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Tuesday marked the 17-year anniversary of the sixth and final time Stone Cold Steve Austin won the WWE Championship. It's hard to believe it's been almost two decades.
Several Superstars have held the title more times than Austin, but The Rattlesnake is still considered to be one of the most iconic WWE champions of all time.
His rise to the top during the Attitude Era saw him compete against some of the biggest names in the history of the business, but Austin surpassed most of them to become one of the most popular Superstars to ever set foot in the ring.
The list of men Stone Cold defeated for the belt only consists of five names, but every one of them is either already in the Hall of Fame or guaranteed to be inducted someday.
This article will take a stroll down memory lane and rank all six of Austin's WWE Championship victories.
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Kane is one of the only Superstars to hold the WWE, ECW and World Heavyweight Championships during this career, but his only reign with the WWE title lasted a mere 24 hours.
The Big Red Monster defeated Austin for the belt at the 1998 King of the Ring pay-per-view in a First Blood match. Stone Cold invoked his rematch clause the next night on Raw and won the title for the second time.
Unfortunately for Kane, Austin's real feud was with The Undertaker at the time. The Devil's Favorite Demon was only used as a pawn to further the storyline between Stone Cold and The Deadman.
They match they had on Raw was decent, but it comes in last place on this list. It was a standard Raw main event. Nothing more; nothing less.
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Almost one year to the day after Austin defeated Kane for the WWE title, he bested the other Brother of Destruction to win his third championship.
This was during The Deadman's Corporate Ministry days, so Austin once again found himself in the role of the babyface against the McMahon family and its allies.
Like all of Austin's matches, this one had a lot of strikes, fighting outside the ring and breaking the rules behind the referee's back.
Considering the legacies of the two men involved in this match, it's a little disappointing that this ended up being a mediocre performance from both Superstars.
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Most titles change hands at PPVs, but Austin won three out of six WWE Championships on different episodes of Raw.
The Rattlesnake faced Kurt Angle one night in what is best described as a clash of styles. Austin was a brawler and Angle was a technician, but they always worked well together.
Stone Cold was a heel at the time and he received a little assistance from William Regal toward the end of the match to help him secure the victory.
This was a solid 20-minute contest, but it was already clear Austin was starting to slow down a bit by this point in this career.
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Austin and The Rock had an incredible feud spanning several years. The first of three WrestleMania encounters between the two was for the WWE title at 'Mania 15.
Vince McMahon tried to stack the deck against Stone Cold by naming himself the special-guest referee, but his plans were foiled by Commissioner Shawn Michaels.
Rocky and The Rattlesnake were already bitter rivals, so as soon as the bell sounded, they started throwing punches.
This is one of the most memorable matches from both of their careers. Mankind served as the special guest referee in this No Disqualification classic between two of his former rivals and tag team partners.
Austin won the WWE Championship for the third time that night and kickstarted what would end up being a multi-year WrestleMania feud with The Great One.
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The first time a Superstar wins the WWE Championship is always special, and Austin won his first title at WrestleMania 14 in a great match against Shawn Michaels.
Mike Tyson was brought in to be the outside enforcer, but after he aligned with D-Generation X, Stone Cold's hopes of winning the title appeared to be squashed.
Then, in one of the greatest swerves in WWE history, Tyson turned on The Heartbreak Kid and jumped in the ring to make a fast count. He declared Austin the new WWE champion as the crowd erupted.
Austin threw him a 3:16 shirt before they celebrated together to end the show. The most shocking thing about this segment was Stone Cold not hitting Tyson with a Stunner just like he does to everyone else.
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The Rock and Austin had three classic matches at WrestleMania, but many would agree that their bout at the 17th edition of the PPV was their best.
Two years after Stone Cold beat The Great One for the WWE title, he did it again in front of almost 70,000 fans at the Astrodome in Houston.
Not only was this their most entertaining encounter, but it also ended up being one of the most violent. By the time the ref declared The Rattlesnake to be the winner, both men were bleeding profusely from their heads.
This was at a time when wrestlers would still cut themselves open on purpose, and you could see Austin doing just that moments before Rocky hit him with the ring bell.
Violence aside, this was a great match because it had a little bit of everything. They used anything they could find at ringside as a weapon, but they also had some great exchanges in the ring.
WrestleMania 17 stands out among the rest because it had several memorable bouts, and the WWE Championship match with The Rock and Austin was at the top of the list.
Which one of Austin's WWE title wins is your favorite?
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