Steve Austin recently blogged about his new website BrokenSkullRanch.com, getting a BSR title belt made and the inspiration behind it and more. Check out the highlights:
On his history in the wrestling business: “I was in the business of professional wrestling for give or take 15 years…I actually don’t know the exact number of days, years, months, or whatever, so I always round it off to 15 years because it’s pretty damn close, and it sounds good. Anyway, during that time I won several championship belts. The first belt I ever held was the NWA World Television Championship. I won that belt from Beautiful Bobby Eaton, one half of the Midnight Express, one of the greatest Tag Teams of all time. Bobby Eaton is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in the wrestling business and I absolutely love his work in the ring…The guy was just awesome. And when you talk about the Midnight’s, you gotta talk about their manager, Jim Cornette. Jim was tremendous…He could talk a mile a minute and was one of my favorite managers. Back before I was in the business, I hated the guy…Because he was great at his job. Total heat seeking missile.”
On the reason for making a BSR belt: “I’m not going to list every championship belt I’ve held, but I will say that being the WWE World Champion was my favorite title of all of them. So now that I’m out of the wrestling business, but still so deeply in love with it, AND my ranch…I figured a BSR Championship Belt would be a super cool conversation piece and a good way to represent all of the hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and pride that go into this place…”
On researching the belt: “So I start doing some research, and making some phone calls…If I’m going to have a BSR belt made, it has to be bad ass. Long story, short…I hook up with Dave Millican….The Ace of Belts…Dave is a true craftsman and you can learn more about him and his work by going to davemillicanbelts.com. Dave hooked me up with master designer Rico Mann. Rico and I traded phone calls and emails and collaborated intensively to come up with a belt that was meaningful and symbolic to what myself and the Broken Skull Ranch represent.”
On the belt’s design: “First off, I wanted the shape of the belt to pay homage to the old WWF Intercontinental Championship. The old IC belt is one of the coolest belts of all time and some of the greatest workers in the history of professional wrestling have held this title. I have the IC title I won from Owen Hart in Meadowlands NJ in my safe. It is one of my prize possessions. Anyway…that’s how the belt got its shape. The main plate features the BSR, of course, and the skull in a barb wire circle artwork was created by artist and friend Joe Romero. The state of Texas features three towns–Austin, my birth place…Victoria, my former home town, and where I was from as Stone Cold Steve Austin…And Tilden, where the BSR is located. The plate with the whitetail buck is a deer taken by me in 2010 here at the ranch. His name was Stomper and he scored 181 gross B and C points. He was the first trophy buck taken here at the ranch and was the one of the cornerstones of our deer management program. He also represents my passion for hunting. The other plate is a Texas plate with the same three towns on it. I’m proud to be from the great state of Texas. The belt tip is obviously my signature, and is a nice finishing touch to a super belt. Rico knocked this one out of the park. Great job.”
