@’s by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin!!!
Hey all, The Writing Rambler here again. When The Dean first reached out to me about him starting this column and interviewing some of the members of the wrestling world I was more than happy at the prospect of covering something I have loved since I was a small child. I grew up on wrestling and was in my senior year of High School when the famed "attitude era" began in the WWF/WWE. That era was arguably the peak of WWF/WWE's impact on popular culture and there is no one more responsible for that success than the person we had the pleasure of speaking to recently, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
Steve graciously gave The Dean and I about 40 minutes of his time to talk about his life in and out of the ring, his current ventures in TV and film and his very popular podcast, “The Steve Austin Show.” Without question, Steve has definitely moved on to a new form of entertaining his fans but he is still as good as ever at it and despite coming from an industry where not everything can be believed at face value, he is one of the most honest and open people you can have a conversation with.With that said, we hope you enjoy…
THE DEAN: So how’s it going today, Steve? How’ve you been?
STEVE AUSTIN (SA): Ah, man, it’s going good, man, I’m just driving in to LA. I’m down here to hit Hollywood to lay down some voiceovers for a pilot we shot about 2 or 3 months ago in Marina del Rey. So I’m driving in, layin’ down some tracks, and then I’m headin’ over to a meeting about my podcast, then I’ll just kinda kick back, head to the gym, and that’s about all I got on my schedule today.
DEAN: That’s a good schedule! It’s cool because you’re in LA right now, I’m in Chicago, and Rambler you’re in Jersey, right?
WRITING RAMBLER (WR): Yep, in Jersey.
DEAN: Yeah, see? Look at that, wrestling bringing the country together, that’s what it does.
SA: Unbelievable technology!
DEAN: (laughs) Well, you mentioned the podcast so let’s start with that. As a fan, it’s something that I feel incredibly privileged to listen to – just being able to hear you talk the business with other guys is so fascinating. You’ve said before that you’ve never been much of a “stop and smell the roses” guy, so sharing stories, interviewing other wrestlers for the show, does this give you a chance to appreciate all you’ve done in your career?
SA: Well I just like talkin’ to other people about what they’ve done, you know, doin’ my research on ‘em. I mean a lot of these guys I’ve watched, but some of the stuff I’ve got to read about, then I can ask ‘em about it. So I just enjoy talking about the business, I don’t really…I’m technically still in the business, I’m with the WWE but it’s not like I’m on the road having matches, so. I love talking wrestling! When you talk with guys like Terry Funk, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, guys that have been down the road, Shawn Michaels; it’s just nice to get their opinions on things, maybe what was going through their head at a specific time when whatever happened. DEAN: Yeah, and it’s cool because your career spans a really interesting time in wrestling where everything went from completely real, totally kayfabe, to now where everything is sort of out in the open. I remember hearing an interview with William Regal once where he mentioned that he’s very old school in that he doesn’t like to talk the business with people who aren’t in it, who aren’t other wrestlers. Do you feel that way at all or are you pretty comfortable talking about it with people like me or other interviewers?
SA: You know I’m pretty open about everything, there’s a couple of things that I won’t give away exactly, but, you know I don’t want to know how David Copperfield does every single one of his tricks (laughs) I think it’s cool if he tells be a little bit, but not too much, you know what I’m saying?
DEAN: Yeah, absolutely!
SA: I don’t want all the magic to be lost, I still want to kinda keep that belief or disbelief on a few points here and there, but yeah I’m pretty open about everything.
DEAN: That’s how I like to keep it, too. It’s awesome to hear some insider stuff but too much can ruin it. You’re like one of the last guys, too, where when I go back and watch your matches in the earlier years of your Stone Cold run it was just so real to me back then, at that age. Now of course I totally get it and I appreciate wrestling differently, but I still can’t watch things from your day without having those feelings still like, “no way, this is all totally real!”
SA: Man, I tell you, I just…I like the old stuff, it’s hard to beat it. Whether it’s “Attitude Era” or going back before then, today’s product, today’s wrestling, it’s truly “Sports Entertainment.” I don’t even think it’s wrestling anymore. They’re wrestling, but it’s Sports Entertainment. I was a pro wrestler, the guys before me were pro wrestlers, and the business has definitely changed. The in-ring product is different.DEAN: Well that’s an interesting point, because I mean yeah it is different, so what do you think it takes to entertain today’s fan? What’s changed about wrestling and the fan’s expectations?
SA: Man, that’s a damn good question. It’s just like a big 3 ring circus; they’re trying to entertain a little bit of everything, and everybody. You know back in the day, specifically, you were trying to entertain those wrestling fans, and that’s what the majority of the audience was. So, to be fair, people are still wrestling fans, but I guess they just evolved with the product. I’ve been on the sidelines for about ten or eleven years and I’m trapped in that mentality of pure pro wrestling, just like I am with my music, you know, heavy metal music. I don’t really dig today’s music scene. I don’t like what the sound is. I do in country music to a degree, though that’s gotten to poppy, but to stay to the point of wrestling…it’s just like they’re trying to entertain every single age group, every single demographic, with something or other. And when it’s all said and done, it’s just a little too glossy, a little too shiny—it’s not rough enough.
I watched recently when I was doing some research to talk to Steve Regal, I caught a little bit of the NXT show. I love the production value of that little studio they’re running out of down in Orlando. I like the lighting. Regal was wrestling with a guy named Kassius Ohno; it was more kind of like a brawl. But you could tell they didn’t have the whole match prefabbed from A to Z, and they were workin’. Of course William Regal can work his ass off anyway, we’ve always known that, and so can Ohno, to a degree, and William was leading the match. But I enjoyed the way that looked and felt more so than the RAW product. And again, I’m not hammerin’ on the RAW product—it is what it is, there’s different ways to do business. I’m kind of ramblin’ now but I do when I talk about the business.
WR: I think with success, there comes this kind of fear to try new things, you know, you want to keep that success if what you’re doing is working, and I think that was what was really great. I mean, I was in high school during the attitude era, so to me that was like the high point, you know, especially. I was so into it, loved it, But I think you were really, it was a real war with WCW. They were fighting for ratings, there was this fight, so you were more willing to risk and try new things. I think that was awesome. I think that kind of has fallen off a little bit today because there’s that success rate, and it’s kind of like “let’s stay at the top, let’s play it safe.” Do you kind of feel that too, Steve? That there’s this kind of safe factor that they want to keep it, you know “let’s play it safe, and keep the product going as it is ‘cause we’re doing well with it”? Because they’re doing successful business right now, that they want to play it safe, and not maybe risk something or try something new? And scare off some fans and, you know, obviously some business with that?SA: Well, not scared about tryin’ something new. I just think they’re in the mode that they’re in right now, and it’s changed. Baseball’s changed, football’s changed. Everything’s changed, it’s faster-moving. And sometimes, I mean like, if you put in a main event match right now, versus…well just out of argument’s sake we’ll say a Jerry Lawler match or a Ric Flair match anytime, watch the pacing. Y’know, watch how those guys, Flair and Lawler, are taking their time, they’re workin’ their high spots. All the psychology is gonna be sound , but they’re not rushing things. Everything these days is rushed. Guys are no-sellin’ stuff, or overselling bad stuff to try to say “oh yeah, this is what hurt me.” I think a big part of it is just the fact that the current crop of superstars, to a large degree - you have your veterans in there your Cenas, your Ortons, and Daniel Bryan can work his ass off - but most of the guys, you know, it’s not their fault, they’re just extremely, extremely green, trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. And they’re doing their best, but you gotta take your time, you gotta have exclamation points, commas, and periods, and that work.
WR: Sure.
DEAN: I kind of want to go into… the guys in there now are obviously tougher than I’m ever gonna be. But, I don’t know if you saw a few weeks back when Sin Cara hurt his wrist, but he called the match, didn’t even finish it. You’re a guy that, you know, you hurt your neck pretty bad, but you still found a way to finish the match. So, what do you think; do you think that it’s smart playing it safe, or do you think you gotta finish it if you can?SA: Man, that’s… if you ask anybody of any merit in the business, every one of those guys, every single one is gonna say you finish the match. I don’t give a shit how you do it, you finish the match. Now, I shouldn’t have finished the match that I was in for obvious reasons. But I did. Y’know, Triple H tearing the quad, he finished the match. You hear old stories of Dr. Death Steve Williams gettin’, I don’t know, a hundred stitches, or whatever, finishing the match, back to work the next day. But you always finish the match. Unless you’re dead, you finish the match.
DEAN: Well, so for you it was the piledriver that nearly ended your career right there, and they went so far as to actually ban it. Do you think that banning a move it a smart idea, or do you think that people just need to be smarter about it, safer about it?
SA: Man, I’m ok with them banning it. If you have one or two cherry-picked guys who know how to do that… Take Undertaker, for example. I could take that (tombstone piledriver) all day long because he’s safe. But by and large… you know… and it’s funny because… well, it’s not funny. But in pro wrestling school, back in the day, when I was there, fresh out of school, there’s just certain things they don’t teach you. And a piledriver is not high on the list of the things that they teach you. Most times, no one has even attempted a piledriver when someone’s in the back talkin’, and they say, y’know, “Hey man, what about piledrivers?” “Well, I’ve never done one” “Well, do you think you can try it?” “Sure!” Some guys are young enough and stupid enough to try ‘em. And then you kinda learn. But that’s not the greatest way to learn.
You know, when I first broke into the business we learned how to bump above and beyond anything, it’s all about bumping, how to protect yourself – but nobody taught me how to take, or give, a steel chair. All of a sudden there you are and someone says “okay, then at this point you’re gonna bust me in the head with a steel chair.” Well, shit! Being in the middle of an angle, as I was with Chris Adams, and all of a sudden you’re throwing your first chair shot, you don’t know what the hell you’re doing! But if you’re taking one – a lot of these dumbasses that don’t put their hands up when they’re taking that chair shot and just take it off they’re damn cranium are idiots. But let’s go ahead and take the piledriver off the menu. If you want to cherry pick one or two guys to use it on a big event, I’m down with it.DEAN: Yeah, I’d agree with that, but then you still see them go out and do even crazier, riskier looking things, so it’s like they might as well learn how to take a move like that safely, how to protect yourself, and do it that way.
SA: Yeah, but by all rights, I mean a piledriver oughtta be someone’s finish anyway. The tombstone piledriver is The Undertaker’s , so if someone else is gonna use the piledriver, only that one person would use the piledriver, just like only one person uses the pedigree, one person used the Stone Cold Stunner and so forth. Only one guy should be using that move anyway, so I mean you find out who that is, who’s good at it like a Paul Orndorff back in the day – he could stick that thing on you and you’d never feel a thing but it looked devastating.
Then, you know, when you think about the DDT, Jake’s move that everybody sort of turned into a transition move, then it turned into a high spot, or the go to false finish. When Jake laid that DDT on you mister that was all over! It’s one of the greatest finishers in the history of the business, and now look what it is – a glorified false finish in anybody’s match. So someone oughtta bust out the DDT and say they studied with Jake, perfected it, and it’s back. Then nobody else’ll touch it. But I’m rambling now, go ahead…
WR: That’s a good point. I think even with people’s characters nowadays, there’s kind of this generic character that everybody plays. You know, you still have some people that stand out, but that’s a good point you were making about the moves. There’re signature moves, yes, but they’re all kind of variations of each other, and I think that’s a testament to what you’re saying. Back in the day characters kind of held up more, people kind of associated with one charter or another because there were some real personalities behind those moves, and you know, they really sold it they got you into it, and invested. So yeah, I completely agree with that, maybe if we had more of that character branding on one move or one thing, that’d be really cool to see.SA: Yeah!
DEAN: So what do you think then when you see someone like The Rock come in and main event two WrestleManias in a row now? Is it good for business or is it a short term solution that keeps the younger guys down?
SA: Nah, it’s not keeping the younger guys down. If a guy can come in with The Rock’s celebrity and draw some eyeballs to the current product from the outside world, man, that’s great! You know, there’re some guys that are…Rock earned his stripes, I guess is what I’m saying. If Vince, if the ol’ man – don’t say old man, but that’s what we liked to call him – if Vince says “Hey, man we want Rock in this thing, he’s gonna help us draw money,” he knows what the hell he’s doing. Then Rock’s gonna come in, do his thing, do ‘Mania, then get off TV, and the other guys just stay the course, keep payin’ their dues and try to get to that spot that The Rock was just at.
So I think it’s a good thing. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I think it’s good in small doses. I don’t think you want to harp on it every single year, but that’s a Vince call. So far, Vince has proved to be the smartest son of a bitch ever in pro wrestling, so I think he knows a thing or two about the business.
DEAN: Yeah, and I mean the last two WrestleManias have been two of the biggest ever, so obviously it’s working at least in terms of drawing money. But does seeing that make you want to get back into it ever? I know people have been asking you about WrestleMania 30 all the time lately, but would working with the WWE in some capacity be something you’re interested in either a direct type of on camera role, or maybe something more behind the scenes?
SA: Nah, man, I’m happy doin’ it with the capacity I’m at, man. I’m as busy as I wanna be, working with the reality television project, one or two independent movies a year. I’m working on a hunting show for next calendar year, so that should happen sometime in 2014. I’ve got the podcast I’m doing twice a week, looking to maybe add another show to that…believe me, I’m as busy as I wanna be. I like work! But, I don’t want to be involved in any other type of schedule or anything like that. Still love the business, too, but I’ve been there and I’ve done that at a very high level.DEAN: The TV schedules alone seem like they’d be pretty hectic, and I want to make sure we touch on that because Rambler you’ve been watching “Redneck Island,” right?
WR: Yeah, yeah, I finished the finale just recently. I was kind of pulling for Bucket myself (laughs)
SA: He had a chance, Man! He had a chance…
WR: (laughs) but yeah, you’re personality comes through so much with this, in the podcast too. I think maybe in like the third episode or something you were talking about just like general care - pedicures, you were talking about your wife – and it was just so entertaining to listen for thirty or forty minutes just about, kind of a topic about nothing, you know? ‘Cause I expect that when you’re talking to Shawn Michaels or you’re talking to Ric Flair that I’m going to love that, that I’m going to enjoy it, but to listen to you just talk about these everyday topics, and you make it so entertaining, I just think you have a real knack for that.
Even with the show, you hosting “Redneck Island.” I saw it with the last “Tough Enough,” too, you do a really good job with it, I commend you for it and definitely recommend people check it out. Do you want to do more projects like that as far as reality? I know you said you have the hunting show coming up, but do you find that all kind of taxing?
SA: I just, like I said, I’m going to go do some voiceovers for a pilot we just shot for CMT, and man I’ll tell you what, you talk about a bust- ass, badass show, this is it. This is straight up competition…I can’t talk about it too much, but I’m just going to go lay down a few voiceovers for that, and if this thing doesn’t get picked up I’ll be very surprised. But I love the reality stage, ‘cause I do “Redneck Island” and I’ve got a little bit of copy because I gotta know, or I gotta break down the rules of the contests, of the challenges. But with this thing we just shot it’s just totally me in my element, totally adlibbed, and nobody’s feeding me nothin’. So this is me working with the cats that are involved in this show, so…normally it’s a straight up adlibbed shoot, so I have fun with that, I love livin’ in that space. I’m looking forward to it, I think they’ll pick this show up. I just enjoy reality television, it works with my schedule, it works for my attention span, and it’s just nothing but pure enjoyment.
WR: So this might be kind of obvious, but would you say all your work cutting promos, talking in front of live crowds, all the mic wok you’ve done over the years, does it help you just feel more comfortable with the reality shows? Obviously it’s filmed so it’s a little different than a live audience, but did that type of mic work help prepare you for this new venture, and even with acting in that world, too?SA: Nahh, you know they’re really two kind of separate things. The more I get a chance to be myself, obviously the better it is for me. For shooting “Redneck Island,” you know, sometimes I’d get a little bit of copy before I went out as far as the challenges, so sometimes I had to be a little stiff on that, but “Tough Enough” was totally unscripted. I’d show up, I’d say to the guy, “Hey, what do we got?” “Well, we’re gonna put ‘em through this and you guys can do that.” Alright! [Ricky] Steamboat, Trish [Stratus], and Bill [DeMott] would go do it! No fuckin’ rehearsal, no script, no nothin’! That’s why I loved “Tough Enough” so much, and for us it was the world that I’d come from, the world that I know and love, and so did the other three people I mentioned.
So that was easy as hell, but you know, and acting is acting – I think now I’m supposed to go shoot a movie in a month, and I’ve got another one comin’ up about three months after that. I think what I’ve figure out as far as my place in the independent movie world is that people – and I’m just now figuring this out – when they go see a Steve Austin movie, they’re not expecting to see Daniel Day-Lewis playin’ and Indian (laughter), or confined to a wheelchair or anything, you know - with respect to his acting chops, and the way he builds characters – people see a Steve Austin movie come to see me beat the flying shit outta people and kill bad guys. You know, I don’t need to think rocket science when I go through one of my movies (laughter)
DEAN: I want to check in with you real quick because I think we were supposed to keep it around twenty minutes and we’re past that, so are you good for a couple more questions?
SA: Yeah, go for it man. I’m just drivin’.
DEAN: Awesome, because I want to get your thoughts on a few more wrestling topics, too. So competition – we don’t have territories anymore, WCW is long gone. Is TNA legit competition for the WWE, or can it become that?
SA: No.
DEAN: (laughter) simple answer!SA: No, I mean I enjoy watching TNA; it’s not quite so heavily scripted. But, they’ll never make a run as far as being viable competition for WWE. Can they live and thrive in and of themselves? Well, they’re getting by; I don’t know that they’re thriving. I mean I wish that company all the luck because they got a lot of guys that are friends over there, guys and gals in the business, and I love wrestling so I wish them all the luck in the world, but can they compete with WWE, or would you consider them competition? I think you could say yes because it’s an alternative wrestling show, but…there’s just no competition, really.
But, you know, that being said they’ve got some pretty good talent over there! They’ve got pretty decent storylines, and you know, it ain’t a bad show. It’s different. I think anytime you can have two different wrestling shows on TV that’s a good thing.
DEAN: Yeah, they’ve definitely got some top talent over there with guys like Samoa Joe, Kaz and Daniels, Aries, but do you think there’s anything that the WWE is missing that maybe another promotion could capitalize on one day?
SA: No. (laughter)I don’t think there is. I’m not saying the WWE’s not missing anything, I could sit here and nitpick it to death, but nobody’s gonna come around with the deep pockets and brain power to successfully compete with the WWE. It’s just not gonna happen, and it’s not possible. No one is gonna be committed enough to take Vince McMahon on and win that war. First of all, they could have enough money, but at the end of the day you’ve gotta know wrestling. We’ve seen people try, you know, Ted Turner, TNA is what it is, but no one can overthrow that or even make a dent in it in my opinion.
DEAN: Yeah, that is tough. WCW was probably a once in a lifetime thing. Now we've talked WWE being “sports entertainment,” so how do you feel about guys like Mike Tyson or Drew Carey getting in the hall of fame for wrestling before someone like (Randy) Savage does?
SA: Heh, heh. Wow…the celebrity wing of the hall of fame. (Laughter and then a long pause)...the celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame and Randy Savage is not in. (another long Pause)... and I think my silence speaks enough on that (laughter)
You know I'm a pro wrestler, man, I'm not big on the celebrity thing, because you know some of them come around and they show up at one or two WrestleManias and maybe they had success in their endeavor or their personal/professional thing that they did. But you know maybe the WWE will want to reach out and get them on the show a little bit and that's fine and dandy but in the hall of fame? Man, I don't think so.WR: Yeah I think, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think it's a respect issue too. As long as I can remember, back to when I was 2-3 years old I've been watching wrestling and as I got older I started to realize, and probably not to the full extent that you know, but what you guys go through on a daily basis, the schedules. How real this is, this is your lives, this is what you do day in and day out. So I've grown to respect that as I've gotten older and I can understand what that time away from your family could be like. So I've got to imagine it being frustrating seeing people who've dedicated their life to this not being in there yet, while people who've pitched in here and there are in.
SA: Well, don't get me wrong. I don't get upset about it or worried about it or say "God Dang it, I can't believe so and so got in" It's like it's almost kinda like a thing where you go " I see what they're trying to do" they are trying to draw in some outside eyeballs and I don't know, I mean you're gonna throw so many people in that hall of fame that one of these days if they build a structure to house all of this stuff you're gonna run out of room. A hall of fame is supposed to be a very special place and again, no disrespect to any of the celebrities that have been voted in. Let’s just say as much as I respect or enjoyed their careers outside of pro wrestling I wouldn't have voted them in personally myself. If you're gonna have a hall of fame then it has to be the holy grail, the be all end all and it has to be a special place. It has to be held to a very, very high standard.
WR: Agreed.
DEAN: Okay, now we'll lighten this up after that heavy question - I know this is on a different level, but when I used to wrestle around with my friends there were a lot of laughs, or we would try to mess with each other all the time. Did that happen in the ring ever that you can remember? Were there any great ribs that happened to you or that you pulled on other guys in the ring in front of the crowd?SA: Nah man, I was never a big ribber in the ring. I was always there, well hell I was always so damn serious the first couple of years I got into the business I didn't know you could smile and have fun and relax. When you learn that you can do that and you get some of the greeness out of you, that's when you start having fun and it gets better. But I just wasn't a big ribber in the ring. Every now and then, once in a while maybe, but nah I don't think anybody's ever tied my shoelaces together or anything.
You know, back in the day when we were in USWA, I'd go up there and work the 1st, 2nd or 3rd match and be ready to get in the shower and get out of dodge and they'd come back and say "nobody leave, were gonna have another match, a battle royal" at the end of the night. And I'd think " ahh, shit" now I had to work a 2nd match and get paid once, but you know we'd keep our shit on and go out to the ring. And that was when guys loaded up, man they'd take sharpies to the ring and guys would be drawing on each other when they were in the corner or guys would get duct taped to the ropes, someone would get taken down and someone would tie the shoelaces on their boots together, you know fun stuff like that.
But I was never a big ribber and I didn't like to be ribbed and although I like to joke with people I didn't rib people and I didn't like to be ribbed in return either. You hear all types of stories about back in the day we'd be getting dressed in high school football locker rooms and if there was a combination lock left open it would inevitably end up on someone's belt loop and you know when you get a pants full of combination locks and you don't know the combinations and you gotta get dressed, that's not a good situation to find yourself in (laughter).
You know, just a lot of fun, a lot of fun spirited stuff. Man I remember one time, it was either Norfolk Virginia or, no it was Norfolk, it was the Scope arena. We had a battle royal for WCW, Diamond Dallas Page was down there and both the Steiner brothers were in the ring and for some reason they decided they were gonna strip Page down. Then they took Page down, and when the Steiner boys are on you ain't getting up, and they stripped that son of a bitch down completely naked and Dallas had to run back through the crowd holding his johnson in his hands (laughter). And that was the best rib I have ever seen. Page took it extremely well though. The crowd was probably horrified, but I remember I was laughing my ass off(laugher).WR: I'll keep it light as well Steve, I know you're a big fan of football and the season is starting today. Are you looking forward to the season? Now you're a cowboys fan, right?
SA: You know I kind of go back and forth between all of the teams. I look and see what the coaches and players are doing and float around program to program. I would rather just do that than put all of my hopes and dreams on one single team in the event that nothing comes out and being forever sad or mad cause they can't get their shit together. And there are just so many dynamic players in the league. I like to follow football like that cause I'm a die hard football fan. Now don't get me wrong, in college football I'm kind of an Alabama guy, I like the southeast conference in particular. But I'm a 'bama guy in college football, it will also be interesting to see what Manziel does this year and see if someone will light his ass up because he's got so much heat on him. But as far as the pros go, I just kind of go through the games and settle in on a team or two halfway through the season. I like what Harbaugh has done in San Francisco. I love Mike Singletary as a player, one of the greatest of all time, He just wasn't a head coach. But then Harbaugh came up there from Stanford and he just totally turned that team around. Then you had the Harbaugh brothers in the Super Bowl, I wanted John to win just cuz he's the older brother so I'm glad Baltimore won but I was rooting for San Francisco during that game But yeah, I just love to follow all of the story-lines and developments.
WR: Well if you're watching tonight enjoy the game.SA: Hey who is playing tonight by the way?
WR: Denver and Baltimore.
SA: Man, that will be a good game. Flacco has turned into a good quarterback. I don't think he is as elite as he thinks he is but that's the mindset you have to be in to be successful. I love to see what Payton (Manning) will do. You know the thing that gets me about the Denver offense is Payton throws so many of those God dang side to side routes, I don't know why they don't just let him throw it down field. They say he doesn't have as much arm strength as he used to but those passes that he zips from hash mark to hash mark got pretty good zip on them so just take it down field and stretch the field.I think then they could open up a little more of their offense. You know that guy is probably the greatest quarterback to ever live, so it will be interesting to see him make it through this year and I wish him a safe season and hopefully get another 3-4 years out of that carcass.
WR: Well again Steve, I just want to say we appreciate talking with you today and thank you for the years of just great times that we've all had as fans. Definitely keep the podcasts coming and hopefully we’ll talk again soon.
SA: Hey man, I appreciate the help and the plugs for the Steve Austin Show. You know that show is pure me, it's not really formatted. I kind of halfway time my segments out but I never know what I'm gonna do until maybe like an hour before we do them. You know someone will ask me "well what are you gonna do?" and I'm like "shit, I don't know". I just do it. That's kind of the way my brain works. That damn show, I call it "audio whoop ass". It is designed as an entertainment vehicle. Every once in a while you'll get some tips or pointers or my point of view on something or a life lesson but its purely for entertainment. I'm not trying to do E=MC2 or cure any major diseases. I'm just simply trying to provide entertainment for the working man and that's the bottom line.
DEAN: That's the best part, the free form part of it. I feel like I'm listening in on a conversation I'm not supposed to hear between you and a buddy of yours or something, it's so great. Anyone coming up that you want to plug or anything coming up that you have some last words for?
SA: Man, I've got Jerry Lawler coming up. I was just talking to him. I wanted to talk to him in person but we had to talk on the phone. It's hard interviewing people on the phone because you don't have that eye contact and you don't know when to jump in without cutting them off just because there's kind of this cluster when someone starts going off on a fringe freight train spiel and your trying to shut them down and they can't hear you. So sometimes its just tough to interview people on the phone, but I still had a great time talking to Jerry Lawler. I've got a lot of respect for that guy's career. But yeah, I've got all types of bullshit coming up on the show so stay tuned and I appreciate everyone who downloads and listens to it.
DEAN: Well I can definitely echo Rambler's sentiments earlier, such a huge fan and so glad you're still doing so well. Thanks again, Steve. Have a good one.
SA: You guys do the same. I appreciate it.
DEAN: You can catch up with the Rattlenake twice a week on “The Steve Austin Show!” Head on over there to check out all the past guests from the wrestling and entertainment world, and be sure to subscribe on iTunes or whatever podcast player you use! If that’s not enough Steve Austin for you, you can watch full episodes of “Redneck Island” online over at CMT.com! And that’s all I got to say about that!
You can follow The Writing Rambler on his blog here and follow on Twitter @Writing_Rambler !
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
