Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Stone Cold Steve Austin: Iconic WWE Moments, Worst Stunner, One More Match, CM Punk, Vince McMahon

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) is a professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Broken Skull Ranch in Nevada to discuss his legendary wrestling career, iconic theme song, how beer became a part of his celebration, why he came out of retirement to wrestle Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38, a possible in-ring comeback, why he and Bret Hart had great chemistry, a dream match with CM Punk, who took the worst Stunner of all time, his cats Pancho and Macho, and more! Please support our sponsors! PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv AMERICAN FINANCING: NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-721-3300 for details about credit costs and terms or visit https://Americanfinancing.net/Chris SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV2025 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flee! Great to see you. Great to have you here, man. It's hard to get here. Glad you found your way. It's a little out of the way. I like it, like it. Yeah.

Yeah. That's the plan? Look, you got a ton of property here on the ranch. Yeah, well, I mean, it was the plan. And my wife and I decided it was time to get out of L.A. You know, a while back, and we finally did. And we ended up here if it was up to me in a perfect world. I'd like to be further out, probably about 50 miles farther out in the desert.

I have a place out there. She didn't go there that much. I would rather be a little bit further removed from civilization, but this is handy. And it had enough to go back and forth to town. But if you're coming here from Florida, Kevin Nash came here a long time ago, and he goes, man, why in the hell are you here? He didn't really get it. So it's beautiful outside, and I love Nevada. I don't know, there's mountains over here with snow on.

I mean, this is beautiful. You can do a lot of things here, man, hunting, skiing. fishing and people out here are very active in the outdoors and kind of suits my taste as well. People will be surprised that Texas rattlesnake lives in Nevada. God dang, you know, and I was, you know, a lot of people still think I live in Texas. And that's where I was born and raised and I'll always love Texas. But at this point in my life, probably moving forward, you know, Nevada is my home and with so much public land to roam around on.

And it's just been amazing hunting. And I started racing anywhere you, I just left the, past weekend on one of my buggies side by sides and drove 100 miles. So, you know, it's hard to do that in another state. I thought I might see some cats as we were walking in here. The cats are out in the horse barn. Solid-ass cats? Yeah, solid-ass cats. They're out roaming around. Macho is prowling by the pond. He's a hunter. And Pancho will pretty much stay by the horse barn. He has really befriended one of my wife's horses. And so he'll jump on her back and they'll hang out together and nuzzle each other.

The solid-ass cats are alive and well. What makes a cat a solid-ass cat? I don't know. I just came up with that. It's turned into a thing. And people love to see those cats on Instagram. So, you know, I was out there shoveling horse shit. I think it was two years ago around Christmas.

And I just addressed the camera. My iPhone, I said, hey, man, this is Stephen Poncho, wishing everybody Merry Christmas. And I didn't expect anything of it. and just in subsequent posts, not trying to make it a thing, it turned into a thing. So it is what it is.

Well, I hope to meet the solid-ass cats before we leave here. When we leave, you just got to be real chill when you walk up to them because they know strangers, if it's a different sounding vehicle, they know that it's not one of our vehicles.

And so poncho is pretty leery, and he watches out for macho. So they're quite the duo, and I hope to be able to introduce you to them. You'll like them. I can't wait. What keeps you busy these days? and a lot of things.

I started racing side-by-sides, U-TVs. About three years ago, we were filming a show. The show turned out badly. But in the process, I got into the racing community and did a poker run, and my producer calls me, and there was about six foot of snow back then. And when the network greenlit the show, we didn't shoot a pilot, and all of a sudden we just went to camera. And so my wife and I are thinking, because we're just getting pounded with snow,

six feet of snow in the valley where I live is very uncommon and very hard to deal with. And they said, no, we're ready to start shooting right now. So we started filming that. And we got our asses handed to us for months. And then in the process, my producer says, hey, do you want to do a poker run? I don't play cards. So I said, man, what is a poker run? And it's basically a poker run is when you're running a course, an outdoor desert racing course,

it might be the course might be 45 miles a loop or might be 80 miles of a loop and you have a GPS device in your car so you ride the course to pre-run it to mark your dangers to know the course and then on race day the next day that's when you take off and do your thing so we just did the pre-run and so a few months later the guys called me up that I did the pre-run with and they said hey do you really want to start racing and I thought about it for a second I said man yeah I would and that's how I started. Those guys were, those guys were really good. And this year, I split off on my own. So we're currently building a new car. I work with Kawasaki, so we're building a supercharged car. That's the H2, 250 horsepower. We'll be going a lot faster this year. We're building this. The guy that's building this is on the other side of Sacramento. So I spent a lot of time going back and forth, working on that. I just celebrated 10 years of being in business with El Sagundo Brewing Company and being in the beer business. And, man, there's a lot of craft beer places that are kind of falling by the wayside

and we're still running strong. So a 10-year anniversary with Kawasaki. So that kind of stuff and a few things that I don't talk about on the side, keep me busy and helping my wife run this place and taking care of the animals. Broken Skull beer was the only beer you were drinking in the ring, right? Well, you know, I drank every beer that there ever was, you know, coming up. You didn't have a preference? Oh, you know, well, back in the...

a day, you know, I remember we pitched Coors Light many years ago when I was really on fire and I was way over the top and way too aggressive and they wouldn't touch me with a 10-foot pole. And then, you know, we were about to come out with Stone Cold Beer years ago and we were just about to go to packaging. And that was about that time where, you know, Vince wanted me to do the favor for Brock. And I said, man, F you, you know, because it wasn't business. I, I was I would, man, that was one of the things I really wish I would have got to do was work with Brock Lesnar. But it was just a terrible business decision to beat me on a Monday Night Raw match, no advertisement, no pre-billed or anything like that. That was a money match at a major pay-per-view.

So anyway, when I took my ball and went home, and I hate to talk about some of this old stuff, but that's when that part of the beer aspect left and then all these years removed to get into the beer business. on my own. It's been fun and it keeps me busy and it's not a it's a passion project. It's not something and it's just slap my name on a celebrity based type thing. You know, I'm in it. I help with the hop selection and everything else. So I love it. You don't get rich in the beer business with just a couple beers competing against all the majors. But I'm known I'm known for drinking beer and I still drink beer. and I'm proud of the beer that we've created.

I like that you have now crushed that rumor. There's this rumor online that you don't drink beer anymore. Yes, I still drink beer. But just, you know, it's kind of like the old-timers used to come up to you in the dressing room when you first start breaking into business. Kid, you've got to pick your spots. You know, you're going to take all those bumps. So, yeah, these days you don't need all those hangovers.

You pick your spots. Friday night is kind of like I still eat and, you know, watch what I eat pretty strictly. So Friday is usually my beer night when I'll have a couple of IPAs and that's when I, you know, pick my spot. And then it's red wine the rest of the time? Yeah, there's that meme going around of my wife and I was just me sitting there holding a wine glass because she took the picture and, you know, something about Uncle Steve or this out or whatever. You know, everything turns into a meme. But yeah, my wife and I've been going back and forth to Napa Valley for years and we love it out there. And, you know, we started off drinking the big cabs and merloughs and we're more into, uh,

Pino Noirs now. So yeah, man, we try to get to Napa at least once a year or every other year. What's the most amount of beer that you ever drank in the ring after a match? It was over in Japan, and I've talked about this before because the Dudleys were there and Stacey Kiebler was there, and there's a whole bunch of people that were in the ring. And so I just started tossing out beers, but I think we went over a hundred. And this is an Andre's story, but I believe there was a hundred beers involved in that. Now, did they all get drank into completion. Sure.

It was spilled everywhere and thrown here, there, and wherever. But I think that was about the biggest one ever over in Japan. And like, I used to like get Goldberg in the ring and toss him beers on a few occasions that we did that because Bill don't drink. He'll drink a beer or two, but he doesn't really drink. And so I'd keep force feeding him beers because if you're in the ring with Stone Cold, you've got to drink the beer. And I'd try to get him as hammered as I could before he left the ring.

It's kind of an ongoing rib between me and Bill. I still keep up with him pretty closely. Did you ever feel a bus after drinking those beers in the ring? Yeah, man, because you're going into the ring. You've already got an empty stomach because you're waiting there all day. You're waiting to work. So it's not like your back are eating sandwiches and stuff. So you're basically drinking on an empty stomach.

And, you know, when you're guzzling that many beers, whatever goes on you, the rest is going in you. So, yeah, by the time you go through a 12, 18 back and just dumping them down your gullet, you've absorbed a lot of them. So, yeah, there were, there were, you know, many, many, many occasions where I left out of there and hit the road. I'm pretty good buzz going on. How did drinking beer even become part of your celebration? I don't know.

Someone else asked me that a while back, and Sandman was way before me. So I always give Sandman credit. And then we evolved it somehow, some way in a fashion that I don't think was copying Sandman. And I think he bashed him over. His was part of his entrance more. Yeah. But anyway, but I always throw respect to Sandman, because I wasn't trying to rip him off, but we weren't even thinking that when we started doing it.

And I don't even know how it came to be if it was something where I took a can from somebody in the audience and then it turned into a thing or what. As we were talking on the phone before you came here, I told you, I said, man, there's a lot of my career that I remember, but there are certain pieces that I don't remember. And I can't remember exactly how that got started. so that that would be one of those occasions. Do you not remember stuff just because you were go, go, go. You were in a different city every day for years?

Well, you know, that. And, you know, man, that was 20, 30 years ago. And it's hard to believe that it's been that long because, man, I still feel, I'll be 61 and what's the day, December 2nd or 4th? Second. Okay, December 4th will be my one-year anniversary on my knee replacement. 18th is my birthday. So shit, man, I'm 61.

You forget a little bit down the road of life. And like I was telling you on the phone, I still probably remember more stuff about the Rock and Roll Express and the Midnight Express feuds and Rick Flair and Dusty Roads are going to do about my own careers. So you got to forget something along the way, but I still, hell, I pulled a name out of my ass the other day. My wife was asking me a question. So it's just funny how the memory works. You look great, though.

You look like you could still go. I could. God dang it. And, you know, just saying that takes me back to when we did that WrestleMania match with Kevin Owens in Dallas, Texas. And they didn't send a ring down for me to work out. And to, you know, get any kind of timing or hit the ropes. I remember going down there.

And I was running the ropes and, you know, taking a couple flat back bumps before we got into the ring. But you can't get your timing or any kind of, anything back, or much less your wind. And I was over here in my gym doing all kinds of cardio because, you know, when that glass breaks or whoever's music hits and you start walking to the ring, man, just the buzz of the crowd, I've seen people blow up walking to the ring because that's just what a crowd can do to you.

And so just going there with Kevin Owens and trying to have that match with him where we didn't build it, didn't bill it as a match, but, you know, it was going to be a match, so to speak. And I remember telling Kevin, and I was knocking a shit out of him. I was potatoing him so bad, because I ain't thrown a punch in 19 years. And he never threw a receipt. And I just, I told him, because we keep in touch with each other every now and then. And I just wished that he could have been in the ring with me when I was really going, you know, full speed and had my timing, because he's a great worker. And I really like him a lot. I wish he would have got a chance to, experience me when I was in my prime because that would have been a great contest. But I could still,

I could still do it. And I'm not advocating for nothing. So I'm not selling a match here, Chris, but you asked me, could I? Yes. Would you? Probably not. I'll say that, but you say never say never. Sure. You know, with the knee replacement I had last year, God dang, I was limping around so bad, and I didn't even know I was limping. And people would ask me, what's wrong? I said, what are you talking about? You're limping. Fuck, I didn't know because I don't watch myself walk. And then finally, after everybody kept pointing it out to me, I started, it was really, I could feel it, no doubt. That's why I was limping.

And then it just started getting really bad because of all the arthritis in there. And finally, last year had it replaced. And, you know, I was thinking, why didn't I do this? You know, to get out of so much pain. And I've always wondered what arthritis felt like. man, I found out firsthand that it's chronically over time years and years and years of it. It'll change your personality. It just puts you in a state of mind where you just want some relief.

So to get that relief and come out on the other side and still be active, I don't really squat anymore. I do, you know, like Hindu squats, free squats like guys would do in their hotel room. And I always had good legs. So I'll do that to maintain them. But anyway, still trying to keep in shape. You got to keep in shape because, first of all, it is who I am. I started working out when I was in fifth grade.

And we were underneath the stadium in Edna, Texas, where I grew up. And my brother was two years older than me. And junior, that's when you start football in Texas. A seventh and eighth graders were in their training, and I was over leaning against Wall because I was in fifth grade. I was too young. And there was a coach. His name was Coach Harper. He goes, hey, who's the eighth?

Who's that kid over there? My brother Scott said, that's my brother Steve. Why is he here? Well, he was too young to play football. He looked at me instead of kicking me out of the stadium, he goes, you want to lift weights? I said, yes, sir. So I started training at fifth grade because Coach Harper let me in rather than kicking me out.

So I've worked out my whole life and I'll continue to work out until I'm not alive because you got to. And when you feel like, first of all, it's who I am, then as you were, Stonecoast Steve Boston, you just don't want to turn into a tubby shit because, you know, the people remember you of how you were. So that's part of it. You just got to, and I was talking with Undertaker a few WrestleMania's ago, and we were by the ring, and we're like, God dang, man, it seems like it just passed by so fast.

Like, goddamn yesterday, we was in the ring. And here we are now, the Grizzled veterans. And we were talking about workouts and stuff like that. And Taker said this. He goes, most. Ocean is lotion. And I remember that. So I always stay active. Why was WrestleMania 38 the right time to have another match? And why was Kevin Owens the right opponent? It was in Dallas, Texas. Vince flew down here. And we had a conversation. And I thought about it for a minute. And I love Kevin Owens. And he's just, I think from a safety standpoint, they picked Kevin. And when they threw out just a couple of names,

Kevin was the guy. Is it because he was also doing the stunner? Like there's a bit of tie in there? No, no, it wasn't anything to do the stunner. They just handpicked Kevin because they know how good he is. And he cuts a good promo. I remember meeting Kevin 100 years ago in the airport. I'm in Sammy Zane.

It's a well-known story. But anyway, I gave him some advice about learning how to promo and talk. He said taking all those bumps. And, you know, he's turned to him end up. Kevin Owens will end up in a Hall of Fame. So, I mean, why not pick Kevin? knowns for Stonecoe Steve Austin's opponent. How did it feel being back in the ring?

Well, it was interesting because there was different people that were, you know, making comments about that. Triple H says, you never know what you got until you get in there. So you don't. And he was right. Hulk Ogan, God rest his soul, says, you know, you're not calloused up because you haven't been on the road. You haven't been taking bumps in the ring.

He was right. Undertaker says, there's no way that you can have timing because you haven't been been in the ring, you know, over and over every single night. And he was right. So, you know, on that night walking to the ring, I remember I couldn't hear the crowd like I wanted to just because of the acoustics of that building. And, man, I'm just real in tune with, you know, how the crowd responds to anything, particularly, you know, as anybody would, your entrance. We blew the roof off the place. So anyway, we go into the match and it was fine. You know, I blew up. up because I hadn't had any reps in a ring.

But, you know, when I looked back at that, I rush through so many things. I wish I would have slowed down more and savored it a little bit more and just entertain the crowd a little bit more. And it was what it was. We got away with it because it was anticipated. It was built as my last match because Dallas is where I started and Dallas is where I would finish. So for all the right reasons, it was there to have that match.

and we pulled it off, but God dang, I could have been better prepared, and I would have loved to have been better, you know, that night for Kevin on. Before WrestleMania 38, your last match was WrestleMania 19 with the Rock. Did you know going into that that was going to be your last match? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there was only a few people that knew that was going to be my last match. And I think Rock knew. And then we had that little incident the night before.

But yeah, that was going to be the last match. and it was until it wasn't. And the incident the night before, you went to the hospital, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was just a thing where, man, I was running hard and dehydrated and drinking a lot of caffeine. And I remember my legs were kind of shaking at the gym that day.

And it was just kind of a precursor for what was to come. And I was working out with Kevin Nash. We were sitting there doing cardio and talking on the recumbent bikes. And then when I got into the hotel, Well, I think it was at Grand Hyatt. And I was up on like the top, one of the top floor, 27, 28. And, uh, God, damn, my heart just started beating out of my chest. Like, I timed it.

It's like about 180 beats a minute. That sounds crazy, but that's what it was. And then the doors opened, and I've told the story many times. And there was a lady that worked in the office. Her name was Liz DeFabio, real nice lady. And God damn, I looked at Liz. I said, Liz, I'm in trouble. And my room was right there.

I went in my room and she called 911 and a couple of ambulances came and all that stuff. And they told me to the hospital. They tried to, but they had to cave me to the hospital because, you know, I was in the main event. And so anyway, we get there. They do a bunch of tests on me, check me out and everything. Thought I had a pulmonary embolism and stuff like that. Turns out, man, I was just running ragged. And so anyway, doctor never really cleared me.

I've said this before and went to the ring the next day and, you know, put over the rock and took care of business, which could have done, I think the match is okay. Match is okay. But, you know, that was just a product of running too hard, too fast, too long. Were you ready to say goodbye to wrestling at that point in time? Well, I was having some neurological issues, you know, because of, you know, had fusion a couple years before. I got back in, got back on top. And just neurologically, I wasn't all there. And so I just decided at that time and talking events that it was time to pull a plug and do something else or right off into the sunset and not risk, you know, damaging myself

any further from, you know, it's hard to change your style because I was more of like a scientific wrestler, if you will, or I was trying to emulate Rick Flair, you know, and no one's ever going to be Rick Flair because he's the goat for me. and, you know, but once I got dropped on my head, you know, I had to change my style. And when I turned into more of a brawler, you know, that worked for the Stone Cold Steve Austin persona. So, you know, a tragedy or a mishap turned into a bonus as far as developing that character. But, I don't know. What more was there for you to accomplish, though, that point?

I feel like you had done it all. Not really. No, because, man, I was on top for, you know, whatever it was. I was respected as a mechanic, you know, coming out of USWA and then going to WCW, you know, a little bureaucratic red tape in WCW, and, you know, they put me and Brian together, and I didn't want that. And then once they put us together, I loved it. And then they broke us up, and I didn't want that.

And so, you know, I was respected as a mechanic, you know, a guy people liked to work with because we were going to have good matches, but I wasn't a star. So it took the change in style to, you know, Turn into Stoneco, Steve Austin, and it worked. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking.

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Follow and listen on your favorite platform. What's the star making moment, you think, for Stone Cold? Because some people say it's the Austin 316 promo. Maybe it's the Russellmania 13 match with Brat. Maybe it's the WrestleMania 14 match with Sean. I think all of them. I think everything that happened was a step for the next thing to happen. And it was kind of like a momentum thing that finally started catching on and changing.

And I knew you would ask a question similar to this, and I was thinking of the agents that were there when I first came in as a ringmaster, and then I turned in to Stone Cold, or maybe even before that. But some of the guys that were really instrumental or helpful to me as I was trying to struggle a little bit when I first got there, and then trying to find my way, I had been stunning Steve Austin previously, and I had somewhat of an identity, if not a defined character. at least I knew who I was. And so, you know, when I went there, I just, I had a physical style in Black Jack Lanzah, Renee Goulet, dang was Tony, Tony's last name, skipping that. A couple of those agents, Paterson kept coming up to me and saying, Steve, you're going to get over because it's going to take you longer to get over because it didn't really have a gimmick at the time. it's going to take you longer to get over, but when you do, you'll stay over because this is who you are and your style will work.

And so that ends up being what happened. I think it was just a culmination of things building and turning out to be that all those things compiled just kept gaining people's interests. And I started getting over and getting attention and getting the attention of events, you know, enough to finally push me. And, you know, because when I first came in with the ringmaster gimmick, it sucked, you know, and I had nowhere to go with it. And then the frustration level and coming up with the name, you know, we were, you know, going nowhere quickly. And once I came up with the name, we started going somewhere in time. What was your original pitch or your original idea for what Stone Cold was going to become? We didn't know it was going to become, but it was based off, you know, a serial killer or hitman from the,

the mob, whatever you want to call it, Richard Kiklinski. And then, you know, I was working heel, and I hadn't put all the pieces together yet. It was just something that kind of evolved over time, grow to goatee in. You know, Vince wanted me to change my look when I came into the company. I had that kind of long, straggly hair. So I gave myself the Bruce Willis buzz cut from Pulp Fiction. And then one night when I was driving with Gold Dust, Dustin Rhodes, one of my favorite opponents, and a good friend.

And we were going to work in the Lerner Arena that night. night in Pittsburgh. And so I just shaved my head because I'm in that buzz haircut with my blonde hair. You can even see it anyway. I didn't have a goatee. It wasn't much of a look. And man, I got the bill and I said, man, what you do that for? I said, what a fucking difference does it make? You know, it ain't going nowhere. You know, it's something to do. And so anyway, I started growing a goatee and then, you know, kind of things, you know, it's like a, it's a process. You know, I remember you just see guys or gals, and I got something. You just got to find it.

And so I had something. I just had to find it, and it just took. I guess I was in the business seven years before I got to WWE, and then it took me that long to find it. I'd found pieces of it along the way enough to get me to a certain level. But to find the top level, it's just, I think it's luck, it's studying, and it's just taking chances. How much did your theme song have to do with you getting over?

Because it's one of the best themes songs of all time. Oh, absolutely. You know, and I remember, you know, when I was down in WCW, I had a pretty decent little entrance song. It was pretty rocking. And you go, I was cocky as stunning Steve was. And then when I came into WWE as I was using the million-dollar dream as my finish. and I was a million dollar champion.

They had this dreamy, slow music. And I'm like, man, what the fuck? How do you walk to the ring with any kind of swagger to this? You know, and I was lost. You know, finally they wanted to redo my music because I turned into Stone Coast Steve Austin. And I just hit Jim Johnson with, hey, man, I like Bulls on Parade from Rage Against a Machine.

So, you know, and if he listened to it once, twice, or didn't listen to it. He came up with what he came up with, and he put the siren in there and the glass breaking, which wasn't part of that song. So I've always given him just the anthem out of credit

because, and he made winners. And yeah, man, that was, god dang. If that ain't one of the best intersongs or top three, I don't know what is. I'm telling you.

Yeah. And it's something about Jim Johnson adding the glass shattering at the start. Yeah. It just works. Well, it does just because, but it also worked with my character. So you have that instant explosion. So it just, it lends itself to the pandemonium or an explosion and reaction.

Because, again, you can have that music. And if you ain't over, it ain't going to do squat. But if you have something and you are over and you have that and everything works together, yeah, it works very well together. When everything was clicking and you were the guy in WWE, did you feel it? Were you able to feel that? Yes. Did you know when it started to pick up?

Yeah. It was in Chicago at a spot show in a tag match. It was me, Undertaker, Mark Merrill, and one other guy. And every time I got in it rings, something changed. Something happened. We'd pick up the pace a little bit and me and Taker on the same page. And it just, I could feel a groundswell of, like, support from Chicago. Chicago's always been a stronghold for me, and I don't know why.

And, of course, you know, 13 happened to Chicago. And this was prior to then. But for some reason that Chicago crowd is always like me. And that's when I first started feeling it just in a house show and a meaningless, if you will, tag match. But I could feel, hey, man, there's something going on here. Something's changing and something's, you know, gathering speed and momentum. One of the greatest matches of all times at WrestleMania 13. you and Brett Hart.

Why were you guys able to make such magic together? Because Brett Hart's the best there is, the best there was there ever will be. Brett, I love working with that guy. We just had instant chemistry. He was a student of the game and a student of other promotions, and he had seen what I was doing in WCW is studying Steve Austin, and he knew his style and my style would work well together. And it did.

Just a trash-talking heel that I was. was and he was that steady, you know, workaholic, you know, working baby face, hardcore, blue collar, if you will, Canada, wearing the pink, just two styles that would work really, really well together, and it did. And I'm very thankful that guy because, you know, he meant a lot to my career. And I never forget that one time when I was, he was just coming back from getting his knee cleaned up. And he needed an opponent for, what was the survivor? series of something like that and a summer slam whatever it was they're in the garden and he picked me as as as he picked me as his opponent and you know that was a it was a real classic an understated

classic and if you go back and watch that match the the rings were miced differently back in so that match sounds different the crowd's different and i was not the love that i would be but people were into that match and i had some mixed reactions of course you know brett was was the baby face but for some reason, you know, when they ring the bell, Brett and I click in the ring. And there's just, it's mutual respect. And for some reason, with some people, you just have great chemistry.

You and I could be best friends, and we could go out there and work, but we might not have the best in-ring chemistry, although we're best friends. So sometimes that just happens. Like with the rock, great chemistry, with mankind, great chemistry. kind. Great chemistry.

Who would you say is your biggest rival? Vince. Yeah. Great chemistry. Yeah. That's the storyline that made me a mega fan. Yeah. You and Mr. McMahon was a, it was a wild storyline because it's the idea of like,

this guy's doing what to his boss? He's doing the thing that everybody wanted to do. Yeah. How did that come together of the idea of like you're working with, working with the boss? I don't even remember. I just remember he was interviewing me. one time he was talking about whoever was the president at the time it was a sanction was a

gr was it wasn't gorilla but i said on the interview i said everybody knows you're you're the boss and you know i think you know maybe that was when he when he woke up and said hey let's do this i don't know he was the mastermind i don't know what he's doing now but you know that was a feud that transcended to wrestling business and even if you didn't even if you didn't even if you weren't like a wrestling fan per se, you were interested in being entertained, so you put it on to see what this motherfucker from South Texas is terrorizing his boss from New York City, and course, Vince is from North Carolina. But you know what I'm saying? He's the guy with all the money, and here's this guy that he's trying to give a hard time to and make everything hard for him.

And, you know, he's outsmarting him and he's kicking his ass. And, you know, at some point in anybody's life, they'd like to punch her boss in the mouth. And, you know, when it was time for me to get mine in, I did. It was time for Vince to get that heat back. He did to keep far, you know, furthering the storyline. So it was just, you know, master at creating a storyline and feuding with him as long as we did. And really, it never became boring. Were you ever surprised that Vince was was willing to do what he would do in the ring? Like, he went for it, always. Yeah, I've always said that events will go to any link to further any angle. And obviously, you know, considering him himself, you know, he wants to be, you know,

the leader of the pack, the king of the mountain. So, you know, he'll do anything and, you know, sacrificing himself as part of it. And I loved it. And we were, we were the perfect rivals. Did you have like a, like a mindset you would take in every match or like a general, just overview of like the way that you approached? wrestling. I mean, matches and promos? Not really promos, but with a match,

it's like, you know, and I hate to be on a loop, but I have said this before, it's like when a glass breaks, you know, like people say, oh, yeah, I'm going to go back and get into character. I didn't have to get into character. That's who I was as a competitor. Like on a football field, that was my attitude. You know, I want to knock, knock your ass off, you know,

because that's what you do in football. You hit. Or you're like, if you're throwing the desk, you go throw it with everything you got. So if you're going to go wrestle, you're going to go wrestle with everything you got. And so to me it's like when that glass broke, it's like, fuck you, here it is.

I'm going to go beat somebody's ass. Of course, we know it's work. Sure. But I'm just saying, yeah, that's the mindset that was Stonecold Steve Austin. I used to always like when people would go back and do push-ups or use their rubber bands and get pumped up for a match.

Fucking Jake's a snake robber. Snake would be laying on a trash can in a bag. He'd be over smoking a cigarette, getting ready. It hit his music, he'd crush out his cigarette and walk to the ring, and Jake was money. I loved watching Jake work. I love listening to his promos. For me, instantaneous.

You could be having the worst day of your life, dragged out on the road. Things ain't going on good at the house. But man, you either got 700 people out there or you got 19,000 people out there in a building that are ready to fucking go. And they came to see you, so you better put on a show.

Were you very aware of what the line was that you could walk up to and not go over, not get yourself into trouble? Well, you have to be. Because, I mean, you'd be an edit if you, you know, there's a lot worse words that I could have said back in would have gotten me canned fast. So, yeah, you know there's a limit,

but then you also know that you can push the limit. And, you know, like the saying the words and the things that I was doing and the middle fingers, you know, not everybody's going to think just to start flipping people off and or to even go that far out on a limb. I remember Dallas Page, a really good friend of mine, you know, he was doing a diamond cutter sign, whatever. and boy when he had hold up those diamonds you know everybody would do it with him and

Vince was watching that and he goes Steve is there some kind of symbol some kind of sign that you can hold up you know that other people can do with you rather than what you're doing man it just it took me that long to answer the question I said no and well fuck we went out there he just kept flipping people off and then you know that that's my most I don't really do appearances, but if I do, that's my number one request. Hey, man, can we do the double bird? Yeah, we can. And so, you know, yeah, interesting.

But you got, I was willing to, God dang, you know, I hadn't pushed the, the limit, you know, down in, USWA, you're there to learn. I mean, you're a sponge soaking up everything. It ain't your job to go out there and start pushing the envelope then because you don't know shit. You can't push the envelope, but you can't push what you. don't know. You need to learn and get some base information before you can go. WCW more, you know, more work and more work and push you a little bit and then stylistically more than from a

character standpoint, stylistically and mechanically in a ring. Then all of a sudden you start getting some character development skills and you go from 101 to 201 to the next level. That's when you start, you know, pushing and feeling, okay, I have a little of a swell behind me. I can, I can push more because I mean more. And so, you know, and if you don't, if you try to push you fast, you're the guy that's the asshole and wants too much too soon. Man, I've been, you know, around for seven years. And once I started feeling it, I went with it. And you could pull me back in or kind of have a talk with me, but you didn't have to push me to further out because I was going to go. But to go too far and just say things too stupid would be too crass. And you would be,

you know, cutting your own self. You don't want to cut your own self because, you know, you're there for the upswing. What was the first catchphrase that got over? Shit, I don't know. Well, Austin 316 says, I just whipped your ass and that's the bottom line because don't go set, so I guess.

Where'd you come up with that's the bottom line? I didn't know what that meant until I heard you say it. Shit, man. If you watch some of the old promos I did in WCW, I said bottom line every now and then. but just as a thing that I would say every now and then. And then when we did that promo, that King of the Ring, you know, I went out there in Mark Merrow.

He did that fancy Dan Phillip and kicked me in the mouth, and they took me to hospital. I got 14 stitches. I was still in my ring gear, and I came back. And as soon as I get out of Amelance, there's Doc Hendrix. He goes, hey, man, he just want to let you know why you're gone. You know, Jake is who I was going to face in the finals. Jake Roberts cut a religious promo on you.

I said, well, what do you say? and he said something about religion or, you know, needing God's help to beat me. And out of that, you know, I just met Austin 316 because back in the day, they would hold up the John 316 signs in the end zone when people were kicking a point after the touchdown. And he just immediately, you know, sprung into my mind to say that. And I went out there and that was an ad-lib promo. Man, I didn't make all that stuff.

I didn't have time to. I was in a hospital. I didn't know what was going to happen. I get out and I'm walking to the ring with stitches in my mouth. And I shit out that promo. And then, you know, this was when Vince is kind of like an RF feed because I could hear what he was saying. He was over by the ring because he was announcing at that time. And I was like, oh, Vince is fixed throw to the next match.

And I'm talking to Doc Hendricks addressing this camera right here. And I said, man, I need a button on his promo. And I'd already said, Austin 316 says, I just whipped your ass. and the button needed to be something. And I just said, and that's the bottom line, because Stone Cold Set, so turn. And people didn't really know what to think. A couple of them kind of cheered as a mixed reaction.

If anything, it was like, motherfucker. That was kind of stiff. But it stuck. But the reason for that second, you know, thing was I needed a button to wrap up a promo, and that's all it was. Did you think that St. Austin 316 might be controversial at the time? Yeah, I did. Yeah, you know, people, you know, religious people, stuff like that, could consider it a blast from me. I remember walking through airports and I would get priests and stuff like that because you could see they were, because they were wearing their stuff in the airport and wearing a gimmick. You never wore your gimmick. And you never wear, you don't wear Austin 316 shirts. And if anybody wore their t-shirt to the airport, that was, that was, dude, you're a mark. You wear a shit in the building. But anyway, so I would be signing autographs.

were preachers and stuff like that in the airports. I said, man, you ain't mad about the Austin 316? Oh, no, Steve. It's okay. Yeah, but at the time, could it be construed as? Sure. Yeah, but certainly, and it was by some. What's your favorite T-shirt design that's not Austin 316?

I would imagine that's number one. Well, yeah, it is because, you know, when Jimmy Miranda was doing the, you know, he was the guy that pushed all the merch, and they didn't want to come out with any. shirts for me. And then finally, and I've told the story a bunch of times, I'm not trying to tell it again, but Jimmy comes up to me, finally after, you know, they're pushing Vader, they're pushing Mick Foley, they're pushing Mark Merrow, Mark Henry, coming out of the Olympics, strongest guy in the world. And finally, Jimmy comes up to me, goes, Stephen, office finally wants it to do

a T-shirt for you. Do you got any ideas? I'll never forget it. I was so frustrated because, you know, he makes some money on merch. And I said, you got it. damn right I do. I said, get a t-shirt, put Austin 316 on it, and put a skull on the back and carve in stone cold. He goes, that's your t-shirt. And so, sure enough, that's how that shirt came to be. So, yeah, I love that shirt. Other favorite, some of the ones that some of the licensees ended up coming up with, that half skull, a half skull looks like kind of bluish, and then my face was on the other side. Just certain different, different variations. I didn't really dwell on them too much.

You've driven so many different vehicles. Cement truck, beer truck, forklift, Zamboni. What was the most difficult one to drive? None of them were that bad. You know, the one where I came in on the cement truck and folded down all those little gates to fill up at Corvette was interesting because back in the day, they didn't have a piece of tape on the ground as a mark for me.

me to hit. We were talking movies before we started rolling. So, you know, you're hitting marks in movies. And so, you know, I needed to hit this certain mark to make, you know, the distance work out as those levers kept falling down for me to pull the lever to get that concrete spinning and roll down that ramp into that Corvette. So, you know, that's live TV. That's Nassau Coliseum. And so, man, you damn sure don't want to screw up. And that's all Coliseum because they're going to let you know you screwed up. And so it just turned out perfectly, you know, the glass blew out on the past your side. That was a money shot that we didn't expect to happen. It turned out to be gold. But I've always been kind of handy because driving tractors and stuff when I was a kid.

I can kind of understand the concept of driving things pretty easily. So I wouldn't think. I don't think that anything was particularly difficult. When you ran over the lightstand with the Zamboni, I remember watching that being like, this thing's going to stop. Like it's not going to be able to Keep going. Man, you know, and I wasn't thinking about the time, but I saw that I was about to hit that. I was like, well, it would be good carnage. And because, you know, you're going full speed. That glass breaks here.

I go out there. And that's kind of like, that's like a hydrostatic thing, the way that thing moves forward. And I remember, if you remember that, I bumped the ring, you know, pretty snugs. I moved it back about six, 12 inches for the effect and then jumped off and closed-line vents. That was fun. And I was actually concerned that I was going to break the Zamboanie. because the Zamboni guy did that for a living, and I don't want to fuck up his ride

so that his brother couldn't make a living anymore. I was actually trying to baby the thing, but then once I came out of there, I said, oh, man, we're going to go to town on this one. I don't imagine you were able to practice the beer truck. Like, you weren't able to, like, to spray the hose and make sure it worked. No.

How did you know it was going to go off as well as it did? I didn't. You know, that's why, you know, like when things go bad, you better, you know, if you don't have plan B, just ad lib and I'm good at ad libing and so we was able to pull that off and and I don't even know how they rigged this up but like the first 30 gallons were beer because it had to be because we were spraying beer and that first those first rows it kind of got sprayed with a lot of that and you see the phone but that's real beer and then it turned to water and I don't know how they rigged that up

but they did and I think I was riding shotgun on that and then the fireman drove that in but it's just one of those things and then climb it up on the truck was an ad lib and pulling all that off. So, I don't know, you just go out there and do things. You let things happen. I find it best, you know, when you go out there and you just have a few things to remember, if you've got it all mapped out, and then you're trying to follow the map, you don't feel as free.

You know, you're not thinking. You're just going according to the memory. But, you know, if you're just responding to, you know, whatever's going on and soaking everything in, you can look around and say, God damn, it'd be good if I did this. Or I don't know if I forget that one time when Taker had that symbol in there. What they called? It was a cross. It was leaning against the ropes.

I got on there and started surfing on it. And, you know, that was a part of the plan. It was just like, hey, man, what can I do to use that and make it entertaining? So that's what I'd always do. Just, you know, like talking to the people after the shows, you know, that Christian book lady down there in Nashville. You know, I was asking people. man, what do you do for a living? Of course, I'd talk shit to them and rag them and that lady. I said, what do you do? She goes, I work for a Christian publishing company. And there's one

thing I can't stand. What am I going to do? Blass this lady who works for a religious publishing company. I just, I just shit can to Mike and everybody popped because I couldn't rag her for the obvious reasons and people got it. So stuff like that. It's fun to add to love and not go to a planned course. Is that how you planned out your promos, just like bullet points? Man, a lot of those are kind of off the cuff. I got to say that I remember when I came back from my neck surgery and they handed me a piece of paper. I said, what the fuck is this? This is what you say you say? And I was like, I've never used a piece of paper to say anything in my life. I've been making my own shit up, but that's, that was a new system. And then I remember every now and we

We would go in there and someone would come up to me because I was working with Vince. And he'd say, hey, man, Vince wants to go to a promo with you. I said, man, right now, he goes, yeah. So I'd go in there and I would say, you give me the piece of paper and Vince had his paper. Vince, I am going to tear you limb from limb. This is the last time. I was reading it, gimmick like right there. God damn it, Steve.

He goes, read like you're going to read it out there. I said, fuck, I'm going to give it to you like I'm going to give it to you, you know, out there. but so I'm not going to do it here, you know, because then I would put me in a box. And then I didn't want to memorize the thing anyway. So I didn't like to do that. But there was not a whole lot of, there was that, you know, like Sina, who's tremendous on a microphone, has his own style. And he could take now probably, of course, he's John Sina. He can take just anything they say, hey, could you just get this point across?

And he's going to go get it across in his fashion. And he's just one of the greatest talkers ever. I didn't really put a whole lot of thought into it. Certainly I did, but it wasn't from a standpoint of trying to build to anything. It was, man, it was just a free-form trash talking style. Speaking of promos and catchphrases, I can't believe 20 plus years later, people are still saying what? Yeah, a lot of people wish I wouldn't have done that.

But it just turned into something to do because when I turned hill, Not everybody, nobody wanted me to turn heel, but I was just upset on turning hill because I've always liked working hill so much. So that was your call? Yeah. And I wish Vince would have shot me down or I wish, you know, I felt it in the ring at night. I should have just said, hey, man, we're changing this. I said, watch the stunner. I should have just stunned his ass and never went down that road.

But, you know, as a means to an end, you know, I was leaving a Christian a voicemail and kept saying what, what, you know, I just turn it into this thing and to berate somebody, you know, to belittle somebody as a heel. And so I use that as a mechanism to do that as a means to an end, to try to get heat. And that whole attempt was overtrying just to compensate and gain ground on getting heat and just, you know, I remember Hunter and myself as a two-man power trip, you know, just slacking people with chairs. you know, trying so hard through violence to get heat, which is not always the best way to get heat and by laying stuff in.

And it was an interesting period. The Hill thing, if I could go back in time, I would not have done it. Really? Because I didn't need to. And people, I think Jim Ross said it best. I mean, you know, nobody ever wanted to hate John Wayne. I wasn't John Wayne, but I was the anti-hero, you know.

I got over by being, you know, the way I was. And so to turn bad, to try to do worse things, I don't know, just it didn't work. It wasn't successful. We got a chance to, you know, push the character in different directions and different dimensions, but I don't think we were really ringing up the, you know, the box office doing that. What did you think of John Cena's heel turn this year? Everybody, not everybody. A lot of people wanted to see at least one John Sina hill turn in his run.

It was okay. It was okay. You know, I like him better as a baby face. I wanted to see him as a hill at some point during his career, the way that it was done. And I'm not knocking, booking. Just like, man, this far in, forget about it. Just let him do his thing. Fucking kids love it, yeah.

He said the original plan was for him to turn a heel before he faced Rock the first time. So it would have been wrestling money 28, so 2012. That would have worked. That would, like, that way, that might have made a lot of sense then. Speculation. I guess you don't know, right? Hey, man, but if anybody could have done it, and maybe you are correct with the timeline with an opponent like the Rock,

could have, possibly, but speculation. In 1997, when, when you broke your neck, did you think there was any coming back from that, or was there in your mind were you thinking that's it? I might be done. When I got fused up, had a great doctor in San Antonio, and I was starting to kick out a little bit. I had my collar off and my soft collar off,

and I was riding around on my full-wheeler, and I had a cooler on the back of my four-wheeler. I was out there just drinking beer riding around, and my phone rings. This was back in the day we had those Star Trek flip phones, and those events calling me, and he goes, guy, he goes, Steve, I was just, he asked me how I was doing.

he goes, I was just thinking about, you know, what we need to do for your comeback. And I was kind of like almost offended. Like, man, I almost got paralyzed and you're asking me to, you know, get ready to come back into the ring. I said, I don't fucking think I'm taking any more bumps. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. And I told him, I said, Vince, I don't think I'm coming back. And, you know, I can imagine him on the other end of the line when I said, you know,

I don't think I'm coming back because it kind of scared me, you know, when you get paralyzed, you know, which I was for, you know, a transit quadriplegic for, you know, a length of time, 60-so seconds, scares you. And so you don't want to go back to that place again. And I didn't think I was coming back. And so anyway, we had a few more phone calls. And it's funny because, you know, when you get into any endeavor that you love or that is, you know, brings you joy and what I set out to be in my life, a professional wrestler,

you know, once you come out of those, those tender states, you know, stages of healing, and you start getting solid, and you turn back into the man that you are a physical person who played football, track, hunted, I mean, you know, thrive on physical, manual labor. Once you start getting solid again, you start regaining that confidence in that sense of, hey, there's things to be done, and I'm not through yet. And so, yeah, once I started getting more solid. Then it was time to start talking about that comeback and indeed make a return. But there was some doubt there.

Oh, definitely doubt. I don't think that there's anybody that comes out of a, I can't say that. But yeah, when I came out of surgery and you're kind of all fucked up, and I remember, I had my hard collar on and I was bored. And so, because I used to being on a road. And I lived on 120 acres right outside of, uh, Bernie outside of San Antonio. And just because I wanted to feel like I was, you know, still on the road, I would drive

to Fredericksburg, which is about 25 miles away because I had a Sonic. I'd go through the Sonic and I'd drive back home. I'd feel like I was on the road. I'd get a jalapena burger and some onion rings or whatever. And that's what I did to feel like I was on the road. And then I don't know if you've ever had a hard cervical collar on before, but man, and they'll tell you this anytime. you get your neck fuse, sometimes you're going to have a hard time swallowing.

There was a couple times, you know, like when you swallow a food and just gets lodged in your throat, I'll scare shit out of you. So I'd be driving my truck down to cut the road choking on a alipania burger thing. God damn, am I fixing to die? Is this how it ends? Wash it down with that vanilla coke that I'm drinking. Yeah, things started getting solid. It was time to get back in the rink.

Who do you think took the best stunner of all time, and who took the worst stunner of all time? Easily Vince is the worst. Worse than Linda? Well, because there's multiple occasions with Vince where, I mean, Jesus, I mean, you can screw one up, you know. And of course, me and Linda, she was like a second mom to me. And I didn't see her often, but when she was there, she was just so nice to me. and we would always have great conversations. So I felt bad that that one didn't turn that good.

But Vince had so many opportunities, and they were always so awful, especially that one at Russellmania, whichever one it was, it was the one of Kevin Onzer. It was just so shitty. Yeah, it was just terrible. And so I had to start laughing because, I mean,

you know, you've got to let everybody know, hey, man, that's just really bad. You know, Rock took a good one. Scott Hall took a good one. A bunch of people. There's so many. I can't list them all. What did you think of the way that Austin Theory sold it at WrestleMania 38?

Oh, Premier. I don't know what the kid's doing now. Is he still in WWE? He hasn't been on TV in a little while. Yeah. But he's still there, yeah. Okay. Yeah, a good kid.

Man, I thought, man, the sky was a limit for him. He took a great one. McAfee took a great one. Yes. Just the fade back money. And, of course, when he tumbled out of ring, he was still drinking the beer. Why is laying on the mat. Fucking classic.

What an entertainer, and he was thinking about it. I knew it was that I'd live. He wasn't planning that. It just happened, and it was straight money. Santino with the salute? Yeah. That's a great one. Yeah, well, that guy's money anyway.

I always enjoyed watching him. He was one of those guys that was pretty much a comedic genius and able to get away. You know, the way he would cut his promos, mispronounce things, his comedic timing, all this stuff with that fucking snake or whatever it was. I thought the guy was very entertaining.

And, you know, as funny as he was, and a shoot, that's a guy that you don't want to mess with. He's a tough dude. Yeah. How close were we to seeing you at WrestleMania 40? Was there a possibility it might have happened? That was the one in Philly where Cody won the championship? Oh, yeah, yeah.

No, things just didn't line up. I had other things going on. And, you know, I remember when they pitched that to me, I said, Duda. I said, I got some things going on. I don't see myself being there. You know, and that was way in advance. And so I wasn't.

Was it pitched to me or did they want me there? Yeah, yeah. But I wasn't in a position to go. So there was never a possibility that you might have been there? No, there was a possibility that I could have been there. Had I chose to go there, I had other shit going on. Sometimes, you know, WW is this multi-billion-dollar corporation. I got a metal shop that we're sitting in.

So sometimes the guy, sometimes the multi-being dollar company has an idea that the dude that has the metal shop, it just don't work. So it didn't work and I'm over here in my metal shop. Yeah, so, I mean, I like to do as much as I can with WWE when it works, when it works for them, when it works for me, and when it's going to be fun. But in that, and saying that, not everything lines up, not, not everything lines up on a timeline basis.

I had other shit going on. What's up, CVV listeners? It's Sam Roberts here. And I'm sure that Chris is delivering another absolute barn burner. But when this episode is done, if you want even more, if you want to get granular, if you want to get into the weeds of professional wrestling, I implore you to come check out, not Sam wrestling, wherever you got this podcast, just look up Not Sam Wrestling. You can find the podcast feed there.

We're talking about everything that's going on in the world of professional wrestling as it's happening, but also from a historical perspective, we just finished a four-part series chronicling the entire career of John Sina. It's something like, I mean, all told with all four parts, I think it's around five hours of audio. So if you need to fill those hours, if you're on a road trip, if you just want to fill the day. And you want to hear me talking about pro wrestling. Head on over to not Sam wrestling and subscribe to the podcast today. Thanks, everybody. Is there a big difference between who Stone Cold is and who Steve is that's sitting in front of me right now? Shit, I don't know.

You tell me. You're talking to me. I don't know. Am I talking to Stone Cold or am I talking to Steve? Who do you think you're talking to? I think I'm talking to Steve. You are. Yeah. I mean, but, you know, it's my, I've been, I've been out of business for so long. We don't even, none of my friends and I hang out, we don't, we don't talk about wrestling. We don't talk about Stone Cold. Every once in a blue moon, yeah, there's someone to come out with a meme or whatever, but then we, we talk about current things. Do you have a favorite meme? Do what? Do you have a favorite Stone Cold meme? No. No, there's been so many of them and so many good ones and so many shitty ones. They're all entertaining. Some of them are not so flattering. But,

You know, they are what they are. I love the one where you're laughing and the camera zooms in and then you're super serious. Yeah. That was a great one. Man, yeah. Or where you have the arm full of grocery bags? Oh, yeah. That was when I was filming a movie in Vancouver and I stayed over there at a Sutton Place Hotel.

There was an I-G-A supermarket with literally three blocks away. I woke over there and get my groceries, take them back, load them into my friend because I was cooking all my meals. So, yeah, I've got a bunch of groceries in my arm, and I'm walking. back to my hotel. I think there's one, one of them I'm even in my flip-flops. I can't remember. But yeah. You make it look so easy. You look so jacked with all the groceries. Well, I was younger then, and in carrying groceries, it isn't that big a deal. But, man, I, I live my life as Steve Austin. And I, I miss someone, I live my life, Steve Austin. But Stone Cold is just a, who I would have been in competitive athlete.

Like I told you, on a football field or whatever, that's how I was. I was finally able to, people would always tell you, if you come up with a character, it needs to be really a part of you or something so far-fetched, then you can do it like Gold Dust. That wasn't him. Gold Dust was a guy from Austin, Texas. Me and Dustin were born in the same hospital in Austin, Texas. He's a little bit younger than me.

Dustin was just a good old dude, just a country boy. and then we turned into Gold Dust. It was so far-fetched, but something that he could get into and achieve when I first came into WWF, I was riding, me and Gold Dust were riding together, and he was working on top with Sean. I was jerking the curtain with whoever I was jerking the curtain with,

and man, they'd go out there and have his killer matches, and Dustin had so much heat, and Sean was so over, and so such a good worker, they were just killing it. But that character, no, that's not. me in the vein of a competitive vein, you know, Stone Cold is Steve turned up to competitive or, you know, a race-cell attitude. So much of, I think, what works with you is it's right place, right time, but also right person, right? You have a lot of the things aligned, but I also just feel like what you had was lightning in a bottle. And even if the right timing didn't line up the way it did,

this was going to pop off at some point in time. You figure, I mean, I didn't know if it was ever going to happen because like I remember when I got into the business of wrestling I was working on a freight dock I was living in denton texas which is 35 miles from Dallas and I was working on a freight dock driving a forklift loading unloading trucks I would go to the sportatorium and watch the Friday night live show I watched a Saturday morning TV taping that day I mean I would drive there as well and I was watching all of that the von erics at that time oh yeah and it was great and And I got there even on the back end. People had already kind of started dying.

The territory was on the come down. Jerry, Jarrett had just bought it from Fritz. I saw the Chris Adams commercial on wrestling school. I said, hey, man, this is my end. Because I fell in love with wrestling when I was seven or eight years old. And I always knew in the back of my mind that I would do it. No matter, hook, crook, whatever's going to take. I was going to get into the wrestling business.

but you never figured you really know how. And so I finally found my end after working on that freight dock for a couple of years. And, man, I got in that, I got in a wrestling business, you know, just to get into wrestling. You never know what's going to turn into. And you don't even think about working on top. You're thinking about being a wrestler.

And then finally you're good enough to get on the card and you're the first match or the second match or you're the match before intermission or after intermission. and maybe you're in a semi-main and then you're in the main. You never know what it can turn to until you actually get there.

But your goal is, once you get in, is to get to the top. But you don't know what your goal is. Maybe some people do. I didn't think about any of that. I just knew that I want to be a fucking pro wrestler and I was going to make it happen. However I made it happen.

And I never considered money or championships or games. or getting famous or whatever or infamous. I didn't consider anything. I just knew I wanted to be a wrestler. But then when you start learning the game or learning the business, you want to be at the top because that's where the money is. And not only did you become a pro wrestler,

you became one of the greatest of all time. Yeah, I guess people say that. And I had a pretty good run. And I wish I could have made it last a little bit longer. But, you know, you play your car. like you get them and you know or you can maybe reshuffle them and play it another way i did what i did and i had a good time doing it who are the people that you look up to so who who would be on your mount rushmore man i won't build one i won't build one because right now there's so many people

that did so many things for the business it's hard to pick four you you can pick four uh Anybody can pick four, but my list is greater than four. You know, I always, I'll say this, though. Sean Michaels is probably one of the best to ever get in the ring, if not the best. And man, if he would be 1A, then 1B would be Eddie Guerrero. And I don't know if those aren't interchangeable because Eddie Guerrero, Eddie Guerrero was straight money, so good at so many things. God dang, I was watching a promo a few months back that he cut on Brock Lesnar.

And Brock Lesnar was talking about winning championships, and I love Brock. But he was talking about winning championships. And then Eddie flips it over. He talks about coming back from being addicted and stuff like that. And it was about a, I don't know, about a minute, two-minute piece of business. I think Brock was damn near about to start crying. I mean, because Eddie was just laying it on and shoot. And how good he was in the ring with the things that he could do.

do and just the character they'd have created, you know, Hulk Hogan, just larger than life, you know, Brock Lesnar, you know, Undertaker, you know, Sina with the longevity of his run. You mentioned Flair earlier. Oh, well, Flair is my favorite wrestler of all time. And he's the greatest traveling world champion of all time because no one ever did it at his level all over the world for a shoot. Harley Race is one of them.

But Rick Flair for done what he's done for as long as he did it and just the way that he did it. This one was still pro wrestling. So there's a lot more. But hey, I don't build no Mount Rushmore. Were we ever close to getting you versus CM Punk? Because I feel like it was teased. I was teased.

And at one time I think we did. We were promoting a video game. And I think I just had an ACL PCL, just put my left knee for shoot. and maybe it was a tease, but it just never happened. It was like me and Hogan. There was a bunch of things never happened. You know, there's a bunch of good shit that did happen. So, you know, not everything can happen.

We never got you versus Goldberg either. No. Jesus Christ. Someone, I was on Instagram the other day, and it was, I think it was 90 seconds of Goldberg doing crazy stuff. And, man, you don't realize. Well, I do. but how strong and how explosive

and how quick Goldberg was motherfucker he was just a beast the people leave with jackhammer just the explosive things that he would do sometimes just uh it was a matter of fact it was him over in japan and doing some of those rolling tumble I don't even know what what genre

that would be is some type of shoot wrestling or whatever he does but Goldberg was a fucking force. So he was strong as shit. How did we never get Stone Cold versus Goldberg? I don't know. I think we, we pitched it when he first came in,

but he wasn't at the level that he needed to be. He had just come into WWF, and he needed to get going or get over first, and he was certainly over from his WCW days. I think a little bit of time had he lapsed, but I watched him down there in Atlanta. But you got to, man, we were all on the road at the time, and that was during the Monday Night Wars.

If you set your DVR to record, it was VHS back then. Way back in a day, you know, you kind of knew what was going on. I watched Dallas Page, you know, kind of go down a parallel path as me too as far as this timeline of getting over. But, yeah, you know, Goldberg just needed to put some time in in WWF before we could go, and then it just never happened. And I'm, Bill is a good friend of mine.

What's the one piece of advice you have now for young wrestlers who are coming up? Sell. Sell. And as the business has changed and there's more time to put together a match, don't make it look like a dance. Not everything is perfect. Put some struggle in there. Put a little bit of slop in there.

When slop would be warranted. You ever see Brett Hart deep in a match, maybe 20, 25 minutes? and he's just, he just looked like he's beat to death, he's huffing, he's puffing, he ain't blown up. That's him just showing how, you know, fucking tired he is from just exhausting every head just look on his face

and he could go all night long. But that's him just showing you how hard he, this is, the toll that it's taking on him, he's showing you. So it's not always such a dance. Everything is just a little, I would love for someone to feel dangerous right now. You know, I got, dang this guy's got an edge.

This guy's, I don't know. I might believe this guy. You know, something like that. But to go back to you, to answer your question, sell, learn how to work, learn how to work. Don't learn how to act. I just, I think there's a difference between working and acting. Do you think there's a big difference between the WWE we see now and what we saw in the late 90s? Well, definitely.

Definitely. It's very slick. You know, and it's production. You know, it's a more aesthetic business than it's ever been. And, you know, these men and women are in this era that they're in. And I respect that. I understand that. As I think I was talking to you earlier, I think Triple H was a guy who said it,

everybody thinks that their generation was the best. And like I told you, I think a few generations before me were the best. I mentioned some territories. I like that dangerous feel. I like when, God dang, UWF or Power Pro,

it was Bill Watch's promotion, would be going off the air and everything. It was Katie Bar the doors, Chaos and Jim Ross is screaming at the top of his lungs. God dang, how to Louisville, and they go off hot. And so I think, I think, you know, there's so much, the shows are so formatted now.

They stick to the same format. Hey, man, have about six formats that you could go to, you know, and rotate those. Like, come in hot, leave hot. Come in with your standard thing. Hey, got some promo. It sets a tone on the show, whatever. And I'm, I digress. I'm not trying to, you know, I don't want to say,

I'm disenchanted with anything because I'm not because I don't watch enough but to go back to your question just learn how to sell, learn how to work and you know every now and I have a flaw everything's so perfect these days and what do you mean by be dangerous?

I mean god dang you know if you if you saw me walking down the ramp you know when I was white hot and I look I could beat anybody everybody's ass that was going to come up

at ramp to get me sometimes I just I don't feel that you know Brock I think would feel dangerous you know

he's still dangerous he's always dangerous but I mean that's in his DNA just be the person that you know like

goddam is motherfucker I think he might really be off yeah you know a feeling like that yeah

everybody's I'll stop I want to thank you for inviting us out here. What a great conversation, and it's just amazing to sit with you. You think you might bring your podcast back? I was thinking about it. Why do you ask? I was curious.

It's still on the charts. This is what's so amazing. It's still on the charts, and you're just running old episodes. Man, those episodes are old because we stopped doing that in 20. Yeah. Yeah. And then it was a thing where they kept asking me, Hey, man, you want to do this spot?

I know podcasts, but you need to make money, right? Got to pay the bills. And there would be spots that I wouldn't want to do. And I was like, no, man, I don't want that to be a part of my show. And he said, well, do you mind if your producer reads it? Well, fuck, it's still my show. So then it's still in there. I don't like the, I don't like the gimmick.

And so anyway, my contract was almost up anyway. So, you know, I walked away and, you know, things have changed. and now it's, what, it's 20, 25 now, fixed me 2026. I still think I would, I still think I would like to because a lot of times I post some shit on IG, and you can't talk too long on there because it's not that kind of platform, and some of the comments to say,

man, you ought to bring your podcast back. You don't go to do interviews, just we like hearing and tell stories. So I've thought seriously about it, and I might. Sounds like a nice thing. Maybe. Well, it's a nice maybe, but, you know, like, I don't need to wait any longer. Kind of the time is now. So it'll be a definite maybe in two weeks. Well, there it is. Yeah, no, man, but I have been thinking about it. And I just just wondered, you know, what I'll talk about. You know, you could talk about anything, Steve. Well, I know, seriously. I don't want to sit there and be like a wrestling podcast because I came from wrestling. You could talk about literally anything and people will listen. We'll see.

You can talk about bass fishing. Oh, he won't see. Yeah. What's your biggest large mouth? What's that? What's your biggest large mouth bass? God dang, we've got a tank right over here. Got some big bass in there.

Small mouth and big mouth. Man, you know what? In Texas, those bass are fun. They put up a good fight. They'll bite just about anything. And when they fly out of the water, they're aggressive. I like messing with those catfish. Yeah.

You ever got noodling? No, man, I see some of those. You don't want to lose a finger? There's one guy. aisle on there, she's big as a minute, like five foot. And she pulls out some monsters. But, man, I've been in Texas so long. I know those holes. And I just don't want to reach in there and grab a cotton mouth or, you know, just get bit by a snake or it ain't my thing. And I've never done it. I've never tried it. I have no interest in it. But, you know, to them people

that do, I know it's a thrill for them and they enjoy it. So more power to them. Well, next time I have you on, we'll just talk about fishing the whole time. I can't do that. Well, you know, and there's a lot of fishing out here. My brother-in-law, who I hunt with every year, he is a fishing fanatic. And if he's not doing something, he's fishing. I grew up fishing with my father in the Gulf of Mexico and Port of Connor and in the Bay Area down there.

We had fished, and we catch catfish, trout, catch sharks. Sharks are good eating, you know, up to about, you know, four feet. And what else? We'll do a lot of floundering walking around out there. with Coleman Lantern and a gig. Now they got those boats with the lights, and it's all, it ain't the same. But I grew up down there in South Texas fishing. It was a big part of my life.

And that's the fishing I remember. And my dad knew the bays like the back of his hand because he'd been doing it for so long. But out here, it just doesn't give me the same thrill. And, you know, even when I was fishing with my father, if they weren't biting, you know, I wasn't really interested in just throwing a, you know, a worm. out there in the water and reel it back in with nothing attached to it. When shit was on and my dad knew how to find the fish, when shit was on, I loved to fish. That's the whole phrase of like fishing's okay, but catching's a lot more fun.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, but I hear, you know, it's like catching release. You know, back then we were fishing for food. Sure. Yeah, because that's what we were eating. Well, thank you again for making this happen. I have one more question to you that I end every conversation with because Steve gratitude is such a huge part of my life.

I wake up every day and I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. My wife and I do it before we go to bed too. So what are three things in your life you're grateful for right now? Man, I'm grateful to my wife. Found her and we've been together 20 years. Congratulations. Thank you. And I'm thankful for my health to keep holding up.

And thankful to the. to the friends that I found along the way that have stuck with me through thick and thin. You know, you meet some people in your life and you meet many people. But, you know, they always say you can count them on like one hand. But I got, I probably got one or one and a half hands word that were, you know, with me through everything that I've ever been through. And, you know, you just, you watch everybody. You watch the way the world's turning into.

I'm thankful to the friends that I have. I'm thankful to feel as good as I do right now after what I put my body through. Could have taken better care of myself, and I'm thankful to my wife who would... She's the best thing that ever happened to me, and that's what. I love that. Thank you again, Steve.

Absolutely, man. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid-fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand.

He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.