Black Widow
01-05-2013, 07:27 PM
http://www.wwe.com/f/wysiwyg/image/2012/12/Stone%20Cold%204.jpg
The reviews are in, and THQ’s revolutionary “WWE ’13” is a bona fide smash-hit among fans and critics, thanks in large part to its incredible Attitude Era campaign mode. With that in mind, WWE.com decided to catch up with the catalyst of that time period, WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
In this candid two-part interview, Austin talks to Extreme Announcer Joey Styles about the heyday of The Attitude Era, his wars with Mr. McMahon and even his thoughts on current Superstars like John Cena. As always, “Stone Cold” is honest and open, and nothing is off limits.
WWE.COM: You will be forever associated with The Attitude Era. What was it about you and your personality that made you the guy for that time period?
“STONE COLD” STEVE AUSTIN: That’s a damn good question; I don’t know if I’ve got the answer for it. I guess I was just an entertaining guy. It’s hard for me to answer that question, because it’s cool to be that guy. But I’m not gonna sit here and blow smoke up my a**. I guess I just turned it up to be loud and aggressive, and I meant what I said and I did what I said.
I think the character of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, he was a pretty honest and straight-shooting cat, and he was digging and scratching and clawing to get to the top in the business that he loved and it showed in the work and in the persona I created.
That’s the best that I can figure. I was the guy who did it.
WWE.COM: Well, without “blowing smoke,” we can say that it was magical to watch. And sure, you were all business, but it looked like you were having a lot of fun in your war against Mr. McMahon. Is that fair to say?
AUSTIN: Oh yeah, man, that was a great time. I had a good time every time I went to work, and that was back in the day when we were on the road [even more than Superstars today]. It was just a blast to go to work every single night, and not just on Monday Night Raw or on a pay-per-view, and it was a blast going to WWE Live Events, because that was all that you did, that’s what you focused on.
You’d get out on the road, be gone for three weeks and be dying to get home, but as soon as you got home, you’re bored and itching to get back on the road. So it was just a great time in the business. The window that I happened to slide in at — I’m very appreciative that I came along when I did.
WWE.COM: Is there a Superstar you didn’t get to work with during that time that you would have liked to work with?
AUSTIN: It’s always fun to think about what it would have been like if me and Goldberg had gotten into the ring, to see what would have happened if me and Hollywood Hogan got involved in serious matches, and not in a one-off match. It would have been fun to have worked with a guy like Ultimate Warrior, it would have been fun to do a bunch of matches with Randy Savage, or [Ric] Flair — I would have liked to work a high-profile series with him.
Hell, just because Bruno Sammartino just threw me under the bus a couple of months ago, it would’ve been to fun to work with him. You talk about the entertainment aspect, that’s what wrestling’s all about.
WWE.COM: What did Bruno Sammartino say about you?
AUSTIN: Oh it was just a thing, you know, when someone brought my name up in an interview, he just kinda — I guess the obscenities that came out of my mouth were a little too much for him, and he just turned it off. And again, it was a totally different interview, but it would have been interesting to work with a cat like that, Bruno Sammartino.
I guarantee ya — he would have been chasing his tongue around because he would’ve been tired working with me. I’d give him everything I had and a little bit more.
Like I said, I’ve got a lot of respect for Bruno Sammartino, and I say [the above] in a competitive manner.
WWE.COM: The Attitude Era certainly stretched the boundaries of what was acceptable on live TV. Was there ever a moment that you thought went too far, or that you looked at and said, “I can’t believe we got away with that”?
AUSTIN: No, no. I said, “a**,” “hell yeah” — stuff like that. And “a**” is about every other word that came out of my mouth back then, as it is in my current life. I happen to love that word. There is nothing I ever said that pushed the envelope too far from a language parameter.
You look at the time when Bret Hart flipped out and said, this is garbage. Everybody back in that dressing room knows that promo when he pushed Vince on his a** was further than anywhere I ever went within a language — I never went there.
Man, I thought that my stuff was straight-up, grade-A, saying words you could get away with saying. Don’t get me wrong, I could say those words and someone else could say them, and they’re going to mean two different things. I had a lot of intensity; a lot of my delivery was such that you sure took what I said seriously. And I could make you laugh if I wanted to, as well.
I could start rambling about promos and how I talk, but it is what it is, it was what it was. Let me streamline my answer — I never said anything that I thought was pushing the envelope too far.
WWE.COM: On the flip side, was there ever something you wanted to do — either verbally or from a creative standpoint — but weren’t allowed to do?
AUSTIN: No. No, man, you know, when I started flipping people off, Vince asked me to kind of rein that in a little bit and I said no, and that’s when we really started cashing in. We did exactly what we wanted to do, and I thought it was all in good taste.
http://www.wwe.com/f/wysiwyg/image/2012/12/Stone%20Cold%202.jpg
The reviews are in, and THQ’s revolutionary “WWE ’13” is a bona fide smash-hit among fans and critics, thanks in large part to its incredible Attitude Era campaign mode. With that in mind, WWE.com decided to catch up with the catalyst of that time period, WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
In part two of this candid interview, Austin talks to Extreme Announcer Joey Styles about the heyday of The Attitude Era, his thoughts on current Superstars like John Cena and what he thinks is the best interview in sports-entertainment history. As always, “Stone Cold” is honest and open, and nothing is off limits.
WWE.COM: When we talked to him about “WWE ’13,” Bret “Hit Man” Hart spoke highly of the rivalry you two had in the late 1990s. Can you talk a little about that rivalry? About working with Bret?
AUSTIN: Man, working with Bret Hart was some of the most fun matches I’ve ever had in my life. There was Chicago and WrestleMania 13, over in South Africa, in Germany — and Bret had a pretty good stronghold over in Germany.
Man, I loved working with Bret. I’ve got a lot of respect for Bret as a person, and everything he did as a pro wrestler. Hell, I remember one time we were working a show somewhere and Bret was in the main event. [Bret] got a flat tire on his Lincoln Towncar, and I changed his tire while he was in the ring working.
Every day you work with Bret, you could learn something. We had 100 percent trust in each other, and 100 percent respect for each other. He’s a badass guy, and I just — every night was a good night with Hart. That’s the damn truth.
WWE.COM: You’ve said before that “Superstar” Billy Graham would have been great in The Attitude Era. Can you please talk about that? What was it about him that would have endeared him to fans of The Attitude Era?
AUSTIN: Oh man, it’s like the DVD they made of “Superstar” — “20 Years Too Soon.” He was. Man, that guy was just the perfect guy. He could have lived in The Attitude Era rather than “Stone Cold,” had he been around a little bit later.
I just think everything that guy did was so entertaining back in the day — the promos he cut, the outfits he wore. His work style was a little bit different than mine, obviously, but he had such a great look. You just thought he was a badass, and he was just a highly entertaining guy.
Had they known, they could have done with Billy what they did with me, had they had the wherewithal or the chance to do it back then, but they didn’t think of it back then.
WWE.COM: Moving from the past to the present, how do you think John Cena would have fit in the heyday of The Attitude Era?
AUSTIN: John Cena in The Attitude Era. Man, that’s a good question.
Yeah, had he been placed in it, and been dealt with accordingly, the John Cena you see now — the face of the franchise, the leader of the pack? Not so much. But I guarantee if you’d have gotten him face to face with “Stone Cold” in an interview, and you know John cuts a good interview himself, if I slapped the s*** out of that son of a b****, I think we’re off and running to make a lot of money.
All he needs is to be poked and prodded in the right way. I think John Cena has a hell of a lot of fire and he needs to be in the ring with the right opponent, or the right cat, to bring that out. So in the current environment, you really don’t see that in him.
Place [Cena] back 10 years in the ring with “Stone Cold”? You’d have rung the cash register, big time.
http://www.wwe.com/f/wysiwyg/image/2012/12/Stone%20Cold%201.jpg
WWE.COM: Paul Heyman played a big role in the creative process behind “WWE ’13.” What are your thoughts on Heyman? On the original ECW?
AUSTIN: I always give credit to Paul for helping me to understand what a promo was. And giving me a chance to cut them and giving me the confidence and the platform to cut promos. Man, if it hadn’t been for Paul Heyman offering me a job in ECW, I don’t know if “Stone Cold” would have ever been.
You look at those rosters they used to have down in ECW, and they had some damn good talent, and they also had a bunch of misfits. Damn near all of them? Damn good promos.
And that was a product of working with Paul Heyman, and Paul Heyman working — however he worked — with each individual talent. I can’t speak to that because I only know how Paul worked with me, but you look at all the great promos that came out of that territory, and I remember watching ECW when I could find it on TV and watching a lot of the old VHS tapes or whatever it was back in the day. Man, that was a badass show with a lot of energy, a lot of attitude and testosterone.
Paul Heyman — I give him that “G” word. I give him that “genius” word. I got nothing but respect for that guy. He’s an old buddy from back in the day, when we met in WCW and he was my manager and we drove down the road together.
WWE.COM: Speaking of interviews, what was the single greatest promo in sports-entertainment history in your opinion?
AUSTIN: Man, the single greatest promo in wrestling history? Man, I don’t know if I could say a single best promo.
The thing about “the single greatest promo” or “the single greatest match” or “the single greatest wrestler” — man, that’s largely subjective. That’s why I love to see everybody’s top five or 10 lists, because it’s all subjective, and they range.
So you ask me the greatest promo of all time? I’m gonna give you a three-word answer: I don’t know.
What’s your best promo of all time?
WWE.COM: I don’t know, it’s a hard question. We hadn’t thought about it either. Interviews that have a lot of reality behind them, like, most recently, CM Punk’s first “pipe bomb.”
AUSTIN: Man, I tell you what. You always hear people talking about the top three or five promo list, and not one of them has Jerry “The King” Lawler. Hell, Lawler was one of the best promos ever. Ricky Morton used to cut a good promo. Dusty Rhodes. Ric Flair.
But anyway, do I know the greatest promo of all time? No, I sure don’t. I’ve heard a bunch of them, and there’s no way I could sit here and try to do it justice, and I’m not gonna BS my way around it — I don’t know.
WWE.com
The reviews are in, and THQ’s revolutionary “WWE ’13” is a bona fide smash-hit among fans and critics, thanks in large part to its incredible Attitude Era campaign mode. With that in mind, WWE.com decided to catch up with the catalyst of that time period, WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
In this candid two-part interview, Austin talks to Extreme Announcer Joey Styles about the heyday of The Attitude Era, his wars with Mr. McMahon and even his thoughts on current Superstars like John Cena. As always, “Stone Cold” is honest and open, and nothing is off limits.
WWE.COM: You will be forever associated with The Attitude Era. What was it about you and your personality that made you the guy for that time period?
“STONE COLD” STEVE AUSTIN: That’s a damn good question; I don’t know if I’ve got the answer for it. I guess I was just an entertaining guy. It’s hard for me to answer that question, because it’s cool to be that guy. But I’m not gonna sit here and blow smoke up my a**. I guess I just turned it up to be loud and aggressive, and I meant what I said and I did what I said.
I think the character of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, he was a pretty honest and straight-shooting cat, and he was digging and scratching and clawing to get to the top in the business that he loved and it showed in the work and in the persona I created.
That’s the best that I can figure. I was the guy who did it.
WWE.COM: Well, without “blowing smoke,” we can say that it was magical to watch. And sure, you were all business, but it looked like you were having a lot of fun in your war against Mr. McMahon. Is that fair to say?
AUSTIN: Oh yeah, man, that was a great time. I had a good time every time I went to work, and that was back in the day when we were on the road [even more than Superstars today]. It was just a blast to go to work every single night, and not just on Monday Night Raw or on a pay-per-view, and it was a blast going to WWE Live Events, because that was all that you did, that’s what you focused on.
You’d get out on the road, be gone for three weeks and be dying to get home, but as soon as you got home, you’re bored and itching to get back on the road. So it was just a great time in the business. The window that I happened to slide in at — I’m very appreciative that I came along when I did.
WWE.COM: Is there a Superstar you didn’t get to work with during that time that you would have liked to work with?
AUSTIN: It’s always fun to think about what it would have been like if me and Goldberg had gotten into the ring, to see what would have happened if me and Hollywood Hogan got involved in serious matches, and not in a one-off match. It would have been fun to have worked with a guy like Ultimate Warrior, it would have been fun to do a bunch of matches with Randy Savage, or [Ric] Flair — I would have liked to work a high-profile series with him.
Hell, just because Bruno Sammartino just threw me under the bus a couple of months ago, it would’ve been to fun to work with him. You talk about the entertainment aspect, that’s what wrestling’s all about.
WWE.COM: What did Bruno Sammartino say about you?
AUSTIN: Oh it was just a thing, you know, when someone brought my name up in an interview, he just kinda — I guess the obscenities that came out of my mouth were a little too much for him, and he just turned it off. And again, it was a totally different interview, but it would have been interesting to work with a cat like that, Bruno Sammartino.
I guarantee ya — he would have been chasing his tongue around because he would’ve been tired working with me. I’d give him everything I had and a little bit more.
Like I said, I’ve got a lot of respect for Bruno Sammartino, and I say [the above] in a competitive manner.
WWE.COM: The Attitude Era certainly stretched the boundaries of what was acceptable on live TV. Was there ever a moment that you thought went too far, or that you looked at and said, “I can’t believe we got away with that”?
AUSTIN: No, no. I said, “a**,” “hell yeah” — stuff like that. And “a**” is about every other word that came out of my mouth back then, as it is in my current life. I happen to love that word. There is nothing I ever said that pushed the envelope too far from a language parameter.
You look at the time when Bret Hart flipped out and said, this is garbage. Everybody back in that dressing room knows that promo when he pushed Vince on his a** was further than anywhere I ever went within a language — I never went there.
Man, I thought that my stuff was straight-up, grade-A, saying words you could get away with saying. Don’t get me wrong, I could say those words and someone else could say them, and they’re going to mean two different things. I had a lot of intensity; a lot of my delivery was such that you sure took what I said seriously. And I could make you laugh if I wanted to, as well.
I could start rambling about promos and how I talk, but it is what it is, it was what it was. Let me streamline my answer — I never said anything that I thought was pushing the envelope too far.
WWE.COM: On the flip side, was there ever something you wanted to do — either verbally or from a creative standpoint — but weren’t allowed to do?
AUSTIN: No. No, man, you know, when I started flipping people off, Vince asked me to kind of rein that in a little bit and I said no, and that’s when we really started cashing in. We did exactly what we wanted to do, and I thought it was all in good taste.
http://www.wwe.com/f/wysiwyg/image/2012/12/Stone%20Cold%202.jpg
The reviews are in, and THQ’s revolutionary “WWE ’13” is a bona fide smash-hit among fans and critics, thanks in large part to its incredible Attitude Era campaign mode. With that in mind, WWE.com decided to catch up with the catalyst of that time period, WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
In part two of this candid interview, Austin talks to Extreme Announcer Joey Styles about the heyday of The Attitude Era, his thoughts on current Superstars like John Cena and what he thinks is the best interview in sports-entertainment history. As always, “Stone Cold” is honest and open, and nothing is off limits.
WWE.COM: When we talked to him about “WWE ’13,” Bret “Hit Man” Hart spoke highly of the rivalry you two had in the late 1990s. Can you talk a little about that rivalry? About working with Bret?
AUSTIN: Man, working with Bret Hart was some of the most fun matches I’ve ever had in my life. There was Chicago and WrestleMania 13, over in South Africa, in Germany — and Bret had a pretty good stronghold over in Germany.
Man, I loved working with Bret. I’ve got a lot of respect for Bret as a person, and everything he did as a pro wrestler. Hell, I remember one time we were working a show somewhere and Bret was in the main event. [Bret] got a flat tire on his Lincoln Towncar, and I changed his tire while he was in the ring working.
Every day you work with Bret, you could learn something. We had 100 percent trust in each other, and 100 percent respect for each other. He’s a badass guy, and I just — every night was a good night with Hart. That’s the damn truth.
WWE.COM: You’ve said before that “Superstar” Billy Graham would have been great in The Attitude Era. Can you please talk about that? What was it about him that would have endeared him to fans of The Attitude Era?
AUSTIN: Oh man, it’s like the DVD they made of “Superstar” — “20 Years Too Soon.” He was. Man, that guy was just the perfect guy. He could have lived in The Attitude Era rather than “Stone Cold,” had he been around a little bit later.
I just think everything that guy did was so entertaining back in the day — the promos he cut, the outfits he wore. His work style was a little bit different than mine, obviously, but he had such a great look. You just thought he was a badass, and he was just a highly entertaining guy.
Had they known, they could have done with Billy what they did with me, had they had the wherewithal or the chance to do it back then, but they didn’t think of it back then.
WWE.COM: Moving from the past to the present, how do you think John Cena would have fit in the heyday of The Attitude Era?
AUSTIN: John Cena in The Attitude Era. Man, that’s a good question.
Yeah, had he been placed in it, and been dealt with accordingly, the John Cena you see now — the face of the franchise, the leader of the pack? Not so much. But I guarantee if you’d have gotten him face to face with “Stone Cold” in an interview, and you know John cuts a good interview himself, if I slapped the s*** out of that son of a b****, I think we’re off and running to make a lot of money.
All he needs is to be poked and prodded in the right way. I think John Cena has a hell of a lot of fire and he needs to be in the ring with the right opponent, or the right cat, to bring that out. So in the current environment, you really don’t see that in him.
Place [Cena] back 10 years in the ring with “Stone Cold”? You’d have rung the cash register, big time.
http://www.wwe.com/f/wysiwyg/image/2012/12/Stone%20Cold%201.jpg
WWE.COM: Paul Heyman played a big role in the creative process behind “WWE ’13.” What are your thoughts on Heyman? On the original ECW?
AUSTIN: I always give credit to Paul for helping me to understand what a promo was. And giving me a chance to cut them and giving me the confidence and the platform to cut promos. Man, if it hadn’t been for Paul Heyman offering me a job in ECW, I don’t know if “Stone Cold” would have ever been.
You look at those rosters they used to have down in ECW, and they had some damn good talent, and they also had a bunch of misfits. Damn near all of them? Damn good promos.
And that was a product of working with Paul Heyman, and Paul Heyman working — however he worked — with each individual talent. I can’t speak to that because I only know how Paul worked with me, but you look at all the great promos that came out of that territory, and I remember watching ECW when I could find it on TV and watching a lot of the old VHS tapes or whatever it was back in the day. Man, that was a badass show with a lot of energy, a lot of attitude and testosterone.
Paul Heyman — I give him that “G” word. I give him that “genius” word. I got nothing but respect for that guy. He’s an old buddy from back in the day, when we met in WCW and he was my manager and we drove down the road together.
WWE.COM: Speaking of interviews, what was the single greatest promo in sports-entertainment history in your opinion?
AUSTIN: Man, the single greatest promo in wrestling history? Man, I don’t know if I could say a single best promo.
The thing about “the single greatest promo” or “the single greatest match” or “the single greatest wrestler” — man, that’s largely subjective. That’s why I love to see everybody’s top five or 10 lists, because it’s all subjective, and they range.
So you ask me the greatest promo of all time? I’m gonna give you a three-word answer: I don’t know.
What’s your best promo of all time?
WWE.COM: I don’t know, it’s a hard question. We hadn’t thought about it either. Interviews that have a lot of reality behind them, like, most recently, CM Punk’s first “pipe bomb.”
AUSTIN: Man, I tell you what. You always hear people talking about the top three or five promo list, and not one of them has Jerry “The King” Lawler. Hell, Lawler was one of the best promos ever. Ricky Morton used to cut a good promo. Dusty Rhodes. Ric Flair.
But anyway, do I know the greatest promo of all time? No, I sure don’t. I’ve heard a bunch of them, and there’s no way I could sit here and try to do it justice, and I’m not gonna BS my way around it — I don’t know.
WWE.com