The character work of Steve Austin saw him find success in drastically different roles for WWE. Austin had enough time in both serious and comedic situations to develop legacies among the best of each world. No one came off as intense as Austin when it was time to get physical in the ring or in the right feud. However, he also made fans laugh as much as anyone else when that was his job.

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We will look at the biggest reasons he thrived in each role in an attempt to figure out which was the best side to him. The preference for his serious side indicates one enjoys seeing him in a fighting mode. Other fans like the entertainment side of his comedy work. Only you can make your own decision, but we can provide arguments for each. These are five reasons we prefer Stone Cold’s serious side and five reasons we prefer his funny side.

10 Serious: WrestleMania main events

The biggest matches of Steve Austin’s career all had a serious tone to them. Austin didn’t provide any laughs when the intent was to make the viewer believe they were watching the most important match of the year.

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Three WrestleMania main events coming against Shawn Michaels and The Rock all showed Austin’s serious side on the biggest stage. Even the WrestleMania 13 classic with Bret Hart helped Austin become a top star when he was all business.

9 Funny: Embarrassed Vince McMahon

Steve Austin’s rivalry with Vince McMahon allowed him to start mixing in comedy with his segments. The back and forth between the two had serious matches, but Austin used comedy to get back at Vince during a few memorable moments on Raw.

Some of them included Austin spraying The Corporation with the hose of a beer truck, making Vince urinate on himself in the ring, pouring cement into Vince’s car and hitting Vince in the head with a bedpan at the hospital. Austin made fans laugh in ways they still remember today.

8 Serious: King of the Ring promo

The intensity shown in Steve Austin’s King of the Ring 1996 promo helped him become a huge star. Austin won the tournament after defeating the legendary Jake Roberts in the finals. The post-match promo saw him make himself a relevant name with an infamous promo.

Stone Cold dropped the “Austin 3:16” line for the first time and it instantly found success. The t-shirts with the phrase are still an iconic wrestling merchandise item today. Austin tapped into a serious side of his journey’s frustrations to hit a home run and change his career.

7 Funny: Hitting Santa with Stone Cold Stunner

One of the first comedic moments in Steve Austin’s career came when he was ascending as a top face. Austin interrupted Santa Claus during a holiday-themed episode of Raw. The Santa in costume was being a jerk to kids and playing a heel.

Austin came to their defense by hitting Santa with a Stone Cold Stunner. The hilarious moment was entertaining and provided a great visual to play back for many years. Austin’s character doing this also made perfect sense, so it wasn’t even a stretch.

6 Serious: Came off as equal to Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson was viewed as one of the toughest athletes in the world in the 90s. The Brooklyn boxer dominated in the boxing ring and was coming off the controversy of biting part of Evander Holyfield’s ear off during a fight.

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WWE scored a huge deal to bring Tyson in for WrestleMania season in 1998. Steve Austin interrupted Tyson’s big appearance by flipping him off and creating a huge shoving fest. The fact that fans bought Austin as an equal to a boxer like Tyson showed how much they believed in his serious side.

5 Funny: Return appearances after retirement

The appearances for WWE after retirement for Steve Austin helped prove why his comedic side was important to his career. Austin could no longer be the toughest guy on the show since he stopped wrestling. The comedic moments were perfect for this version of Austin.

WWE would have Austin transition into a General Manager role sharing the duties with Eric Bischoff. Fans loved the hilarity of Austin going after Bischoff in the storyline. Austin typically cracks some jokes and shares laughs during his rare returns to WWE these days.

4 Serious: Feud with Bret Hart

Steve Austin showed he was ready for the main event position during his feud with Bret Hart. The King of the Ring win for Austin saw him still trying to get to the next level in WWE. Hart returned from some time away for a feud with Austin in late 1996.

The two wrestlers had superb chemistry that led to great matches every time they wrestled. Their WrestleMania and Survivor Series matches are each regarded as classics today. Austin was completely serious for these feuds and came off as an equal to the face of the company.

3 Funny: Hilarious segments with Kurt Angle

The backstage segments between Steve Austin and Kurt Angle are some of the funniest in wrestling history. Both wrestlers were heels working under the leadership of Vince McMahon in 2001. They each tried to win over Vince more than the other in comedic fashion.

Austin played guitar in backstage segments trying to sing or forcing Angle to sing. The segments of Austin and Angle giving each other silly gifts added more to the memories. Any wrestler trying to thrive in comedy likely would find inspiration watching these back today.

2 Serious: Biggest star in WWE history

Steve Austin became the biggest star in WWE history during his presentation of a serious character. There was no wrestler that Austin would back down from fighting when portraying the serious version of himself from 1996 to 1998.

The star power of Austin saw him become the face of the company and leading the shows to record-breaking ratings, buy rates and everything in between. Austin held his own against the likes of The Undertaker, Kane, and Mankind with his serious side winning out.

1 Funny: What? chants

The most memorable aspect of Steve Austin’s funny side was the creation of the What? chants. It all started when Austin was playing a heel character during the Invasion storyline starting to unravel from the pressure. Austin would hear a voice from his watch and started asking what it was saying.

The eventual face turn made the What? chants grow even more popular with the fans getting to join in on them. Austin can still go back to this and receive a huge pop from the audience. The chant was so popular that fans use it today when growing tired during a promo or wanting to heckle the wrestler.

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