The first trailer for Doctor Who Season 14 is ready to invite Whovians on a thrilling adventure through time and space alongside the fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education, Barbie), and his mysterious companion, Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson! Gatwa and Gibson debuted as the BBC’s latest gallivanters of the galaxy in the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary specials, introducing fans to a bold new era of timey-wimey goodness.
Russell T Davies, who spearheaded Doctor Who from 2005 to 2010, returns to the series for seasons 14 and 15 to showrun, write, and executive produce the new episodes, with co-production handled by Bad Wolf. When Doctor Who season 14 gets underway, Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper), singer Bonnie Langford (EastEnders, Doctor Who), Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter, Frozen, Hamilton), and Indira Varma (Obsession, Silent Hours, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning) join Gatwa and Gibson for eight episodes of running from aliens, monsters, twisted historical figures, and more.
In today’s Doctor Who Season 14 trailer, Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor and Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday continue the journey, which started in the latest Doctor Who Special “Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Street.” While traveling through time, the Doctor and Ruby walk alongside dinosaurs, go full-on Bridgerton for a lavish party, encounter space monsters, go to war with aliens, and meet vile villains.
In a twist to the Doctor Who formula, Gibson only stars in Season 14, with actress Varara Sethu (Jurassic Park: Dominion, Andor, Hard Sun) joining the Doctor for Season 15. Sethu is already filming her turn as the Doctor’s next companion for Season 15. Sethu is known to many as Cinta from the Disney+ Star Wars series Andor. The Indiana-born British actress also plays Lance Corporal Manisha Chetri in the Sky Original series Strike Back, focusing on Section 20, a secretive unit of British military intelligence. In Sky’s Stirke Back, a special operations personnel conducts several high-risk missions across the globe.
While it’s common for Doctor Who to introduce new companions to the series, one season could seem like insufficient time to spend with Ruby Sunday. In her debut episode, Gibson’s Ruby Sunday is a delightful, spirited character, sharing plenty of chemistry with Gatwa’s suave and adventuresome Doctor. Fans will undoubtedly speculate what led to her exiting the show but will assuredly welcome Varada Sethu to the fold.
What do you think about today’s Doctor Who Season 14 trailer? New episodes of Doctor Who drop in May on the BBC in the U.K. and Disney+ internationally.
Road House is a very big deal in my family so I was initially concerned when a remake was announced. Thankfully, after watching the film, my worries have been cast aside as I had an absolute blast with it. (You can check out Bumbray’s review HERE!) This is just as dumb and fun as the original. Sure, it lacks that 80s charm, but it’s replaced with a modern beachside aesthetic that works. And Conor McGregor is chewing so much scenery that I question how the sets were even standing by the end.
Daniela Melchior and Lukas Gage were nice enough to chat with me about the film. I, of course, had to inquire how much experience they had with the original film. They talked about not comparing themselves with the performances from the original and trying to carve out a path for themselves. I also had to make sure to ask Daniela how difficult driving a speedboat was compared to her time driving race cars in Fast X. Overall, I had a great time talking with these two and it sure sounds like the Road House set was an absolute blast.
Road House synopsis:
Road House stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton, an ex-UFC fighter trying to escape his dark past and his penchant for violence, in this adrenaline-fueled actioner. Dalton is barely scraping by on the reputation that still precedes him when he is spotted by Frankie (Jessica Williams), owner of a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. She hires him to be her new bouncer in hopes of stopping a violent gang, working for crime boss Brandt (Billy Magnussen), from destroying her beloved bar. Even five to one, Brandt’s crew is no match for Dalton’s skills. But the stakes get higher with the arrival of ruthless gun-for-hire, Knox (Conor McGregor). As the brutal brawls and bloodshed escalate, the tropical Keys prove more dangerous than anything Dalton ever faced in the Octagon.
May the Force be with your ability to control your bowels when Alamo Drafthouse hosts a nine-film Star Wars marathon on May 3-4, resulting in 21 hours worth of adventure in a galaxy far, far away. This year’s May the 4th celebration is about endurance when the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission location in San Francisco screens every movie in the Skywalker Saga back-to-back. The reason to buy a pack of adult diapers begins on May 3 with The Phantom Menace and ends the next day with The Rise of Skywalker.
While 21 hours of Star Wars is child’s play for many hardcore fans, casual padawans can rest knowing there will be breaks and “unlimited coffee and water” to keep you going throughout the experience. Marathon attendees can also enjoy Star Wars-themed food items, an elaborate Star Wars-themed lobby for socializing and photo ops, games, and trivia sessions between each chapter of the beloved space opera.
But wait, there’s more! Audience members can purchase unique marathon-inspired merchandise, including pint glasses and T-shirts. Additionally, the 501st Legion, a group of costumed enthusiasts known for their local charity and volunteer work, will march through the theater to make the experience more memorable and raise awareness for their worthy cause.
“Some of us grew up with the original trilogy, some of us with the prequels, and some with the sequels,” said Alamo Drafthouse CEO Michael Kustermann. “This event brings all fans together for one epic celebration, and that really is a testament to the power of cinema and the theatrical experience, as well as the incredible impact Star Wars has had on pop culture.”
How many Star Wars movies can you endure before running to the nearest restroom at lightspeed? What’s the longest movie marathon you’ve ever experienced in theaters or at home? I once watched The Burbs nine times in a row while packing to move out of my parent’s house, though I’m unsure if that counts. Do you want to attend the Alamo Drafthouse Star Wars marathon? What color lightsaber will you wield for the event? My favorite is Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
There probably aren’t too many movie fans that aren’t looking forward to Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, his passion project that is decades in the making. And while we have gotten a lot of news in terms of plot, casting, title design, and more, it still feels sort of surreal that Megalopolis will finally be released later this year. But if we want any further details about what to expect, one of its stars, Adam Driver, can only tease.
Driver, who plays a character named Caesar in Megalopolis, described the film as such: “It’s kind of undefinable, which feels very general until you watch the movie. Then my answer will be perfect. There’s not a lot of precedent for it and it’s wild on a big scale, which is what’s really unique about it.” That’s not a whole lot but that Driver suggests there has been practically no other film like it absolutely lends to the buzz around the film, which is currently in post-production and due out near the end of the year.
As far as working with the director, Driver noted, “He’s a visionary. He’s very much Francis, in a way, where he’s investigated every way of how people can do something and is trying not to get stuck on the right answer. That’s an idea that’s moving to me – and one that reflects Francis.”
Coppola has put so much on the line for Megalopolis, putting up a lot of his own dough to finance the project. While obviously a monumental risk – the budget has been pegged upwards of $120 million – the director knows that this will allow him to create exactly the film he has been envisioning since the 1980s. And with Coppola being 85 by the time the film comes out, there likely won’t be more opportunities for him to do a project of this scope.
Not surprisingly, such a film as Megalopolis has attracted a star cast. In addition to Driver, the film features Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Talia Shire, and so many more. With this level of cast, the return from a 13-year hiatus from Coppola and the sheer magnitude of the film, we hope – for the director and ourselves – that Megalopolis was worth the wait.
Where does Megalopolis rank on your list of most anticipated films of 2024? Let us know in the comments section below.
PLOT: The life and career of Gene Wilder are remembered by his friends and colleagues.
REVIEW: Gene Wilder was a one-of-a-kind talent. While it seems like he’s mostly remembered these days for playing Willy Wonka (with his performance inspiring Timothee Chalamet’s recent take), there was a lot more to him than just that one film. For one thing, his cinematic partnership with Mel Brooks resulted in three all-time classics: The Producers, Blazing Saddlesand Young Frankenstein. Plus, he and Richard Pryor made an iconic mismatched duo in a slew of films (some better than others), while Wilder directed several highly successful films on his own.
In this loving tribute to the late icon, director Ron Frank pulls back the curtain to dip into both Wilder’s creative process and sometimes tragic life. Pulling from an audiobook he recorded of his memoirs, the film is distinguished because Wilder himself tells much of the story. If you’ve read his book or seen enough of the movies he had a creative hand in (which was most of his films), you’ll know that Wilder was an eternal optimist. It’s gratifying to hear here, through a telling interview with his widow Karen Wilder, that even during his years-long battle with Alzheimer’s, he mainly remained upbeat. She notes that one of the curious blessings of the disease was that by the time he was diagnosed, he was already quite far along in its course, so he was spared some of the grief that comes with an early diagnosis and was never too aware of the fact that he was slipping away.
Most of Wilder’s living colleagues are interviewed here, including the still-spry Mel Brooks, who tearfully remembers Wilder as one of his best friends and breaks down at the memory of his friend’s final days. The film is careful to note the near symbiotic relationship the two had, with them building off each other’s success. Brooks (and his late wife Anne Bancroft) discovered Wilder, giving him a star-making role in The Producers. But, when Brooks had a disaster on the set of Blazing Saddles with the actor initially hired to play The Waco Kid, Wilder up and quit the film he was working on to fly directly to the set and play the part (to perfection). The movie notes that Young Frankenstein was their baby, with Wilder and Brooks co-writing the film. That movie’s success spawned Wilder’s career as a writer-director with The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother, The World’s Greatest Lover, and more (he had a massive hit with The Woman in Red in 1984).
For the most part, the film is a love fest, with no one having a bad word to say about Wilder. In later years, he became famous for his on-screen partnership with the volatile Richard Pryor, starring in two stone-cold classics, Silver Streak and Stir Crazy. Much was made about how the men, offscreen, weren’t that close, Pryor’s daughter says that during their last two films, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Another You, her father was desperately ill with multiple sclerosis, and Wilder always supported him and tried to make life easier for his co-star, something which Pryor always appreciated. Thus, their partnership ended on a note of mutual respect despite their ups and downs.
The movie also dips into Wilder’s tragic romance with the brilliant Gilda Radner, who died of cancer just a few years after they were married. The film also tracks the happy marriage he had in his latter years with a speech therapist for deaf people that he hired to help him on See No Evil, Hear No Evil (where he played a deaf man). Indeed, Wilder seemed like a one-of-a-kind man, being one of the few Hollywood icons without any real skeletons in his closet. It’s nice to know that Wilder was as special off-screen as on-screen.
The early numbers are coming in for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s preview night. Deadline is reporting that the movie made about $4.7 million last night from previews that started at 2 pm While that’s better than Kung Fu Panda 4 performed a few weeks ago (before opening to $58 million) it’s only marginally higher than Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s preview figures from 2021, with that film making $4.5 million for a $45 million opening. Let’s not forget that film was hampered by the pandemic. November 2021 was the height of the Omicron wave, and movies were tanking left and right. Everyone seemed to think Afterlife would have doubled its business were it not for the pandemic. Deadline’s sources seem wary of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire opening on that level, with many believing the preview night is front-loaded (we’re predicting a $40 million finish).
With a budget of about $100 million, Sony will no doubt be expecting the film to finish with at least a $100 million domestic total and double that overseas to green light any more sequels. It remains to be seen if the more cooly received than its predecessor sequel will manage to hit those numbers. On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s got the dreaded rotten rating at only 45%, Yikes.
Meanwhile, Neon has yet to report any numbers on their Sydney Sweeney-led horror flick Immaculate. Still, Deadline says the exit surveys have been pretty negative, with mainstream audiences seemingly liking the film less than critics. It’s scored a pretty impressive (for a horror flick) 78% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, Dune: Part Two continues to do well, making $2.2 million last night compared to Kung Fu Panda’s $1.7 million, although the latter film will no doubt crank out more business over the weekend thanks to family matinees.
So, what did you think of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire? In my review, I gave it a 6/10, and found it an entertaining sequel (even if it spends too much time trying to expand the franchise). Tomorrow I’ll be posting my Ghostbusters Movies Ranked article, so I’m curious to hear what you all thought. Let me know in the talkbacks!
Netflix gives us the first look at the upcoming limited series Eric. The suspense drama stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffman, McKinley Belcher III, Dan Fogler and Clarke Peters. Stills from the movie have been released with a trailer presumably following soon. The thriller is inspired by a true story and will feature six episodes as it premieres on the streaming platform on May 30.
The official synopsis from Netflix reads, “Set in 1980s New York, Eric is a new emotional thriller from Abi Morgan following the desperate search of a father when his nine-year-old son disappears one morning on the way to school. Vincent, one of New York’s leading puppeteers and creator of the hugely popular children’s television show, ‘Good Day Sunshine,’ struggles to cope with the loss of his son, Edgar, becoming increasingly distressed and volatile. Full of self-loathing and guilt around Edgar’s disappearance, he clings to his son’s drawings of a blue monster puppet, ERIC, convinced that if he can get ERIC on TV then Edgar will come home. As Vincent’s progressively destructive behavior alienates his family, his work colleagues, and the detectives trying to help him, it’s Eric, a delusion of necessity, who becomes his only ally in the pursuit to bring his son home.”
The creative forces behind Eric include Lucy Forbes (This Is Going To Hurt, The End of the F***ing World), who directs the series. Morgan, Cumberbatch, and Forbes executive produce alongside Jane Featherstone (Chernobyl, This Is Going to Hurt) and Lucy Dyke (The Split, Black Mirror), with Holly Pullinger (This Is Going to Hurt, Don’t Forget the Driver) producing. Eric is produced by Sister (Chernobyl, This Is Going to Hurt, Landscapers)and co-produced by Little Chick (The Split).
Executive producers Featherstone and Dyke told Netflix, “When Abi first pitched Eric to us, it gave us goose bumps. It’s an extraordinary piece of writing, inspired by Abi’s experience of New York in the mid-1980s, a city rotten to its core but on the cusp of change.”
Benedict Cumberbatch as Vincent / Ivan Howe as EdgarMcKinley Belcher III as Detective LedroitBenedict Cumberbatch as VincentGaby Hoffman as CassieIvan Howe as Edgar
Since Van Damme and Seagal hit big in the late 80s and early 90s, martial artists started to come out of the woodwork with their own unique brand. As we’ve covered recently on Reel Action, Van Damme collaborator Sheldon Lettich attempted to introduce audiences to both the style of Capoeira and the star power of Mark Dacascos in Only the Strong. Another martial artist that tried his hand at the action title and came away with a cult following was Jeff Speakman as he demonstrated his Kenpo skills in the 1991 film The Perfect Weapon.
Blu-ray.com has the details on a new special edition Blu-ray of The Perfect Weapon. The release will come from Kino Lorber, who will also release Cannon’s Revenge of the Ninja. This upcoming Blu-ray will have an all-new 4K remaster of the film and is set to hit the market on May 21.
The plot description reads, “One man becomes a deadly strike force in this crackling action-thriller starring martial arts sensation Jeff Speakman (The Expert). Speakman plays a drifter and Kenpo karate expert who returns home to discover his mentor has been murdered by a ruthless drug lord. Determined to avenge the killing, he must contend with the cop assigned to the case—his long-estranged brother (John Dye, Best of the Best). Caught between the arm of the law and his own code of honor, Jeff heads toward a final showdown with a sadistic assassin (Professor Toru Tanaka, Revenge of the Ninja).
Directed by Mark DiSalle (Kickboxer) and supervised by Kenpo karate Grand Master Ed Parker (Revenge of the Pink Panther), The Perfect Weapon features black belt Speakman in the most dazzling karate sequences ever captured on film. Anytime…Anywhere…Anyplace…Jeff Speakman is The Perfect Weapon. Featuring Mariska Hargitay (TV’s Law & Order: SVU) and Dante Basco (Hook) with screen legends Mako (An Eye for an Eye), James Hong (Missing in Action) and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat).”
The special features and technical specs include:
EXCLUSIVE NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
NEW Audio Commentary by Director Mark DiSalle and Action Film Historian Mike Leeder
NEW Street Speed: Interview with Star Jeff Speakman (23:18)
It’s finally here. MAX has finally released the trailer for their much-anticipated The Batman spin-off series, The Penguin, teeing up its fall release date. Overall, it looks highly reminiscent of Matt Reeves’ film, with the cinematography very much in the Grieg Fraser mode. But what else do we know about The Penguin? More than you may think.
The Penguin is set after The Batman.
The plot of The Penguin is set to follow the title character, once again portrayed by Colin Farrell, as he rises through the ranks of the Gotham City criminal underworld. After the events of The Batman and the flooding of Gotham, including the death of Carmine Falcone, Cobblepot desperately wants to fill the power vacuum. Colin Farrell has also indicated that the film will serve as an origin story for the Penguin, something we have seen twice on screen before in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, played by Danny DeVito. and on FOX’s prequel series Gotham portrayed by Robin Lord Taylor. While the term “origin” does not necessarily mean we will get flashbacks to Cobblepot’s childhood, it is possible the series may go back that far. Farrel’s comments have stated that The Penguin will definitely explore the character’s “awkwardness, and his strength, and his villainy” and the “heartbroken man inside there.”
Matt Reeves is not writing but will serve as producer.
With The Batman Part IIpushing a full year to October 2026, Matt Reeves will have spent four years working on the Robert Pattinson-led sequel. That means while Reeves has been working alongside writer Mattson Tomlin to perfect the feature film sequel, he did not have time to step behind the camera on The Penguin. Reeves anointed Lauren LeFranc to write and showrun The Penguin. LeFranc’s experience writing for the small screen includes the short-lived Christian Slater series My Own Worst Enemy, the Zachary Levi spy comedy Chuck, Eli Roth’s horror series Hemlock Grove, the series Impulse, and a stint on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. That final project likely gave the writer some insight into superhero storytelling, but it remains to be seen if she brings the same gritty edge to The Penguin.
Who is directing them?
The eight-episode series has not announced the full roster of helmers, but we know that Craig Zobel will be directing at least three episodes. Zobel has extensive small-screen experience directing episodes of Westworld, The Leftovers, American Gods, Outcast, and the entire series of Mare of Easttown. Zobel also directed the indie film Z for Zachariah and the Blumhouse movie The Hunt. Alongside Zobel, reports have former actress-turned-director Helen Shaver on board, but her episode count remains unknown. Without Matt Reeves behind the camera, it is tough to tell whether the series will maintain the same cinematic quality as The Batman. Still, from the footage released so far, it looks like a solid companion piece.
Who is starring in the series?
Much of the cast of The Penguin has been announced, but not who they will be playing. Alongside Farrell, we do know that Cristin Milioti will portray Sofia Falcone, daughter of the late Carmine Falcone. Michael Zegen will play Alberto Falcone, Sofia’s brother. Clancy Brown, the fan favorite star of everything from The Shawshank Redemption to a recent appearance on The Boys spin-off Gen V, will play Salvatore Maroni, a rival gangster Carmine Falcone informed on. Maroni was previously played by Dennis Paladino in Batman Returns, David Zayas in Gotham, and Eric Roberts in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. It is worth noting that Maroni and Falcone have a close connection to Harvey Dent (aka Two Face), so it is possible we may see an expansion of characters in this version of the DC universe. Other cast members include Michael Kelly as Johnny Vitti, underboss of the Falcone crime family, as well as undisclosed characters for Rhenzy Feliz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dierdre O’Connell, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Theo Rossi, Carmen Ejogo, Francois Chau, David H. Holmes, Craig Walker, and Jared Abrahamson.
How does it connect to James Gunn’s DCU?
The short answer is that it doesn’t. When James Gunn came aboard to shepherd Warner Bros’ full relaunch of the DC Cinematic Universe, he revealed which projects were done and which were still going ahead. With the massive critical and fan reaction to The Batman, it was guaranteed that the franchise would continue, but Gunn indicated that it falls within the new “DC Elseworlds” banner. Elseworlds is a long-running concept in DC Comics to indicate stories that exist in alternate universes or standalone storylines that do not connect to the main franchise. That means that The Penguin, like The Batman and Joker film series, is not going to feature characters from Gunn’s announced projects Superman, The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Swamp Thing, and more. While this means Joaquin Phoenix will not appear in The Penguin or The Batman Part II, it also means we could see any character the creators would like without worrying about continuity with the flagship movies.
When will we see it?
The first trailer for The Penguin debuted on March 21, 2024, at the Series Mania TV festival in France, and made it online the following day. All of the production efforts wrapped in February 2024, after being delayed by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild strikes. Post-production is underway, and the teaser trailer touts a Fall 2024 release.
Do you think The Penguin will be a worthy follow-up to The Batman? Let us know in the comments!
In the summer of 1996, the World Wrestling Federation held its annual King of the Ring tournament. After weeks of matches, the semis and finals were set for June 23rd, 1996, with Stone Cold Steve Austin facing Jake “The Snake” Roberts for the crown later in the night. Roberts, then known for working from a Christian angle, would cut a promo before the match doing just that. Just before Austin took the ring and pinned Roberts, he was tipped about the promo’s contents.
After the five-minute match, Austin stood next to the same man who tipped him off, Michael Hayes. And it was there that a legend and a catchphrase were born, and an entire industry was born again. With a mouth full of blood, Stone Cold Steve Austin told his defeated opponent: “You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn’t get you anywhere! Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16…Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!”
But it could have never happened. Stone Cold wasn’t supposed to win; neither was Jake Roberts. The King of the Ring prestige – a launching point for a budding career – was meant to go to Hunter Hearst Helmsley, but this was yanked when he took the fall for the infamous “Curtain Call” incident, paving the way for a revolution in the WWF.
From there on out, Stone Cold Steve Austin would take what was his. But that’s hardly the bottom line…So let’s find out: WTF Happened to…STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN?
But to truly understand what the fuck happened to Stone Cold Steve Austin, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when he was born on December 18th, 1964 in, yes, Austin, Texas (birth name: Steve Anderson). Dreams of being a football player were sidelined after an injury; fortunately, Austin had access to regional pro wrestling, and after bouncing around low-level promotions and studying under anybody he could, Austin hit the mat for WCW in 1991, winning the World Television Championship and United States Championship soon after. Here he was already “Stunning” Steve Austin, changing his name from Steve Williams because “Dr. Death” already used it. He also had a run as one member (with Brian Pillman) of the Hollywood Blondes, leading to tag titles in 1993.
But his run would be short, getting fired in 1995 while he was out with an injury he suffered in Japan, a common stop for wrestlers at the time. Clearly, WCW head Eric Bischoff didn’t know who or what he had; and neither did the WWF, joining the promotion in 1995 under Ted DiBiase as The Ringmaster, an awful gimmick where he held the Million Dollar Championship, a meaningless, practically non-competitive belt that was given to him. But Austin would never merely receive; he would have to take. But first, he had to shave his head.
In 1996, he went completely bald and had a match at WrestleMania XII, his first at the storied event. By this time, he would go as Stone Cold, a moniker partly inspired by real-life killer Richard Kuklinski aka The Iceman and even a cool cup of tea! The next year, he won his first Royal Rumble, stealing his victory after having already been thrown over the top rope; he would win again the following year and once more in 2001, becoming the only person to win the contest three times. He next launched into his first notable feud, with Bret Hart, hitting its peak at Wrestlemania 13 in what is widely considered one of the greatest matches in WWF/WWE history. That night, a bloody star was born. The villain had become the face, the seller of merchandise, the name on homemade signs. Austin’s next high-profile match came at WrestleMania XIV, winning his first world title against Shawn Michaels (not long after having the balls to give Mike Tyson the middle finger).
This was the Austin Era. But we couldn’t have had that without a match with another Hart, when Owen temporarily paralyzed him after a botched piledriver at Summerslam 1997. (Yes, Austin still won, because when you give him a stinger, he still takes the win.) Vince McMahon wouldn’t let him wrestle and forced him to vacate the Intercontinental Championship, thus launching perhaps the greatest feud in WWE history…and it started with a Stone Cold Stunner. As much as it was the Austin Era, it was also the Attitude Era, the same one that would soon enough end the WCW. That’s right, Stone Cold was embarrassing his current boss while simultaneously ruining his old one. Now that’s worthy of a Hell Yeah!
Austin going after McMahon and those that wronged him let every lower- and middle-class man not only vicariously give the middle finger to their boss but also stomp a mudhole in ‘em and drench ‘em in beer and wallop ‘em over the skull with a bedpan and hold a gun to their head until he pisses his pants. This man was a hero to the masses, somebody who could get away with flipping off authority, chugging beers while on the job (yes, they were all real; and how many celebrities get their own beer brand?) and doing what he wanted when he wanted. This was the star the WWF needed, like nobody since Hulk Hogan; everybody knew who he was – and that was the bottom line because he said so, not anybody else!
But there was an alleged dark side to Stone Cold Steve Austin, too. In 2002, domestic abuse charges against Austin’s wife, valet Debra, were reportedly covered up by the WWE, which we all know now had a decades-long habit of doing. It would end in divorce, and he would also later be accused of assaulting another girlfriend. He would plead no contest in the Debra case.
Even with the revelation, it hasn’t tarnished Stone Cold’s reputation; after all, how do you cool a Texas Rattlesnake? There was too much going on for him through his history. Even the low points in WWE haven’t shaken. Consider this: at WrestleMania 17, after one of the greatest main events in Mania history against long-building nemesis The Rock, he and Vince McMahon shook hands and shared a nice cold Steve-weiser! As quickly as he moulded it, Stone Cold Steve Austin helped kill the Attitude Era.
He had betrayed the character, teaming again with McMahon as part of the Alliance faction. Soon and sure enough, Austin grew truly unhappy with the creatives in 2002, snubbing a new storyline that had him lose to one of the future faces of WWE, Brock Lesnar, knowing he was far better than being pinned on network TV with no story – and not enough money – attached. So he left, with contempt for the WWE and a newfound reliance on alcohol.
And this is what happens when you try to give Austin material: his character gets warped and watered down. Developing his own angles and nurturing his trademark badassery, he was a 30-pack; being tossed into suit roles like general manager and nonsense like “sheriff”, he’s a non-alcoholic beer. No wonder one of his mottos, “Don’t Trust Anybody”, stemmed from his real life. Today, however, we can’t help but welcome his special guest referee spots and cameos because they invariably end how they should: with a can of whoop-ass called the Stone Cold Stunner.
And so Stone Cold tried out acting, making his big screen debut in 2005’s The Longest Yard remake before landing supporting or lead roles in some theatrical but mostly DTV shit: The Condemned (2007), Damage (2009), The Expendables (2010) (in which he had a brutal fist-fight with Stallone), The Stranger (2010), Hunt to Kill (2010), Recoil (2011), Knockout (2011), Tactical Force (2011), Maximum Conviction (2012), The Package (2013), Grown Ups 2 (wait, what?). There was also an arc on Nash Bridges (1999-2000) and a strange one-off on Chuck (2010). On the small screen, Austin had a much better grapple on reality competition shows, namely Tough Enough: Redneck Island (2012) and Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge (2014).
In 2009. Stone Cold was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and in 2013 he launched a podcast like pretty much every other celebrity with some spare time in their week. In 2022, he returned for a no-holds-barred beating of Kevin Owens at Wrestlemania 38, beating the man who “borrowed” his finisher.
Stone Cold Steve Austin transformed sports entertainment in an insurmountable way, so much so that later eras would have to work with new norms to undo so much of what he did. And he did a lot, much by his own fist. Look at the circumstances he found himself in and how he not only made them work for Stone Cold but better the entire industry. Triple H screwed his King of the Ring chances; Austin didn’t only win, he cut the most revelatory promo ever. Owen Hart paralyzed him, forcing him to give up the belt; Austin didn’t only press on, he created both the biggest superstar in modern wrestling and its most evil villain, Mr. McMahon. He was eliminated from the ‘97 Royal Rumble; he didn’t just win, he won by cheating, stealing not just the match but the show. Austin did things the Stone Cold way, including agreeing to finally lose to The Rock in what would be his last “real” match, at WrestleMania XIX.
Today, Stone Cold Steve Austin is more ambassador than badass (although he’s that, too), having retired from in-ring action and kicked his beer habit (not quit, come on!). And he is widely considered one of the greatest, most iconic wrestlers ever, up there with Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. But neither one of these legends had what he had and nobody ever will. You can say your prayers and eat your vitamins and Woooo! all you want, but we all know that when you hear the glass, your ass is grass. Now, lemme get a Hell Yeah!
