Laughing At ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Damian Lillard Gives His Verdict On WWE Legend’s All-Time Ranking

Joseph Galizia | 07/08/2025
Stone Cold Steve Austin (L) and Damian Lillard (R)

‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was one of a kind, and no one knows that better than Damian Lillard. Dame Time, currently recovering from a ruptured Achilles, has been spending his time watching clips of Austin on social media, you see. And he recently shared one of the old clips of the WWE Hall of Famer in action, while expressing how much he was in awe of Stone Cold.

The video shows an old episode of WWE SmackDown from the early 2000s. A brawl was underway in the squared circle between several wrestling legends like the Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, X-Pac, and others. But Austin wasn’t going to let that chaos last for long.

Cue: Stone Cold’s iconic glass-shattering entrance. The Texas Rattlesnake stormed in with a steel chair, cleared the ring, and handed out a few of his devastating Stone Cold Stunners. It was peak and vintage Austin. The moment captured just how popular he was back then.

Dame re-shared this video on his Instagram Stories and weighed in with some of his own commentary. “The GOAT lmaooooooo,” wrote the nine-time All-Star.

Just like in the NBA, pro wrestling has plenty of candidates for the GOAT title, especially if you look beyond the WWE bubble and explore places like Japan, Mexico, and Canada. But Stone Cold deserves to be in that conversation, at least on wrestling’s Mount Rushmore.

From merch sales to drawing power and unforgettable moments, Steve Austin became the biggest cultural icon in wrestling since Hulkamania in the 1980s.  Wrestling continues to evolve, but it’s hard not to compare today’s greatness with the phenomenon that was Stone Cold. So, it was refreshing to see Dame acknowledge this.

It’s not like Lillard is a casual fan either. The 35-year-old basketball star dressed up like Austin back in 2018 and carried a Smoking Skull world heavyweight championship title with him to put the cosplay into full effect.

Dame even spoke about Austin during an interview back in 2020. “Nobody could tell him nothing, nobody could punk him. He was the man! He was just the man. I felt like even when everybody loved The Rock, I still was like, he may be bigger than Stone Cold, but he’s not quite Stone Cold,” said Lillard to NBA.com.

That wasn’t all. Lillard sees himself in the wrestling icon. “I see myself in Stone Cold in that he was unapologetically him. And it was like, if these are the rules and this is what I’m supposed to be doing, this is how I feel, and this is what I’m gonna do. If that’s a problem, then oh well, that’s how I feel about stuff,” said Dame.

Stone Cold was the ultimate bad boy. He told his boss to kiss his ass, he “stunned” his boss, and he drank beer on the clock. The blue-collar hero who connected with every demographic on every level.

It is no surprise that Austin’s attitude inspired Dame. He, too, is a bad boy. And now that he’s back in Portland, he’ll be looking to finish his story and drop a stunner on NBA opponents once again. Except his stunner is a 35-foot three-ball.

Post Edited By: Karthik Raman
Damian Liillard Stone Cold Steve Austin wwe

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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