>>19119021A lot of people who weren't watching at the time think 1996-97 Austin is the same as comfortable 1998-and-after Austin. Absolutely not
Back in 1996-97, Austin was still hungry. He was winning over crowds but he wasn't completely over yet, in part because his character carried himself the way a heel would in the New Generation era and the crowds hadn't fully adjusted yet
His angry rants weren't formulaic or filled with crowd-participation lines; he hadn't been flanderized yet and he wasn't using constant destruction of property to generate pops. He was just a wrestler who was angry about guys like Bret Hart being considered 'the best', when he knew he was the REAL best in the company
You can listen to any post-Ringmaster Austin promo before '98 and you could hear in his voice that he knew that period was likely his last chance to actually be somebody in wrestling, and he wasn't wasting the opportunity
The man even had classic promos back then on WWE's forgotten Saturday/Sunday recap shows
