WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin spoke about the thing he misses the most from being an active pro wrestler during a recent edition of his podcast (via Wrestling Inc).
This is where he joked that he missed the paychecks but later noted that he misses the adrenaline from that crowd.
“One of the biggest things I missed about the business – I’m over it now – you miss the paycheck. f–k the paychecks. What you miss the most is the adrenaline from that crowd. Whether it’s a boo or a cheer, it’s the desired reaction you’re trying to achieve at the time at the highest level. That’s what you miss. Man, when I turned babyface, and I preferred working heel, but when I got over as a baby, so that’s the way we went. When I blew the roof off of a place when they had a scenario set up for me like Mick Foley winning the [WWE] title from [The] Rock when [Eric] Bischoff announced the results on WCW [Monday] Nitro.”
He was forced to retire from in-ring competition in 2003 due to a series of knee injuries and a serious neck injury. For years now though, he has been regarded as one of the biggest stars in the history of the sports entertainment company.
Austin continued, “that pop I got that night for helping Mick out, well, they had built that moment up. Mick, and Rock, and everybody out there had built that moment up so that the stage had been set for me to get that pop. And it was all about Mick because Mick won the championship that night, but I’ll never forget it.”
