Stone Cold's Post-PPV Interview...

[Guest bravesfan]

Interview with Stone Cold

by Phil Speer  

 

MONTREAL – Feb. 23, 2003 – Before No Way Out kicked off tonight, WWE.com caught up with Stone Cold Steve Austin to discuss his return, and to ask him to elaborate on many of the comments he made in the current edition of Raw Magazine.

 

WWE.com: What’s it like being here?

 

Stone Cold: Well, I showed up at RAW (in Los Angeles) a couple of weeks ago and saw the guys on the RAW crew, talked to a lot of people and said hi to everybody that I hadn’t been around in so long. Today, I’m seeing the SmackDown! crew for the first time, and just kind of saying hi to all those people. I missed them. I definitely feel like I’m back home. I wouldn’t say there’s tension in the air, but I wouldn’t say I’m completely relaxed; I don’t think anybody’s completely relaxed. But I’ll say I’m glad to be back.

 

WWE.com: That was my next question – What kind of reception are you getting from people?

 

Stone Cold: I’m getting a fine reception. There were a couple of people who either I pulled aside or they pulled me aside, and we kind of buried the hatchet with stuff that went on. Like I said, I did what I did, and so be it. Some people can understand that, and some people aren’t going to understand that, but that’s just the way it is. We’ll see how everything goes from here.

 

WWE.com: What kind of response are you getting from the article in Raw Magazine?

 

Stone Cold: Everybody I talked to who read the article liked the hell out of it. It was a very candid, open, honest interview. I’ve haven’t had one person come up to me and say, “Hey, that article sucked.” Everybody liked it. I finally got to tell my side of the story.

 

WWE.com: In the article, you said you hadn’t had a beer for a while. Is that still true? Did you have a beer in Los Angeles, or was that near-beer?

 

Stone Cold: That was non-alcoholic beer. From what I hear, there was a little flack coming from the office down in San Antonio, saying I shouldn’t even drink non-alcoholic beer because it’s sending out a bad message. Non-alcoholic beer is non-alcoholic beer, in my opinion. That being said, we’re not looking to ruffle any feathers with a little beer drinking. We’ll get by without it for a while, and when that time is over, go back to drinking the beer.

 

WWE.com: What do you know about your schedule at this point? Are you working house shows? All TV events? Some TV events?

 

Stone Cold: I don’t know. I was surprised to be in a match with Eric Bischoff.For a long time, I just took one day at a time, and I still take them one day at a time. So I’ll just say that I’m here tonight, I’ll be in Nassau Coliseum a week from tomorrow – I know I’ll be there. I’ll play it by ear.

 

WWE.com: I wanted to ask you about some of the things you talked about in the article. For example, you discussed your frustration with the creative process and the fact that some Superstars sit in on production meetings. None of that stuff has really changed. Do you think you may end up getting frustrated again, and walk out again?

 

Stone Cold: There were a couple of other reasons why I walked out. It wasn’t everything I said in the article; there were a couple of other things beyond creative and all that other stuff, which is my business and it’s Vince McMahon’s business, and we’ll keep it between us. But I’ve talked to several of the writers, and called a few of them aside, and we’re all on the same page. Yeah, I was critical of the writing. By the same token, people can be critical of me. I’m open to constructive criticism. Some of the guys I kept referencing in the article, I deliberately got them alone and said, “Hey, it wasn’t my time. I was going through some personal problems. Professionally, I was running into a brick wall.” I understand what they do. But also understand that they came from a different system than I came from – from the small circuits and the small territories, that’s the way I learned the business. They’re thrust into the system from a writing standpoint. I understand how they have to construct a show, and how we’re so fast-forward these days producing all the TV shows we produce. I understand their role, but they’ve got to understand my understanding of how the business works, along with some of these other guys who can’t be turned into robots. They actually have to feel and learn and educate themselves – be put in different situations and respond accordingly, to lose being green and turn into a competent hand, whether heel or babyface. So yeah, I run my mouth a lot, and I say what I feel, but I understand they have a job to do, and they’re working their ass off to do it. Just a couple of different backgrounds, but I think everybody’s on the same page now.

 

WWE.com: That day in June when you walked out, do you think there was anyway that you could have gotten things changed – gotten the match you didn’t want to compete in changed – if you would have stuck around, and that you wouldn’t have needed to leave the company?

 

Stone Cold: Like I said, there were a lot of things going on – some things that will never be mentioned. So I left and that’s pretty much the way it went.

 

WWE.com: Some people have said, “Why didn’t the guy stay? He was one of the few that had enough backstage influence to get things changed.”

 

Stone Cold: Like I said, it wasn’t all about the creative. It was about a few other issues that I had going on personally, and between me and Vince.

 

WWE.com: You talked in the article about your knees and your other physical problems. How are you doing physically?

 

Stone Cold: Very average. I’ve still got the same problems I’ve always had.

 

WWE.com: Your time off didn’t give the injuries time to heal up?

 

Stone Cold: No. They’re not the kind of injuries that heal up.

 

WWE.com: Was it strange or different to fly up here alone, when you had been traveling alongside someone else for the last few years?

 

Stone Cold: I’d definitely say different. I’ll leave it at that.

 

WWE.com: You talked about Debra in the article, and there still seemed to be a lot of feelings there. Do you think there’s any chance of a reconciliation?

 

Stone Cold: In the game of life, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m never going to say never. Who knows? I’ll leave it at that.

 

WWE.com: Has anything changed with the relationship between you two since the article came out?

 

Stone Cold: No.

 

WWE.com: You said in the article that when you left in June, you thought that you were done with WWE. Did you think about, or have you thought about, what you’re going to do when you’re done with wrestling? You’re still a young man.

 

Stone Cold: For a while, I didn’t think about it at all. Until I buried the hatchet with Vince, I didn’t even do appearances as Stone Cold Steve Austin because I knew WWE would come down on me and slap my wrist. It was after J.R. (Jim Ross) set up the meeting with Vince and me in Houston where I buried the hatchet, I said, “What about doing personal appearances?” And Vince was cool with that. So that’s what I’ve been doing until I came here today. I’ve got a few projects on the side that haven’t fully developed yet, so I don’t want to talk about it. I was just doing the appearance-type circuit, and having a good time seeing the fans and signing autographs. That’s about it. I got to do a lot more hunting this year than I have in the last few years.

 

WWE.com: Is your contract close to being up?

 

Stone Cold: From what I understand, it’s about seven months to expiring.

 

WWE.com: Then what?

 

Stone Cold: I don’t know.

 

WWE.com: You also mentioned in the article that you were mentally stagnant as far as coming up with T-shirt and other ideas. Is that still the case?

 

Stone Cold: We just pumped a shirt out for this pay-per-view. Yeah, I’ve got some good ideas. I was just telling someone today, hanging around the fans – because I’ve been doing these back-to-back appearances – and then seeing the camera guys and sound guys that I always hung around with at the TV tapings, and of course the boys, I’m starting to feed off the adrenaline again. My brain’s starting to click again, starting to feel like, “OK, here we go.” Ideas just pop into my head.

 

WWE.com: One thing I noticed today is that you were changing in the Superstars’ locker room. In the past, you’d often change in J.R.’s office. Did you make a decision to change with the Superstars now, or is that just a coincidence?

 

Stone Cold: That was a coincidence. When I got here, there weren’t too many bags in the locker room. I got here early. I’ve still got my habits, my patterns, the things I do at every show: dressing in there with J.R. and the announcers. I put my right boot on every time, tape up my left wrist every time. There are certain patterns and rituals that I usually don’t break. But today, I was just kind of hanging out. I didn’t have a whole lot to think about because my match is going to be basic, so I didn’t mind the distraction of everybody laughing and giggling. It wasn’t to send a message to anybody. I’ll be back to doing my same patterns and habits that I was before I left.

 

WWE.com: What are your impressions of the brand extension?

 

Stone Cold: It seems like it’s working. It seems like people are squalling less and less about how thin the talent is, and they’ve accepted the fact that there’s a RAW crew and a SmackDown! crew. People have accepted that some guys and girls are going to be on RAW, and some guys and girls are going to be on SmackDown!, and that’s it. From what I’ve been seeing on the pay-per-views, it seems like it’s a little bit of a different atmosphere. But I think the fans have accepted it for what it is now. And I agree: I think there’s more longevity to keeping the two brands apart than to throwing them back together again.

 

WWE.com: What do you want to say about Curt Hennig? I know you worked with him for a time.

 

Stone Cold: Yeah, for a little bit – not nearly as long as I would have liked to in a high-level program. Him and I were never in the same place at the same time. When he was Mr. Perfect, he was one of the best workers in the world. I was watching that guy because he was the best thing going. And he was one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met in the business. As successful as he was, he never had a big head – always talked to anybody on the card. He was always doing the ribs – 100 miles an hour, hilarious. You’d never see Curt in a bad mood. Even if he was kind of in a down mood, he was always going to make you laugh because he was so sarcastic. But he was one of the greatest talents ever in the ring. There are not too many more people in the business like Curt – old school, learning the hard way, coming up through the territories. He was a second-generation wrestler. He was just a wonderful kind of guy, and it’s sad to see the guy leave so soon.

 

WWE.com: Anything you want to add?

 

Stone Cold: I don’t know how toned-down this interview sounds, but I’m just kind of hanging out for my first match back. I’ve tried to cover as many bases as I can on the areas that you asked. I’m not trying to be vague; there’s a lot of things now that I don’t care to go back over, and a few things that I can’t talk about. I know that sounds pretty ambiguous, but that’s the way it is.

[Guest bravesfan]

Oh, and...

 

WWE Daily Poll

What was the best match at No Way Out?

Jeff Hardy vs. Y2J 7.33 %  

Kane/RVD vs. Regal/Storm 1.25 %  

Matt Hardy vs. Billy Kidman 3.17 %  

Benoit/Brock vs. Team Angle 19.72 %  

Undertaker vs. Big Show 24.14 %(!!!!)

Scott Steiner vs. Triple H 2.94 %  

Stone Cold vs. Eric Bischoff 29.46 %  

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan 11.95 %  

 

Total Votes: 26525

[Guest Austin3164life]

WWE polls are usually rigged.

[Guest bravesfan]

WWE polls are usually rigged.

No doubt about that. HHH/Steiner or Hogan/Rock, I could understand. But why Undertaker/Big Show?

[Guest Army Eye]

Not rigged by WWE, but people who love to have their way with those polls and make the results bizarre. That's just what it seems like to me. K-Kwick leading the inVasion?

[Guest bob_barron]

Hopefully he'll be at RAW tonight.

[Guest creativename]

Sounds like he's being very political. Understandable, since it's much harder to criticize people in person.

 

He always changed in JR's office, though? I never heard about that. That's kinda...weird.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Not rigged by WWE, but people who love to have their way with those polls and make the results bizarre. That's just what it seems like to me. K-Kwick leading the inVasion?

No, they had a poll that asked whether people liked wrestling-centric shows or promo-heavy shows.

 

Despite everyone doing their best to stuff the ballot box, talking shows started getting thousands of votes a minute, growing exponentially.

[Guest Army Eye]

Right.. well I'll try and make my theory a little more clear. I don't think it's just a case of people voting for silly options just on their own, but I think there's some person or people who have the technical know-how (not a heck of a lot needed) to stuff the ballot box for whatever choice they please. In other words hammering the poll with hundreds, or maybe thousands of votes. It's been done on plenty of other sites with polls.

 

Again, if someone can better explain how K-Kwick was the #1 choice to lead the inVasion, I'm listening

[Guest geniusMoment]

Same thing happened with the all star voting a couple of years ago. One person from boston hacked into the system and casted thousands of votes for Nomar.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

WWE.com: What do you know about your schedule at this point? Are you working house shows? All TV events? Some TV events?

 

Stone Cold: I just took one day at a time, and I still take them one day at a time. So I’ll just say that I’m here tonight, I’ll be in Nassau Coliseum a week from tomorrow – I know I’ll be there. I’ll play it by ear.

Um, No Austin on Raw Tonight?

[Guest kane3212321]

I voted for K-Kwick 50 times actually. Back then I would have killed to see him wrestle a longer match based on what he did with Malenko at Survivor Series 2000.

[Guest Angle-plex]

WWE.com: What do you know about your schedule at this point? Are you working house shows? All TV events? Some TV events?

 

Stone Cold: I just took one day at a time, and I still take them one day at a time. So I’ll just say that I’m here tonight, I’ll be in Nassau Coliseum a week from tomorrow – I know I’ll be there. I’ll play it by ear.

Um, No Austin on Raw Tonight?

Man if they don't deliver Austin tonight a lot of people are going to be pissed. They've teased him for too long, and many people are going to lose interest.

[Guest buffybeast]

WWE.com: Was it strange or different to fly up here alone, when you had been traveling alongside someone else for the last few years?

 

Stone Cold: I’d definitely say different. I’ll leave it at that.

 

WWE.com: You talked about Debra in the article, and there still seemed to be a lot of feelings there. Do you think there’s any chance of a reconciliation?

 

Stone Cold: In the game of life, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m never going to say never. Who knows? I’ll leave it at that.

 

WWE.com: Has anything changed with the relationship between you two since the article came out?

 

Stone Cold: No.

 

I haven't read the article. Can someone fill me in on SCSA's and Debra's marriage? Is it over? I thought they were reconciling.

[Guest deadbeater]

Undertaker/Big Show had the plancha and the Triangle Choke, the same move Angle pulled on UT one Smackdown. I'm not too surprised.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

I've got nothing to say against Taker/Show since it was better than expected and nothing else was that good. My vote vote for MOTN is Jericho/Hardy.