Steve Austin Says Fans Recognize Him Because Of WWE Video Games

Stone Cold Steve Austin has been one of the most influential and marquee attractions for WWE during the heights of the Attitude Era. The Texas Rattlesnake ruled the roost during the most important era of wrestling and stayed away from the ring for 19 years until last year. Moreover, Austin recently stated that many fans know him courtesy of WWE video games nowadays.

The 6-time WWE champion appeared in more than 40 WWE video games on consoles and mobile devices over the course of his career in the professional wrestling industry. Austin made his video game debut in 1993’s WCW Main Event on the Game Boy, where he could be controlled as a playable character.

Furthermore, the Bionic Redneck was even the cover star for some of those editions, with the last one being WWE 2K16 which came out in 2017. Steve Austin most recently made an appearance in the March 2023 game WWE 2K23 but reflected on being the cover star for many years during a recent interview with Ryan Satin.

“It was War Zone, the one with my arms up in the air [on the cover]. When you are a punk ass kid growing up in South Texas, you never expect you’re going to be on the cover of a video game and you know, A&E did a Biography on me. I told them, I said, ‘Dude, at the end of the day, I’m just a dude from Edna. I’m still that guy.’ so yeah, to see myself on the cover of a video game and to be on a couple of the 2K Games, that’s a blast. I never envisioned it in a million years. Does it mean something to me? Absolutely.”

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The Texan Rattlesnake added that it was his continuous appearances in video games that kept him popular. Moreover, Steve Austin also stated that many fans know him through these video games more than his time inside the squared circle.

“Well, all these years later, when I retired in ’03, the video games and the WWE Network, I’m still as — people recognize me as much now than they used to when I was on fire, due to the video games and do to all that stuff. So it’s really helped me a lot.”

Stone Cold Steve Austin made his in-ring return last year at WrestleMania 38, in the main event of Night 1 against Kevin Owens. While Austin is currently not slated to be a part of this year’s festivities, we will have to wait and see if he makes a surprise appearance in Hollywood.

Do you know Steve Austin through WWE video games? Or have you seen his work inside the ring? Sound off in the comments!