More on the austin/wwf situation

[Guest]

"As we reported late yesterday, Steve Austin was not at Raw last night.  The WWF had "expected" (read that to mean "hoped") that he would be there as late as Saturday, but things fell apart from there.  From what I have been told, the WWF made repeated attempts over the weekend to get Austin to come to Raw this week, but he balked at them.  

 

While not officially confirmed by anyone in the company, the most consistent reason I have heard from the flair up between Austin and the WWF is that he is unhappy with the way he has been used and treated since the arrival of the nWo.

 

In addition to that, the word making the rounds at Raw is that Austin doesn't want any part of dealing with a very political backstage process, reportedly starting with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, and many of the people I spoke with respect him for standing his ground.  Since the nWo has come to the WWF, Triple H has reportedly aligned himself with his old friends and, when combined with the power he wields in being a top guy and the boyfriend of the boss' daughter, has become more powerful than ever behind the scenes.

 

The rumors going around backstage were that we would see Austin back when he was satisfied that the WWF would use him properly.  Again, as I said yesterday, if this is any kind of work by the WWF, they are working the boys as well (which is always the sign that a company has lost complete control in my opinion).  At this point in time, there is no timetable as to when Austin will return to the WWF.  That is why they left his "draft status" open ended last night. "

 

1wrestling.com

 

 

I'm backing Steve Austin on this. HHH is getting too much power.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

Austin is being a little whiny bitch and the WWF should sue him for breach of contract it he doesn't suck it up soon. Here's food for thought: switch Steve Austin with the name Alexei Yashin, Roger Clemens, Kevin Garnett, or some other athlete that held out for a lot of money, and ask yourself what you would think of him then. I find it funny that when pro athletes hold out for more money, they get crucified (partly deserved), yet when Austin does essentially the same thing, people back him with ludicrous reasons like "he's a great wrestler", "Hall is a drunk", or the old standby "backstage politics".

[Guest AM The Kid]

Austin is making a big mistake.

[Guest]

He isn't asking for more money. It is because HHH/Stephanie are becoming too powerful as a team backstage and he doesn't want to be part of a politcal game. Austin has felt strongly about this, since he was screwed over by backstage politics in WCW. It is a shame that it is starting to happen in WWF.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

It's the same type of thing, it's all about improving your position at the expense of others, which in general I have no problem with (and ergo I don't care about backstage politics), but I do have a problem with it when doing it dishonours a valid contract you put your name down to. If you don't like the "more money" comparison, try "get traded to a contender" instead.

[Guest Austin3164life]

It would be a shame if Vince and the WWF were to lose Austin at the time they need him most.  Don't bring up "If Hogan is booked well he'll stay popular", because nostalgia does not last long.  Even marks will figure out that he's way too old to be wrestling, and his character is out of style.  People tend to underestimate Austin's wrestling (backstage) knowledge.  He jobs to the right people at the right time (Triple H, Kurt Angle, RVD, Chris Jericho), and he doesn't normally play the role of the crooked politician.  Triple H is probably gaining a lot of backstage power with the entrance of the Clique, and now that his girlfriend is the bosses daughter (and head writer).  He realizes that he's being left in the dust of the Hogan/Rock and Triple H/Steph/Jericho angle.  He also realizes that he carried the WWF in 2001, coming off of neck surgery, and in return he gets put to the midcard (remember, this is a guy which many of us consider to be the Greatest WWF Champion ever).  If it were the Bret Hart situation (which it's starting to look like), this whole board would be behind Bret no question.  Sure, Austin may be the most stubborn wrestler on the roster, but he's Vince's most valuable man.  This is strikingly turning into the Bret Hart situation, and I hope it doesn't take a turn for the worst.....

[Guest]

Steve Austin is the man that took WWF on the verge of death to making 80 million dollars profit in one year. He continues to refine his character and stays popular no matter how bad they make him look. They even made him start singing and give hugs last year and he worked through that. Steve Austin's merchandise still sells the most and him in the main event draws the most buyrates at ppvs. If you were Austin and you saw the clique reforming backstage and a member was dating the head booker/writer wouldn't you be concerned too?

[Guest One Bad Apple]

Austin is being a little whiny bitch and the WWF should sue him for breach of contract it he doesn't suck it up soon. Here's food for thought: switch Steve Austin with the name Alexei Yashin, Roger Clemens, Kevin Garnett, or some other athlete that held out for a lot of money, and ask yourself what you would think of him then. I find it funny that when pro athletes hold out for more money, they get crucified (partly deserved), yet when Austin does essentially the same thing, people back him with ludicrous reasons like "he's a great wrestler", "Hall is a drunk", or the old standby "backstage politics".

You're a good guy, Mr. Made-Wrestling.

[Guest MARTYEWR]

Eh, maybe I'm being the optimist here, but I'm beginning to think that more and more, the WWF and Austin are working the net. They haven't come out and confirmed any of this themselves, and this happens conveniently after WWFE posts that message directed towards the internet and dirt sheets.

 

Also, why would JR mention over and over that, "Steve Austin is a free agent, so he won't be in the draft" last night? I mean, I think the only thing he said more was, "I smell a rat!" Point being, I find it hard to believe the WWF would be stupid enough to bring up Austin's name on TV if they really had a situation like this.

 

And both sides know how much they need each other. The WWF needs Austin because he still has those legions of fans, the selling ability (in more ways than one), and the ability to work a strong main event. At the same time, Austin needs the WWF because where's he gonna go instead? WWA? XWF? CZW? XPW? I don't think so. Right now, the WWF is the only game in town. It's almost like when Hogan took off to WCW. He didn't bring success to them until 1996, two years after he debuted.

 

In conclusion, I think the WWF is just giving Austin a couple weeks off to rest and are having a bit of fun with it. Hey, I could be wrong. But it wouldn't be the first time the WWF has worked the net. See also: Bret-Shawn. Of course, that little event ended up turning into something horribly worse. Hopefully, this one doesn't.

[Guest godthedog]

i personally also think it's more likely that austin's just taking some time off.  

 

if he isn't, i'm pretty disturbed.  good for him & his walkout if he wants to speak out against all the backstage crap, but what exactly does he demand before he returns?  what specifically could the wwf do to get him back?  take the title off triple h?  break up the new world older?  fire steph as the head writer?  guarantee him a spot on the show where the new world older isn't?

 

if you walk out & say "i'm sick of this backstage crap & i'm not coming back till it changes", well...it's a noble effort, but you need a better game plan.  if true, austin's demands are just too nebulous and at this rate he'd never come back.

[Guest caboose]

i wouldn't buy too much into this whole thing about tripleH getting too much power, vince has learnt some tough lessons in the past about egos - hogan, michaels, his own.

 

though i wouldn't like it, i won't be surprised if austin is let go. i just hope vince doesn't bury him on the way out.

[Guest buffybeast]

I think that there may be some legit heat/problems between Austin and Mcmahon.  However, I do think the net reporters are making too much of a big deal about it.  Austin will not leave WWF, he's not going to be released, he won't be fired.  He makes too much money for WWF, and WWF pays him too much money for either party to walk away.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Austin needs to lighten up. What an egomaniac he just had to be the first overall pick or he wouldn't be in the draft. For christ sakes Hulk Hogan the the biggest star in wrestling history went behind Chris Benoit. This free agent crap is only to massage Austin's huge ego.

 

I agree 100% with Austin. The NWO is a cancer. Hall and Nash have never done shit. Austin is looking out for the up and coming talent. The free agency angle is a great idea for Austin, it plays to his character well.

 

Hey I had to cover both sides of the argument.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

on one hand i admire austin for making a stand but on the other hand he is an employee of the wwfe which means he has to do what he's told to do. it's really hard to know who's in the right when all we get is the shit that gets filtered out to us by the "backstage informants"

[Guest Ripper]

Hypotheically if this was real(which I don't think it is) I still can't see how you could possibly be on Austins side here.  It's not like he was asked to get squashed, job clean, and be on Heat the next day (then he would be RVD). He was asked to do the squashing, have Vince interfere and lose due to a screw job finish.  And after weeks of beating the ever loving crap out of a guy, why would it be such a big deal to lose the match and move the storyline along.  Some are saying that Hall hasn't earned the right to be in the ring with Austin, well, what exactly had Austin done to win KOR or be in the ring with Bret Hart?  There were plenty of guys that had been around and helped the WWF get to the top during its peak that were looked over so he could get a push to the top... And Hall isn't even being pushed like that.  The point was to keep the NWO thing rolling.  

 

If you say Austin is right here, fine...That's your opinon, but I should never see any of you say a thing about HHH, Hogan or anyone else...EVER.  

 

But still keep in mind, I think it is a work.  I'm speakin in a what if mode here.  If it were real and Austin was just no showing shows without word, then he would be fired...Austin or not.

[Guest mastermind]

I know this is seeming more like a work to me. I see some talking about the rosters, but I don't think its final yet. There is still SmackDown and there is still stuff like which other shows go to who. The drafting isn't over or at least I don't think. Now if this is real I think Austin's "direction" was to be on RAW and he saw how star studded SmackDown was. Could it be he wants to be on the same show that has guys like Jericho and Benoit with the star power of Hogan and Rock? It is possible that Austin could be pissed he will have to get matches with people like Big Show and Kane. I can see Austin thinking this is deliberate politics to weaken his position in the wwf.

[Guest El Satanico]

IF the backstage is showing signs of getting that bad like the story in the original post says, well then the Austin thing is a totally different animal now.

 

And IF this is the reason behind him being pissed off, then i'm totally behind Austin taking a stand againest it. IF it's actually showing signs of getting that bad backstage then we should be glad that a big name is taking a stand.

 

If anyone can open Vince's eyes to what's going on it's a big name and even more if it's Austin who is Vince's fail safe money maker. And that's an important thing in favor of Austin since Vince can't always count on Rock being there.

 

 

However I don't believe that any of us should be passing any judgement on the VERY little amount of knowledge that we actually know aboot this situation. I mean it's not right to condemn a man when we don't even have all the details.