See All of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s WWE Vests Throughout the Years in One Place

WWE is entering a busy two weeks, as NXT will hold the Great American Bash this weekend, and then WWE will kick off SummerSlam the following Saturday. That’s plenty to look forward to, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look back for a quick second to appreciate something from a classic WWE era. @90sWWE put together images side by side of all of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s vests throughout the years, and not going to lie, I never realized just how many of them there were. If you’re especially curious about every vest though, it gets even better.

That’s because CrazyTights singled out each vest and broke them all up by year, starting with the first one in 1996 and moving to the final version in 2003. Seeing the transformation of the skull and the catchphrase is quite entertaining, as is seeing how it all started and what it eventually became. You can check out the full post below, and you can find the year-by-year breakdown here.

Austin surprised everyone when he returned to the ring at WrestleMania 38 against Kevin Owens, though much of the battle took place everywhere but the ring. That was by design it turns out, and is part of what sold Austin on the match. Austin turned down the match several times, but the fact that it would sort of turn into a match and be more a brawl is what ultimately won Austin over.

“I met with some people from WWE. We talked about the possibility of me wrestling at WrestleMania 39,” Austin explained. “The biggest thing in my mind was the presentation and what kind of match it was going to be. Going back to 38, the way the KO thing was presented–I love KO–I turned that down three, four, five times until the creative finally came to what it ended up being. I didn’t want it constructed as a real match, per se. I needed something that could turn into one, and it did, but I think that’s why we got away with it. The Dallas crowd was very receptive. I hadn’t been around, so the timing was right.”

“But to do a proper match, I’d have to be in off-the-charts shape,” Austin said. “I told them, and this is the exact truth, I said, ‘Guys, I’m just fixin’ to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don’t know what my life looks like. I can’t commit.’ Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did. There’s no way, with the schedule I was doing–driving an RV all over God’s creation, doing all I was doing–that I would be ready.”

“I had two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag, and a 25-pound kettlebell. Working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30- or 40-minute workout, that doesn’t get you ready for WrestleMania. And I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn’t going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn’t commit,” Austin said.

As for the future, you never say never in WWE, especially after how well Austin’s appearance at WrestleMania 38 was received. Austin actually has a role to play on both nights, as he would come out and deliver a stunner to Vince McMahon and Austin Theory. Perhaps we’ll see him make a return at WrestleMania 40.

What do you want to see next for Austin in WWE? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!