My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 103 - 'STONE COLD' STEVE AUSTIN RETURNS

Episode Date: January 15, 2021

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin joins Robbie Fox and Jared Carrabis to discuss the return of 'Straight Up Steve Austin' on USA Network, his favorite interviews he's ever done, and plenty about his career in the ring. 3Chi: Use code MMB at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.comYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Bringing you a From the Top Rope edition with Jared Karabas. Who are we interviewing? You already know based on the title, I assume. Stone Cold Steve Austin. I had Stone Cold on the pod, I want to say last year, it was like a 10-minute phoner interview, which is obviously an honor in and of itself. But having him for 30 minutes, having Jared by my side, getting a look at him on Zoom, all that stuff. Oh, this was definitely just an improvement over that tenfold. I'm very excited for you guys to

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with a great deal. My recommendations are the black raspberry gummies. I absolutely love those, even the comfortably numb. We've been getting so many tweets recently from people that are digging into the 3G and maybe having themselves a gummy before they go to sleep at night, and they're saying it's the best sleep I've ever gotten. Again, it's promo code M-M-B at checkout. You'll receive 5% off. All right, let's get into this interview with the Texas Rattlesnake. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to My Mom's Basement. I am joined by Jared Karabas because we've got a From the Top Rope edition of My Mom's Basement

with the one, the only, Stone Cold Steve Austin. He is promoting straight up Steve Austin on the USA Network. Steve, let me ask you this, just to start. Do you enjoy doing these press tours via Zoom because the guests can't be like, hey, have a beer with us? Man, it is what it is in today's world. You know, on one hand, you know, it kind of takes out all the travel, but, you know, everything's always better in person.

But, you know, we're trying to deal with the situation at hand and do as best we can so that's what we're doing i mean you mentioned like the the travel aspect of it do you think that you could have taken stone cold steve austin to an even higher level if you had the same well because obviously you don't have the crowd aspect but just taking out the travel how much of a burden was the travel as a professional wrestler during your time like if you were if you were in it right now in your prime how much better do you think you could have been man i don't know uh that's a hard question to answer but you know the the road goes with the gig and that's that's half the battle is you know just traveling and being so dragged out from all

that it's part of the fun of it too and And it's part of the learning process when you're riding down the road, whether, you know, you're an established veteran and you're rebooking a territory because you're not happy with it, or you're riding with a veteran and you're, you know, you're picking their brain and trying to get some, some knowledge from them. So, you know, these days, a lot of the guys are using tour buses and stuff like that. That's the aspect that I missed out on. I always wished that I was, you know, would have been one of those guys that thought about riding in that tour bus to try to take a little bit of the load off my body.

Yeah. So what was 2020 like for you? I picture you as the kind of guy who's kind of built for lockdown, just hanging by yourself on the ranch. Was it business as usual or no? Hanging by myself in the ranch. We finally got a chance to, you know, season one of Straight Up did really, really well, and finally they greenlit it.

We were going to do season two. We were supposed to go to camera a long time ago, but we got pushed because of COVID, and then a window opened up, and we were able to get our show in the can. Other than that, man, I watched a couple of things on Netflix with my wife, hung out with my dogs. I'm in northern Nevada right now. I've been riding my side-by-sides and four-wheelers damn near every single day

and working on my cars and trucks. So I love that I've been productive, but I'm just trying to make the best out of the situation at hand. And it turns out with everything the way that way it is i like to spend time by myself anyway so all the things that i do i just get a chance to hang out by myself so as bad as it's been you know i'm not gonna say there's a silver lining in the cloud because there's not but i've been able to at least occupy time so i have to thank you first for your many years of entertainment. But second, I totally stole your idea from your podcast. I started my podcast back in 2015. And originally, I was interviewing, like Boston sports media members. And it was sort of like I took the idea from you were interviewing professional wrestlers out of character. And that was rare at the time. So like, I'm interviewing people. And it's like, you get to see the act that they put on on TV and on radio, but it's you humanize these people. But in the professional wrestling industry, uh, that must've been difficult

in the beginning to get guys to be who they are outside of the character. Cause that was, that was rare back then when you first started doing the podcast how difficult was it or were guys and women more willing to be like i i want to talk as the person that i am outside of the character and i you know i never really thought about like that but i'll never forget you know when i started kind of becoming a thing back in the day as stone cold and i started you know making all the you know talk shows and stuff like that you know when i would go to give out an award at the MTV awards or whatever, dude, I showed up in blue jeans and my vest. I lived at 24 seven. I was stone cold.

I'll be damned if I'm gonna wear a suit or something that anybody else is going to wear. And then going on to talk shows is like, it was kind of cool, but it was kind of like, I didn't really want anybody to kind of I dude I was living the gimmick so much it was like you know I'm not really here to I'll make you laugh maybe but you know I'd also knock your head off that kind of thing and then as as time goes on it's like okay you really kind of just bring it down and be who and what I who and what you are but yeah as far as the podcasting thing goes, you know, that's a deal where I never thought about it like that.

But, yeah, it's just a couple people shooting a breeze. And, you know, I was just on an interview earlier when someone was talking about, you know, the Undertaker, and they still can't believe that, you know, as Mark Calloway, he's pulled back the curtains too much. My point was, hey, man, he's already been the Undertaker for 30 years. He's done all that. He lived the gimmick for 30 years and now it's time to be mark calloway and he's earned that right yeah because i mean i remember listening to your podcast way back then like whenever it was like 14 or 15 and you were kind of teasing back then an interview with the

undertaker be like yeah we're gonna get him on at some point i mean it took an extra half decade to get him on because now he's finally coming out as mark but did you did you try back then to get him to do something and he just wasn't ready no you might have seen this i i asked him on uh broken skull sessions when he found out that he was gonna uh the streak was gonna get get broken at WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans. I think that's the right number. And he was 21 and 0. And he had just, I guess he had just found out that he was going to be defeated that night.

And I, they had flown me in to open the show and I'm back here talking with him. He's getting ready to go to the ring. I said, Hey man, I said, I don't know if you know or not, but I got this podcast and would you mind doing it and he just got hit with the you know this devastating news of doing a favor to the beast incarnate

Brock Lesnar and I'm asking him to be on my chump ass podcast and he said yes but you know then he was concussed and so it never happened so all these years later he ends up on broken skull sessions and we're laughing about it that's incredible so going back to straight up Steve Austin for a second I really enjoyed the first season and seeing you bring all of these people from different walks of life and different professions into your world a little bit for an interview I wanted to to ask, since you've talked to all these different people from these different professions, different walks of life, have you found one that kind of produces personalities

or people similar to pro wrestling where you feel like, oh, maybe comedians or just you mesh with them or athletes? What is the closest to pro wrestling in your estimation? Man, I'm looking at the list right here. Everybody's different let me can i go through the guests of course your question like luke combs in country music nine straight number ones three number one albums so he's used to singing in front of crowds and telling stories well i'm used to telling stories in front of a crowd as well. And singing. Yeah, sadly. So I mean, we hit it off. And I also happen to be a fan of his music, Ice-T.

The OG of gangster rap, and we're riding around. I love cars. He does too. We're riding around a low rider. When you ask Ice-T a question, he's dropping knowledge. So he's amazing. Burt Kreischer, stand up. I like to think that I'm funny, but I ain't no stand up. And hanging out with this guy is crazy. Tiffany Haddish, if you've seen her stand up, it'll knock your socks off. Hysterical. As an actress, she's on fire. She's one of the most charismatic people I've ever met.

She possesses this charisma, which is almost like an electricity that comes out of her. And I've only met a couple of people like that, and she's one of them. Steve-O, I'm a Jackass fan from way back. When I was on top, so was Jackass. So we were running a rough shot together. And who would have thought, you know, like, you know, back in the day, all those people, I mean, all the things that Steve-O did and to talk to him all these years later,

and he hit the hit a down spot and then made a comeback. When you talk to that guy, he's smart as hell. And he's just a really well-spoken guy. So I could go on and go on and on with this damn list, but I had something in common with everybody here, no matter where they came from. And I think it speaks to, you know,

how professional they are and they're a line of work or the dues that they paid and the hard work they put through to get where they're at. And, you know, we wouldn't have asked them to be on the show otherwise. I love that. Yeah. That's an impressive guest list.

Like, have you had, have you had a favorite guest of all time from just all your years of interviewing now no I you know I hate to pick favorites because that'd be singling somebody out uh but I'll tell you one I went down to Austin Texas that's where I was born that's where Mark Henry lives and I was going to go down there and interview Earl Campbell one of my favorite running backs of all time. And something happened, we weren't able to facilitate that, but I was also gonna go down there and I wanted to interview Mark.

It was way too short notice and I didn't have enough time to fully prepare for 20 years in the ring. And over 20 years as truly one of the strongest human beings on the planet. And I'm sitting there doing my homework at the hotel. And I called my wife and I told her, I said, man, I said, I ain't ready for Mark. He's had too successful of a career for me to do him any justice. And she goes, just go down the bar and have a drink and you're going to do what you do. It's going to be great. Well, I rolled down to the studio where Mark does a radio show. And have you ever talked to Mark in person?

I haven't. Man, sitting three feet from that guy in the studio, when he starts telling some of the stories that he tells, he's another one of those guys, one of the human beings. He's another person that, man, when he starts feeling things and getting angry or worked up or telling stories, I mean, it's truly, you can feel the energy coming from his body. And I remember after I hit the stop button, because we talked for like two hours,

and he had to take his wife to lunch, and hit the stop button. And I looked at Mark, and I said, that's the best podcast I've ever done. And it wasn't the fact that I did a good podcast. It was Mark telling stories. So I would signal that as being one of, and because it was in person, and I've talked to a lot of really cool people, but when you talk to Mark and he starts getting personal that close to you, it's pretty amazing.

He's definitely a dream guest for us. I mean, we've discussed it. Just hearing his stories on the network, hearing his stories in documentaries, he really is a storyteller. Well, he's a storyteller, but he has a fascinating story because he comes from very humble beginnings and achieves so much success and then got in a – and he was in an alpha-driven sport of strength, and he comes into the business of wrestling, gets knocked down, or he gets humbled and then has to has to

really amp it up and have the run that he's had it's amazing absolutely and he's a guy that's been able to reinvent himself so many times looking back to the hall of fame run he had like this towards the end of his career exactly yeah he mark henry we can't say enough good things about him on this show well and i like the way he breaks down the current product as well. Because sometimes, you know, I don't watch enough of it. And like he does, same with Bully Ray. They've stayed eyes on ever since. And so I love the way they can assess it and break it down like a true analyst. Let me ask you this.

On Straight Up Steve Austin, if we told you you can have your dream guest dead or alive, who are you bringing on? There's going to be a couple of them. All right. Give give us like a season it's like a season of dream guests no i'm not gonna give you a season because i never do guests that i would like to have because i would put pressure on them and then you know if they said no they make me look like an idiot so i'll never say them but since you said no longer living right off the bat evil kenevil yeah he might be y'all might be young enough to remember evil kenevil he was a motorcycle daredevil he tried to jump the snake river canyon in a rocket ship anyway evil kenevil he was jumping harley davidson so he's he's before you guys' time.

That was, I did not expect that answer whatsoever. I've got an uncle who is obsessed with Evel Knievel. He's got like all the memorabilia, all the old toys, the windup, it would jump over the ramp. So yeah, I was sort of raised on him. So I do have that connection. I didn't know if he was old enough to remember Evel, but yeah, Evel Knievel. Last season, I loved also the Becky Lynch episode.

I thought that was great, just from the wrestler on wrestler connection. And I wanted to ask about the stunner that she delivered you at the end of the episode, because it was picture perfect. And I wanted to ask if there was a secret to it. Did you give her the secret, I don't know, movement that there was? Was it your side? I don't know what it was. It was perfect, though.

Man, Becky's so cool. You know, I don't know her real well, but when we talk, I mean, I consider her a really good friend. And we asked her to do the show, and she gave us a day. And we had a great time spending the day together, riding four-wheelers and everything. And she lit up like a Christmas tree when we talked about that stunner. And I said, are you good?

I said, because this is kind of how I do it, and this this is what I'm gonna do I said you just kick me I'm gonna grab base and go down and I said you want to run through it she goes no so just like that one take one kick one stunner done that's why she's the man. Yeah, she's the man. I love saying that. She's the man. She's the man. So when I saw Edge return at the Royal Rumble after the tear-filled retirement speech that he gave, one of my first thoughts was,

I mean, obviously I don't think that you want to come back right now, but how close, if ever, was there a moment where you felt like you could or Vince McMahon approached you about potentially returning and did those conversations get to a point where you were like, this might actually happen? There have been a couple of carrots dangled in front of me back in a day you know to know matches many years ago and i said no and it's some huge names and i said no because you know i'm done so i'll you know i think there was a buzz someone

was asking me earlier today that i was going to make a comeback. And I'm like, who started that rumor? I'm not going to make a comeback. I'm not going to have one more match. I'm not doing nothing. I'm done. And I didn't want to retire when I had to retire. I did not. And it took me a long time to get over that.

But whatever memory I left in people's minds from whenever I walked away in 2003, that's what I wanted to remember. I'm in pretty damn good shape. I take pride in staying in as good a shape as I've stayed in. But I don't want people to remember me now. Me, I'm speaking personally about me, not anybody else that makes these comeback matches. I don't want anybody to remember me trying to come back and have a match just for old time's sake or

because i need an adrenaline shot or anything else i want people to remember me from the hell raising mud hole stomping guy that i was back in the day end of story did you ever think about getting into coaching maybe even in a role that Dusty Rhodes had down at the performance center where he was sort of coaching promo class and stuff like that? Did that ever appeal to you? You know, I wouldn't mind going down there and spending a couple days with the kids, you know, like, you know, like I'm not trying to book myself into a job, but for lack of a better term, like a couple of days seminar, you know, or Q and A, cause I don't want to preach.

Like, like when I preach, uh, or like when I'm talking to someone and I'm talking about what helped make stone cold, it's not really, doesn't really mean that that's going to work for you. You know, like the way undertaker did it was different the way I did it. And the way rock did it was different than, you know. So everybody has a different formula. So I'd like to go down there and do, like, Q&As, help people with whatever questions they would have.

I'd like to drop my 411. And then also have just a list of things that I would, you know, tell people to focus on from the get-go. So, you know, like when I got into business, no one ever told me, you know, tell people to focus on from the get go. So, you know, like, like when I got into business, no one ever told me, you know, I learned the mechanics and a little bit of psychology from Chris Adams in Dallas, Texas. But he never told me, Steve, you need to think about a character, you need to think about who and what you are, because who and what you are is going to help you make decisions about how you're going to act in certain situations. Or you need to learn how to talk. Because by talking, you sell tickets

because that's what this is all about, selling tickets. So a few basics, things that you plant in people's seats. And I think they're doing that to a large degree down there now. But, hey, only I have my perspective, so I would like to give mine. Right. I think one of the best things about your career is that when you think about other all time greats, they all have that one defining moment, like you can throw out a name and it's like, I think of that moment. But for your career,

there are multiple and it's debatable. So for you, like when you close your eyes and think back on your career, what one moment stands out to you personally? Well, I don't do that because I really, you know, I don't think about what I used to do anymore. But I appreciate you guys, you know, having me on the show and watching my career. But if I was going to close my eyes, you know, that being a bloody mess at the end of WrestleMania 13 or or trying to get out of that sharpshooter.

Because now I've done that match and I've seen the pictures of me trying to get out of that and that becoming an iconic image in the history of the business, a very important moment. And executing a double turn or that feeling, laying there in that blood is one of the best feelings of my life. 17 with The Rock was awesome. Hell, kicking Vince with that first stunner and starting something that would, you know, start a feud for a couple of years and transcend the business,

light me on fire, and become water cooler talk. And people that didn't watch wrestling started watching wrestling so there's gonna be some moments like that i guess that was one of the worst sell jobs of all time i think you know what but you gotta appreciate it because it was old school he went there there's a fish like if you're sitting like sitting on a pier there's a fish called a crappy so it's like we call that the crappy we don't call it the bass on a crappy and that's where you know like when we call that the crappie. We don't call it the bass. We call it the crappie. And that's where, you know, like when you pull that fish out of water

and put him on a pier, he does that. That's what that was. And that was probably the sale job that they used to do like 20 years ago. You know, when you hit, you got to really overdo it. So on the one hand, I agree with you. It was horrible. But on the other hand, it was spectacular. It was perfect.

It was perfect for the moment. And it was spectacular it was perfect it was perfect for the moment and it's so iconic now yeah i actually saw he was getting taste he did i saw recently people on twitter were like hyping up brett hart's cell of the stunner and they were posting a ton of clips brett hart had such a realistic cell i mean he looked like he was breaking his jaw on every one you know one of my close friends that's in the business, I don't want to drop his name on the podcast, he sent me that clip and he goes, golly, that was a piece of art. And that was the first time I had seen it.

But then I remember giving him that one, and it was like, it was picture perfect, and it just looked like he'd been shot. Yeah. That's one of the things about Brett was, Brett was one of the, about brett was brett was one of the if not the best ever at making a work sport or a work business actually look like an actual event or fight the realism that brett brought to the ring along with all of his other list of things that he brought to the ring i just thought his realism was one of the best things that he brought to the ring. I just thought his realism was one of the best things that he was.

You are directly responsible for probably, I don't know, 70% of the top 25 crowd pops in wrestling history. And it sounds, it obviously sounds different being there than it does on TV. On TV, you can definitely tell. But in your opinion, what was the loudest crowd pop that you've ever been a part of? Man, the only time I get a chance to really kind of see them things is when they're playing back on Twitter or something like that. And I'll never forget when Mick and Rock were working a match

and Billy Gunn, I guess half of DX was out there. And Mick was kind of in harm's way or whatever i don't remember what was going it was a melee and man they broke that glass and i came down there and i think i hit rock with the chair and then pulled mick over something like that and that pop when they hit that music and you just see those people just everybody shot out of their damn seat like something stuck them in the ass and threw their arms up like that and that is the ultimate you know response when you go out there and stuff like that happens that would be one that i would remember i think that was in worcester this week is the anniversary of that

actually it happened on january 4th we was over in toronto at the sky dome one time and i went out and uh god dang they lit it up pretty good that's a big ass building because it's so tall the sound kind of gets lost up in there that was another one and it was pretty good. And that's a big-ass building. Because it's so tall, the sound kind of gets lost up in there. That was another one. And it was one of those ones that just kept building. And it was like aftershocks of an earthquake. It just wouldn't stop. That would have been another one.

Yeah. The Monday Night Raw after the first blood match with Kane, you beating him 24 hours after losing the title. Would you say that that was the loudest crowd pop that you've ever gotten from like a victory? I can't remember it. I'd have to go back and watch it. I just, I'll never get it, you know, cause I went out there, I went down there and challenged him to that match.

And I always thought it was kind of almost baby facious or because he had some, some type of integrity to his character to accept the match from a character standpoint and I had Kane on my show uh he's such a super cat that was a hell of a pop but I'd have to go back and look at it to give you an answer you guys got to watch this and enjoy it. I was out there doing it and enjoying it. And I remember some of them, or the pops, but I think the fans remember it more than the boys do. But we live and die by it, man. When your music hits, that response you get is,

hey, where am I at? That crowd will let you know. What was the ultimate compliment for you back in the day? Was it Vince telling you you had a great match? Was it one of your peers telling you, letting you know what was like the ultimate compliment for you back in the day was it vince telling you you had a great match was it one of your peers telling you oh my god that was incredible was it a fan saying hey you were the reason that i got into wrestling is it uh someone saying you were the reason why i am now a wrestler what for you makes you step back and go wow like the legacy i left is pretty crazy i think all of of them, you know, because I think I'm guessing

I had the respect of most of my peers. I tried to work my ass off every time I went to the ring, and, you know, I never was going to phone it in. I was going to work my ass off, so I always tried hard. You know, when Vince, you know, said, hey, that's good, that was cool. I don't forget when I came back from 13, I knew we had that crowd. I knew that blood was a great visual from 13. I knew we had that crowd. I knew that blood was a great visual.

But as I'm limping back, I'm kind of like, okay, but how good was it? And, man, here comes Michael Hayes. And I think Triple H came up as well. But I think Michael Hayes was the first one. And he's the one that smartened me up about Jake the Snake, you know, when I invented Austin 316 back in the Milwaukee Mecca way back in the day, and he had that look on his face. And I used to go to the Sportatorium and watch Michael Hayes as part of the Fabulous Freebirds. And, you know, when Michael Hayes comes up to me, he goes,

God damn, kid. And he's just shooting my hand. He just kind of just nodded at me. And I was like, okay, if Michael's nodding at me, I guess we probably hit a grand slam. Moments like that are pretty damn cool. Is that like the definitive reaction when you get back to i guess gorilla what they call it that's when you know how good the match really was yeah because it's kind of uh affirmation right you kind of you kind of think man that felt pretty pretty effing good right and all of a sudden you're getting getting gorilla and it's like or either sometimes now it's a standing o the standing o is nice yeah you know like back like

back in the day when gorilla wasn't as big as it was it was like a couple of cuss words and you know thumbs up or whatever it's kind of changed over the years but man when you walk through when the boys start telling you and you know when it's a shoot or when it's just like kind of an attaboy. Yeah. When you were at your absolute hottest, who was the one guy that you were like the least resistant to put over? Like if I'm working with that guy, it's like I want to make that guy look good. Oh, well, you know, you always want to make everybody look good,

but like you're talking about major program or yeah like who who who did you have like the most pride in putting them over well just just having a good match or them beating me them beating you well i mean shoot not many people did not too many people did and i never beat Bret. I think I lost most of the time to The Undertaker. So it's like, I'll give you a match just so we can settle the question, but it's from a different perspective. I went out there and worked in a match with Chris Benoit on Raw and match they shorted us on time and it was average. Well, we was gonna work the next night on SmackDown in his hometown.

And I told a story before, but I told him, I said, dude, I don't see you making a traditional comeback on me. I see 10 belly to back suplexes and we go into the finish, do the whatever happens. And I said, don't worry about time. I said, we're gonna go as long as I want to. I'll take the heat. Meaning he was under my umbrella, and we went long, and I was going to protect him from any kind of heat that was coming down.

And we went out there and just ripped it up. And this goes right into your question. We got to the back, and I got to the back first, obviously. Chris was in the ring. We'd screwed him. And Chris came up to me and he thanked me as we were shaking hands. And he told me verbatim, he goes, he goes, man, he goes, you got me over. It wasn't, you know, he said, thank you.

He goes, you got me over. Yeah. Like, and I did. And he knew exactly what I'd done that that was that was one of the biggest compliments i ever got it's like a real appreciation he showed well man chris was a student of the game and a badass worker we're gonna talk about the rest but you know i remember what he did in the ring and i remember loving watching that guy work and loving to work with him absolutely steve this has been awesome.

This has been a pleasure and an honor for the both of us. So thank you for the time. We really appreciate it. Straight up Steve Austin comes back on January 11th. I can't wait. Check it out on USA Network.