsequent ratings decline showed the cost of changing a hero audiences hadn't finished cheering.

Viewers are discussing that distinction, too. Some recall Houston's crowd continuing to cheer the WrestleMania alliance rather than treating Austin as a villain; others bring up the enduring "What?" chant associated with him. Cornette's concluding argument is simpler than the title's sweeping verdict: when a star has an organic connection with the audience, novelty alone isn't a reason to dismantle it.

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What viewers say

Austin was so over that the fans in Houston thought Vince turned baby face because they kept on cheering until the end of the PPV. 😂
@ReformedTheologyMattersSee it on YouTube
Austin is also responsible for all the "whatting" that still exists today.
@FortunateJuiceSee it on YouTube
I could hear Cornett rant about doorbells and I’d still tune in
@kongking6860See it on YouTube

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