As one of the most decorated WWE Champions in wrestling history, it's a bit ironic, in an Alanis Morissette kind of way, that the least impressive thing about "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's time atop the wrestling world are his world title reigns. Now to be fair, they are still impressive; Austin's six world championship reigns were at one point the most in the history of WWE, before The Rock, Triple H, John Cena, and Randy Orton later surpassed him, and if nothing else exemplify that he was the biggest name in wrestling during that period of time. But if one were to dive into the title reigns and take a closer look at them, they're not nearly as impressive as Roman Reigns' recent run as Undisputed WWE Champion at least when it comes to length.
Indeed, of Austin's six WWE Championship reigns, only once did he actually hold the title for more than 100 days; his fifth title run in 2001, oddly enough as a heel. The other runs however were all short, with his first title reign lasting only 91 days, followed by reigns of 90, 56, and 55 days. In fairness to Austin, a longer title reign may have occurred for him if he hadn't had to miss almost a year in 2000 while recovering from neck surgery, and the booking during the WWE Attitude Era emphasized shorter title runs, as opposed to other eras of wrestling. Then there's the fact that most of the title wins took place on big stages, with Austin's 1st, 3rd, and 5th World Title runs all beginning in the main events of WrestleMania, while the 2nd and 4th came on "Raw's" following the 1998 and 1999 King of the Ring PPV's, during the time WWE was at its hottest.
Then there's Austin's 6th and final title run, which began not at a WrestleMania and not on a "Raw" following a PPV, but rather an October 2001 "Raw" from Indianapolis, Indiana, something that even the fans in the Conseco Fieldhouse were likely expecting that night. Plenty was going on in WWE at the time; the promotion was in the midst of the WWE vs. The Alliance storyline, which began with plenty of momentum but was suffering from diminishing returns at the time. Part of that was because Austin was the top heel of The Alliance, even though fans didn't really want to boo him. Nevertheless, the angle and Austin trucked along, and when Austin walked into the Fieldhouse that night, he was a few weeks removed from losing the title to rival Kurt Angle at WWE Unforgiven, and most figured Angle was in line to hold the belt for at least a little while.
Alas, it was not to be. Towards the end of their back and forth, 17 minute match, things turned in Austin's favor when WWE Commissioner William Regal revealed himself to be an Alliance mole, surprise attacking Angle. Though Angle managed to hold on a bit longer with a surprising kickout, Austin was ultimately able to put him away to claim the WWE Championship for the last time. In contrast to his other title reigns, which may have been short but eventful, Austin's 62 day reign was just there before he dropped it to Chris Jericho in December. In some ways, it's almost easy to forget that the whole reign did happen. But it did, and for those who saw it happen in the Conseco Fieldhouse that October evening, it's likely still something they can't believe actually took place.
