A typical Stone Cold match at the height of his popularity was glass shatter, milk theme music by standing on all four turnbuckles, punch, punch, jump on top of a guy straddling him, punch punch, throw him into the corner, sloppy stomps, double birds, stunner, beer chug.
I'd say that speaks to Austin's talent if that's all he has to do to get his ass over.
I'm reminded of an anecdote where a young Kevin Nash saw Jake Roberts, with skinny legs and a pot belly, no-selling punches and thought to himself 'why the fuck am I killing myself out there when he can get away with that?'
I know you mentioned his mic skills/charisma, but that is a huge thing to consider with any dude. Austin could talk circles around most guys. I'd recommend checking out his famous ECW promos if you haven't seen them. I also personally liked a lot of his 'I'm PISSED OFF' promos where he had a chip on his shoulder with Bret Hart. Plus all the shit with Vince.
There's a reason why Austin was the top guy and not Headbanger Mosh (or whoever.)
97 was Bret Hart if I'm not mistaken so that's that. In 98 a few wrestlers that I can think of that did way more moves that can come to mind were Rock, HHH, Foley, Owen if they would have booked him right, I don't know I wasn't familiar with the product because we didn't have until about 1999.
Owen's about the only guy who really fits the bill. Rock was VERY raw back then and even at his peak he had an incredibly limited moveset. Maybe Hunter, but I always thought he was really fucking one dimensional. And Foley was hobbled even back then.
You had guys who were good workrate guys, but you also had dudes like Taker, Kane, and Sid. Plus some of the guys were either saddled with horrendous gimmicks (Flash Funk/2 Cold Scorpio, Goldust), were hobbled with injuries (Foley, Mero, and Pillman), had limited ceilings (Ahmed, Shamrock, D'Lo) or were potential liabilities (Michaels and Bulldog were both pillheads, amongst others) or were on the outs due to political issues (Vader with the Kliq and Jarrett due to his dad stiffing Austin on paycheques back in the day.)
Austin could work up or down to the level of his opponents. He could get serviceable matches out of guys like Kane or Big Show, something which Triple H struggled and failed to do. Add being reliable, able to talk and being over as fuck makes it a no brainer he was in the position he was in.
I don't disagree it got very formulaic at points and that What? chants fucking suck, but Austin was in no way 'overrated.'
