6. Brian Pillman
“Superstar” Steve Austin was a rising star in WCW throughout the early 90s while working in the solo division, but his career truly took off to the next level when he began teaming with “Flyin’” Brian Pillman. The two formed The Hollywood Blondes, a pretentious pair of heels who quickly dominated the WCW tag team division unlike any other combination, and started calling out Ric Flair and Arn Anderson while they did so. The Blondes feud with The Four Horsemen seemed like it was going to be the final step to Austin taking his rightful place as a main event superstar, but WCW politics reared their ugly head and caused the team to fizzle out and go their separate ways, and both men were in WWE by 1996.
Despite WCW botching the landing with their famous tag team, Austin and Pillman’s ability to gel in the ring was matched with a deep friendship outside of the ring as well. When Pillman finally made the jump to WWE after Austin did, their real life friendship was heavily worked into their storylines. Although they quickly started to feud with one another, the similarities in their dress and general look continued until Pillman’s sudden death in October of 1997. Austin’s gold chains, in particular, were worn as a tribute to Pillman. This was a tradition the two started when they formed their team, and Austin continued well after his friend passed on.
Discussion about this post