A Geek History of Time - Episode 292 - The Fall of the Hitman and the Rise of the Rattlesnake Part III

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Item one, get the grocery store. Item two, laundry. Item three, over through capitalism. You know, for somebody who taught Latin, your inability to pronounce French like hurts. Damn. Look at you getting to the end of my stuff. Motherfucker. But seriously, I do think that this bucolic, luxurious live your weird fucking dreams kind of life is something worth noting. Because of course he had. I got into an argument essentially with

with some folks as to whether or not punching Nazis is something you should do. And they're like, no, then you're just as bad as the Nazis. I was like, the Nazis committed genocide. I'm talking about breaking noses. Drink scotch and eat strychnine. All right, you can't leave that lying there. Luxury poultry.

Yes, yes. Fancy chickens. Yes, fancy chickens. Pet, pet fancy chickens. Pet fancy chickens. Pet Fancy Chickens? Pet Fancy Chickens. This is a Geek History of Time. Where we connect nerdery to the real world. My name is Ed Blaylock. I'm a world history teacher at the middle school level here in Northern California.

And earlier today, my wife and I attended her company picnic, which was held out in a park a ways west of us, and had a great time. And part of the festivities there were games to be played and prizes that the company was paying for. And there were prizes for the kids and prizes for the adults and let me tell you I have never been so happy To see my son lose a competition as I was for one of the prizes that was handed out today My wife's comment was that her boss clearly has not had young children for very long time Because the one of the prizes he,

he got was a, a voice changing, a megaphone. And, and like, I was looking at that thing going, dear God, I do not want that coming back into my house. Like if that, if that shows up, it is, we're going to have to move just so I can lose that in the move because that is loud and obnoxious and, and I am, I am not going to be able to handle that. Um, so what my son wound up

actually winning, uh, was a pair of actually fairly professional grade walkie talkies, uh, which are, you're going to come with their own set of issues, but, um, it's, it's at least somewhat more controllable. Um, so yeah, so that's, that's what I've had going on. How about you? Well, I'm Damian Harmony. I am a U S history teacher at the high school level up here in Northern California. Uh, I offered my children a chance to play our Star Wars game again

in a couple weeks. I said hey a couple Sundays from now we're free you guys want to do some Star Wars again because they had a really good time last time getting back into it. Yes. And they're like yeah yeah it sounds great. Later in the morning my daughter says to me, do you think we could put that off a little bit? And I was like, yeah, why, what's up? She's like, I kinda wanted to have my friends over to play our game.

I was so proud. I told her, I'm like, hell yeah, dude, get the okay from all your friends' parents. My house is open, do it up. And she's like, you sure? I'm like, yes, this is what I taught you gaming for. Like, I love that you're like, hey dad, I want to ditch you for my friends. Like, that's normal. That's how it's supposed to be. This is the circle of life. This is the natural order yes

Yeah now yeah in you know in fairness I will miss out on playing some Star Wars with them, but She's gonna get to she did session zero already Yeah, she's gonna get to do session one with her friends who never played D&D, but they're all fucking authors There you go. So yeah, I'm a a little surprised they're not all bards, but you know. Yeah. So yeah, anyway. So yeah, that's what I got going on. I'm very, very happy. And then between these episodes, actually, I actually even had to pause the last episode for a second because I heard heightened language and loud voices. I'm like, they don't sound angry, but they're also not normally that loud So I come out they're playing the racing Sonic game again, and they're just having a blast. I'm like off Perfect. So it's been a good day. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah good good

Anyway, uh, let's see when we talked, I think I'd gotten from July to September of 1996. Yeah, and Stone Cold had just cut the promo where he told his friend, I'll kick your ass, cuttin' me off. Yeah, to talk about Hitman Heart. Yeah, and he had aimed for Hitman Hart. Yes. So yeah, so let's fast forward to September 6, 1996. The Republican National

Convention has already happened. This particular Raw happens on a Friday. It's the Championship Friday Raw. I think, again, there was a dog show or some such thing that preempted them. Anyway. Merry Christmas. Brian Pillman and Steve Austin were both promising big news. Brian Pillman was guest commentary

for an Austin-Mero match. Brian Pillman had gotten hired by the WWF because he was a hot property in 1995, absolutely playing up this gimmick where he's a loose cannon, he'll say anything, he'll do anything. And it was getting a lot of insider buzz and he was kind of working everybody. He ends up on ECW actually and threatens to piss in the middle of their ring, and whip out his dick and do it. And he's making motion to do so, and the lights go out, you know. So he's really getting a lot of buzz.

He gets hired and then I think almost immediately he gets in a really bad car wreck that destroys his ankle, which sucks because he had been flying Brian Pillman. Oh man. So the WWF has him and they're like, well, let's make use of him. And so they put him on commentary and interviews. The problem with this is not that he's a bad talker, but he's had over 30 throat surgeries by this point because he had polyps as a child in his throat. Okay. So he's all raspy voiced no matter what. Oh man. He's pushing through all that.

And by the way, he's on a lot of fucking drugs for his ankles and stuff like that. So like, it's not good. It's not good, yeah. To be perfectly honest, it's going to lead to his death within a year. Oh shit, really? Yeah. Yeah. Oh it This is not about that, but holy shit

in fact, um you know my thing that I'm gonna tell everybody to watch this this coming week is it's going to be a You know watch watch not read but it's about Brian Pillman So remind me in case I forget. But anyway, so September 6th, Championship Friday Raw, Brian Pillman is doing guest commentary for the Steve Austin-Mark Merrow match, and Pillman implied and then promised

that the hitman Bret Hart would be at the upcoming mind games, in your house mind games, during this match. Now this is the mind games that I told you about before, where Shawn Michaels goes against Bret Hart. Okay. Commentary during this match was almost all about Hitman Bret Hart, including that Steve Austin wanted a match against him.

Steve Austin gets disqualified in this match, but he continues fighting Mark Merrow until a whole slew of officials comes down to break it up. Now. OK. In the September 16th, Raw, Brian Pillman and Owen Hart were both promising that Brett would be there in an in an interview, leaning hard into the unreliable narrative and hoping to use that to sell pay-per-view buys. Steve Austin interrupted the whole promo at the end

to tell Brett that he would be at Mind Games too. Now Brett himself had decided to help Vince beat WCW on his way to an obligation in Cape Town, South Africa in September. So he's flying to Cape Town, South Africa for a business obligation. And it's on that flight where he's flying to Cape Town, South Africa for a business obligation. And it's on that flight where he's like,

man, WCW's really giving Vince a drubbing. I'm gonna help him. Now this was his, this was going to be his return, which I find interesting. Both Brett's exit and return that year had involved being on overseas tours, which were a tremendous strength of his. He was an international superstar, not just a Canadian superstar.

He genuinely had a following of millions around the world. Bret thought that his rivalry with Shawn would help turn the tide and help WWF maintain a sense of realism and recover from the occupation gimmick era that had the early to mid 90s had seen Guess who he wrestled against on his final night in South Africa Who Steve Austin Seriously, yeah now this is not a televised thing or at all. No, no, this is a big treat for the people in I forget where it was. I know it wasn't Johannesburg but it's in South Africa.

Pretoria? No, it wasn't that one either. But it almost sounded like the South African equivalent to Bowling Green in terms of a name. But anyway, the schedule by the way, was really fucking brutal. So Steve Austin was all over the world wrestling and now raw Was only live every other week at this point they would record alive And then they would record a taped version of the following week at the same venue So if you were a wrestling fan

You would go to the live raw and you'd get like six hours worth of wrestling. Pretty dope. That's pretty cool. They were shooting what are called double shots. Now you think about that though, like on Monday night you go out there and you wrestle a 12 to 15 minute match and then you wait around for a couple hours and you gotta get your body ready for taking another set of mumps. The same amount of punishment. Yeah. All over again.

Yeah. And then you go out and do house shows throughout the week. Fuckin' A. Yeah. So Austin's all over the world wrestling. They're shooting double shots for RAW, one live, one pre-taped, but it's still like a 36-hour flight to South Africa with connections for Bret Hart coming from Calgary. And even if it was only half of that for Steve Austin from wherever he was from, they still had to wrestle when they got there. It's not just traveling.

Now, mind games happens, right? And this is where, and I forget where mind games was, but, so mind games happens. This is the one with Sean and mankind. Right, right, okay. Brett doesn't show at mind games. Now, he wasn't going to show at mind games. Right, that wasn't the plan. Exactly. So he's not saying fuck you to Vince or anything like that.

In fact, Brett didn't return to the ring in the United States or Canada until November. He did, however, wrestle, I think, four or five matches in South Africa, and then he recorded a promo from South Africa to address Brian Pillman. Because Brian Pillman said, I promise he'll show. Right, right. Here's what Brett says, quote, I just want to say one thing to Brian Pillman. Brian Pillman, you are a liar. I never once made any commitment to you that I was ever going to be in Philadelphia for a pay-per-view. You're a liar.

And as for Owen, my lovable brother Owen, you're as bad a liar as Pillman. You're both liars. So don't talk to me anymore either, Owen." So the mind games was in Philly. Brett and Owen had been feuding since Survivor Series of 93. Yeah. No, you've mentioned this before, that this was a long-running thing between the two of them. Yeah. So when he says, my lovable brother, Owen, it's not like, oh, did you boo this before that this was a long-running thing between the two of them Yeah, so when he says my lovable brother Owen, it's not like oh Yeah to my lovable brother Owen. Yeah. Yeah, so it's you know, it's it's like somebody reading a bad will you know? I like that. Yeah, Brian

Okay Came to mind games and conducted an interview in the middle of the ring during the pay-per-view to heal it up in Philadelphia by going after the Philly crowd. The last time he'd been in Philly, he was in ECW and threatened to piss all over the ring. Right, right. And they loved him for being a loose cannon in ECW.

Right. He was cheered. So he did all that he could to be the heal, and then he brought out Owen Hart quote This is what pillman says quote in my book the best there is the best there was and the best there ever will be Owen Hart Wow, yeah that that line is getting thrown around by everybody which means that once we cloud is getting thrown around by everybody. Which means that's everybody. Who wants some clout.

Exactly. And that means when Brett comes back, that's a lot of people he can have programs with. Right. Right? They can all just wait their turn, but like have come up with reasons why they're reinserting, and then you can draw on that, right? It's brilliant. So Owen came out, he healed it up too, and then they went over the standard boilerplate

heal stuff, shit talking Brett when he wasn't there. Owen says, quote, Brett has started to accept that I'm the best heart. He's getting older and he's getting slower. He's not the technical wrestler he once was. So remember, Owen beat Bret at WrestleMania 10 in the opening match. Bret then had a second match that night where he beat the champion.

Right. Which set up Bret to have Owen as a feud. Right, right. Right, and that was 94. And, because Owen can always say, I got one over on Bret, I beat him, so I deserve a shot at the championship Now they didn't bury Owen or they didn't bury Brett, but they did talk about him being a coward who didn't keep his word

quote Right Quote the only thing that I can think of that would keep my brother Brett away from this Philadelphia is that he's scared He's not scared of you. He's not even that scared of me. I love it. That scared of me. He's a little scared of me, but the reason he is scared and the fear in his eyes is for none other reason than the 1996 King of the Ring, a man none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin. Wow. Yeah. So you've got three people putting over that Austin is a threat to Brett. Now nobody believes that Brett is scared

of Steve Austin or anything like that, but they're saying it and you're... Yeah, well it's generating, it's generating heat. It's creating, it's setting the stage. Yeah, no, I can learn vocabulary. Yeah It's it's setting it's setting the stage for what they're expecting is gonna be you know, one of one of the better Storylines are gonna have when when Brett comes back exactly. Okay. So of course Austin comes out to that cue and and Okay, so of course Austin comes out to that cue and and then Owen says this is the man that my brother Brett is scared of and Austin then said to the camera as he came out Austin 316 means that someone needs their ass whipped and While that's all happening McMahon is on commentary and he's putting bread over big-time all his accomplishments, how he's earned a retirement, he has nothing more to prove, et cetera, et cetera.

Oh, oh yeah. Like, yeah, no, no, he doesn't, he doesn't need to come back here. These people aren't worth his time. He's a legend and yeah. He's already proven himself. And then Austin came out and said, quote, the whole world knew that Brett Hart wasn't going to show up-cold sure as hell knew that the bottom line is that when stone colds is in the house Bret Hart is at his house because he's scared of stone cold and that's the bottom line as soon as I arrived in the WWF Bret Hart you packed your bags and you took your carcass back to Canada Wow Steve, okay, so Wow. Steve.

Okay. So, Bret Hart broke down that you needed three things to be a successful wrestler. In-ring talent, mic talent, and connection to the crowd. Yeah. And you've, I mean, these are points that you've brought up in other episodes. Yeah. Yeah. These are the three basic things you need to be able to do. Exactly. And Brett said that, you know, you score them all out of 10. And he said, I scored a 10 when it came to technical.

I scored like a nine or a 10 when it came to connecting to the crowd. Now it was maybe a seven when it came to promos. You know, that's true. Brett is not a great promo. He's an okay promo. He gets the job done. Steve is a fucking 10. That delivery like I'm just I'm just thinking of all of the all of the video clips I have in my head of him, you know, with a mic in his hand, you know, pointing out of the crowd and the intensity on his face. And the way he points with like his whole hand, like, you're not even worth me doing that. Yeah. You know, there's just, yeah.

And, and, and yeah, there's a, there's a level of, uh, intensity when he, when he does it and his ability to maintain a thread while he's doing it. Like he can get amped and still stay on track. On point, promote the next thing and stay completely in character. Yeah. Yeah. It's brilliant.

So, Brian Pillman feeds him the next line saying, are you trying to say that Bret Hart's a chicken? And Austin responds with, Bret Hart doesn't even qualify as being a chicken. He's the slimy substance that runs out of the south end of a chicken. Let me make myself clear. If you put the letter S in front of Hit hitman you've had my exact opinion of Brett Hart Brett you and me are a lot alike in a lot of ways you say you're the excellence of execution I live it every day of my life

The problem is you always cared what these people thought stone-cold never gave a rat's ass about anyone Wow ass about anyone. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Super. And he said that in front of a crowd in Philly. Yes. So they lapped it up. Yes. They, they, yeah. Yeah. He then continued. Wow. Brett, if you ever do come back, and I hope you do, son, we're gonna get in the same ring, and someone's gonna get their ass whipped. And Austin 316 says it's gonna be your ass, and that's the bottom line,

because Stone Cold said so. So, just real quick, you got the, one of my favorite promos, if you put an S in the front of Hitman, you've had my exact opinion of him. He told a spelling joke. Yeah. And he also had one earlier where he says, you know, while, what is it? When Stone Cold is in the house, Bret Hart is at his house.

Yeah. Like just great repositional work. So in September, Bret still hadn't signed a new contract with Vince McMahon, September of 96. He did take a meeting in late September after doing a guest spot for the Simpsons in LA with Eric Bischoff, the man in charge of WCW. At this point, he had no interest,

but he gave him a meeting. He's like, sure, let's do it. WCW was drubbing the shit out of WWF with their NWO storyline. And again, I've detailed that in episodes 106 to 112. Brett let Eric know that he wasn't interested in coming over to WCW like he took a meeting to tell him no, thank you. I'm gonna start Okay, WF are you under contract now? No, I'm not that's why we can have this meeting but I'm gonna be I'm going with them

But Eric said look I gotta go back and tell them that I got some sort of offer on the table for me. So just Give me a number and I'll take that back to them and just see what they think and so Brett says, okay I'd think about coming to work for you guys for three million a year and a lighter schedule Okay, that's a pretty clear statement. Yeah, and so they went back to talking about Old West Legends, which both had an affinity for actually. According to Brett in his memoir,

Bischoff made him an offer for 2.8 million per year for three years on September 27th, 1996. for three years on September 27th 1996. Brett sat on that and then called Vince on October 3rd to tell him I'm not gonna sign anything with Eric until you and I have a talk. Vince admitted to Brett that he could not match the deal that Bischoff offered and Brett said I don't want to leave WWF, but $9 million over three years would set up his family completely. And Vince understood that, but he told Brett WCW would never know what to do with a Bret Hart.

So that takes us to September 23rd at the Hershey Park Arena, which is, it is considered one of the best four venues to have TV in just the way it's set up and the way the sound works Okay, interestingly Arco Arena in Sacramento is one of the other three. I forget the other two Um, I think the Boston Garden though And maybe the Rosemont Horizon, but there's something about like the wood there and what it does to the sound is cool Anyway, cool Brett and McMahon are still going back and forth on contract But it was also obvious that Brett wanted to come back and the very next night on the 24th

So after nine games Austin came to do guest commentary on the Triple H versus the stalker Triple H was this snobby, wears riding boots or riding pants to the ring, long tails overcoat, comes out to classical music and curtsies with a ponytail with a ribbon. That's what Triple H was originally. Hunter Hearst. Hearst Helmsley. From Greenwich, Connecticut,

which is exactly where WWF was headquartered. Anyway, he's fighting against the stalker. The stalker is actually Barry Windham in weird camouflage makeup. Okay. Much fatter than the mid-80s Barry Windham, Um Okay a much fatter than the mid 80s Barry Windham by the right yeah, but anyway, uh really good worker so During this match Austin spent the entire time attacking Brett Hart some more verbally Quote because of the sensors. I can't use the word I'd like to use, but I'll use the word that rhymes with it. I spit on the life, the career and the family of Brett the Hitman Hart.

And if his parents would have been smart enough to practice safe sex 30 years ago, I wouldn't be dealing with him right now. What? One way or the other, I'm going to get a reaction from Brett Hart. If I have to fly up to Calgary and beat up his old man, that's what I'll do. If I have to throw rocks at his window, that's what I'll do. But the bottom line is, Bret the Hitman Hart is gonna answer to Stone Cold, because I wouldn't have it any other way. And remember, at this point, the two had exactly one match in Africa,

not on TV, and Brett still hadn't signed. Right. But you'll notice that Austin has 100% amped up the language, threatening to go to Brett's house, threatening his family, all because Brett hadn't responded. Right. This is so much good heat. And what it really does for the audience is it keeps,

it's kind of like Jaws did with the shark Shark was hardly ever on the movie, right? It was a perpetual character in the movie Brett is not even on the roster and Yet he is featured prominently Through the voice of one of their biggest stars Yeah so You'll notice through the voice of one of their biggest stars. Yeah. So you'll notice, now on the booking end, this is great because Austin keeps the feud going regardless

of any contact between the two. So that if they finally do meet, it'll be at a fever pitch for the confrontation. Yeah, that makes sense. They would start in fourth gear. You know? Yeah, yeah make sense. Yeah art in fourth gear You know, yeah, yeah, yeah with with all that That all that heat having been generated beforehand Yeah, right and on the other hand

this is great even if Brett never signed because then Austin could continue to brag that he's the one that ran the former champion out of WWF and that Brett would run away to some smaller entity and you could, I mean, put himself over using Brett's name to disparage the WCW without ever having a match. This is win-win. Right. Yeah. And Austin was still fully healing it up.

He referenced the signs that all said Austin 316 and all the signs with his name on them. Now, this is the 90s and signs were growing in popularity. Right. He said, quote, they think they're making friends with Stone Cold, but they all got another thing coming because I go out to the ring each and every night and prove that I'm the best in the world. And all these people can do is sit on their sorry asses and wave some little sign around. That's a big deal. And it takes a lot of talent to do that now, doesn't it? So. Wow. Super heel. Wow. Yeah. Like, like, wow. Like the, the, the, I'm such a complete, uh, iconiclast that I don't even care about the people who were my own fans like I not only doing that can't care about him I have contempt for him right meanwhile. They're buying his shirts. Yeah, meanwhile

Yeah, they're enriching him, and he's disparaging the poor it and they love him for it It's so good The levels of psychology involved in all of that like then be wow talk shit for it. I don't want to hate him. Oh, it's so good. The levels of psychology involved in all of that. Like, wow. And people talk shit about wrestling all the time. I'm like, I don't see Lertes pulling this shit. Where's where's Iago when when people bring signs? Yeah. Oh, Iago, Iago would eat up having science.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Malvolio would be like, you spelled that wrong, but well done. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, after the announcing team plugged a bunch of WWF appearances, there seemed to

be a miscue between Austin and the fairly new Kevin Kelly. Kevin Kelly, an announcer, went on to plug the cities and Austin was trying to get himself over, saying that all Brett had to do was show up to one of those spots and he'd, quote, whip his ass this week. But then Austin goes off on Kevin Kelly, threatening to stomp his head in. Quote, if he cuts me off again, I'll stomp his brains in.

By the time I get done with him, his head's gonna look like a busted watermelon. Don't think I'm playing either because I'm not. Then they went on to plug Buried Alive, the next pay-per-view in October. Wow. So now, nobody attacked announcers at that point. Again, depending on the territory, because there were some times where the announcer was attacked, but by and large, WWF, nobody attacked the announcers. Quote, if Bret Hart is the best there is, was, and ever will be in all that, and the excellence of execution,

why in the hell don't he show up or say something to Stone Cold? He says that he's this or that. All he's got to do is prove it to me, son, because the thing about it is is it's become personal with me I want to find out how good he's supposed to be and I want to find out and show everyone how good I am Now just real quick Where is this fucking heat coming from like? It's like me being mad that somebody's parked in a spot that I wanted and they haven't come out in the 15 minutes that I decided in my head they should.

Yeah. And then I take them back to their car. Yeah. Well, it's heel shit. It's total heel shit. Yeah. But also, Brett hasn't done anything to provoke him and he's just more and more mad. He's mad at Brett's excellence. Yes. At one point, Austin actually buried both Triple H and Barry Windham while they wrestled

in just two sentences. Interestingly, Austin pointed out that the stalker was Barry Windham and that he knew it, everyone else knew it, so why wear the face makeup? So cheering for Triple H over the stalker, still bearing Triple H and absolutely bearing the stalker, he is healing it up. So then that takes us to the September 30th Raw. Stone Cold wrestled with Jake Roberts again, and this time he just dominated him and he laughed and he smiled at the crowd while he was doing it He didn't take Jake that seriously and Austin continued with the cheap shots But then Jake snuck in a DDT effort or an attempt at a DDT

Now a DDT is where if I grab you around the your head front face lock, right? So your face your face is pointing down to the ground, right? Right. And I've got you, you know, your cheek is on my belly. Right? Right. I've got you. And then I just fall backward, smashing your head into the ground.

That's a DDT. Okay. Okay. So he goes for a DDT, Austin slinked out of the ring. So still, chicken shit heal stuff. Yeah. Because a baby face would have done something that was an offensive maneuver not just a slinking out and it also matters how the the announcers play it off. Right. So you could have a face slink out of it and it's he's regrouping he's too crafty to be caught

Right, right, right gathering his wits and coming up with something Austin does it he slithered out. He's he's a coward He's yeah making him wait, you know anyway He tried to ambush Jake While Jake was jawing with Jerry Lawler who was an announcer, but he got caught while Jake was jawing with Jerry Lawler, who was an announcer, but he got caught. Austin then got beat on for a while, giving a shine to Jake by simply getting caught,

and then Jake started doing his understanding stuff. Austin then tried using the ropes to secure a pin, that's illegal, but he got caught by the ref. All bad guy shit the whole time. During this, remember, Jake Roberts is a born again Christian and he has eschewed the life of alcoholism, drugs, and women and shit like that. Unfortunately, K-Fabe wasn't real there and he still battled his addictions for quite some time. Now Jerry Lawler spit alcohol on Jake, and then that stunned him enough that Austin was able

to hit him with the Stone Cold Stunner. He and Lawler then put the boots to Jake for a while until Savio Vega came out to make the save. And what's interesting here is despite how tough Austin was, we still see him cowarding out instead of fighting off the guy who came down to interfere, even though he's the nasty heel. So he's the nasty heel, he's not chicken shit heel,

and he still cowards out. And he's beaten Savio Vega a number of times. And it's not like Jake has any position to fight, and yet he's still doing it because he's a heel He's still a bad guy. He's still aimed at being a heel now. It's weird when the audience cheers him But mostly they're booing him anyway now on the October 14th raw the show opened with a quick promo package on Austin showing his greatest hits and It's it's this cut back and forth between announcer

voice and Austin voice. So he's vicious. He's vile. I just whooped your ass. He shows no remorse. Get that piece of crap out of my ring. He knows no mercy. He's stone cold. Shawn Michaels has braved the challenge of every predator in the World Wrestling Federation. But lately, the champion looks beatable. Have the battles finally taken their toll? Stone cold smells blood. This isn't the good book, son. This is Austin 316. And tonight, Shawn Michaels, I'm gonna whoop your ass. So out with the one we don't really believe in,

in with the frustrated, angry one. Now this is, what'd the frustrated, angry one. Yeah. Now this is, what'd I say, October 14th. All right, so the promo that he cuts live during the show was actually more about Brett than about the champion of the WWF. He's not that interested in becoming champion. He's not that interested in the guy that not everybody believes in.

He's much more interested in the guy that not everybody believes in. He's much more interested in a guy who hasn't even shown up, who is the best there is, was, never will be. So his story is not about chasing the title. It's about beating Bret Hart. The title and Shawn Michaels was an afterthought proof that he could beat Bret Hart. Okay.

Yeah, makes sense. He says, quote, you know, hit man, since you weren't man enough to face Stone Cold later on tonight, I'm going to whip that the man's ass who whipped your ass. Kind of cool. Right. All right. Kind of cool. Right. Now the match against Sean definitely featured Sean and showed that Austin still lacked the polish that was needed to beat Michaels at wrestling. Sean kept escaping from things that Stone Cold set up to beat the shit out of him with, and he would out-technique Stone Cold Steve Austin multiple times. The match commentary mostly focused on the upcoming match between Psycho Sid and Vader Which would then see who would be the number one contender for the championship and wildly enough Shawn Michaels wrestled the dark match at that pay-per-view and the champion wasn't even in the main event

So that's that's how weird it is. That's how We just don't have a good Feud and storyline for Shawn Michaels. Yeah. Austin and Shawn traded getting out of each other's finishers, and then Austin slinked out of the ring when he escaped. The match was going great until Vader interfered, and then Shawn had to fight both men, and of course then Savio Vega came in to save Shawn,

and he got stunned, and then Psycho Sid came out. He attacked Vader, and then they left, and then that left Austin and Sean to continue fighting when Austin flung Sean into his friend Sid Which was all that Sid needed to turn heel in a few weeks, right? So remember Sid's still a face, but so the broadcast ended with Sid and Sean staying friends though But we certainly planted the seeds ended with Sid and Sean staying friends though, but we certainly planted the seeds. Now, at the October 20th, 1996 pay-per-view, Buried Alive in your house, Buried Alive, which the main event is Mankind versus the Undertaker in a Buried Alive match. So basically you win by burying your opponent in a grave, which they've set up in the arena.

Wow. Okay. Yeah. Because he's the Undertaker, right? And it's mankind. Right. So you can get into that supernatural shit. Anyway, it was also the first time that we'd actually hear Stone Cold Steve Austin's now iconic music, with the glass breaking and then, you know, based on what I could find,

Sabio Vega was actually supposed to face Stone Cold Steve Austin at buried alive But for some reason he was scrubbed from the card which allowed Triple H to take his place against old Cold Steve Austin I didn't see much build up to it and they're both supposed to be heels and even McMahon announced it right away that neither was a fan favorite and hilariously and sadly, Jim Ross's mic was all sorts of fucked up and that was honestly more of a story in the match than these two guys fighting and he was pissed.

So I'm gonna use my thumb to kinda mimic it, but you know, Jim Ross, everybody else would get normal talking and then Jim, and he would come in and he'd get cut, wouldn't hear him and then and then he tried to and then it just wouldn't work and on and on and on and they replaced it with another mic and another mic and it was Cursed yeah, well, here's the thing. I think it was a work. I genuinely, yes, I genuinely think it was a work.

Because, Ross is pissed, but Ross was involved in introducing the fake diesel and fake razor Ramon. And so this was how he was gonna get back at people for embarrassing him and stuff like that. So he's angry and he's introducing fake Diesel with a fake Razor. Because the WWF had the rights to Diesel

and Razor Ramon as character names. Okay. Doesn't mean that they need to have the same guys portray them. Now what's even funnier here, what's even funnier here, what's even funnier here is that when people in WCW saw fake Diesel and fake Razor Ramon, they were standing next to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash,

and they thought that that meant that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were going back over to WWF. So Eric Bischoff reportedly started offering Scott Hall and Kevin Nash more money to stay. And they said because of that their pay raised by like... and because Scott Hall and Kevin Nash both had favored nations contracts, which meant anytime anybody got a raise above them, they'd be made whole by being at least matched to them. Well, if you promised Scott Hall money,

that means you gotta pay Kevin Nash that money. And then you promised Kevin Nash that money, you gotta pay Scott Hall that money, and up and up and up. And so they got a raise. How? Because it's just so weird. So there's some blurring of lines here How because it's just so weird so So there's there's some blurring of lines here and there's k-faving going on

Now both Austin and Triple H took turns drawing at ringside fans who I think may have actually been ACW fans This was actually the first time I saw Austin flip someone off and the audience cheered when he did it I saw Austin flip someone off and the audience cheered when he did it. Okay. Interesting. Now Ross did his best to promote Brett coming back to Raw the next night and claim credit for it in a slightly heel way for doing so. That part was fine on audio, but then it went out again after he made that announcement and Ross claimed conspiracy. Now Austin started wrestling pseudo face for this particular match against Triple H. Giving back harder when Triple H did his

preening moves, slapping, pushing, etc. The announcers put over that Austin was goading Hart repeatedly these last few months. And Austin continued to get a shine in his back and forth with Triple H. Triple H was absolutely healing it up the whole time as a prissy heel. Not a sissy heel, but a prissy heel. When Austin got a leg up in the corner and followed up with a clothesline on Triple H, the crowd actually popped. They cheered Austin. So at this point, we see him starting to turn face, but he doesn't want that. The people wanted to cheer him on, and they were slowly turning him in that direction.

And then the commentary says, and there's no question that somewhere the hitman, Bret Hart, is watching this broadcast. And the match was actually a really good long match, and it told a really good story, and it was great. All the way up until the end, where Mr. Perfect, Triple H's nemesis at this point, came out to steal Triple H's valet. Austin got in Mr. Perfect's face for a second,

and then begged off from Perfect, who offered up a fight, until Perfect's back for a second and then begged off from Perfect, who offered up a fight until Perfect's back was turned. Then Austin threw a drink in Perfect's face and and ended up getting ambushed. And then Perfect ended up getting ambushed by Triple H, who was then a distraction again to Triple H, which then allowed Austin to sneak attack Triple H. So it's just all kinds of mix up down on ringside. Triple H then reversed the suplex onto the concrete,

which was to a chorus of boos. Austin was clearly the crowd favorite here. And it's very likely that this was the galvanizing moment for the audience to accept Austin as a face. It would just end up being a matter of time. Right. Also, lots and lots of action outside of the ring, which the audience was now starting to cheer and get used to, rather than to just see it as a heel maneuver like it had been in the 1980s.

Now, once they're back in the ring, Austin goes for a move that Triple H dodged, but then Austin reacted to and didn't get hurt by. He then turned around and flipped off the crowd. They still cheered him. And then he flipped off Triple H and stunned him, and the crowd went apeshit. Everyone in the audience focused then on cheering him, and everyone who did were late teens,

early adults, and male. You could tell by the voices. Okay. Sorry, not, everyone in the audience that the camera focused on who was cheering him were late teens, early adult males. Okay.

That's going to be important for later. Now on the October 21st, 1996 Raw, they showed Austin going all over the place bragging about how he went up to Calgary and beat up Brett in the famed Heart Dungeon until Stu came down and begged him to let go of Bret's leg. And that's literally right ahead of Bret's actual return to the WWF ring. On October 9th of 1996, Vince McMahon flew up to Calgary to make his offer in person. And essentially, according to Bret in his memoir, it was a 20 year deal for 10.5 million dollars in diminishing amounts as time wore on. So say essentially the same basic deal for three years of wrestling, but then to be paid

as an advisor, then as a booker, then as an agent, and then like the Babe Ruth of the company on standby as needs would arise. Okay. company on standby as needs would arise. OK, so 96, 2006, 2016. It would have taken him through 2016. Wow. This was enough for Brett and he agreed to the deal. As soon as that happened, Vince McMahon started advertising that Brett was going to be at the Fort Wayne, Indiana, Raw show on October 21st to discuss his status in the ring.

Now, when Brett got to Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was still without a contract. Even though they agreed on all these terms and all the broad strokes, it was like, okay, well, get me the contract. I'm going to have my lawyers look it over and then here we go. They didn't send it to him. They didn't fax it to him. In fact, Vince had sent over a contract that looked nothing like what he and Brett had agreed to, and Brett refused to go on without a signed contract. So Brett's lawyer and accountant flew down with him. You imagine having that kind of money where you have a lawyer and an accountant? You had, okay. slew down with them. You imagine having that kind of money where you have a lawyer and an accountant. Yeah, they're transpo. Anyway, both of them worked with Vince McMahon to get a

contract that Brett could be OK with signing, which would allow him to do the raw on October 21st, 1996. So he shows up without a contract to a recording, to a taping or no, I think it was a live raw, where he's advertised. And Vince tried to essentially use that to then impose a contract on him that was nothing like what he agreed to. And Brett was like, no, here's what we're going to do. And actually his lawyer and accountant got two groundbreaking clauses put into his contract. Now again all of this is according to Brett's

memoir. Right. I've already told you my biases. Yes. But he got two groundbreaking clauses put into his contract. The first was that if he got injured on the way to a show or in a wrestling match he'd still get his full contract. The second. That's huge. Yeah, it's fucking unheard of. No show, no dough is how it used to be, right? You get hurt on the way, that's not our problem. We don't have to pay.

Yeah, yeah. The second was creative control for the final 30 days of his time with the company, if he ever did decide to leave. Right. Now this was something that Hulk Hogan had in WCW For the final 30 days of his time with the company if he ever did decide to leave right Now this was something that Hulk Hogan had in WCW for perpetuity But beyond that nobody actually had something like that Okay, so that's a big deal yeah

So this means then that McMahon can't damage him on the way out and just job him out to everybody. Right, right. Now an hour before the Raw went on live that night on October 21st, 1996, Vince and Brett signed the contract. While he was there, Brett ran into Shawn Michaels and said, hey, is it okay with you that I start lightly roasting you to build toward a rematch and Sean's like yeah, say whatever you want to say and Brett said that he wanted to his return match against Sean But he absolutely wanted to wrestle Austin prior to Sean

So I'm gonna feud with Austin and but I'm already gonna set the stage for I want that title back. Yeah already going to set the stage for I want that title back. Yeah. Now, Brett came out to the ring to a really good pop, but it's honestly not nearly as big as I expected it to be. He was given a hero's welcome, to be sure. And McMahon put over the fact that he had a ton of pressure on him to retire or go elsewhere, kind of pushing that your old button.

But that the reception for him was crazy loud. And it's possible that the reception was way louder than I saw it on YouTube, but people were largely seated and not going ape shit. So, but the first question was if he would retire. And the second was if he was going to take, if he was going to answer the challenge of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

And the third question was if he would take a front office position, which was actually part of his contract after the first three years So he gets asked those questions. Are you going to retire? are you going to answer the challenges by Stone Cold and are you thinking about taking a front office position and Brett's first words back in in front of a live crowd, not a recorded, you know, Brian Pillman, you're a liar video, he said, well, I missed everybody. Big cheer.

He mentioned that the offer that WCW made him was really, really good, and they dealt with him with integrity and honor. He repeated that he wasn't greedy for money, but that he was greedy for respect. You might remember that from his interview in Bonn. Right. Right. On the river. And he milked the crowd a little bit for this and Brett had never been much of a

great promo. Like I said before, it was never his strength. He dropped a line in there about how much he soul searched that kind of laid the betting for seeds to be planted later. Quote, nobody has any idea how much soul searching I've done over this. It's just kind of an isolating line. Nobody understands me. A little bit. That's not great. But this was on purpose. Like he's pushing towards something and he's just dropping in little hints. He has a small hint of petulance to it and when he made it clear that he owed his success

to the WWF fans, the crowd popped big and we were treated to a backstage view of Austin and Pillman watching Brett on the monitor. So like over there. of Austin and Pillman watching Brett on the monitor. So like over there. Okay. Right? By the way, the Rock can also be seen behind them.

Oh. Which is really interesting because he didn't debut until the Survivor series. Hmm. Okay. Now, Brett said that he wouldn't be going anywhere to the cheering of the audience and to Vince McMahon. He says, quote, I want to address why I left in the first place. People wonder if I left because maybe I'm a sore loser. Maybe I am.

And then he addressed Shawn Michaels. First, he put over that quote, Shawn Michaels beat me fair and square in the middle of the ring and there's no excuses for it. I might not be real thrilled about it, but I knew when I climbed back through those ropes at the end of that 60 minute match, I knew what was at stake and I lost and I have no excuses for it. I consider Shawn Michaels my opponent, not my enemy. But Shawn Michaels, there's just something about you that really bugs me. Shawn Michaels, you might be a little younger than I am, might be a little more popular, that drew a bunch of boos. There's people out there that think that that might think that Shawn Michaels is even a little bit cuter than I am. Shawn Michaels, now just real quick. Brett had gotten

more female fan mail than any other wrestler throughout the 1980s. Okay. He was a handsome fucker Sean is also very very cute But he says Yeah, Sean Michaels is a great wrestler and he's done a great job as champion But there's two things that Shawn Michaels will never ever be Shawn Michaels will never be as tough as me, and he will never be as smart as me. I think Richard Nixon said it best when he said you learn from defeat and you come back and beat them the next time.

Which is why I've decided to accept the challenge of the best wrestler in the WWF today and at the Survivor Series, I will face Stone Cold Steve Austin. Wow. All right. So I'm better than Sean. Sean beat me, but the best wrestler right now is actually somebody not the champion. Wow. So he's setting all these seeds for a feud with Sean,

but also putting over Steve because in wrestling, if you put over the guy you're fighting, you beating him actually matters. Yeah. Well, yeah. So as soon as he says that, we're immediately treated to a cut backstage where Brian Pillman is ecstatic. And Austin turned around incredulous at his reaction and Pillman immediately demurred. It was hilarious. And then back to Brett. He says, I might be a little rusty and maybe I won't be.

But Steve Austin, I want you to know one thing. Madison Square Garden is not a church, but it's holy ground. And Steve Austin, stone cold. Again, not not the best at promos. We'll see who kicks whose ass at Madison Square Garden. And that brought the crowd actually to their feet, chanting Brett, Brett, Brett. Quote, since I've been off, I've had a chance to really think about a lot of things and I owe everything I've got to my fans around the world and Then he put over his international fans and he said it's something I take quite seriously about being a role model

And that's the one thing that's been missing in the World Wrestling Federation for the last five or six months has been me Alright so putting himself, also lightly shading things against the champion, finishing by lightly shading it, but also painting with that same brush against Steve Austin. So you have the guy who's been undeniably successful, and you have the guy who is his opponent and is the current champion, and you have the guy who's frustrated beyond recognition.

Right. The champion is lost somewhere in the shuffle there and he's not really someone the fans believe in. The fans believed in Bret Hart, but he was absent a long time and his return was met with less appreciation than folks expected. And the guy who'd been there the whole time, speaking against the most successful guy, was the embodiment of frustration.

Now back to Brett. People ask me why I'm coming back. Why do I want to come back? It's not that much fun sometimes, especially if you can afford not to, to come back and get kicked around and beat up. It's a tough job and it's a hard way of life." He then went into an emotional retelling about a kid in Canada who was a huge fan of his. And I'm pretty sure he was referencing his nephew, at least for the emotionality.

His nephew had died very quickly of necrotizing fasciitis on July 16th, 1996, if I recall. He said that that kid was on his deathbed and Brett promised that if that kid made it through, he'd come out of retirement. And that story actually ended poorly and his nephew died. That's actually true. Quote, but the fact of the matter is from that very day, the Hart family's fucking cursed.

Like he had a brother who died of a flesh eating bacteria. This happened to this kid. We saw what happened to Owen. Brett had a stroke. Like it just thing after thing after thing. The only family more cursed I think is probably the Von Erics. So, but the fact of the matter is from that very day,

I promised myself that I would come back and I would give wrestling fans and little kids all around the world somebody that they can look up to. Hey, I can't dance and I don't pose too well for girly books, but I am the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. And I'm back, thank you very much.

Now the emphasis on being the one that they can look up to, the minor complaint about how hard the job is, laced with all the good stuff, and you're starting to see the flex of a heel turn in there. Because the best heels are the ones that leave the right. Yeah. Yeah. Now, by the way, did you hear the part about the girly books? Yes. Sean Michaels had posed for Playgirl. OK. Little sprinklings. Now, speaking of heels, who think they're right on a Sunday taping of WWF superstars, Brian Pillman sought to interview his good buddy Steve Austin

to respond to Bret Hart's return. Pillman's injury and bad ankle were promoted by Jim Ross, and he's like on a crutch going out to the middle of the ring. And that's where he interviewed Stone Cold Steve Austin. Here's Brian Pillman says, "'I probably know you better than anyone else. "'That's why I know how excited you must be

"'for the announcement live on Raw "'that Bret Hart is going to come out of his semi-retirement "'and answer your challenge at Survivor Series. It's finally going to be your chance to prove yourself." And then Steve's response, I sure as hell saw how excited you were when you jumped out of your chair like some kind of cheerleader. Now don't even start talking yet because I ain't even through son. Then you went out there and you shook his hand.

It ain't time to start kissing up to Bret Hart yet because he ain't lived up to the biggest challenge of his life The posture the dressing down all of it was calculated to make him look like a bully running down his friends And then Austin says and shut up Pillman wasn't even talking And he says, it's pretty, it is a fun promo. He says, and I ain't never had to prove myself to nobody. And then Pillman comes back with, now Steve, I know how frustrated you are.

I know the disappointment you've had throughout your career. It's understandable. You're a little bit hot at me. I got caught up in the moment. Very emotional. I was excited that I was finally going to get to see you answer a lifelong dream at Survivor Series in the city that never sleeps, the most famous arena in the

world, Madison Square Garden. How great are these promos? Yeah. I mean, in that he detailed when, where where and why it mattered in one fucking sentence. Oh, yeah And then Austin responds I Love this Austin's response and you can listen to me you little crippled freak Son of a bitch. Everybody knows that at one time I carried you to a world championship and Austin was

finally getting booze for this one. Everybody knows at one time you rode in my back pocket. And again, the body language is extraordinary. Austin is leaning in. Pillman is like not making eye contact and leaning back a bit. Now Madison Square Garden, Brett Hart, you're gonna find out, Brett Hart's gonna find out.

The whole damn world's gonna find out. I will do exactly what I say. I'm gonna whoop his ass. Ben Pillman. Well, there you have it. Austin versus the best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever. And at that point, he gets cut off.

Steve waffles Pillman and starts kicking the shit out of him. Now, Steve Austin always went a little snug in the ring. He broke Pillman's cane on his ankle. Oh, shit, okay. So, Pillman didn't have a crutch, he had a cane, I'm sorry. Austin continued stomping away at Pillman, and then he grabbed a metal chair and put Pillman's ankle in it And he jumped from the second turnbuckle onto the chair to stomp the ankle in the chair This is after he stomped it from a standing position and then

Officials started coming down the ring He threw them out of the ring and it took a whole bunch of people to come out and stop him from continuing to stomp the ankle in the chair, including a bunch of referees, front office staff, low card wrestlers. Uh, Jim Ross finished it off with a great promo. He says, quote, if Austin will do this to a friend, by God, think what he'll do to Bret Hart at the survivor series. Now the move of putting someone's-

My God. Yep. Yeah. The move of putting someone's ankle in a chair and stomping on it is now called pilmanizing. Fuck me, man. Damn. So the next night, October 28th, 1996, Raw, it opened with Doc Hendricks, who was actually

just Michael P.S. Hayes of the Freebirds, who's now an announcer, cutting a promo that was sponsored by Milton Bradley's Karate Fighters to put over the Survivor Series with a Hall of Fame banquet to precede it. Just give me an idea. Yeah, guess who interrupted it? Austin yes, clearly it was pre-recorded and Austin said nobody cares about eight old farts getting a trophy handed to him and then Wow yes Like the Hall of Fame is its own institutional thing now. Like it's like if you buy tickets to WrestleMania, very often you also buy tickets to either the Hall of Fame or the raw that's afterwards because they're expensive as fuck.

So you probably don't do both. But people legit are like, do I want to watch wrestling or do I want to watch the Hall of Fame? And Austin, yeah, yeah. And at this point Austin's like, you know, they're eight old farts. And so, yeah, Hendrix went on to run down what the card for Survivor Series would be on November 17th. So this was a promo on a raw episode that aired eight days ahead of the 1996 election

Okay, and it's one that everyone knew how it was going to go already because this was October 28th Quote and of course you will see the 1996 King of the Ring award winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, meet the excellence of execution. We've already seen Stone Cold's live in here in the studio, and we know that Brett is live at home in Calgary. And Austin then interrupted again. So this whole fucking exchange is eight days before the election. Austin interrupts them saying that and says, you flew me all the way from Texas here. See, it's things like this that's going to hurt someone, that's going to get someone's ass kicked, Doc. And that's the bottom line. And the bottom line

to Bret Hart is at Madison Square Garden, Stone Cold Steve Austin is going to whoop your ass. By the way, the promo that Doc Hendricks cut put the championship match, a cage match, and a big tag team match first. He finished his promo talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart. Wow. Championship match, the championship, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. A fucking steel cage match is a huge deal There's a big tag team match those are a big deal, but it's this match Now this was in advance of the interview segment that would be between Austin in the studio and

Brett at home All right, so in advance of the interview segment you have just all kinds of like introduction to it but instead of like, oh and coming up next as you can see Stone Cold is in the in the audience or is in the studio, he's just cutting a promo on everybody. So. Omni directional promo. Oh my God. So it started with Vince McMahon saying that next week they'd go to the injured Brian Pillman's house

and interview him live about his injury that he got from Stone Cold Steve Austin. And Austin was livid even at that. He even interrupted Vince McMahon's announcement in the studio. He said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, live from his home? What do you mean you're going to go live from his home? You go to Brett's house, you go to Brian's house. Well, why didn't you come to Victoria, Texas and come to my house?

Which is really interesting to me because he's actually from Edna, Texas. But anyway. Hey, Fabe. Yeah. Yeah. There is such a grievance and a bitterness and a frustration about being left out completely or just not let in. And I think this growing sentiment and disgust with those who are already established continued to play with the folks as he got more popular who were angry that clinton won the election When vince tried to explain Uh austin's nah shut up And then we see the first real head waggle, right?

He says if anybody's going to brian's house next week Well, you can damned well bet that steve austin is going to be there because if you're going to have a little party with some Crippled freak you can bet i'll be there." And that's the bottom line. And he did more head waggle. And then McMahon chimed in, don't you think you've done enough to Brian Pillman? And Austin's response was, what do you mean done enough? Which he's not even incredulous. He's just pissed that you would dare to ask him.

And then they throw it back to the video of the superstars incident, right? And then Austin cuts in. He said, see, here's the problem. It's my interview. Listen. And this is the point where Pillman was putting over Bret Hart as his opponent. He says, this is the mistake. And the light bulb went off in my head when Brian Pillman took my interview time

and tried to turn it into the hit man's interview time. And that just ain't going to work for Stone Cold. And then McMahon says, this man is crippled. Look what you did. You took his very cane and you struck that ankle. And then look what you did when you brought a chair into the ring. Look.

He says, that's right. If I'd had a little more time with that cane, who knows what I would have done with him Like you missed the point sir Yeah, and yeah, I mean that's and And then Vince showed footage from backstage another somewhat new feature for the WWF at that time where Austin stage. Another somewhat new feature for the WWF at that time, where Austin interrupted the EMTs who were putting Pillman into the ambulance. He took their keys and he threw them. So now they can't go anywhere and he continued harassing Pillman. And then, you know, they're chiding, Vince is

chiding him for it. And he says, and this is a line, hey, when you get jerked around as long as I have, and when the WWF starts jerking you around, you gotta do what you gotta do. And Brian Pillman's gonna get a house call. And then Vince is aghast and says, what kind of a man, what kind of a creep are you? And he says, you see, here's the thing, Brian Pillman forgot. DTA, brother, don't trust anybody you thought I was your friend You were the biggest puppet in the world and I had the strings and then Vince interrupted him. He was a crippled man That's right, he's still a crippled man and he's got that stupid raspy voice with 33 throat operations Who really gives a rat's ass about all that? It's Stone Cold's time.

Shut up. And it just so Vince then asked why Gorilla Monsoon, the K-Fa president of WWF at the time, hasn't done anything. And then Austin did something that Ryan Pillman had done about a year earlier in WCW. And that is he pulled back the curtain on K-Fa a little bit. that Brian Pillman had done about a year earlier in WCW. And that is he pulled back the curtain on kayfabe a little bit. He says, stop asking me stupid questions

because you know Vince that Gorilla Monsoon is just a puppet, that's all. You're the one that's pulling all the strings here. You're the boss. Why don't you do something to me? I'll tell you why. Because you're all you're a greedy, selfish promoter and you know Stone Cold and Bret Hart are going to get it on in the biggest match of the decade.

And you don't want to miss out. You're going to feel your back pocket, son. But you're going to fill your back pocket, son. But listen to this. I'm going to make a lot of money from this match. But I just assumed kick his ass for free. This was heretofore kind of unheard of. Like you don't break K-Fave unless you're actually leaving the business

and you're fucking everybody on the way out. Yeah. Austin calling Vince the boss was like, there's a lot of people who grew up wrestling fans and they said this moment shocked them because they had no idea that Vince was the boss He was just really yeah, cuz he was the announcer that all the the heel announcers would always just Shit talk and be like shut up McMahon and stuff like that

Like no boss would let you talk to him that way Wow. All right Talk to him that way. Wow, all right. So the defiance and the willingness to work, shoot, and break kayfabe, the disgust the whole way down with the whole system, the hatred of those who are injured and disabled, is any of this starting to sound familiar to you? Oh, yeah.

I'm gonna win at any cost. I'm gonna do whatever it gets me, whatever it gets me, what I want, and that's the bottom line, because Karl Rove said so. Sorry, Stone Cold said so. Anyway, back to Stone Rove. He saw Brett on the monitor

as Vince was throwing to commercial. And he just, it's these little moments, right? So Brett is, you know, sitting at home in Calgary and, you know, via remote video, and Stone Cold sees that on a monitor, and he calls Brett a punk with a stupid look on his face. Like before they throw out a commercial. And then when they come back from commercial,

Brett's kids were in the shot, and Austin was just glaring daggers at the monitor and he was mocking Brett for having his kids there and they asked Brett to comment on Austin's attack on Pillman first and Because the audio was garbage and because there's a delay Brett doesn't answer right away. So Austin jumps in with answer him So he's just yeah eating up the whole interview. Yeah. Yeah, just constant attack, attack, attack, attack.

Yes, to the point where he's getting over, Brett's not. But Brett doesn't have to, because Brett is a known quantity. But Austin is, honestly, like at this point, Austin is big, bright, bold primary colors and Brett is earthen tones. Yeah, yeah. And the audio was garbage on Brett's end and then Sonny came to the ring, there was a miscue. So when they came back to the two of them,

McMahon asked, you knew that Steve Austin was the man who challenged you and my question is whether or not is that the reason you were reticent to make up your mind and Brett answered no not at all I think you're looking at 12 years without any kind of break of being just physically mauled by Giants and great wrestlers for years and years and years it just line being mauled by Giants. Yes I also love that like he's telling Vince I had to take time off asshole. Yeah. He says I'll be it took its toll. I'll be

the first one to say that Steve Austin Stone Cold is a great wrestler and I knew immediately upon seeing him that I was gonna be dealing with a very tough wrestler but he had nothing to do with my decision to step back from wrestling and then Austin chimes in basically loosely translated. You're saying that yes, Vince. I'm afraid that Stone Cold is gonna kick my ass That's what you're saying Which odd read um Brett laughed at this and

Responded he said some somehow you need to clean that up a bit I think he was referring to the audio feed so that austin could hear more clearly And then he says but then it's also possible Uh, well and then he says as far as you kick in my ass and then uh austin says there you go So it's also possible that brett was actually asking them to clean up Austin's language, because this response would match with Austin commenting that Brett finally said a swear word. And so then Brett says,

you maybe should think twice about that. I don't know if you've got what it takes to kick my ass. I've actually recuperated. I've been off. I'm ready for this match. And he was rising in his tone, but then Vince cut him off with Brett, if I may, but Brett wasn't done and he says, I'm better than I ever have been.

And so then he gets asked about ring rust and if he should have accepted a match with a lesser individual rather than Stone Cold Steve Austin. And eventually Brett answered with, I think the delay on the feed made it... Well, he answered, but there's a delay on the feed and it made it take a couple seconds. And so Austin kept chiming in with answer. And so then Brett finally did answer kind of tepidly because he doesn't wanna step on anybody else's line.

And there wasn't really much beyond him putting over Stone Cold. He says, what better way to do it than to take on Stone Cold, who I think, and I said it before in my live interview, and I'll say it again now, is the best wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation until November 17th. Now that's obviously the date of Survivor Series. Vince then likened the situation to a Gunslinger situation, and he asked Brett, he asked if Brett would continue his comeback if Austin beat him in Madison Square Garden and Brett continued putting over Austin So he's continuing to put this guy over which tells me that Brett's gonna win it. But also he's doing good business

He's already made Austin's the one who needs to get made by this Austin's the one who needs to get made by this. Even if Brett beats him, all this energy wouldn't matter if Austin just gets hammered. So he was really looking forward to a future where there would be multiple people that he'd build. That's why he's putting over Austin. That's why he put over Sean.

He's got other people that he can build. And by build, I mean he's building them up as he's finishing his career. That was his goal. He says, well, you know that's a very likely possibility. He straight up said it like it's likely that Austin could win. Brett's not that great at promos,

but I think he's doing something structurally very good here. Well, he knows strategy. Yeah, and it's the kind of promo that's going to allow him to slow cook his frustration as things develop, right? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's going to probably beat him in this first match, but that doesn't mean that their program has to end. So he's setting it up as you know, and he's going to control how the match goes and how he beats him, etc.

And so he says, I'm willing to accept whatever happens in that match. And if I come up short, I'm just going to get right back up on my horse like a gunfighter and and then Austin interrupted by saying, shut up. Which here's the real deal. When loser draw Brett, it ain't over. You're you're never going to get through with Stone Cold Steve Austin. You're going to have to kill me first, son. And that's the bottom line. And it's the truth.

When loser draw, I'm always always gonna be on your ass. So, he's not willing to accept the results, and he has a much broader agenda. It's not about a victory or a championship with Steve Austin. It's something far, far deeper. It's not about winning in the sense of the rules of wrestling. It's about hurting his opponent as much as he wanted to, regardless of the convention or the rules. And that sets the tone for the whole story. Brett then fired back with, that's why I'm the excellence of execution.

Austin responds, yeah, yeah, whatever. And then Brett says, you want to wear a hood while you're getting assassinated? And I think Brett was slipping up here. He was probably trying to say executed. He just flipped his words. Right. He says, I'm the best there is. I'm the best there was, and I'm the best there ever will be. And you're going to find that out, son. Say something. Now that's, that was Austin saying that Austin is sucking all the air out of the room with

his promo. Both men did a really good job of getting Austin over and planting the seeds of Brett's eventual frustration with him. It finished with Austin saying, it's Austin's house now. And then Vince went on to finish the interview and send them back out. And then Austin interrupted again. So Vince went to finish the interview and send any interrupts Brett again. So again, you have this general thing of Brett getting interrupted a bunch.

Mm hmm. Adding to his frustration all the way. So then Vince is about to kick it out to finish the interview and send them back out to the ring. And then Austin interrupted again. He says, no, no, no, no, no. You can tell him to go kiss off, but I've been here all night and I ain't leaving yet because you can stop counting me down. And then he walked off screen yelling at the cameraman

because I done told you once, son, and you can hear the cameraman pleading to be left alone. We got a damn problem because, and then it gets unintelligible, but the cameraman, the to be left alone. We got a damn problem because, and then it gets unintelligible, but the cameraman, the camera gets swung around to find Austin grabbing the cameraman bodily and pushing him back by the lapels. And then he hurled him into the ladder as Vince yelled,

that's a production assistant. The outrage. Right. Now, the action not in the ring. And then Austin, and there's like somebody going to the ring at that time. It's Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog. He's going to the ring. But we're staying backstage.

No, we ain't through by a long shot. You don't count me down. And then Austin turned back around to the rest of the crew and started destroying the backstage area he grabs the monitor and Looks at it like gets real close like you want your precious monitors and he threw the monitor to the ground breaking it legitimately and Then they went to the ring where wrestling was happening briefly But then they come back to Stone Cold Steve Austin, who's now slapping around a security guard. I'm going to let you live. You ain't going to ask me to do nothing cause I'll leave on my own.

And then they went to black. Now, of course, this was replayed over and over through the next few weeks. And when they came back from the break, Austin was dressing down another security guard. He said, you can't do nothing to Stone cold because Vince McMahon ain't going to let nothing happen to me. And then the show went off the air while Austin was walking out to be confronted by the police complete with flashing lights and everything. Wow.

He is off the rails, angry, frustrated, pissed off. But the thing I really, really want to highlight there is that he told Brett, does not matter if you beat me, does not matter if I beat you, we're not done. Yeah. How do you fight that? Like this is wrestling. Right. Like, yeah.

You know, and the thing was Austin didn't want the fans to cheer for him, but they're Yeah. And the thing was, Austin didn't want the fans to cheer for him, but they're starting to. And things had shifted clearly by November, because as awesome as this was as a heel promo by Austin, it was also so masterful as a performance in stealing the show that you can't help but be more interested in him, not Brett. Just from a posture perspective, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Austin, well, Brett's leaning back. Yeah. The whole time seated. Yeah.

He's wearing earthen tones behind him. He's got a fireplace. He's wearing a plaid shirt. His hair was dry. There, there were there were ways that him being in a seated position could be a power move but it doesn't read that way here and I think it's cuz he's wearing I think it's cuz he's wearing plaid and earthen tones okay um and again yeah with his posture, you don't see his legs. If you saw his legs, it might be a more powerful position. But Austin, and his hair was dry, and we are used to Brett having oiled hair.

Okay. Austin was surrounded by stark black background. He had his vest on, his black leather vest with no shirt, showing off his arms. His audio was just better quality than Brett's. Yeah. And that's just a function of the technology at the time. Now the next RAW, on November 4th, 1996, they focused on the damage that Austin had done to Pillman. And they showed his ankle wrapped up with tubes going into it, etc Pillman said that he would be back in 1997 But he spent his time putting over Austin and that Pillman was playing by his own rules now. So

Austin's a madman. He's on the loose and Pillman is unhinged he's I'm playing by my own rules and is unhinged and he's I'm playing by my own rules and McMahon then interrupted to tell Brian Pillman that Steve Austin was actually on his way over to Pillman's house and he asked if Pillman felt like a hostage in his own home. Now I remember watching this episode with producer George in our apartment. It was fucking wild and And it showed Austin as a total badass, beating people up, breaking and entering, and not caring that Pillman had a gun. It has been dubbed the Pillman's Got a Gun episode.

And the WWF had to apologize later to the USA Network for how it went. Really? Yes. And even having to do that publicly to the USA Network for how it went. Really? Yes. And even having to do that publicly actually only served to put Austin over more and more because he's such a danger and a loose cannon that we had to apologize for him being on TV.

Right. So, Austin wasn't even at the wrestling arena and now he was a reckless and fearless badass And um Pillman said and He's got a knife. He's got a gun in his hand and he cocks it He racks it and he says when Austin 316 meets pillman's 9 millimeter Glock. I'm gonna blast his ass straight to hell Wow and Austin straight up like breaks into his house beats the shit out of all of pillman's friends

Goes walks into his house. Um, and like it's it's like a monster breaking into a home, you know? Damn. Yeah. So, that was November 4th, 1996. The next night was the election. Yeah. And... Yeah.

Go ahead. Well, what I was going to say was, and, and by that point, um, basically everybody knew how that was going to go. Like that was, that was the, the kind of the, the reverse of 2016. Yeah. You know, it was it was like, no, no, we're we're way behind in the, you know, the Dole campaign is way behind in the polls. It's just it's going to be a walk.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's actually where I'm going to leave it. I'll put up the next episode with the actual election because there's some important quotes that I mean most of this most of these episodes are me quoting promos and or political speeches, right? But there's there's some really important Background things that are happening in politics to help highlight why wrestling is happening the way it is there. Yeah, so But yeah, that's that's where we're gonna leave off. So

gleaned anything Just that Steve Austin Was truly willing to make himself the worst kind of bad guy. Yes Cartoonishly bad. Yeah. And and watching him do it, it's really clear he's eating it up. Mm-hmm. Like he, you know, I always, you know, whenever we talk about about films, one of the things I always say is it's really clear everybody on screen is having fun. It's really clear that Steve Austin is having way too much fun being stone cold.

Just getting to exercise all of those parts of your of your personality. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Yeah. It was it's yeah, it's it's it is a fascinating thing The funny thing is is that like I have never been a huge Steve Austin fan, but I cannot deny The insane amount of influence and talent that that man had I'm actually more of a fan of him now that he's retired because as a person he seems a pretty decent fellow Yeah as as a wrestling gimmick It was never my favorite because I am always bored by the punch and kick guys. But those are the guys that get over the most. Yeah. Hulk Hogan didn't put people in toe holds. Steve Austin didn't get popular until he stopped putting people in toe holds. Right. The Rock, same thing. Like, yeah, you think it has something to do with, um, the catharsis of watching somebody brawl. Rather than, rather than, you know, you look at, you look at technical kind of wrestling

moves, you're like, man, that's complicated. Watching somebody just kick somebody's ass. Maybe there's, maybe there's more somehow subconsciously more relatability. I think like I wish fulfillment is easier. Yes, I can yeah that Yeah, you know, um, I can't do what Billy Kidman and who we grow did Like yeah, I just can't I can't flip like that. I'm you know, I'm not that flexible. I'm not that athletic and I can't flip like that. I'm you know, I'm not that flexible. I'm not that athletic And yeah, I think I can brawl I can punch I can kick I could see myself doing that, you know, I think I think it's that much more than it is A catharsis

Okay. All right now I personally prefer The hoovy and kidman stuff. I personally prefer the technical stuff, the Jack Gallagher stuff. The art. Yes. I like that stuff.

Cause anybody can tell a story with a brawl. And don't get me wrong, they are fantastic stories. But when you can tell a story with, you know, it's kind of like free verse poetry. You can come up with some really cool shit. Like I saw Biden's inauguration. She did an amazing job Right, but can you come up with a haiku that blows my mind if you can Wow, right? You know cuz it's so yeah more confined. So right right. Yeah. Yeah

but cool, um What what are you recommending for people? hmm, I'm going to very strongly, once again, recommend the Path of the Assassin manga series. It's very long, so it deserves more than one recommendation. It's a lot of fun. It is a fictionalized biography of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his closest bodyguard, Hattori Hanzo, master of the Iga ninja clan. And yeah, it is an entertaining read. It follows the two of them from the time they're like, you know, 14, uh, up through middle age.

Um, and yeah, uh, it is, uh, just like I recommended last episode talking about, uh, samurai executioner this series also, uh, in the midst of the fantastical ninja magic stuff that goes on it is a really good kind of introduction to the characters of the era of the country at war in Japan so very strongly recommended go out and look it up. And what about you?

I'm going to recommend that you find access to Hulu, although you could probably find this streaming somewhere. Somebody's probably uploaded it. But anyway, it's called Dark Side of the Ring. It's a TV series. Go to season three, episodes one and two. And it's the Brian Pillman story It's tragic and awful and sad This man died at 35 and the way that he was treated up to his death and then the way his family was treated after his death and the

There are so many more victims in this story than there are heroes like it's it's not good. It's not good at all Um, but I think it's uh, it's really important to kind of understand that period of time because pillman died in 97 Um Yeah, and uh, I think that um It bears Examining. I mean he died in I think about a little less than a year after the stuff. I just talked about Yeah, and and McMahon's reaction to it and how awful that was and then also The way that his then wife handled things afterwards, it's it's

drink a lot afterwards, but it is worth taking a look at. Because I think it's also still showing us something about that time. So, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, cool. Where can we be found? We collectively can be found on our website at wubba wubba wubba dot geek history time dot com That is where we have the most extensive archive of all of the episodes we've done up to this point

So go give that a give that a look find any topic that you are interested in and Use that as a starting point, bounce around between things. As I have said before, we cover an awful lot of topics, and you're sure to find something that you're gonna find interesting. Additionally, we can be found on the Apple Podcast app, on the Amazon Podcast app, and on Spotify.

So wherever it is that you have found us, take a moment to hit the subscribe button and give us a five star review because we have certainly worked for it. And how about you? Well, you can find me found. You can find me and my crew of Capital Punishment in Sacramento at the Comedy Spot on the first Friday of every month.

That is December 6, January 3, February 7, March 7. That'll be our one year anniversary there. And yeah, you can find us spinning that wheel, slinging those puns. If you are not in the local Sacramento area, go to www.saccedyspot.com forward slash calendars Find us on that first Friday 9 p.m. Buy buy a ticket and you can watch us streaming Translates very well over streaming and if you are in the Sacramento area go to that same web spite website website website

bite When your neighbors by going to our show there you go But yeah, bring your enemies bring your friends, but yeah sat comedy spot comm forward slash calendars Buy your tickets now because we sell out every show But yeah, if you like pro wrestling in any way and you like puns, it's the show for you But yeah, if you like pro wrestling in any way and you like puns, it's the show for you Yeah, that's that's about where you can find me. So Again comedy spot Sacramento 9 p.m. First Friday of every month. So

Well, very cool a geek exterior of time. I am the best there is the best there was and the best there ever will be Shut up And I'm in Blaylock and that's the bottom line