On a recent edition of his “Hall Of Fame” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T reacted to reports of people in WWE wanting to see CM Punk wrestle Steve Austin following Punk’s return to the company at Survivor Series: WarGames 2023.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether he would’ve wanted to see someone start a feud with CM Punk in his return promo: “That’s wrestling 101. That’s something we would expect. I don’t know, for me, I wouldn’t want to jump the gun too soon. We got him here. Let’s see where this thing goes. Let’s start slowly. That’s what I would think about first, just because of history. There again, everything is a test all the time in this business. For me anyway, that’s the way I’ve always looked at it. Everything is always a test. Of course, that would have sparked the interest of the internet immediately.”
On a potential CM Punk vs. Steve Austin match: “When I hear stuff like that, of course, it’s something that people [would] pay to see. People [would] definitely tune in to see something like that. But Steve Austin, 58, 60 years old now, somewhere around there. And people got to be realistic. I don’t think Steve Austin is going to be the new Undertaker, okay. Just because Steve Austin is just as old as The Undertaker. We all are, it’s like the movie life. Hell, we all got old. So now I don’t see Steve Austin sitting at home at 58, 60 years old, whatever it is… thinking about a match at all. What did I just say about the boys? It was a check out there. You’re going to go pick it up and say that for the guys that are able to go pick it up. I’m saying it’s just like myself. I’m not going to think about booking myself in a match or anything like that.
“People say, I always say, ‘Man, they booked me in Saudi. I’ll go pick that check-up.’ But I really I would have to fight — really, really struggle to fight with myself to even think about doing something like that because I know what I can do to my body. One match, just climbing through those ropes, one match when it’s something that you’re not doing on a regular basis, it’s not something that you should be thinking about doing ever. This is a young man’s game now. The thought of seeing Punk and Stone Cold Steve Austin in the middle of the ring doing business? Man, that’s great money, man. We can make some money out of this deal. Yeah, we can make some money out of it. But money, at the end of the day, none of that can help you when you’re in dire straits.”
On Austin not thinking about the match: “And me personally, I just don’t see Steve Austin being at home thinking about having a match. Or does it have to be WrestleMania anywhere? That’s just me, I could be wrong. And you know what? We in this business, we never say never. It’s just not the way we think. It’s just not in our blood, in our DNA. It’s just not the way we do things. So I’m not going to put it past us. Steve Austin again in some capacity. I’m not going to do that at all. But me personally, I know the internet is buzzed about Steve Austin and Punk, but me personally. If I know Steve Austin, I just don’t think he’s at home thinking about what he and Punk going to do in a match. You know, when it finally comes around, I just don’t see it.”
