Steve Austin is one of the biggest stars professional wrestling has ever seen and is revered the world over. Just like Paul Heyman said he would be.
The Texan star began his career in 1989 and was quickly snapped by WCW just two years later. Upon arriving in the Atlanta-based promotion Austin won the World Television Championship before joining the Dangerous Alliance in late November which was headed up by Paul Heyman.
The stable enjoyed a fine run of success but disbanded in late 1992 and Heyman left WCW altogether. Away from the group, Austin formed the Hollywood Blonds with “Flyin” Brian Pillman that October. The pair went on to win the World Tag Team Titles.
However, during his time working alongside Austin, the now-Special Counsel to Roman Reigns made a remarkable prediction. In a column in WCW Magazine published in late 1991, Heyman predicted that Austin would dominate professional wrestling by the year 2000. Proving that he doesn’t make predictions, and only offers spoilers, Heyman was remarkably accurate.
By the time 2000 rolled around Austin was the biggest star in the industry, and had been for two years, selling out arenas all over the world. It could be argued that Heyman played a huge part in his prophecy coming true as he gave Austin a job with ECW in 1995 before he joined the WWF. It was during this period that the WWE Hall of Famer showcased the first glimpses of the character that would come to dominate the business.
Heyman even highlighted his skills as a mystic in a social media post back in early 2022, sharing a photo of the article from WCW Magazine.
Steve Austin Turned Down Matches At WrestleMania 39
Steve Austin was forced to retire from in-ring competition in 2003 after struggling with a number of neck and knee injuries. However, he got back in the ring at WrestleMania 38 to take on Kevin Owens. The match was deemed an incredible success by all involved. This led to WWE offering Austin matches with both Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns for WrestleMania 39, however, the veteran turned them down.