The following was sent to us from Barstool Sports:
On today’s episode of the #1 sports podcast by Barstool Sports, Pardon My Take, they interview Stone Cold Steve Austin, where he gives insight into his career including becoming a podcaster, creating the Stone Cold theme music and the Stunner, driving various vehicles for stunts, conflicts with Vince McMahon, turning heel, being bald, The Rock, and more.
On Becoming a Podcaster
“You know it’s a different it’s a different animal. And I remember when I first did my first podcast some six years ago I went to the studio and I now operate out of my house or I turned my house to a studio, but I roll in there and I didn’t really know what to expect. And because I had done so much live television and I’d been Stone Cold Steve Austin or different variations of that guy for so long, I was used to having that instant feedback from that crowd and that’s kind of your gas pedal to get a response and you go accordingly.”
“Okay I’ll start a podcast. I’m Stone Cold Steve Austin. I’ve got the gift of gab so I’ll be good as gold hell man. We started this was a test. I hit the wall in seven minutes and I said I didn’t have anything to say. It was like it was a real come to Jesus meeting. I’m like OK you get to learn some stuff here and I went back you know I learned how to start taking notes and that was just a debut podcast without a guest but you got to put in the time. Put in a work you know do your research and be prepared. But it’s an interesting dynamic and I’m totally used to talking now without waiting for a crowd to roar right. But it was an adjustment in the beginning.”
On the Stone Cold ‘Pop’
“I’m not a drug head so I could say but if you could bottle that feeling that I feel when that glass hit and you could sell that, You’d make a lot of damn money.”
“Well there’s so many but there’s that one time when The Rock was wrestling Mick Foley and DX and they were creating all kinds of havoc Vince McMahon was by the ring and all of a sudden mixing a bunch of trouble. And then here comes Stone Cold and they hit that damn music and it was a built moment. You know they build those moments. But I got to be the guy and the music has a big part of it. But when I came out there to help him win that championship and then the eruption when he pinned The Rock for the three count that was one of the top ones.”
On the Creation of his Intro Music
“But you also got to understand finally when I turned from the ringmaster into stone cold you know the music that I had to begin with was you know laid back boring lolling Oh it’s terrible. And so then I start to get a little bit a hands on when I came up with the stone cold thing and I said Hey do you have any ideas for some ring music. I said You damn right I do. So I took Rage Against the Machine ‘Bulls on Parade’ To Jim Johnston. I said to date this song but it’s in the vein of this song. And so why he thought about the glass breaking I mean cause Stone Cold. Yeah I mean and then he put the sirens in but is it dun-dun-dun. The whole thing was a masterpiece and I give all the credit to Jim Johnston but it was inspired at least in my head by Rage Against Machine ‘Bulls on Parade’.”
On Driving a Zamboni, Cement Truck
“I am the master the absolute master of driving anything on wheels in 15 minutes. I’m not going to be an expert at it but I can efficiently get the job done. And it’s sink or swim if you’re gonna put me on live TV and put me in a monster truck or go to Nassau Coliseum when I drove the cement truck and to fill up Vince’s Corvette. All those things folded down and then I revved the motor to spin up that cement to dump in that Corvette. We didn’t have modern technology back in and say like here’s a mark to hit. I just had to guess at the mark. So it was just fun to be able to do all that kind of stuff.”
On Some Conflicts at WWE
“I remember one specific time in Cleveland Gund Arena. They had me booked with someone that I’d already said I would not work with this person. And we were in a room about the size of this one. And man I let loose with some real colorful language, but there was a bunch of that going on and I let everybody know exactly what I thought because I told you don’t put me in a situation you did. And I said now I’m the fucking bad guy, I said I told you not to do this to me. And it was much worse than that.”
“So there’s there’s been those times and the time when they wanted me to fly down to Atlanta for Monday Night Raw and put over Brock Lesnar and the night before I was working in Columbus Georgia with Ric Flair in a cage so I was like a kid in a candy store working with the GOAT. And then you know of course it didn’t show up because it wasn’t time for me to do the favors yet for Brock and an unadvertised match in a tournament style TV match whereas Hey man I love Brock Lesnar and I’ll lose to him any day of the week. But build it up so we’d all make money off of it and it’s going to mean something. And when you get a guy red hot like I just had Hogan on the podcast and I’ll put myself there. But when you get guys who really really draw stupid money that’s a very delicate balance that you just don’t take stupid liberties with or you’ll kill it off and you can never recreate it. I was very protective of myself maybe too much so but it took me seven and half years to get there so no one was gonna yank the carpet out from underneath my feet not even Vince.”
“So I was always the first guy in a building. I was always the last guy to leave. I worked my ass off but if I don’t like creative I’ll let you know about it.”
On Turning Heel
“And I’ve thought, rethought that thing so many times. And if I could call that you know the audible now I would have just told him ‘Hey man I ain’t feeling it’ because here’s how I was feeling leading into that. I thought I was starting to flatline just a little bit and I said okay man a change is good. And Vince always likes to do something big at a wrestle mania. We didn’t have really anything big there. So I’m like hey I’ll turn heel. That’s what we do. You get hot and then you turn heel and then it’s even hotter.”
“Yeah and all of a sudden when I did that that night if I go back I said Hey man I’m calling an audible. Watch the stunner. And then stunned his ass, which would’ve maintained my baby face run.”
On How Being Bald Helped Him
“Flair always had that mop full of blond hair so hair worked for Flair because you know it would be that big mess cause he had so much hair that worked good for him. But for me for some reason my viscosity of blood or how it works. I mean because you’re looking at a canvas right. And none of those were really bloodbaths per se. You know we’ve seen other ones that were much bloodier but for some reason blood works well with me and it just runs down my face in a really good fashion. And for some reason God didn’t give me a very good hair genetic, but he gave me a great shaped skull.”
On Why The Rock Was His Favorite
“Ricky the Dragon Steamboat is like one of the greatest of all time and just the way he works baby. You know if you grab him in a headlock he’s gonna come out you know try to top wrist you’re just on automatic reflex. It’s not like you’re telling him to do anything. He fills in the gap even though me as a heel I’m calling the match. He’s gonna do those intangibles which I ain’t gotta worry about. And you know as far as chemistry Brett The Hitman Hart have just him and I have such a mutual respect for each other and kind of like to tell the same stories and I think Brett’s one of the grittiest most realistic wrestlers there’s ever been. I didn’t hit Flair in his prime and he got me when I was a little ragged but my matches with The Rock were always an interesting study because I brought out the best in him and he brought out the best in me and we were both these, you know I was Stone Cold and he was The Rock. So when you had just these gigantic personalities, these gigantic characters with all these emotions coupled with the fact that we both complemented each other’s work style in the ring. Magic.”
On the Creation of The Stunner
“Michael P.S. Hayes comes up to me right before Monday Night Raw. Hey kid you got a second. I’d been using a million dollar dream and he goes I got something I want to show you. So he showed me the stunner with a couple of an enhancement guys. And so that’s when I started employing it. Couple weeks later hey we need a setup move you know Jake the Snake does the short arm DDT. He does a short arm clothesline. Before the DDT. It’s a setup move so you had the anticipation by adding the kick you had the anticipation of the stunner’s next. So it was a two stage process. Michael P.S. Hayes came up with both of them.”
On Stunning Vince McMahon
“Maybe if you remember he almost slipped out. Almost lost him. It could’ve been a botch that ruined everything but we got it. And that crowd just came unglued. No one had ever done it before and of course not with his sell job. We called the crappy sell a crappy is a fish. He’s so uncoordinated. But yeah that was the magic stunner and that was a stunner heard round the world.”
On Catching Beers
“I’ve always been able to catch things and hell I played running back in high school and then in college I played linebacker, defensive end but hell they should if they let me at tight end or something like that I probably could’ve had a career.”
