WWE Hall Of Famer Steve Austin talked about the late great Brian Pillman on The Steve Austin Show. In his stories about his former tag team partner, he talked about the worst beating that he received during his pro wrestling career. Here are the highlights (transcript courtesy of Wrestling Inc).
Worst beating:
“If you will remember, a couple of weeks or a couple of months later, he turned the tides on me. And let me tell you something, mister, as bad and as hard as I was kicking the s–t out of him, he gave it to me and then some. He beat the flying s–t out of me. And I wasn’t selling it and I knew I had it coming. And I knew there was going to be a receipt on that ass-whooping. And I didn’t know how Brian was going to respond because it was weeks or months later. But when he beat the dog s–t out of me, I mean, that was one of the worst beatings I’ve ever had in my time in the business and that’s a straight up shoot. Brian was kicking the s–t out of me. And on a note, when I was finished kicking the s–t out of Brian, they pulled him out of there. I think they put him on a damn gurney or something and carried him off and they took him to the opposite side of the arena. I went back to the dressing room. They took him and put him in an ambulance. I actually asked all of the agents, I said, ‘hey man,’ I said, ‘is he okay?’ because that’s how bad I was beating him and that’s how stiff I was on that beating.” Austin added, “anytime I got a chance to do business with Brian, it was a good time, but it was very competitive. And, by the same token, be beat the flying s–t out of me when he wore my ass out and that’s the bottom line.”
Praise for Pillman:
“The late great Brian Pillman, man, one of my best friends in the history of the business, one of my tag team partners as Hollywood Blonds, and then, the cutting edge character that was ‘The Loose Cannon’ Brian Pillman that he created and really launched. He did that and kayfabed everybody and worked everybody. What a phenomenal mind and a guy who overcame every obstacle that life through at him. And it’s just sad. I’ll never forget that night in Minnesota when we got done working that house show and we had that pay-per-view the next day. And Brian was kind of wobbling through the dressing room and I didn’t think anything of it. I just figured, ‘that’s Brian – he’ll be fine.’ And he wasn’t fine. He ended up dying that night. We found out the next day at that pay-per-view.” Austin reflected, “I’ll never forget that Porsche that he had when he was in Cincinnati [Ohio] and he scared the living s–t out of me. I thought the guy… one of the smartest guys I’ve ever known and one of the craziest guys I’ve ever known.”
