Austin opens today’s show by informing that he feels great these days. He doesn’t take painkillers because he simply doesn’t need them, and other than an occasional ache he’s basically pain free.
A listener writes into the show and asks Austin why he dislikes when wrestlers pander to the crowd during matches. Austin points out that the goal for wrestlers is to entertain the audience, but they should be entertaining the audiences with the physical story in the ring. He adds that talents who are over never pander to the crowd, because by pandering to the crowd you’re basically begging for a reaction or for attention.
Another listener writes into the show and asks Austin if he’s concerned about the ongoing studies surrounding professional wrestling and brain trauma. Austin says he doesn’t really think about that at all and he’s not worried about it because he always protected himself by getting his hands up while taking chair shots during his career.
He admits that he was probably concussed when Owen Hart dropped him on his head with a Piledriver, but other than that he can’t recall any other times being concussed. He knows that accidents happen, but he also mentions that if you suffered a lot of concussions working as a professional wrestler you were probably doing things wrong.
A listener writes into the show and asks Austin about the night Mick Foley and Owen Hart fought with a bag of popcorn at a WWE show. Austin informs that this occurred right after he injured his neck and although he couldn’t work, WWE still wanted him to be on the card to help sell tickets. He was working all the live events as Foley’s Manager at this time, and Foley and Hart made it their goal to make Austin laugh during each of their matches.
One night in particular Foley brought a bag of popcorn from the concession stands to the ring, dumped all the popcorn in the ring and proceeded to make snow angels in the ring. Austin couldn’t help but laugh and he had a hard time hiding it from the audience because while some performers can hide their laughter with their long hair, Austin’s baldness prevented that.
Another listener writes into the show and asks Austin how he felt about his childhood idol, Ric Flair, still wrestling after he retired. Austin says that Flair’s longevity as an in-ring worker was incredible, and he could never imagine working at the rate Flair did in his late 50s. Austin considers Flair to be his favourite, and the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
A listener writes into the show and asks Austin about his King of the Ring 1997 match against Shawn Michaels, in which a special needs person fell over the railing. Michaels interrupted the flow of the match to help the kid and to make sure was okay, and Austin says there was no heat between him and Michaels because of this.
Austin was a main event heel at this time and Michaels was a huge babyface. Although Austin didn’t want to rush over to the kid to help him (which would have resulted in him losing his heel heat), he wanted Michaels to check on the kid and to ensure he was alright. Austin thought they both reacted well in the moment, keeping the audience’s attention focused on the match while dealing with a precarious situation.
Another listener writes into the show and asks Austin about the origins of his DTA catchphrase. Austin recalls cutting a promo when he was working with Brian Pillman and he blurted out, “DTA brother, don’t trust anyone!” He says that he didn’t think about this promo leading up to it at all, and this phrase just came to him on the spot and he said it.
Austin talks about the greatest factions of all time. He says that he has a tremendous amount of respect for The Freebirds, and he wishes that his career would have started a few years earlier so he would have had an opportunity to be a part of that group. He still considers The Four Horsemen to be the greatest faction of all time, based on the skill of all four men both in and out of the ring. He mentions that the NWO changed the business as well in the mid-late 90’s, and their impact as a faction can never be ignored.
That sums up this week’s episode of The Steve Austin Show Unleashed. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow for another recap!
