During a recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Steve Austin commented on his relationship with Vince McMahon, his “Stone Cold” character, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On building his Stone Cold character: “That’s part of the process. Finding out who and what you actually are and who you want to be. It turns out, when I was trying to be Stunning Steve and when I first started off, it’s like a lot of people in you’re kind of almost trying to be a wrestler or pretending to be a wrestler. You have to be a wrestler…..professional wrestling is very intense and very competitive. In a competitive atmosphere, that is who and what I am. When I discovered that, I said, ‘I’m gonna start talking all this shit I heard growing up in south Texas.’ It resonated with people. When you identify with that character, that gives you your base from which you have all of your foundation. The character is so important to the business, but you don’t pick it up initially because you’re so caught up in trying to learn how to work and then the psychology. But it really starts and stops with an identity, and Stone Cold is who and what I am.”
On his relationship with Vince McMahon: “The last time I talked with Vince was in Tampa when down there to cut a promo in front of an empty crowd. This was right when COVID started. It was really strange and I wasn’t happy with creative because I just wanted to sit down and maybe do an interview with Byron Saxton or something to talk about something that was a shoot. Vince says, ‘Goddamn, Steve, people are gonna be in a bad way. Just go out there and entertain them and do this promo.’ I ended up doing the promo, and it sucked. It was hard. I really appreciate how superstars have adapted and overcome all that, and now they have the ThunderDome to help with crowd noise. That was the last time I talked to him, and I’m sure he’ll call me or text me to tell me happy birthday. Our relationship is strong. When we were feuding for damn near two years, I love that guy and I’m sure he probably loves me too, but there was a lot of animosity there when I did some of the things I did. But I’ve got nothing but respect for the guy, and we’re in a real good place.”
On his favorite matches from his career: “I had a 30-minute broadway with Ricky Steamboat at the LA Forum, and there weren’t any cameras there because it was just a house show. That was one of my best matches. I’m such a huge Steamboat fan and him and Flair had the trilogy – some of the best matches in the history of the business. But just for crowd feel and what it was, I’ve gotta go to WrestleMania 13 with Bret and WrestleMania 17 with The Rock. WrestleMania 14 – me winning the title from Shawn – wasn’t a great match, but Shawn is one of the greatest talents in the history of the business. I loved my match I had with Benoit in Edmonton on SmackDown. We worked the night before, and they shorted us on time. I came up with this comeback for him, and I said, ‘I’m seeing 10 belly-to-bellys and I’m not seeing a traditional comeback.’ I told him, ‘If they tell us to go home, fuck it, I’m gonna go as long as I want to and I got the heat.’ We went out there and ripped it up, so I was really proud of that match.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
