Stone Cold Steve Austin is one of the most popular wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling. The beer-drinking, anti-hero played a significant role in WWE defeating WCW in the Monday Night Wars. Austin had an incredible wrestling career with many memorable matches and moments. Below are the best Stone Cold Steve Austin matches of all time according to star ratings. These ratings are from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer. We have only included matches that have received a 4-star rating or above.
The Best Stone Cold Steve Austin Matches According to Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings
Brian Pillman and Steve Austin vs Arn Anderson and Ric Flair
Event – WCW Clash Of The Champions XXIII | Rating – 4.00 stars
The Hollywood Blondes faced off against Arn Anderson and Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions XXIII.
This was a Two-out-of-three falls match for the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championships.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Savio Vega
Event – In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog | Rating – 4.00 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Savio Vega faced off at the In Your House 8 event. This was a Caribbean Strap match.
The match was won by Savio Vega after about 15 minutes.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels
Event – King Of The Ring 1997 | Rating – 4.00 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels faced off at the King of the Ring PPV in 1997.
The match ended up finishing in a double disqualification.
On a related note, check out the list of the best Shawn Michaels batches, which is in the same format.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Dude Love
Event – Unforgiven 1998 | Rating – 4.00 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dude Love faced off at the Unforgiven PPV in 1998. This was for the WWF Championship.
Austin ended up losing via disqualification but retained the Title.
Triple H vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Event – No Mercy 1999 | Rating – 4.00 stars
Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin faced off at the No Mercy PPV in 1999. This was a Anything Goes match for the WWF Championship.
Triple H pinned Austin to retain his WWF Championship.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle
Event – Unforgiven 2001 | Rating – 4.00 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle faced off at Unforgiven 2001. This was for the WWF Championship.
Angle submitted Austin to win the Title.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock
Event – WrestleMania XIX | Rating – 4.00 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock faced off at WrestleMania XIX in 2003. This ended up being Austin’s final match before he retired from in-ring competition.
The Rock won the match after about 17 minutes.
Steve Austin, Paul Orndorff and Rick Rude vs Brian Pillman, Dustin Rhodes and Sting
Event – WCW SuperBrawl IV | Rating – 4.25 stars
Steve Austin, Paul Orndorff, and Rick Rude faced off against Brian Pillman, Dustin Rhodes and Sting at WCW’s SuperBrawl event in 1994. This was a Thundercage match.
Sting, Rhodes, and Pillman went on to win.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Undertaker vs Bret Hart vs Vader
Event – In Your House 13: Final Four | Rating – 4.25 stars
The main event of the In Your House 13 event was a four corners elimination match for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship. The match featured Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Vader, and the Undertaker.
Bret Hart won the Title after last-eliminating the Undertaker.
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels vs Owen Hart and the British Bulldog
Event – Monday Night RAW (May 26th, 1997) | Rating – 4.25 stars
Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels teamed up in the main event of the May 26th, 1997 episode of RAW. They took on Owen Hart and the British Bulldog for the WWF Tag Team Championships.
Austin and Michaels ended up winning the Titles.
Stone Cold Steve Austin, Animal, Hawk, Goldust and Ken Shamrock vs Bret Hart, Brian Pillman, Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog
Event – In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede | Rating – 4.25 stars
The main event of the In Your House: Canadian Stampede event was a 10-man tag team match. The Hart Foundation faced Austin, the Legion of Doom, Goldust and Ken Shamrock.
The Hart Foundation would win in their home city of Calgary.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock
Event – Backlash 1999 | Rating – 4.25 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock faced off in the main event of Backlash 1999. This was a No Holds Barred match for the WWF Championship. Shane McMahon was the special guest referee.
Austin retained the Title.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Bret Hart
Event – Survivor Series 1996 | Rating – 4.5 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart faced off at the Survivor Series PPV in 1996. This match was to determine the #1 contender for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Bret Hart picked up the win after about 24 minutes.
This was a great showcase of the chemistry between Austin and Hart. They would go to put on one of the best matches in WWE history several months after this.
You can also check out the list of the best Bret Hart matches according to Dave,
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Dude Love
Event – Over The Edge 1998 | Rating – 4.5 stars
The main event of the 1998 Over the Edge PPV was the match between Stone Cold and Dude Love. This was a Falls Count Anywhere match for the WWF Championship. Mr. McMahon was the special guest referee.
Austin hit a Stunner on Dude Love for the win. He ended up moving Mr. McMahon’s hand for the three-count while he was unconscious.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle vs The Rock vs Rikishi vs The Undertaker vs Triple H
Event – Armageddon 2000 | Rating – 4.5 stars
The main event of the 2000 Armageddon PPV was a 6-way Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship. Just look at the talent that was involved. All 6 guys will be WWE Hall of Famers one day (Angle, Rikishi, and Austin already are).
Angle ended up pinning The Rock to retain his WWF Championship.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs the Rock
Event – Wrestlemania X-Seven | Rating – 4.5 stars
The main event of Wrestlemania 17 was the match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock. This was a No Disqualification match for the WWF Championship.
Austin would win the match to become the new WWF Champion. This was a double-turn, where Austin sided with Mr. McMahon.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Chris Benoit
Event – Smackdown (May 31st, 2001) | Rating – 4.5 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Chris Benoit faced off in the main event of the May 31st, 2001 edition of Smackdown. This was for Austin’s WWF Championship.
Austin won the match with a roll-up.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle
Event – Summerslam 2001 | Rating – 4.5 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin faced off against Kurt Angle at Summerslam 2001. This was for the WWF Championship.
Angle won the match via disqualification, which meant that Austin retained the Title.
The Alliance (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, Booker T, and Shane McMahon) vs Team WWF (The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show)
Event – Survivor Series 2001 | Rating – 4.5 stars
Survivor Series 2001 marked the end of the Invasion angle. Team WWF faced off against Team Alliance in an elimination match. Austin was a member of Team Alliance, who ended up losing.
The match went for around 45 minutes and featured some fun moments.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Triple H
Event – No Way Out 2001 | Rating – 4.75 stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H faced off at No Way Out 2001 in a ‘3 Stages Of Hell’ match. The first fall was under normal rules, the second fall was a street fight and the final fall was inside of a steel cage.
Triple H went on to win 2 falls to 1.
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H vs Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit
Event – Monday Night RAW (May 21st, 2001) | Rating – 4.75 stars
The Two-Man Power Trip (Austin and Triple H) faced off against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit on the May 21st, 2001 episode of RAW. This was for the WWF Tag Team Championships.
Jericho and Benoit won the Titles in what was a fun tag team match.
The Dangerous Alliance (Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko) vs Stings Squadron (Sting, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff)
Event – WCW WrestleWar 1992 | Rating – 5 stars
Steve Austin and The Dangerous Alliance faced off against Sting’s Squadron at WCW’s WrestleWar event in 1992. This was a WarGames match.
Sting’s Squadron went on to win.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Bret Hart
Event – Wrestlemania 13 | Rating – 5 stars
Stone Cold and Bret Hart faced off in a Submission match at Wrestlemania 13. Ken Shamrock was the special guest referee for the match.
This is the match where Austin passed out in a pool of his own blood while in the Sharpshooter. This is one of only a few WWE matches that has ever received 5 stars from Meltzer.
This match also received the match of the year award for 1997 from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (as voted on by readers). It also won the match of the year award for 1997 from Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
Thanks for reading the list of best Stone Cold Steve Austin matches. Make sure to share if you can and let us know if a match should be on this list! We also want to hear what your favorite Austin match is from this list. I have to say mine is Stone Cold vs Bret Hart from Wrestlemania 13. Just a perfect wrestling match in my eyes. They are two of my all-time favorites.