The Hollywood Blonds - Steve Austin and Brian Pillman

Steve Austin and Brian Pillman

The most famous version of the Hollywood Blonds and the team with the greatest exposure worldwide was the World Championship Wrestling version of the Blonds consisting of "Stunning" Steve Austin and "Flyin'" Brian Pillman. In late 1992, the recently heel turned Brian Pillman had been teaming with another recently-turned-heel in Barry Windham, but when Windham was groomed for a singles push and a run with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the WCW bookers put Steve Austin together with Brian Pillman since management didn’t have any other immediate plans for Austin.

After one last unsuccessful attempt at winning the WCW / NWA World Tag Team Championship from Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas at Starrcade 1992, Austin replaced Windham on a permanent basis. At first, the two were just billed as ”Stunning Steve and Flyin' Brian” but the two (with input from Scotty ”Flamingo” Levy) came up with the idea of ”the Hollywood Blonds” complete with matching trunks and vests. The duo was immediately thrust into a feud with Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat over the NWA and WCW World Tag Team titles, which gave the duo a chance to show off their team work and their trademark “mock filming” pose that they invented. After a successful move, one of the Blonds would move his hands like he was turning the handle on an old film camera. After winning a match, Pillman or Austin would arrogantly state that “Your brush with greatness is over” to further annoy the fans.

On the March 27, 1993 edition of WCW Power Hour, Austin and Pillman defeated Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas to win their only NWA/WCW World Tag Team Championship. Though Steamboat and Douglas had several rematches, they were unable to recapture the belts. On one night, Austin and Pillman faced an unknown masked team known as "Dos Hombres" (literally ”two guys”) who they assumed were a couple of luchadores from Mexico. The match started out rather inconspicuously, until the two masked men started showing moves more consistent with Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas than two luchadores. Dos Hombres won the match, earning them a shot at the world tag team titles at Slamboree 1993. However, by the time Slamboree came about, Douglas had been fired by WCW and Steamboat was without a partner. Instead of canceling the already announced Steel Cage match, Tom Zenk was made to wear the mask of “Hombre Uno” and work the match without anyone realizing it wasn’t Douglas under the red and green hood. The Blonds won at Slamboree ending the “Dos Hombres” angle.

After the feud with Steamboat and Douglas ended, the Blonds were programmed with the recently reformed Four Horsemen, who at the time consisted of Ric Flair, Paul Roma, and Ole and Arn Anderson. Flair had recently returned from a run with the World Wrestling Federation and been given a talk show segment called ”A Flair for the Gold” to give Flair television time before his WWF release allowed him to wrestle for WCW. Playing off their image of believing they’re the best thing in wrestling, Pillman and Austin started to target Flair and Anderson by mocking them through their own segment called “A Flare for the Old”. Austin would stand in the background with a pillow under his shirt for a gut while slowly stroking his chin imitating Arn Anderson. Pillman dressed up in an old bathrobe, put on reading glasses and a grey wig and then cut into Flair for being too old and too scared of the Hollywood Blonds. The impersonation drew Ric Flair back in the ring making his “Big Show” wrestling return at Clash of Champions XXIII where Flair and Anderson challenged the Blonds for the tag team titles. Despite winning the two out of three falls match, they did not win the titles since the Blonds were disqualified after Barry Windham interfered.

Windham’s attack shifted Flair’s focus away from the Hollywood Blonds, which in turn meant that Arn Anderson needed a new tag team partner. Not long after the Clash, Paul Roma was introduced as the fourth Horseman and would team with Anderson in the Horseman/Blonds feud. On July 18, at WCW’s Beach Blast 1993, Roma and Anderson were beaten by the Blonds who cheated to retain their titles. Not long after Beach Blast, Pillman injured his ankle and was unable to compete at a scheduled title match at Clash of Champions XXIV. However, due to WCW taping policies, Arn Anderson and Paul Roma had already been taped as the World Tag Team champions so the title change had to happen despite Pillman being injured. Austin teamed with ”Lord” Steven Regal at the Clash where they dropped the gold to Roma and Anderson.

As soon as the Blonds dropped the titles, the team was split up. Austin and Pillman both claimed that it was for political reasons. Austin was given a singles push challenging Dustin Rhodes for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. When Pillman finally recovered, Austin (along with his new manager Col. Rob Parker) turned on Pillman, turning Pillman face. This took place on the October 30, 1993 edition of WCW Saturday Night. Parker came to ringside to congratulate Austin (and not Pillman) on winning a tag team match. Pillman took exception to Parker snubbing him. Parker brought up Pillman's bad leg and said if he was a race horse, he'd put him down. Pillman attacked Parker, which in turn led to Austin attacking Pillman.

The Austin/Pillman feud was never pushed intensely and at times played more for comedy than emotion, a fact underscored by Pillman being more interested in putting Parker in a chicken suit than getting back at Austin.

They would briefly reunite in the World Wrestling Federation in 1996, but not as the Blonds. Austin by then was using his new "Stone Cold" persona, and an injured Pillman was "the Loose Cannon" and acted primarily as his sidekick, until Austin turned on Pillman for showing his admiration for Austin's nemesis, Bret Hart.

In 1999, Lenny Lane and Lodi used the name the West Hollywood Blonds as a play off the old name.