During the peak of WWE’s success in 1998, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was a massive draw and everything associated with him turned to gold. Bruce Prichard, a longtime booker and producer, discussed this period on an episode of “Something to Wrestle,” highlighting the immense popularity and financial success WWE was experiencing.
According to Prichard, the momentum and success were expected to continue, as they felt they had a long way to go in terms of growth and expansion. However, despite the positive outlook, the team still had to focus on the regular schedule of shows, as there was no downtime in the wrestling industry.
During this time, Steve Austin’s popularity continued to soar. There were discussions about pairing him with Sable, the former WWE Women’s Champion, who was also gaining significant attention and even sported “Austin 3:16” t-shirts. However, these talks didn’t progress much, as Austin himself wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea. He believed he didn’t need the pairing and felt it could potentially harm his character. Austin’s badass persona was already strong enough on its own, and the concern was that the addition of Sable could diminish his impact.
In the end, the pairing of Steve Austin and Sable never came to fruition, as Austin didn’t see the need for it and had reservations about how it would affect his character’s image and popularity.
Everything that we were touching during this period was turning to gold,” Prichard said. “Stone Cold Steve Austin was absolutely on fire. Everything was on fire.”
“I wouldn’t say consideration, I would say discussion, yeah,” Prichard stated. “Steve wasn’t really crazy about doing it, didn’t feel he needed it. And the concern was one of I think that it would’ve hurt Steve,” noting he was badass enough on his own.
