Ahead of the premiere of his new show, “Straight Up Steve Austin,” which premieres on the USA Network tonight immediately following the post-SummerSlam edition of WWE RAW, WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin appeared as a guest on Barstool Sport’s “Pardon My Take” podcast for an in-depth interview. Featured below are some of the highlights.
On becoming a podcaster: “You know it’s a different it’s a different animal. And I remember when I first did my first podcast some six years ago I went to the studio and I now operate out of my house or I turned my house to a studio, but I roll in there and I didn’t really know what to expect. And because I had done so much live television and I’d been Stone Cold Steve Austin or different variations of that guy for so long, I was used to having that instant feedback from that crowd and that’s kind of your gas pedal to get a response and you go accordingly. Okay I’ll start a podcast. I’m Stone Cold Steve Austin. I’ve got the gift of gab so I’ll be good as gold hell man. We started this was a test. I hit the wall in seven minutes and I said I didn’t have anything to say. It was like it was a real come to Jesus meeting. I’m like OK you get to learn some stuff here and I went back you know I learned how to start taking notes and that was just a debut podcast without a guest but you got to put in the time. Put in a work you know do your research and be prepared. But it’s an interesting dynamic and I’m totally used to talking now without waiting for a crowd to roar right. But it was an adjustment in the beginning.”
On the creation of his iconic WWE entrance theme: “But you also got to understand finally when I turned from the ringmaster into stone cold you know the music that I had to begin with was you know laid back boring lolling Oh it’s terrible. And so then I start to get a little bit a hands on when I came up with the stone cold thing and I said Hey do you have any ideas for some ring music. I said You damn right I do. So I took Rage Against the Machine ‘Bulls on Parade’ To Jim Johnston. I said to date this song but it’s in the vein of this song. And so why he thought about the glass breaking I mean cause Stone Cold. Yeah I mean and then he put the sirens in but is it dun-dun-dun. The whole thing was a masterpiece and I give all the credit to Jim Johnston but it was inspired at least in my head by Rage Against Machine ‘Bulls on Parade.'”
On driving a Zamboni and cement truck on WWE TV: “I am the master the absolute master of driving anything on wheels in 15 minutes. I’m not going to be an expert at it but I can efficiently get the job done. And it’s sink or swim if you’re gonna put me on live TV and put me in a monster truck or go to Nassau Coliseum when I drove the cement truck and to fill up Vince’s Corvette. All those things folded down and then I revved the motor to spin up that cement to dump in that Corvette. We didn’t have modern technology back in and say like here’s a mark to hit. I just had to guess at the mark. So it was just fun to be able to do all that kind of stuff.”
On conflicts with WWE: “I remember one specific time in Cleveland Gund Arena. They had me booked with someone that I’d already said I would not work with this person. And we were in a room about the size of this one. And man I let loose with some real colorful language, but there was a bunch of that going on and I let everybody know exactly what I thought because I told you don’t put me in a situation you did. And I said now I’m the fucking bad guy, I said I told you not to do this to me. And it was much worse than that.”
On turning heel: “And I’ve thought, rethought that thing so many times. And if I could call that you know the audible now I would have just told him ‘Hey man I ain’t feeling it’ because here’s how I was feeling leading into that. I thought I was starting to flatline just a little bit and I said okay man a change is good. And Vince always likes to do something big at a wrestle mania. We didn’t have really anything big there. So I’m like hey I’ll turn heel. That’s what we do. You get hot and then you turn heel and then it’s even hotter.”
On how being bald helped him: “Flair always had that mop full of blond hair so hair worked for Flair because you know it would be that big mess cause he had so much hair that worked good for him. But for me for some reason my viscosity of blood or how it works. I mean because you’re looking at a canvas right. And none of those were really bloodbaths per se. You know we’ve seen other ones that were much bloodier but for some reason blood works well with me and it just runs down my face in a really good fashion. And for some reason God didn’t give me a very good hair genetic, but he gave me a great shaped skull.”
On The Rock being his favorite: “Ricky the Dragon Steamboat is like one of the greatest of all time and just the way he works baby. You know if you grab him in a headlock he’s gonna come out you know try to top wrist you’re just on automatic reflex. It’s not like you’re telling him to do anything. He fills in the gap even though me as a heel I’m calling the match. He’s gonna do those intangibles which I ain’t gotta worry about. And you know as far as chemistry Brett The Hitman Hart have just him and I have such a mutual respect for each other and kind of like to tell the same stories and I think Brett’s one of the grittiest most realistic wrestlers there’s ever been. I didn’t hit Flair in his prime and he got me when I was a little ragged but my matches with The Rock were always an interesting study because I brought out the best in him and he brought out the best in me and we were both these, you know I was Stone Cold and he was The Rock. So when you had just these gigantic personalities, these gigantic characters with all these emotions coupled with the fact that we both complemented each other’s work style in the ring. Magic.”
On the creation of the Stone Cold Stunner: “Michael P.S. Hayes comes up to me right before Monday Night Raw. Hey kid you got a second. I’d been using a million dollar dream and he goes I got something I want to show you. So he showed me the stunner with a couple of an enhancement guys. And so that’s when I started employing it. Couple weeks later hey we need a setup move you know Jake the Snake does the short arm DDT. He does a short arm clothesline. Before the DDT. It’s a setup move so you had the anticipation by adding the kick you had the anticipation of the stunner’s next. So it was a two stage process. Michael P.S. Hayes came up with both of them.”
On ‘Stunning’ Vince McMahon: “Maybe if you remember he almost slipped out. Almost lost him. It could’ve been a botch that ruined everything but we got it. And that crowd just came unglued. No one had ever done it before and of course not with his sell job. We called the crappy sell a crappy is a fish. He’s so uncoordinated. But yeah that was the magic stunner and that was a stunner heard round the world.”
On catching beers and how he could have been a Tight End: “I’ve always been able to catch things and hell I played running back in high school and then in college I played linebacker, defensive end but hell they should if they let me at tight end or something like that I probably could’ve had a career.”
Check out the complete episode of the “Pardon My Take” podcast featuring the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin interview at BarstoolSports.com.
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