According to Austin himself, he wasnt ready and felt that he had more momentum and generated more interest as the the underdog chasing the title. It was a smart bet because it allowed for alot of story telling and pivotol moments in his career. Having austin endure setback after setback made his rise to the top all the more satisfying.
When he was still in his "likeable heel" phase it added a level of realness that "bad guys" dont usually get. Theyre usually over the top a$$holes who smirk , chew gum and play chickenshyt. Austin was the heel who talked shyt and backed it up or just took his lumps like a man and bounced back. shyt was rare as fukk back then to see a villian like austin which is why he had no choice but to be a face, the crowd decided that for him.
Also I wanna note, Dude could wrestle his ass off early in his WWF run. He use to do snapmere takedowns, gutwrench power bombs, spine busters and shyt. I love that version of stonecold
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