steve_austin_dirty-mo_11nov25

rt316

Watch steve_austin_dirty-mo_11nov25 - rt316 on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00:00Ok, we've got Stone Cold Steve Austin in the house.

00:00:04I'm excited about this.

00:00:06We've met before, but it's always been at a racetrack.

00:00:09You've been brought in to give the command, wave the green flag, things like that.

00:00:12We've never really been able to sit down, but you've got a TV show.

00:00:15Tell fans a little bit about that real quick.

00:00:16Man, we're just traveling around different parts of America

00:00:20and just roll up on different people that I find interesting, you being one of them.

00:00:24And so we kind of do some activities, have some conversation.

00:00:28It's a good time, and it kind of puts me back out on the road.

00:00:32You know, I retired from wrestling business in 2003, and I did a little bit of acting.

00:00:37I don't really care to act. I don't like to remember anything.

00:00:39So we come up with this show, and I've been podcasting for about five or six years.

00:00:44But to get back out on the road is kind of the fun part.

00:00:46And so the show is going to premiere sometime this summer, and I'm looking forward to it.

00:00:51And I'm looking forward to talking with you.

00:00:53Yeah, I've seen some good clips of the show.

00:00:55Basically, you're just hanging out, talking, having great conversation with people.

00:00:59And so I'm looking forward to doing that later today.

00:01:02But this morning, you've been kind enough to come out here and join us on our podcast.

00:01:06We've got a lot of questions for you.

00:01:08You said that you've got your own podcast.

00:01:10How do you enjoy doing a podcast yourself?

00:01:12You know what?

00:01:12I wanted to get in the podcast business about a year before I did.

00:01:15But, man, I am the worst at technology.

00:01:18So I didn't know what to do.

00:01:20So Podcast One called my agents up, and my agents called me and said,

00:01:23Hey, man, Podcast One called and asked if you want to do a podcast.

00:01:27I said, Hell, yeah, I do.

00:01:29So we started that thing up.

00:01:31And I started with just doing one show a week, and then it hit real good.

00:01:34So we started doing two.

00:01:36So I really enjoyed it because, you know, when you get away from kind of the global entity that WWE is,

00:01:43you know, it's a worldwide platform, and all of a sudden you go from that to nothing.

00:01:47And so if I've got something I want to talk about, push this, that, or whatever, or some awareness,

00:01:52you've got to have a voice.

00:01:54And so, you know, I might as well be standing on the corner with a megaphone.

00:01:57You know, now with a podcast, it's not the same size as WWE, but it's that platform.

00:02:02So I love it.

00:02:03And, you know, I run two shows.

00:02:05I run a family-friendly show, and, man, I love to salt and pepper my language with four-letter words.

00:02:10So I run an explicit content show as well.

00:02:12So that's kind of my go-to.

00:02:14That's my favorite one.

00:02:15And I've been on a break for about three or four months.

00:02:17I had to get some things taken care of.

00:02:19But I really enjoy it, and I kind of stay a little bit wrestling-centric.

00:02:24But I like to talk to people from all walks of life.

00:02:26You gave me this hat when you came in, Broken Skull Ranch.

00:02:28What is Broken Skull Ranch?

00:02:30Broken Skull Ranch.

00:02:31I sold that place about three years ago, man.

00:02:33Oh, you did?

00:02:34I didn't know that.

00:02:35I didn't either.

00:02:36That ranch was my pride and joy.

00:02:37It was always my goal to own a ranch in South Texas, deer hunting and stuff like that,

00:02:42because that's the way we grew up.

00:02:44And finally, I said, man, it's time to buy a place.

00:02:47And I found 2,000 acres down there in South Texas in a part of Texas known as the Golden Triangle.

00:02:53And it's called the Golden Triangle because everything that grows within a specific region is very high in protein.

00:02:59And that's the brush country.

00:03:00And everything that grows out there will cut you, stick you, or hurt you, but it's high protein for the deer.

00:03:04So if you've got genetics and you give them some time, you can grow some big-ass deer.

00:03:08And once I shut the gate, I love people.

00:03:11And I performed in front of people, you know, my whole career, but also left to my own devices.

00:03:15Man, I'm a hermit.

00:03:16So if me and my wife go down there with our dogs and I don't see another human being for a couple of months, it was a good time.

00:03:21And finally, it just got to be where it was just too much work.

00:03:26You know, it's 1,500 miles down there and 1,500 miles back.

00:03:29And there's always work on each end to be done.

00:03:31And I maintain that place like a state park.

00:03:33And when the oil field came in, that kind of changed things a little bit because I was a surface owner.

00:03:40And so if you've got minerals, that means you can come in on my property and use my surface to get your minerals.

00:03:45And once the oil field happened, I just kind of lost interest in it.

00:03:49And I said, hey, it's time to get out.

00:03:51And so we bought a place in Nevada around Reno, which is 1,000 miles closer.

00:03:56So I'm able to get there more often to enjoy the great outdoors.

00:04:00And with Nevada being such, you know, 90% of Nevada is public land.

00:04:05So I get out of my side-by-side, my four-wheelers, and I can ride anywhere I want.

00:04:10And I love that.

00:04:10You talked about Texas.

00:04:12You're from Texas.

00:04:12What part?

00:04:13Born in Austin, Texas.

00:04:15Is it?

00:04:15Austin has a lot of different, you know, sort of boroughs in there.

00:04:20What was the particular area, though?

00:04:21I cannot remember because my dad, I think he was changing tires or running a tire store.

00:04:28Yeah.

00:04:28And something went wrong, and my mom and dad split up.

00:04:31Oh.

00:04:32My mom went down to Victoria, Texas.

00:04:34Victoria.

00:04:34Yes, sir.

00:04:35Well, I say that because my wife, Amy, is from Victoria, and a lot of people in Victoria claim you.

00:04:39Oh, yeah.

00:04:40Oh, yeah.

00:04:40And I claim Victoria.

00:04:41Right on.

00:04:42So it's true.

00:04:42Oh, absolutely.

00:04:43I was born in Austin, but when my mom had to get out of there, she went down to Victoria,

00:04:48and that's where she met my stepdad, Ken Williams.

00:04:51Yeah.

00:04:51And we lived there for a couple years, and my dad was selling insurance.

00:04:54And then finally, we moved 25 miles up the road to a little town called Edna, about 5,000 people,

00:05:00and that's where we all started school.

00:05:02But I was in Victoria for a couple years, and as a matter of fact, when I came up with the

00:05:05Stone Cold Steve Austin moniker, because when I came into WWE, they wanted to call me the

00:05:10Ringmaster, and they didn't have any designs on making me a worldwide superstar.

00:05:15And so after about six months of that, I said, hey, man, I need to come up with this different

00:05:19name.

00:05:19And we came up with the Stone Cold thing, and I said, you know, I've got to be from some

00:05:23place that's got a cool ring to it.

00:05:26And I couldn't be Steve Austin from Austin, Texas, because that's redundant.

00:05:31Yeah.

00:05:31And then everybody always wants to be from a big city, right?

00:05:34You know, Los Angeles, California, or Las Vegas, or something that was some pizzazz to it.

00:05:38And I said, man, I said, man, I'm from a small town.

00:05:41I love the way Victoria, Texas sounds.

00:05:44It's got a ring to it.

00:05:45You remember it.

00:05:46You might not know where it is, but you'll look on a map and try to find it.

00:05:50And I actually lived there, and our old address was 404 Rhodes Road.

00:05:55The people living there, you know, right now probably mad at me for saying that.

00:05:59Little bitty ass house, and yeah, I cut my teeth there in Victoria.

00:06:03What'd you do in Texas growing up?

00:06:04The only thing you could, if you was in South Texas, you had to play football.

00:06:10Right.

00:06:10And I love baseball, so I played baseball as well.

00:06:14And then I threw the discus.

00:06:16I thought it was going to be a long-distance runner.

00:06:18And I was running around the track one time jogging, because I had good endurance back in the day.

00:06:22And I seen this boy huffing and puffing over there, throwing the damn discus.

00:06:27And I said, man, let me give that a whirl.

00:06:29And I threw that damn thing out there, and I threw it way further than he did.

00:06:31So I said, man, to heal with the long-distance runner, I'll start throwing the discus.

00:06:36You found your sport right there.

00:06:37Found my sport.

00:06:38So I played football, baseball, and track.

00:06:41And then my dad, my stepdad, and we don't use the word step in our family.

00:06:44Right.

00:06:44So my dad got us hunting, and we had never hunted before.

00:06:48And I'll never forget, you know, trailing behind him, you know, my older brother Scott, me, and then Kevin,

00:06:53walking behind my dad in the woods.

00:06:55He was carrying his rifle, and he was forever looking behind us going, you know, be quiet with that come-to-Jesus look.

00:07:03Oh, yeah.

00:07:03Yeah.

00:07:03Stop stepping on twigs.

00:07:05So just playing sports, saltwater fishing, and hunting.

00:07:08First job.

00:07:09Landscape guy, my senior league baseball coach, a guy named Dan Meador, and he was a landscape guy.

00:07:18And so I started working in the landscape business, planting stuff and mowing yards, but basically landscaping.

00:07:25And then through that, I'd work on lease crews, cleaning up oil field stuff, hauling hay out there in South Texas.

00:07:31Worked for the highway department, you know, in the summer, you know, driving a cement truck or, you know, that asphalt truck, patching roads or putting patches in roads.

00:07:42Anything that was manual labor, I specialized in.

00:07:46Yeah.

00:07:46That makes sense.

00:07:47He's a work ethic guy.

00:07:48I've listened to a lot of his podcasts.

00:07:50I think that that's what Steve Austin is about.

00:07:53He wants accountability and work your ass off.

00:07:55Am I right?

00:07:55Well, the thing about, you know, growing up in our household, I mean, you was going to do your chores, and there wasn't no two ways about it.

00:08:02Dad had a strict set of rules, and, you know, and so did Mom.

00:08:07And we all, we rotated on doing the dishes.

00:08:09We rotated on mowing the yard, and we had a system.

00:08:13If you didn't, if you weren't going to work, you weren't going to, you can get your ass handed to you.

00:08:17Yeah.

00:08:17That's just the way it was.

00:08:19What was, so what was your favorite sport?

00:08:21Was it football or baseball?

00:08:22It was football, and I loved baseball.

00:08:24I played catcher, and I had a pretty good arm on me.

00:08:27Did you think you were good enough to go in the NFL, or did you, where were, so Phil?

00:08:32I did.

00:08:32Yeah.

00:08:33I did.

00:08:34In a small system that we were in, down there in South Texas, we were playing 2- and 3-A ball.

00:08:39And so Houston's 100 miles away.

00:08:41That's all the 5-A schools, and that's where all the badass athletes at, okay?

00:08:45So down there in South Texas, I was, you knew who, my last name used to be Williams, number 32.

00:08:50You knew who Williams for, and the Cowboys was.

00:08:54That was me.

00:08:54And I would run your ass over.

00:08:57I ran North and South because I couldn't afford to run East and West.

00:09:01And so they'd give me that football.

00:09:02It was a sweep left or a sweep right or something right up the middle.

00:09:06And I was running downfield and coming out of high school.

00:09:09And I just think, man, all these schools got to come recruit me because I'm a pretty good running back.

00:09:13All I got was a junior college offer, and I was offended and upset.

00:09:18And I needed that scholarship offer because my parents couldn't afford to pay for no college.

00:09:22And I wanted to keep playing football.

00:09:24So I go to a little school outside of Houston called Wharton County Junior College.

00:09:28And I'll never forget, I was talking to my mom's friend, Evelyn.

00:09:31And I said, oh, Evelyn, don't worry about it.

00:09:34I'll go to junior college and make All-American for a couple of years and then go to a big school.

00:09:38Let me tell you something.

00:09:41There are some football-playing fools in the junior college system that either can't make the grades

00:09:48or they've got a learning disability or something like that, but they will knock your ass out.

00:09:52And I was lucky enough to get two scholarship offers out of there to University of New Mexico

00:09:57and North Texas State University out of Denton, Texas.

00:10:00I took my trip to New Mexico.

00:10:02They took me skiing.

00:10:03I went to North Texas, and I knew I didn't want to leave the great state of Texas.

00:10:06and I got out there, and I was running a 40-yard dash one time,

00:10:10and the JUCO coach had pumped up my stats a little bit.

00:10:13We're out there running 40-yard dashes, and the head coach called me over and goes,

00:10:18Williams, come here.

00:10:19He said, Williams, come here.

00:10:21I said, yeah, Coach, what's wrong?

00:10:22He goes, you're running a 4.940.

00:10:25I said, yep.

00:10:26I said, your coach at junior college said you ran a 4.7.

00:10:30I said, hell, Coach, I ain't never run a 4.7 in my life.

00:10:33He said, Williams, get out of here.

00:10:36So, anyway, I blew my ACL out on my junior year playing linebacker,

00:10:40and I came back the next season.

00:10:41I started all 11 games at weak side defensive end,

00:10:44and I know you love the Redskins.

00:10:46Oh, yeah.

00:10:47I saw the writing on the wall, and football wasn't as fun as it used to be,

00:10:51and that's when I segued out of there.

00:10:54I left college with 17 hours to graduate

00:10:57and started working on a freight dock, driving a forklift.

00:11:01Holy cow.

00:11:01Manual labor.

00:11:02Did you ever go back and finish your college?

00:11:05People have asked me that, and I know a lot of people go back and do that,

00:11:09but I have nothing to prove.

00:11:11Me getting a degree and putting it on the wall means nothing to me.

00:11:14Now, when I talk to young kids and stuff like that these days,

00:11:17I say, hey, man, arm yourself with as much education as you can get,

00:11:20or go to a trade school, learn how to weld or work on something mechanical.

00:11:24But for me, it doesn't mean anything.

00:11:27It was going to help me in my endeavors from there on out.

00:11:29So fill in the gaps between when you graduated college

00:11:32to how you got involved in wrestling.

00:11:34What happened in that period?

00:11:35Yeah, where did that start?

00:11:37Well, I remember one time I was at the house.

00:11:41I was seven or eight years old, and I was flipping channels on TV,

00:11:43and you did it by hand back in.

00:11:45My mom was over here in the chair, and I come across Houston Wrestling,

00:11:49and I saw Dusty Rhodes bleeding his ass off,

00:11:52and somebody had an iron claw on him.

00:11:54And there was a smoke-filled arena at the Sam Houston Coliseum,

00:11:57and there was a guard walking around the ring,

00:12:00and there was only a rope banister, and it was smoky.

00:12:02Everybody was smoking back in.

00:12:04And, you know, the guy had a pistol he had a sidearm on,

00:12:07and Dusty was in bad shape.

00:12:09And I looked at my mom.

00:12:10She's over reading Red Book.

00:12:12And I said, Mom, I said, why don't that security guard go over there

00:12:15and help Dusty?

00:12:16Because he got a gun.

00:12:18He was in on the gig.

00:12:19But I was hooked.

00:12:21So I knew, you know, at the end of the day,

00:12:23my goal was to be a professional wrestler.

00:12:26Oh, really?

00:12:26That early?

00:12:27But how old were you there?

00:12:28Seven or eight.

00:12:29Okay.

00:12:29I watched my whole life, and I'd be in there watching wrestling.

00:12:31My brothers and my sister come in there, man.

00:12:33Turn this stuff off, man.

00:12:35We want to watch something else.

00:12:36I said, hey, man, it's only our show.

00:12:37Let me watch this, and you can watch whatever you want to watch.

00:12:39I wasn't allowed to watch wrestling in my house

00:12:42because it apparently made me too hyper.

00:12:46I can't imagine that.

00:12:46But, man, me and my sister Kelly used to sneak in our wrestling.

00:12:50NWA would come on Saturday mornings.

00:12:53And Dusty Rhodes was my favorite, one of my favorite.

00:12:56Magnum TA.

00:12:57Yes.

00:12:58Tully Blanchard, Ole and Arn Anderson, all those guys.

00:13:02Ric Flair, obviously, was a big, big deal here in Charlotte.

00:13:04Who were some of your heroes?

00:13:06You mentioned Dusty.

00:13:06Who were some of the other guys that were heroes of yours growing up?

00:13:08A lot of guys you just mentioned,

00:13:10and I consider Dusty to be one of the greatest of all time.

00:13:13And, you know, he was a heavyset guy, and, you know,

00:13:16Dusty could work his ass off.

00:13:18He could tell a story, and he could sure talk.

00:13:21He could talk a blue streak.

00:13:22And I love Dusty, but I consider myself to be the greatest world champion

00:13:28in the history of the business is nature boy Ric Flair.

00:13:30Oh, man.

00:13:31And as far as just an in-ring performer,

00:13:33and then you go to, like, a Shawn Michaels.

00:13:35But the guys you just named, really.

00:13:39Did you try to emulate them like we all did as a kid when we're playing wrestling,

00:13:43and we're like, I'm going to be this.

00:13:45Who are you?

00:13:46Well, you know, that was the problem with the early part of my career

00:13:48when I was with World Championship Wrestling in Atlanta.

00:13:51You know, I started off in Dallas.

00:13:53They shipped me over to Tennessee territory.

00:13:55I was starving my ass off.

00:13:56We worked the same towns every single week,

00:13:59and I was making $15, $20 a night.

00:14:01You know, most of those trips, you know, 300, 400-mile round trips,

00:14:05and you can't even afford to eat.

00:14:06You got two guys riding with you, and they're putting gas.

00:14:09I had a 1988 Hyundai Accel.

00:14:13Payments were $154 a month.

00:14:15My brother co-signed the lease for me,

00:14:17and that thing almost got repoed a couple times.

00:14:19And I was never going to get it repoed because I wasn't going to screw my brother, right?

00:14:23Yeah.

00:14:23So, man, I was starving.

00:14:25I was literally starving.

00:14:26And I patterned the early part, to answer your question,

00:14:30the early part of my career in World Championship Wrestling

00:14:32after Nature Boy Ric Flair.

00:14:35And I was kind of, like, thought of as being the next Ric Flair

00:14:38when, in all actuality, there will never be another Ric Flair.

00:14:43And that actually kind of was a hindrance to my development

00:14:45because you hanging out Ric Flair, Ric Flair,

00:14:48because he was still in the territory.

00:14:50We'd go to television tapings in Gainesville

00:14:53and over in Anderson, South Carolina, some of those towns around Atlanta

00:14:57because we're all based out of Atlanta.

00:14:59A lot of guys are based out of North Carolina as well.

00:15:01And, man, you go to, like, a tag team situation or a six-man tag,

00:15:05and I'd be on the same team with Ric.

00:15:07And all of a sudden, the man goes there and there and just lights it up.

00:15:11And you're sitting on the apron thinking,

00:15:13okay, you thought you was good,

00:15:15and you think you're going to overtake this guy,

00:15:16and you realize, not so fast, my friend,

00:15:18because when Ric Flair turned it on, there wasn't no falling it.

00:15:22So, you know, how do you guys, you know,

00:15:27the promos is what a lot of people remember.

00:15:29How do you guys work on that?

00:15:31How do you become so good at it?

00:15:34I'll tell you what, you start off being bad at it, you know?

00:15:37Right.

00:15:37I started in Dallas, Texas.

00:15:39I went to the Gentleman Chris Adams Wrestling School.

00:15:42I saw a commercial on TV when I was back at my college dorm,

00:15:45and this is when I was still driving that forklift for Watkins Motor Lines.

00:15:49And I said, hey, man, I need to go check this out.

00:15:50So I went down there to the seminar, signed up.

00:15:53Five months later, I'm having my first match.

00:15:56I'm out there.

00:15:57You talk about green as grass.

00:15:58And this is back before I had to go tee,

00:16:00and I had long blonde hair down in the middle of my back.

00:16:04Pretty good-looking kid.

00:16:06And I don't know what the hell happened.

00:16:09And I go out there, and I start trying to talk

00:16:11because they're trying to promote the school.

00:16:13I got a few promo opportunities.

00:16:16And when you first start off, your voice is kind of high.

00:16:19You don't know how to talk from your diaphragm.

00:16:21You don't really know what to say.

00:16:23You haven't really created a character,

00:16:24so there's no base or ground base to build from.

00:16:28And so you flounder.

00:16:30And when you go out there, well, you're doing the best you can.

00:16:33But, you know, when you s*** to bed, you have done just that.

00:16:37And once you fall on your face enough, you learn, hey, man, this is sink or swim.

00:16:42These are shark-infested waters.

00:16:44You better succeed, or your ass is going to get left behind.

00:16:47So it's very competitive.

00:16:50And so finally, if you go through the paces enough,

00:16:53and when I got to World Championship Wrestling, they teamed me.

00:16:56They didn't know what to do with me.

00:16:57They knew I was a talent, but they didn't figure I had it yet.

00:17:01So they stuck me in a tag team with Flying Brian Pillman.

00:17:05And if you remember Flying Brian, we used to drive down the road,

00:17:08and Brian was one of those guys who would sit there and read dictionaries and books

00:17:13just to try to increase his vocabulary.

00:17:16And he was out there, and he was forward-thinking.

00:17:19And if you put a microphone in front of his face, he always had something to say.

00:17:22So all of a sudden, it was like, man, hey, you better crank it up, Steve,

00:17:25or you're going to look like a deaf mute next to Brian because he's lighting it up.

00:17:29So he kind of pushed me.

00:17:30And then it was really when I started learning how to cut a promo deal.

00:17:35I was over in Japan.

00:17:36And it was a three-week tour, and I jumped off the top turnbuckle on a guy,

00:17:41and he moved, and I bent this arm too far up under me.

00:17:44I tore my right tricep off my arm.

00:17:46So I wrestled for two and a half weeks, you know, with a torn tricep

00:17:49because back in the day, and you know from injuries you suffered,

00:17:53hey, you worked through it.

00:17:55And then, you know, when I came back,

00:17:57hell, I forgot where I was going with that story.

00:17:59What were we talking about?

00:18:00Promos.

00:18:01Promos.

00:18:02When I came back, that's when Paul Heyman called me up.

00:18:06I answered the phone.

00:18:07He goes, hey, Steve, he had just started up ECW down there in Philly.

00:18:10And he goes, I want you to come work for me.

00:18:12I said, hell, I can't work, Paul.

00:18:14I said, I got a busted arm.

00:18:16He goes, you ain't got to work.

00:18:17Cut promos.

00:18:19I said, well, man, I had 10 acres.

00:18:21I had a log cabin, a wife, and a kid.

00:18:22I needed the money.

00:18:24Started flying to Philly every week.

00:18:25And Paul Heyman sat me down one time.

00:18:28It was about 4.30 in the morning.

00:18:29That's how we ran over at ECW.

00:18:31And I was a new guy in the territory,

00:18:33so I was letting everybody talk first

00:18:35because I'm not going to jump in the system

00:18:37because I come from the big territory.

00:18:39Yeah.

00:18:39And I can't talk worth a damn anyway.

00:18:41And so he says, hey, Steve.

00:18:43He goes, you're up.

00:18:44I said, well, hell, Paul.

00:18:45I said, what do you want me to talk about?

00:18:48I said, what am I doing?

00:18:49He goes, just talk about how you're feeling.

00:18:52Just talk.

00:18:53And he turned the cameras on,

00:18:56and I rattled off that promo still on YouTube, ECW.

00:19:00And I talked for about six minutes,

00:19:03nonstop, ad lib, told it like it was.

00:19:08And that was probably the groundbreaking promo

00:19:10where I started feeling who and what I was.

00:19:13And I hadn't come up with a stone cold thing yet,

00:19:16but I realized at that point that who I was in that ring

00:19:20was basically, I'm competitive as hell.

00:19:22and anything I do.

00:19:24So what I was was, when you turned me up to 11, that's me.

00:19:28And Paul Heyman helped kind of teach me how to focus as a laser

00:19:33with a promo to deliver a message, get that message across,

00:19:37and affect people and make people feel things

00:19:39because that's how you draw money.

00:19:41That's interesting because I think they're great communicators,

00:19:43and people don't give them credit to be a good communicator.

00:19:45Oh, people give them credit.

00:19:46The promos are probably the most watched thing that you'll do.

00:19:49I do.

00:19:50You know, that's what everybody's waiting on is his promo or, you know.

00:19:55But you know what I've always wondered?

00:19:56You know, because we would always try to emulate this.

00:19:59And so to emulate a promo,

00:20:01you'd have to get grungy and get that raspy voice,

00:20:04and then you've got to start yelling.

00:20:05And then as soon as you start doing that,

00:20:06your throat gets itchy and you start coughing.

00:20:08Did that ever happen?

00:20:10Well, again, that goes back to learning how to speak from your diaphragm.

00:20:13I mean, it's funny because going back to those old promos,

00:20:15there was different periods of the wrestling industry,

00:20:19and especially a lot of those guys out of NWA territory

00:20:22because that was my favorite territory,

00:20:24that and Mid-South Power Pro by Bill Watts.

00:20:26But there became a trend back in the day.

00:20:29Everybody would say,

00:20:30Brother, brother, let me tell you something, brother.

00:20:33Pally, you know, it was like you go into the brother mode.

00:20:37Everybody's saying brother because it's the end thing to do.

00:20:39That's so funny.

00:20:40That was the trend.

00:20:41That was the trend.

00:20:42Brother.

00:20:43The last thing you want to do is start hacking and coughing during the promo

00:20:47when you try to give somebody the bottom line.

00:20:49It sort of loses its luster, doesn't it?

00:20:50It does.

00:20:52Steve's all choked up, but he really wants to deliver a message.

00:20:54It's like, I'm going to whoop your ass.

00:20:55Hold on.

00:20:57Hey, what I was saying.

00:20:58But, you know, sometimes you get out there,

00:21:00and if it's a post-match promo,

00:21:02you're a little cotton mouth.

00:21:04Because if you've been out there,

00:21:05you don't know what the conditions are.

00:21:06It could be a smoke-filled arena.

00:21:08And you do get a cotton mouth.

00:21:09I mean, so you're out there trying to just string some words together

00:21:12and realize that, again,

00:21:14every time you go out there, it's sink or swim,

00:21:16and especially on live TV.

00:21:17When that red light's running,

00:21:18that's when I like it the most.

00:21:20Really?

00:21:20Oh, yeah.

00:21:20So toward the end of your career,

00:21:22you've been doing promos for years.

00:21:25Do you still get nervous?

00:21:27Like, I was always,

00:21:28people say,

00:21:28man, you still get nervous?

00:21:29I'm like, hell yeah,

00:21:30I still get nervous.

00:21:31I mean, I was always nervous.

00:21:32All the way up to the last race,

00:21:34I was nervous.

00:21:35Were you still nervous?

00:21:36Yeah, I think to a degree.

00:21:38But I was so ready.

00:21:40And, man,

00:21:41when you're in that mode,

00:21:43and that's what you do,

00:21:44and I always tell everybody,

00:21:46when you're living in the wrestling life,

00:21:47I mean,

00:21:47you kind of like turn into a zombie.

00:21:50You're going through life,

00:21:51but your job is to be on,

00:21:52you're a road warrior.

00:21:53You're on the road.

00:21:54And sometimes you're on the road strung out so long,

00:21:57you're ready to get back home.

00:21:58And as soon as you get back home,

00:21:59you're ready to get back out on the road.

00:22:01You put your suitcases by the washer and dryer,

00:22:03you wash the dirty stuff and get back out.

00:22:06And, you know,

00:22:07you get back out on the road.

00:22:09What was the point we was trying to make?

00:22:10They're still nervous.

00:22:11Oh, yeah.

00:22:12But going to,

00:22:13you,

00:22:14it's a nervous energy.

00:22:17You want to go out there,

00:22:18and you know,

00:22:19like the thing I did with Mike Tyson.

00:22:21Mike Tyson goes out there,

00:22:22and I say,

00:22:23man,

00:22:23I got one time to get this thing right.

00:22:25So there's some nervous energy,

00:22:27but because I was stone cold,

00:22:29I live with Steve Austin now,

00:22:30but you know,

00:22:31back in those days,

00:22:32you could get,

00:22:32you could still get some nerves,

00:22:34but the bigger the crowd,

00:22:35the more cameras there was,

00:22:36I thrived on it.

00:22:37How,

00:22:38how would you get in the mode?

00:22:40Oh.

00:22:40What did you do to get in the mode?

00:22:42Nothing.

00:22:42Like I said,

00:22:43you turn me up to 11.

00:22:44A lot of guys go out there,

00:22:45and they're doing push-ups.

00:22:46They're putting on baby oil,

00:22:48and stuff like that.

00:22:49Or,

00:22:49you know,

00:22:49I've seen guys butt locker,

00:22:51you know,

00:22:51butt their heads on lockers.

00:22:53One of my favorite stories

00:22:55is looking at guys'

00:22:57different warm-up routines

00:22:58before they went out,

00:23:00and I was talking to a guy,

00:23:01and he goes,

00:23:02man,

00:23:02one time I was watching

00:23:03all the guys backstage,

00:23:04and the guy I liked the most

00:23:06was Jake and Snake Roberts

00:23:07warm-up routine,

00:23:08and I said,

00:23:09why?

00:23:09What'd he do?

00:23:10He goes,

00:23:11well,

00:23:12he had the snake in the bag

00:23:13on top of a trash can,

00:23:14and he was smoking a cigarette,

00:23:17and they said,

00:23:17Jake,

00:23:17your music's on,

00:23:18so Jake took a drag,

00:23:20last drag out of that cigarette,

00:23:21crushed it with the toe

00:23:23of his boot,

00:23:24and walked to the ring.

00:23:25That was the Jake and Snake

00:23:27warm-up for me

00:23:28because I was always

00:23:29kind of lily white.

00:23:31We used to tan a lot

00:23:32to try to look cool

00:23:33for television

00:23:33because I was always

00:23:35so ashy,

00:23:36and I wore shorts

00:23:3724-7,

00:23:38365.

00:23:39It didn't matter

00:23:39what state we was in,

00:23:40I always wore shorts,

00:23:41so I'd look real ashy.

00:23:43So my routine was

00:23:44wave my arms

00:23:45a couple of times.

00:23:46I may do a couple

00:23:47of push-ups,

00:23:47but I'm going to pour

00:23:48water all over me

00:23:49just to give me a sheen,

00:23:51and so I didn't look

00:23:52ashy white for camera.

00:23:54That's funny.

00:23:54That was my warm-up routine,

00:23:55and I was ready to go.

00:23:57So how did

00:23:57Stone Cold Steve Austin

00:23:58come about?

00:24:00Tricky story.

00:24:01I was the ringmaster.

00:24:04I got the phone call.

00:24:04This was back when

00:24:05phones were still on the wall,

00:24:06and everybody used

00:24:07cell phones these days.

00:24:08It had a long cord

00:24:09on that thing,

00:24:10so you'd walk around

00:24:10half a house with it.

00:24:11That was the modern-day

00:24:12cell phone.

00:24:13That was the cell phone.

00:24:14Yes, I had that

00:24:15maroon phone,

00:24:16and that phone rang.

00:24:17I said, hello.

00:24:18I get this voice

00:24:19on the end of here.

00:24:20Steve, Vince McMahon.

00:24:23Just started talking

00:24:24right away

00:24:25with the sales pitch.

00:24:26He goes,

00:24:27I want to bring in,

00:24:28and I'd already met

00:24:29with Vince McMahon

00:24:29three times,

00:24:30and I could see

00:24:31that they didn't have

00:24:32any interest in me

00:24:33as like a superstar.

00:24:35They were bringing me in

00:24:36as what we call

00:24:36in the business

00:24:37a mechanic,

00:24:38a guy who is

00:24:39very proficient in the ring

00:24:40and can have good matches

00:24:41with anybody,

00:24:42and you need those guys

00:24:43on the crew, right?

00:24:44And that's all

00:24:45they had for me.

00:24:46And anyway,

00:24:47they were going to bring me

00:24:47in as a ringmaster,

00:24:49the million-dollar champion.

00:24:50Ted DiBiase was going

00:24:51to be my manager

00:24:52because Vince hadn't

00:24:53seen me speak yet

00:24:54and thought I was

00:24:54a deaf-mute,

00:24:55and so I was going

00:24:57to have a mouthpiece,

00:24:58and I didn't like that,

00:24:59but when you've got

00:25:00a house payment

00:25:01and a car to pay for,

00:25:03you need the money.

00:25:04So I said,

00:25:05okay, I'll sign up.

00:25:06I did that for six months,

00:25:08and I knew that there

00:25:09was no future

00:25:10in being the ringmaster,

00:25:12and so I was at the house,

00:25:13in my log cabin,

00:25:15and I was having a couple,

00:25:17and I watched a show

00:25:18on HBO about that serial killer,

00:25:20Richard Kuklinski,

00:25:21who was a hit man

00:25:22over there in Chicago,

00:25:23whatever,

00:25:24and I don't endorse

00:25:25nothing the guy did,

00:25:26but the guy was called

00:25:27Iceman because he was

00:25:28very cold-blooded,

00:25:29but I was a heel

00:25:31in the business.

00:25:32I was a bad guy.

00:25:33Oh, okay.

00:25:33So it's my job

00:25:34to be hated,

00:25:35so I took that idea,

00:25:36and I called the office.

00:25:37I said, hey, man,

00:25:38I got this idea.

00:25:39I want to be like

00:25:40a cold-blooded,

00:25:41you know,

00:25:42remorseless,

00:25:42you know,

00:25:43a heel,

00:25:44and I told him

00:25:44about the Iceman name.

00:25:46Well,

00:25:46there was a guy

00:25:47in Texas

00:25:48at World Class

00:25:49Championship Wrestling

00:25:50who had already been

00:25:50the Iceman,

00:25:51Iceman King Parsons,

00:25:53because we don't

00:25:53want to do that,

00:25:54and so they sent me

00:25:55three pages

00:25:56of these horrible names,

00:25:59Fang McFrost,

00:26:03Otto Von Ruthless,

00:26:05and Ice Dagger,

00:26:08and I'm thinking,

00:26:09these guys are supposed

00:26:10to be creative geniuses,

00:26:12and this is the best

00:26:13they got,

00:26:14and I was like,

00:26:15I threw the pages up.

00:26:16I said,

00:26:16my wife at the time

00:26:18was from England,

00:26:19and they drink hot tea

00:26:20over there,

00:26:21so she brought me

00:26:22a cup of hot tea,

00:26:23and she goes,

00:26:23oh,

00:26:24don't worry about it,

00:26:25just drink your tea

00:26:26for it,

00:26:26get stone cold,

00:26:27and she said,

00:26:28that's your name,

00:26:29Stone Cold Steve Austin,

00:26:30so I called the office,

00:26:32I pitched it,

00:26:32I said,

00:26:33hey man,

00:26:33I want to be

00:26:34Stone Cold Steve Austin,

00:26:35and I want to be

00:26:36from Victoria,

00:26:37Texas,

00:26:37and Jerry Briscoe says,

00:26:39all right,

00:26:39I'll run it by Vince

00:26:40and see what he says,

00:26:42so unceremoniously,

00:26:43that's how I,

00:26:44we came up

00:26:45with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

00:26:46And Vince was

00:26:47receptive immediately,

00:26:49or did you have

00:26:49to talk him in,

00:26:50because that's funny,

00:26:50I bet there's a lot

00:26:51of people that call up

00:26:52and go,

00:26:52this is what I want

00:26:53to be called now.

00:26:54Oh,

00:26:55absolutely,

00:26:55there's a lot of that,

00:26:56but because we knew

00:26:58that the ringmaster

00:26:59wasn't going anywhere,

00:27:00the ringmaster

00:27:00was originally supposed

00:27:01to be,

00:27:01when I look back

00:27:02at some of those

00:27:03prototype drawings of it,

00:27:04you know,

00:27:04this cool,

00:27:06symmetrical,

00:27:06you know,

00:27:07outfit,

00:27:08and he was,

00:27:09you know,

00:27:09the master of the ring,

00:27:10this technician,

00:27:12you know,

00:27:12I was more of a romp,

00:27:13I'm stomping,

00:27:13I could wrestle technical,

00:27:14but I wasn't

00:27:15that kind of guy

00:27:16as far as ring gear goes,

00:27:18I was pretty basic,

00:27:19you know,

00:27:19boots,

00:27:20you know,

00:27:20some boots,

00:27:21some knee pads,

00:27:22and some trunks,

00:27:24and they had this

00:27:25pretty design,

00:27:26and the ringmaster

00:27:27didn't work,

00:27:28there was no

00:27:29je n'ai sa quoi

00:27:30to that,

00:27:30you ain't gonna look.

00:27:32Was that one

00:27:33out of Flying

00:27:33Bronze Dictionary,

00:27:34did you do that?

00:27:35When you see that,

00:27:37I knew that that name

00:27:38didn't have no marquee

00:27:39value to it,

00:27:40ringmaster,

00:27:40now all of a sudden,

00:27:42I'll never forget

00:27:42having a conversation

00:27:43with Razor Ramon,

00:27:45it was Scott Hall,

00:27:46and I was just starting

00:27:48the Stone Cold thing,

00:27:48and he goes,

00:27:49so what's with the

00:27:50Stone Cold thing,

00:27:51man,

00:27:51what's that all about?

00:27:52He's pretty cool,

00:27:53I love that guy,

00:27:54he's really knowledgeable

00:27:55about the wrestling business,

00:27:56I said,

00:27:57I said,

00:27:57oh man,

00:27:58just a name change,

00:27:59but it'll work,

00:28:01and man,

00:28:02I'll never forget,

00:28:03we started doing that,

00:28:04and they started,

00:28:05What year was this

00:28:06when you began?

00:28:0796,

00:28:08back in 96,

00:28:10and I started getting

00:28:11some promotional,

00:28:12some promo opportunities,

00:28:14and some chances

00:28:14to do a little bit of color,

00:28:15and this is important

00:28:16to that Stone Cold development,

00:28:18because I wasn't there yet,

00:28:20you know,

00:28:20you don't just come up

00:28:21with a name,

00:28:21and just,

00:28:21you're there,

00:28:22it's developing,

00:28:23I don't think anybody here

00:28:24develops into a great

00:28:26race car driver overnight,

00:28:27right?

00:28:28So,

00:28:29I noticed,

00:28:30this was a period

00:28:31of business

00:28:31when there was

00:28:31a little bit of a lull,

00:28:32so we do Monday Night Raw live,

00:28:34one night,

00:28:35and then we'd film

00:28:35the next one the next week,

00:28:37and they'd go to post-production,

00:28:39and then they'd play it

00:28:40the next week,

00:28:41and even though we'd filmed

00:28:42it the week before,

00:28:43because you couldn't afford

00:28:44to just do two live nights,

00:28:45and so I noticed

00:28:47when I was watching

00:28:47that show that went to post,

00:28:48they were starting to edit

00:28:49a lot of the stuff I said

00:28:51out of the show,

00:28:52and I'd be at home watching,

00:28:53you know,

00:28:54or catch a replay

00:28:55of the broadcast

00:28:56on the VCR,

00:28:57and I was like,

00:28:58hey man,

00:28:58I said this then,

00:29:00and they cut it out,

00:29:01so I remember

00:29:02we was up on TV,

00:29:03it was in Lowell,

00:29:04Massachusetts,

00:29:04or Worcester,

00:29:05something like that,

00:29:06and I seen Vince

00:29:07walking across the parking lot

00:29:08into the building,

00:29:09and I said,

00:29:10I didn't know Vince very well,

00:29:12I'd been there six,

00:29:12seven,

00:29:12eight months,

00:29:13but I didn't really

00:29:13know him that well,

00:29:15and I said,

00:29:16but you've got to take control

00:29:17of your career

00:29:17at some point,

00:29:18so I said,

00:29:19hey Vince,

00:29:19I said,

00:29:20you got a second,

00:29:21and I didn't put

00:29:22a whole lot of bass

00:29:22in my voice,

00:29:23I was like,

00:29:24hey,

00:29:24I said,

00:29:32hey man,

00:29:33he goes,

00:29:33here Steve,

00:29:34and I said,

00:29:34hey man,

00:29:35I noticed when I'm watching

00:29:36the show back from Post,

00:29:38I said,

00:29:39you guys are starting

00:29:39to edit a lot of things

00:29:40I'm saying,

00:29:41and I said,

00:29:41I wonder why that is,

00:29:43okay,

00:29:43remember I was supposed

00:29:44to be a bad guy,

00:29:45he goes,

00:29:46quite frankly Steve,

00:29:48he goes,

00:29:48you're popping a lot

00:29:49of guys in the truck,

00:29:51and what he means by that,

00:29:52when you pop the guys

00:29:53in the truck,

00:29:53that's a production truck,

00:29:54those guys have seen

00:29:56and heard everything,

00:29:57so if I'm enlisting

00:29:58a response from them,

00:29:59and they're laughing

00:30:00their ass off,

00:30:01or it's so much trash,

00:30:02you know,

00:30:03that I was spewing,

00:30:04it's entertaining

00:30:05those guys,

00:30:06and so that's a good thing,

00:30:07but because it was getting

00:30:09that kind of reaction

00:30:09out of them,

00:30:10he wanted it to be cut out

00:30:12because I was trying

00:30:13to be hated,

00:30:14that was my version

00:30:15of South Texas trash,

00:30:16and I looked at him

00:30:17right there,

00:30:18and I told him,

00:30:19I said,

00:30:19Vince,

00:30:20I said,

00:30:20you got guys here

00:30:216'10",

00:30:227'0",

00:30:22300",

00:30:23320 pounds,

00:30:24I said,

00:30:24I'm 6'1",

00:30:25250,

00:30:26black trunks,

00:30:26black boots,

00:30:27bald head,

00:30:27goatee,

00:30:28I said,

00:30:28if you don't give me

00:30:29my personality,

00:30:30I can't compete,

00:30:31but if you give me

00:30:32my personality,

00:30:33I said,

00:30:33I can compete

00:30:33with anybody you got,

00:30:35and he goes,

00:30:35okay,

00:30:36Steve,

00:30:36and that's when

00:30:37he stopped editing me,

00:30:39and that's when

00:30:39he let that

00:30:40South Texas trash fly,

00:30:42and that's when

00:30:42we started heating up,

00:30:44and I really found myself.

00:30:45Was that when

00:30:46you weren't a hill anymore?

00:30:47Well,

00:30:48I was still a hill.

00:30:49I was a trash-talking hill,

00:30:50and there was

00:30:51a version of me,

00:30:52really,

00:30:53if you go back

00:30:53to superstar Billy Graham,

00:30:54because Billy Graham

00:30:55was a hill,

00:30:56but he was becoming

00:30:56so entertaining,

00:30:58people started liking him,

00:30:59and then,

00:31:00you know,

00:31:00Bob Backlund

00:31:01beat him for the championship,

00:31:02and Billy Graham

00:31:03was gone,

00:31:03and he kind of,

00:31:04I think it kind of

00:31:05really affected him,

00:31:06but I was a hill

00:31:08still then,

00:31:09but the business

00:31:10was changing,

00:31:11and due to the roster

00:31:12of guys we had,

00:31:13and we had some

00:31:13great guys,

00:31:15times were changing,

00:31:16and I was talking

00:31:17so much trash,

00:31:18Brian Pillman

00:31:19had just came

00:31:20into the WWF

00:31:21at the time,

00:31:22and I'd go out there,

00:31:23and I'd be working

00:31:24with baby faces,

00:31:25and I'd come back

00:31:27from the match,

00:31:27and he'd be waiting

00:31:28for me,

00:31:29and he goes,

00:31:30God dang,

00:31:31kid,

00:31:31you're a baby face,

00:31:33and I'd say,

00:31:34F you,

00:31:34I'm a hill,

00:31:35but I was getting

00:31:36those kind of cheers,

00:31:37so Vince had

00:31:39the forethought

00:31:40to,

00:31:41hey,

00:31:41you know what,

00:31:42at the time,

00:31:43Bret Hart had been

00:31:43around so long,

00:31:44and he's one

00:31:45of my favorites,

00:31:45and he said,

00:31:47you know,

00:31:48Bret's kind of

00:31:48starting to complain

00:31:49a little bit,

00:31:49and people were

00:31:50starting to boo him,

00:31:51so he had this

00:31:52big idea to put us

00:31:53in a match

00:31:54in WrestleMania 13,

00:31:55and what we did

00:31:56was go out there,

00:31:57when I went out there,

00:31:58I was pretty much

00:32:00universally received

00:32:01as a heel,

00:32:02but there was a lot

00:32:02of positive response,

00:32:04I got a lot of pops,

00:32:05when Bret came out,

00:32:06a lot of pops,

00:32:08some boos,

00:32:09Ken Shamrock,

00:32:10special referee,

00:32:11we went out there

00:32:12and executed one

00:32:13of the rarest things

00:32:14you can do

00:32:15in a professional

00:32:15wrestling match,

00:32:16which is a double turn,

00:32:18by the end of that match,

00:32:21I had went from

00:32:22a heel to a baby,

00:32:24he went from

00:32:24a baby to a heel,

00:32:26now understand,

00:32:27nothing happens

00:32:28overnight,

00:32:28there was still

00:32:29work to be done

00:32:29on the back end

00:32:30to further,

00:32:31you know,

00:32:31those paths,

00:32:33but that was probably,

00:32:34that was the match

00:32:36that really made

00:32:37and launched my career,

00:32:38and I've given

00:32:39Bret Hart so much

00:32:40credit for that,

00:32:41because he handpicked

00:32:42me a year earlier

00:32:43to work with him

00:32:44when he's making

00:32:44a comeback

00:32:45from a knee injury,

00:32:46but it was that story,

00:32:48and that's when

00:32:49I started becoming

00:32:50the baby face

00:32:51or the good guy,

00:32:52and I've always

00:32:53preferred working heel

00:32:54because,

00:32:54I was going to ask you

00:32:55that,

00:32:55it's so much

00:32:56more comfortable,

00:32:57you can do anything,

00:32:59I mean,

00:32:59and it's kind of fun

00:33:01to make people hate you,

00:33:02and it's easier

00:33:02to make people hate you

00:33:03than it's like you,

00:33:04I think,

00:33:05and like,

00:33:05if you trip on a stair

00:33:07or the rope's getting

00:33:08in the ring as a baby face,

00:33:09as a good guy,

00:33:10you got egg on your face,

00:33:12if you trip as a heel,

00:33:13the worst they can do

00:33:14is laugh at you,

00:33:15and you say,

00:33:16AF you,

00:33:16I tried to do that,

00:33:18there's more creative freedom

00:33:19in being a heel.

00:33:20That's interesting.

00:33:20I always feel

00:33:21that interesting too,

00:33:22I was watching videos

00:33:23of like Jake the Snake

00:33:24and then also like

00:33:25Honky Tonk Man,

00:33:26and I realized that

00:33:28I think they preferred

00:33:29being a heel

00:33:30and I always wondered that,

00:33:32why that preference?

00:33:34And now you're just answering it,

00:33:35the creative freedom,

00:33:36but ultimately,

00:33:38do you become champion?

00:33:39Do you become the champion

00:33:41of the long play,

00:33:44the long time champion

00:33:44as a heel?

00:33:46No,

00:33:46no,

00:33:46I became the,

00:33:47really,

00:33:48as a baby face.

00:33:50No,

00:33:50no,

00:33:50I'm saying in general though,

00:33:51is that like,

00:33:51if people prefer being a heel,

00:33:54what's the,

00:33:54I think it's all personal.

00:33:55There's a lot of people

00:33:56who love being a good guy.

00:33:58Okay.

00:33:58Baby face we'd say,

00:33:59I mean,

00:33:59so I mean,

00:34:00you know,

00:34:00and you look at Hulk Hogan,

00:34:04one of the greatest of all time,

00:34:06you know,

00:34:06until he went NWO,

00:34:08he was a baby face.

00:34:09His entire life,

00:34:10one of the biggest draws

00:34:11in the history of the business.

00:34:12So,

00:34:13yeah,

00:34:13it's all preference.

00:34:14Well,

00:34:15here's the thing,

00:34:16by the time,

00:34:16you know,

00:34:17I had turned baby face

00:34:18and become so successful

00:34:20at that,

00:34:20people had kind of forgot

00:34:21about that kind of

00:34:22two-year heel run

00:34:23and I was effective

00:34:24as a heel.

00:34:25but I became so beloved

00:34:27as that baby face.

00:34:28When we went to

00:34:29WrestleMania 17,

00:34:30Vince always likes

00:34:31to do something special

00:34:32and I was working

00:34:33with The Rock

00:34:34and we set a new

00:34:34Astrodome attendance record

00:34:36on that pay-per-view

00:34:37and I said,

00:34:38hell,

00:34:38man,

00:34:39I said,

00:34:39well,

00:34:40after the match,

00:34:40why don't I turn heel?

00:34:42And so,

00:34:42I did turn heel

00:34:43but it was kind of like,

00:34:45as Jim Ross would put it,

00:34:46you never want to see

00:34:47John Wayne

00:34:48as the bad guy.

00:34:49Right.

00:34:49That's how beloved he was.

00:34:51By the time,

00:34:52you know,

00:34:52I'd become that version

00:34:53of John Wayne,

00:34:54people didn't want to hate me

00:34:55but I just wanted to do it

00:34:57because I loved being heel

00:34:58I thought it'd be great

00:34:58for the business.

00:34:59Even when you tried

00:35:00to turn heel,

00:35:00you couldn't.

00:35:01Yeah.

00:35:02I think that's right.

00:35:03We tried for a long time

00:35:04but it wasn't a good idea

00:35:06from a business standpoint

00:35:07and people wanted to love me,

00:35:08they wanted to cheer for me,

00:35:09they wanted to have

00:35:10a good time with me,

00:35:10drink beer,

00:35:11and raise hell.

00:35:12Yeah,

00:35:12that's right.

00:35:13You were one of a kind

00:35:13so nobody wanted

00:35:14to see you change.

00:35:17Describe,

00:35:18so for me,

00:35:20there's certainly

00:35:21different eras

00:35:22where the sport peaked.

00:35:25What's the difference

00:35:26between your era,

00:35:28it don't even seem like

00:35:29you retired that long ago.

00:35:312003 I guess

00:35:32is a long time ago

00:35:33but it doesn't seem like it.

00:35:35But describe the peak

00:35:36which was a huge,

00:35:38huge era

00:35:38for wrestling

00:35:40in your prime

00:35:41to what we have now.

00:35:43Well,

00:35:43I think if you look

00:35:44at the peak,

00:35:45it was when

00:35:46Eric Bischoff

00:35:47went down to WCW

00:35:48working for Ted Turner

00:35:49and they decided,

00:35:51hey man,

00:35:51WWF at the time,

00:35:53you know,

00:35:54they got it

00:35:54Monday Night Raw,

00:35:55well why don't we

00:35:56go head to head

00:35:56and you know,

00:35:58because Kevin Nash,

00:35:58Scott Hall,

00:35:59some of those guys

00:36:00have migrated down there.

00:36:01He goes,

00:36:01why don't we go

00:36:02head to head with them?

00:36:03And man,

00:36:03that was the

00:36:04Monday Night Wars.

00:36:05And man,

00:36:06we was throwing

00:36:06everything but the

00:36:07kitchen sink

00:36:08every single

00:36:09Monday night.

00:36:10You were getting

00:36:10a main event

00:36:11pay-per-view

00:36:12type card

00:36:13because it was a war.

00:36:15Yeah.

00:36:15And they kicked

00:36:16our ass

00:36:17for two years

00:36:18and then finally

00:36:19we started spinning up.

00:36:21I got hot.

00:36:21Here comes a rock.

00:36:22Taker reinvented himself.

00:36:24DX comes along.

00:36:25Mick Foley heating up.

00:36:26I mean,

00:36:27all of a sudden

00:36:28all our iron

00:36:28started heating up

00:36:29and I was leading

00:36:30the charge.

00:36:31I keep it on the DL

00:36:32but I was leading

00:36:33the charge.

00:36:33I heated up.

00:36:35And man,

00:36:35once we started

00:36:36beating them,

00:36:37we never looked back.

00:36:38and then hell,

00:36:39Vince ended up

00:36:39buying the whole

00:36:40company for pennies

00:36:41on the dollar

00:36:42and okay,

00:36:43now go to now,

00:36:45put Ted Turner

00:36:45out of business.

00:36:47There's a new

00:36:48organization,

00:36:48AEW just started

00:36:49but right here

00:36:51and now,

00:36:52man,

00:36:52ain't no competition.

00:36:54You know,

00:36:54so how good are you

00:36:55without competition?

00:36:56Yeah,

00:36:56100%.

00:36:57I love competition

00:36:58and so WCW,

00:37:00I mean,

00:37:00they made us

00:37:00work our ass off

00:37:02to try to get

00:37:02to number one

00:37:03and then,

00:37:04it's one thing

00:37:04when you get

00:37:05to number one

00:37:05but you gotta stay there

00:37:06so we're still

00:37:07in a dogfight

00:37:08until they shut

00:37:08them down

00:37:09so I just think

00:37:10that was still

00:37:12the last days

00:37:13of the wild,

00:37:13wild west

00:37:14and,

00:37:15you know,

00:37:16I love it

00:37:17has something to do

00:37:17like introducing

00:37:18a restrictor plate.

00:37:20You know,

00:37:21guys start to be

00:37:23a little bit

00:37:23more micromanaged

00:37:24and things had to

00:37:25get a little bit

00:37:25more of a friendly tone

00:37:26a lot more

00:37:27corporate sponsors

00:37:28coming in

00:37:29and,

00:37:30you know,

00:37:30I'll never forget

00:37:31when I,

00:37:32I had to leave

00:37:33in 2000

00:37:34to get my C34

00:37:35fused up

00:37:36because I had

00:37:36some neck injuries

00:37:38and when I came back

00:37:39that's kind of when

00:37:40every now and then

00:37:41they start handing

00:37:42you something like this

00:37:43and this is what

00:37:44you were gonna say.

00:37:46Hey man,

00:37:46before that

00:37:47what I was gonna say

00:37:48was if you're gonna

00:37:49talk some trash to me

00:37:50I'm gonna let you

00:37:51talk that trash

00:37:51and I'm gonna go out there

00:37:52and I'm gonna answer

00:37:53everything you just said

00:37:53and we're tearing

00:37:55each other down

00:37:56but we're building

00:37:57each other up

00:37:57and we're working

00:37:59together,

00:37:59right?

00:38:00We're trying to sell

00:38:01tickets as business

00:38:02and I don't work

00:38:03from memory.

00:38:04I work from what

00:38:05I feel in my heart,

00:38:06my gut

00:38:06and then I'm putting

00:38:07together with my brain.

00:38:08Who was giving you that?

00:38:09Like when you came back

00:38:10and they were trying

00:38:11to script what you say

00:38:12who is that?

00:38:13Writers,

00:38:13you know.

00:38:14Like with WWE?

00:38:16Yeah.

00:38:16Okay,

00:38:17so they started

00:38:17trying to write

00:38:18and what does it

00:38:19look like

00:38:20when Steve Austin

00:38:22doesn't like

00:38:22what you're trying

00:38:23to make him say?

00:38:24What do you say?

00:38:25Well,

00:38:26it's hard for,

00:38:28to me,

00:38:29it's hard for someone

00:38:30to try to write.

00:38:32You weren't in

00:38:33South Texas.

00:38:34You weren't hauling hay.

00:38:35You know,

00:38:35you didn't,

00:38:36you know,

00:38:36have a hard time

00:38:37making it

00:38:38and everything.

00:38:39You know,

00:38:39you didn't have

00:38:39a little bit

00:38:40of a chip

00:38:40on your shoulder.

00:38:41So I don't know

00:38:42if you can achieve

00:38:42the attitude

00:38:43of the mindset

00:38:44or,

00:38:45you know,

00:38:45hell after seven

00:38:46and a half years

00:38:47of paying my dues,

00:38:48finally I'd become

00:38:48an overnight sensation.

00:38:50Well,

00:38:50you weren't there

00:38:50than seven and a half years

00:38:52when I was living

00:38:52on potatoes,

00:38:53piddling with my pocket knife

00:38:54in a hotel room,

00:38:56you know,

00:38:56struggling to put

00:38:57some damn car in my,

00:38:58some gas in my car.

00:38:59So it's,

00:39:01I don't think

00:39:01you could really

00:39:02encapsulate,

00:39:03you know,

00:39:03what I would say

00:39:04or,

00:39:05you know,

00:39:05you might know

00:39:06who I was

00:39:06by looking at me

00:39:07but if you ain't

00:39:08been in the grind

00:39:09with me,

00:39:09I think it's hard

00:39:10for me,

00:39:11for anybody

00:39:11to write for me

00:39:12and it's hard

00:39:13for me to feel

00:39:14what you may write

00:39:15for me.

00:39:16Would you just say

00:39:16I'm not saying that?

00:39:17Well,

00:39:18you know,

00:39:18I work with the system.

00:39:19I'll never forget

00:39:20one time

00:39:20we was at a building

00:39:21and someone came

00:39:23and found me

00:39:23and I was working

00:39:24a program with Vince

00:39:25and he said,

00:39:26hey,

00:39:26Vince wants to go

00:39:27to promo with you

00:39:28and I said,

00:39:29all right

00:39:30and I remember

00:39:31we was in this

00:39:32little bitty room,

00:39:33smaller than this table,

00:39:34half the size of this table.

00:39:35A lot of things

00:39:35are smaller than this table.

00:39:37I mean,

00:39:38but me and Vince

00:39:39and I'm sitting there,

00:39:40okay,

00:39:41I come back

00:39:42from a neck injury

00:39:42like,

00:39:43okay,

00:39:44Vince,

00:39:44I'm going to

00:39:45rip you to shreds

00:39:47and he got mad at me.

00:39:51He goes,

00:39:51damn it,

00:39:51Steve,

00:39:52give me your A promo.

00:39:53I said,

00:39:53hey,

00:39:54man,

00:39:54I'm going to give you

00:39:54my A promo out there.

00:39:56I'm not a rehearsal guy.

00:39:57I said,

00:39:58yo,

00:39:58so it just,

00:39:59I'll read your bullet points,

00:40:01I'm going to get a couple

00:40:02of them in there

00:40:02and then we're going to fly.

00:40:03That's pretty awesome.

00:40:04So you've been,

00:40:05you said you retired

00:40:06in 2003.

00:40:08You had a lot of time

00:40:08to think about it.

00:40:09What do you miss?

00:40:11These days,

00:40:12I don't miss anything

00:40:13because I've been away

00:40:14from it long enough.

00:40:15but when I had to,

00:40:16man,

00:40:17I had to pull a plug

00:40:18on myself

00:40:19and when I got dropped

00:40:20on my head,

00:40:21I bruised my spinal cord

00:40:22and there's a lot

00:40:23of neurological issues

00:40:25that I still deal with

00:40:26and it just got to a point

00:40:30where I was just,

00:40:31I was running hard

00:40:32on a personal level

00:40:34and then I would beat

00:40:35to shreds

00:40:36because I wasn't

00:40:36taking no time off

00:40:38and you just,

00:40:38it's a hard life

00:40:39and I tell people

00:40:42these days,

00:40:42hell,

00:40:43if I'd been using

00:40:43some modern training

00:40:44techniques

00:40:45or been drinking

00:40:46protein powder

00:40:47rather than whiskey

00:40:48and beer,

00:40:49you know,

00:40:49like I said,

00:40:51but I was a pro wrestler,

00:40:53man,

00:40:53that's all I wanted to be

00:40:55and I was at a high level

00:40:56and I'll never forget

00:40:58when I pulled a plug

00:40:59on myself,

00:41:00getting out of the business,

00:41:01it was a hard transition

00:41:02for me

00:41:02and I've seen a lot

00:41:03of guys get strung

00:41:04out on pain pills,

00:41:06a lot of guys

00:41:06get in IRS trouble

00:41:07or whatever

00:41:08and I'm no smarter

00:41:10than a lot of the guys.

00:41:11because when I got out

00:41:12I didn't really have

00:41:13an exit strategy

00:41:14and because I had

00:41:16such a hard time

00:41:17dealing with the fact

00:41:18that I was out

00:41:19of business

00:41:19because I'd gotten

00:41:20piledrived on my head

00:41:22and for 60 seconds

00:41:23I was a transient

00:41:24quadriplegic

00:41:25and when you're laying

00:41:26there in the middle

00:41:26of a ring

00:41:27in front of 20,000

00:41:28people live

00:41:28on a pay-per-view

00:41:29and you can't move,

00:41:30it scared the

00:41:31out of you

00:41:31and I was able

00:41:33to finally crawl,

00:41:35there's footage

00:41:35on TV,

00:41:36it was a rough day

00:41:38at the office

00:41:39and I went around

00:41:40all the day

00:41:40in the United States

00:41:41seeing all these

00:41:42different doctors

00:41:42and I finally found

00:41:44a doctor,

00:41:45one of the leading

00:41:45researchers

00:41:46about quadriplegias,

00:41:47Joseph Torg

00:41:48in Philadelphia

00:41:49and he didn't know

00:41:50the business

00:41:51wasn't work

00:41:52and I said,

00:41:54hey doc,

00:41:54I ain't got to

00:41:56take a piledriver

00:41:57every night

00:41:57and he goes,

00:41:58oh you can control

00:41:59what you do out there?

00:42:00I said, yeah

00:42:01to a degree

00:42:01I can control everything

00:42:03so he cleared me

00:42:04to get back in the ring.

00:42:05Anyway,

00:42:05so I made it

00:42:06another couple of years

00:42:07and I got fused up,

00:42:08and I had to ride

00:42:08off in the sunset

00:42:09but dealing with that,

00:42:12walking away,

00:42:13retirement always sounds

00:42:15like the R word,

00:42:16always sounds like

00:42:17the holy grail,

00:42:18you work your ass off

00:42:19because that's what

00:42:19we're here to do

00:42:20and then you enjoy

00:42:21retirement.

00:42:22Hell,

00:42:23I retired when I was 38,

00:42:25man,

00:42:25you know how much money

00:42:26I left on the table?

00:42:27I mean,

00:42:27not just about the money,

00:42:28it's about the good times,

00:42:29being with the boys,

00:42:30traveling down the road,

00:42:31being in front of a crowd,

00:42:32getting that adrenaline rush,

00:42:33that's what I lived

00:42:34and breathed

00:42:35and so I didn't handle it well

00:42:37and for about three years

00:42:39I drank,

00:42:41I hunted,

00:42:42and I fished

00:42:43and just did a lot

00:42:44of stupid stuff

00:42:45and one morning

00:42:46I woke up

00:42:47and I went in the bathroom

00:42:49and I just looked at myself

00:42:52in the mirror,

00:42:52it's a true story

00:42:53and I didn't say this out loud

00:42:56but I was thinking to myself,

00:42:57dude,

00:42:59the things you're doing

00:43:01are not conducive

00:43:02to living a long life,

00:43:04you need to slow your ass down

00:43:06and you need to use,

00:43:07I didn't have any designs

00:43:08on being a movie star

00:43:09or nothing like that

00:43:10but I was driving a forklift

00:43:11before I got in

00:43:12the wrestling business

00:43:13and as much fun as that was

00:43:15and I loved it,

00:43:16after being on top of the world

00:43:17in the wrestling business,

00:43:18I didn't want to drive

00:43:19a forklift again,

00:43:20I said,

00:43:21you better get your ass

00:43:21down there to Los Angeles

00:43:23and try to do something

00:43:24in the entertainment business

00:43:26and do that

00:43:27and so hella packed up

00:43:30and moved in

00:43:31with Diamond Dallas Page

00:43:32down there in Los Angeles,

00:43:35wasted about a year out there

00:43:37still searching for the bottom

00:43:40of a lot of bottles

00:43:41and we found some people

00:43:43and started making some,

00:43:44I call them low budget movies,

00:43:46someone with a big ego

00:43:48would call them independents,

00:43:50hey, low budget

00:43:50and man,

00:43:52I got a chance to host

00:43:54a reality series

00:43:55called Tough Enough

00:43:56for WWE,

00:43:57they reinvented it

00:43:58on USA Network

00:43:59and they said,

00:44:00hey man,

00:44:01we want you to host this show

00:44:02and I said,

00:44:03I love it

00:44:04because when I first retired,

00:44:07I was so upset

00:44:09that I had to leave

00:44:10the business that I loved,

00:44:11I had to be completely

00:44:12away from it,

00:44:13I couldn't even watch it,

00:44:14I didn't want nothing

00:44:14to do with it,

00:44:15if I can't be the main guy,

00:44:17I don't want to be

00:44:18any guy anywhere around,

00:44:19all those years later

00:44:21in 2000,

00:44:22I think it was 2009

00:44:24or 2011

00:44:24when they did Tough Enough,

00:44:27I had been away

00:44:28long enough,

00:44:29the wounds had healed

00:44:30and I wanted to be

00:44:31closer to the business,

00:44:33I didn't want to be

00:44:33taking bumps

00:44:34but I wanted to help

00:44:35people learn the trade

00:44:37so that put me

00:44:38back in touch

00:44:39with the business

00:44:40in a position

00:44:41that I really loved

00:44:42and after one season

00:44:45they yanked it

00:44:45and it did good numbers

00:44:47but that helped

00:44:48me out a whole lot

00:44:49and then when I found

00:44:50that a couple

00:44:52other people

00:44:52contacted me

00:44:53and the last show

00:44:54I did was

00:44:55Broken Skull Challenge

00:44:56and some rocket

00:44:57scientist can't

00:44:58let some

00:44:59and I still

00:44:59ain't figured

00:45:00that one out right

00:45:00but I found out

00:45:03that I really enjoyed

00:45:04and through my podcast

00:45:06talking to people

00:45:07and shooting

00:45:08the breeze

00:45:09on the fly.

00:45:10Does Vince

00:45:10ever call

00:45:11or has he ever

00:45:12called over the last

00:45:1315 years

00:45:13with ideas

00:45:14of how to incorporate

00:45:15you back into

00:45:16the system

00:45:16maybe not as

00:45:18taking bumps

00:45:18as you say

00:45:19but being a part

00:45:20of the program?

00:45:21No, I mean

00:45:22yeah, yes and no

00:45:23but I said

00:45:24I kind of

00:45:25wanted to do

00:45:26my own thing

00:45:26for a while

00:45:27and here's a

00:45:31classic example

00:45:32it's a true story

00:45:33and I was over

00:45:35we used to do

00:45:36a Stone Cold podcast

00:45:37and I was in

00:45:38Denver, Colorado

00:45:38and they said

00:45:39hey man

00:45:40I want to see

00:45:41if you wanted

00:45:41to open the show

00:45:42and I said

00:45:43sure man

00:45:44I'll open

00:45:44Monday Night Raw

00:45:45and he goes

00:45:45well we got

00:45:46four things

00:45:47we want you to say

00:45:48and they handed me

00:45:49that piece of paper

00:45:49and I was like

00:45:52this is what

00:45:54you want me to say

00:45:55you bring me back

00:45:56after I don't know

00:45:56how many years

00:45:57in front of

00:45:5820,000

00:45:58and a couple million

00:46:00out there in TV land

00:46:01and I was like

00:46:01alright

00:46:02so I went out there

00:46:03and said it

00:46:04but it was like

00:46:04I can't work off

00:46:06paper

00:46:06and I really think

00:46:08that the wrestling

00:46:09business

00:46:10guys like me

00:46:12good to have around

00:46:13in a special occasion

00:46:14or whatever

00:46:15to talk to people

00:46:16about the fine details

00:46:17of what we call

00:46:18in the business

00:46:19getting over

00:46:19that secret

00:46:20to becoming

00:46:21hot as a heel

00:46:22or hot as a baby

00:46:23into a money drawing

00:46:25position

00:46:25there's knowledge

00:46:27I have

00:46:28or Hulk has

00:46:29or Flair has

00:46:30but in the system

00:46:31man

00:46:32it's for the young cats

00:46:33they need all the

00:46:33television time

00:46:34they can get

00:46:34they ain't gonna

00:46:35monetize

00:46:36you know

00:46:37me by just

00:46:37bringing me out

00:46:38to a house show

00:46:39here or there

00:46:39so they gotta

00:46:40put the money

00:46:41I think it's kind

00:46:42of with you

00:46:42you like developing

00:46:43drivers

00:46:44so I like to

00:46:44watch the talent

00:46:45develop

00:46:45and I had my time

00:46:47and I want them

00:46:47to have their time

00:46:48so you're following

00:46:49along with what's

00:46:49going on now

00:46:50currently

00:46:50I try to

00:46:51I DVR both shows

00:46:52but I don't watch

00:46:54a whole lot of

00:46:54television to begin

00:46:55with

00:46:55you know

00:46:56I'm a big football

00:46:57fan and UFC fan

00:46:59and I DVR both shows

00:47:00because if someone

00:47:01says hey man

00:47:02check us out

00:47:03or someone wants

00:47:04to ask me something

00:47:05to get my opinion

00:47:06on it

00:47:06well I've got it

00:47:07dialed up

00:47:08so then I'll watch it

00:47:08I got a question

00:47:09with you sort of

00:47:11taking on this role

00:47:12of trying to help

00:47:13some of these

00:47:13younger wrestlers

00:47:14do you try to

00:47:16give them advice

00:47:17as far as

00:47:17planning their

00:47:18end or their

00:47:19exit already

00:47:20because it sounds

00:47:21like to me

00:47:21that you

00:47:22hadn't even

00:47:23thought about it

00:47:24injury sort of

00:47:25took you down

00:47:25that road

00:47:26maybe if you

00:47:27weren't ready

00:47:28is that something

00:47:30you try to

00:47:31help people

00:47:32understand

00:47:33and maybe

00:47:33prepare for

00:47:34better

00:47:34oh absolutely

00:47:35because

00:47:35what do you

00:47:36tell them

00:47:36well just

00:47:37given a platform

00:47:38right now

00:47:38is hey man

00:47:39if you're

00:47:39trying to

00:47:40do anything

00:47:40you know

00:47:41always keep

00:47:42your loyalty

00:47:43and your main

00:47:43job is with

00:47:44WWE

00:47:45but if you've

00:47:46got some

00:47:46feelers out there

00:47:47and you're

00:47:47trying to

00:47:47network other

00:47:48things you know

00:47:49based on the

00:47:50fact that you've

00:47:50got a high IQ

00:47:51rating or a lot

00:47:51of television

00:47:52exposure and you

00:47:53can get your

00:47:54hands into

00:47:55different things

00:47:55do it

00:47:56do it

00:47:56but you know

00:47:57right now

00:47:57this is a

00:47:58bread and butter

00:47:58but start

00:47:59planting those

00:48:00seeds right now

00:48:01so when you

00:48:01spin out of this

00:48:02you come out

00:48:03with momentum

00:48:03like I said

00:48:04I sidetracked

00:48:05my I'm just

00:48:05completely honest

00:48:06I sidetracked

00:48:07myself three

00:48:08years of

00:48:09nothing and

00:48:09then came out

00:48:10to LA

00:48:10you know

00:48:10had I said

00:48:11hey I'm

00:48:12gonna go do

00:48:12this

00:48:13you know

00:48:14I could have

00:48:15planned it a lot

00:48:15better

00:48:15I would

00:48:16I would

00:48:17compare

00:48:17the history

00:48:19of wrestling

00:48:19as far as

00:48:20superstars

00:48:20with another

00:48:21popular show

00:48:22that's long

00:48:23running

00:48:23and that's

00:48:23Saturday Night Live

00:48:24Chevy Chase

00:48:25Adam Sandler

00:48:25Chris Farley

00:48:26you got

00:48:27Ric Flair

00:48:28the superstars

00:48:29that have

00:48:30carried that

00:48:30show through

00:48:31the decades

00:48:32who is the

00:48:32superstar

00:48:33in today's

00:48:34climate

00:48:34who is the

00:48:35next Stone Cold

00:48:36who is the

00:48:36next guy

00:48:37that's gonna

00:48:37be the

00:48:37household name

00:48:38man it's a

00:48:40tough question

00:48:40to answer

00:48:41right now

00:48:41do you see

00:48:42those guys

00:48:42in this

00:48:43current climate

00:48:43if

00:48:44if

00:48:46if

00:48:46key thing

00:48:49when I

00:48:50got hot

00:48:51I pushed

00:48:52the envelope

00:48:52and I was

00:48:53saying words

00:48:54you could still

00:48:54say on television

00:48:55I wasn't

00:48:56dropping F-bombs

00:48:57I knew what

00:48:58I could get

00:48:58away with

00:48:59the deal

00:49:00was I

00:49:01wasn't afraid

00:49:01to push

00:49:02the envelope

00:49:02I wasn't

00:49:03afraid to

00:49:03go out

00:49:03on a limb

00:49:04so I

00:49:05did and I

00:49:06knew I

00:49:06had to

00:49:06and it

00:49:07was in

00:49:07me

00:49:08it was

00:49:08nothing

00:49:08I had

00:49:09to

00:49:09hey this

00:49:10is a

00:49:10crazy

00:49:10idea

00:49:11I go

00:49:11when you

00:49:12turn me

00:49:12up to

00:49:1211

00:49:13that's

00:49:13me

00:49:13and like

00:49:14I said

00:49:15man growing

00:49:15up in

00:49:15South Texas

00:49:16just talking

00:49:16that trash

00:49:17so to

00:49:18answer your

00:49:18question

00:49:19you know

00:49:20I had

00:49:21no restrictor

00:49:21plate on

00:49:22me

00:49:22you know

00:49:23like the

00:49:23guys today

00:49:23do

00:49:24yeah

00:49:24I just

00:49:25could

00:49:25like I

00:49:25said

00:49:25it's a

00:49:26way more

00:49:27friendly

00:49:27setting

00:49:27and there's

00:49:28a lot more

00:49:29control on

00:49:30television

00:49:30than went

00:49:31back in

00:49:31the day

00:49:32I mean

00:49:32because

00:49:32you know

00:49:33we could

00:49:33do the

00:49:33hey I

00:49:34went to

00:49:34Brian

00:49:34Pillman's

00:49:35house

00:49:35one time

00:49:36he had

00:49:36a busted

00:49:37leg

00:49:37from wrecking

00:49:38his Humvee

00:49:38and I

00:49:39broke in

00:49:40his house

00:49:40with a

00:49:40baseball bat

00:49:41and he

00:49:41pulled a

00:49:42gun on

00:49:42me

00:49:42on Monday

00:49:43Night Raw

00:49:43and then

00:49:44shots were

00:49:44fired

00:49:45and I

00:49:46don't think

00:49:46the network

00:49:46rehearsed at

00:49:47all

00:49:48oh hell

00:49:49no

00:49:49I beat

00:49:50the hell

00:49:51out of

00:49:51two guys

00:49:51in his

00:49:52driveway

00:49:52and when

00:49:53that gun

00:49:53you know

00:49:54reports

00:49:55that shots

00:49:55were fired

00:49:56there was

00:49:57a call

00:49:57from the

00:49:57network

00:49:58and there

00:49:59was some

00:49:59explaining

00:49:59to be

00:50:00done

00:50:00but we

00:50:01had done

00:50:01it

00:50:02and you

00:50:03know

00:50:03hey

00:50:03then we

00:50:03apologized

00:50:04my point

00:50:07is I

00:50:08don't know

00:50:08that anybody

00:50:08can push

00:50:09that envelope

00:50:09as hard

00:50:10as we

00:50:10did

00:50:10and I

00:50:11really

00:50:11think

00:50:11that's

00:50:11what it

00:50:12is

00:50:12and again

00:50:13I go

00:50:14to

00:50:14it's like

00:50:15the people

00:50:15that love

00:50:16you

00:50:17there's

00:50:17something

00:50:18about

00:50:18you

00:50:18and you

00:50:19driving

00:50:20and now

00:50:20you're

00:50:21doing

00:50:21your

00:50:21broadcasting

00:50:21that

00:50:22just

00:50:22people

00:50:23love

00:50:23you

00:50:24were

00:50:24real

00:50:24and you

00:50:25affected

00:50:25their

00:50:25emotions

00:50:26and they

00:50:26got

00:50:26behind

00:50:27you

00:50:27and that's

00:50:28the same

00:50:28thing

00:50:28in our

00:50:28business

00:50:29but you

00:50:29got to do

00:50:29something

00:50:30to resonate

00:50:31with those

00:50:31people

00:50:31and to get

00:50:32that kind

00:50:32of

00:50:32relationship

00:50:34anything

00:50:35you do

00:50:35it's all

00:50:35about

00:50:36relationships

00:50:36even though

00:50:37you're

00:50:37an entertainer

00:50:39you have

00:50:39a relationship

00:50:40with those

00:50:41fans

00:50:41and those

00:50:41fans got

00:50:42to live

00:50:42vicariously

00:50:43I've

00:50:44talked to

00:50:44so many

00:50:44people

00:50:44through

00:50:45all the

00:50:45stuff

00:50:46that

00:50:46Stone Cold

00:50:47Steve Austin

00:50:47was doing

00:50:48and they

00:50:48might have

00:50:49been in a

00:50:49bad way

00:50:50or had

00:50:50some problems

00:50:51going against

00:50:52them

00:50:52or whatever

00:50:53and they

00:50:53turned on

00:50:53that TV

00:50:54and when you're

00:50:56in the

00:50:56entertainment

00:50:56business

00:50:57if you can

00:50:58make somebody

00:50:58forget about

00:50:59their problems

00:50:59for about

00:51:00two hours

00:51:00and put a

00:51:01smile on

00:51:02their face

00:51:02and get that

00:51:03adrenaline

00:51:03going

00:51:04that's a

00:51:04good thing

00:51:05and so

00:51:06I just

00:51:06think

00:51:07it'll

00:51:07take

00:51:08someone

00:51:08to be

00:51:09able to

00:51:09capture

00:51:10that

00:51:10audience

00:51:10again

00:51:11I ain't

00:51:12saying

00:51:12you gotta

00:51:12go crazy

00:51:13just gotta

00:51:14turn them

00:51:14loose

00:51:14a little

00:51:14bit

00:51:15As a

00:51:16Redskins

00:51:16fan

00:51:16there's a

00:51:17play

00:51:17or a

00:51:17game

00:51:18that's

00:51:18on the

00:51:18top

00:51:19of the

00:51:19list

00:51:19for me

00:51:19do you

00:51:20have a

00:51:20moment

00:51:21in your

00:51:21career

00:51:22or even

00:51:22maybe not

00:51:23in your

00:51:23career

00:51:23maybe it's

00:51:24in someone

00:51:24else's

00:51:24career

00:51:25that you

00:51:25think

00:51:26is the

00:51:26most memorable

00:51:27moment

00:51:27your favorite

00:51:28moment

00:51:28your favorite

00:51:29match

00:51:29well

00:51:31yeah

00:51:31my favorite

00:51:33I loved

00:51:34working with

00:51:34The Rock

00:51:35and Wrestlemania

00:51:3617 was a

00:51:37hell of a

00:51:38ride

00:51:38but that

00:51:39Wrestlemania

00:51:40and I love

00:51:40working with

00:51:41Vince because

00:51:41the Vince

00:51:42feud

00:51:42transcended

00:51:44wrestling

00:51:44for two

00:51:44years

00:51:45that was

00:51:45water cooler

00:51:46talk

00:51:46I don't care

00:51:47what you

00:51:47did

00:51:48at lunch

00:51:48you met

00:51:49and you

00:51:49asked

00:51:50hey man

00:51:51did you

00:51:51see what

00:51:51Stone Cold

00:51:52and Vince

00:51:52did last

00:51:52night

00:51:53and Vince

00:51:54was an

00:51:54awesome

00:51:55opponent

00:51:55because

00:51:55he feels

00:51:57this stuff

00:51:57as much

00:51:58as I do

00:51:58he's an

00:52:00animal

00:52:00he's one

00:52:01of the most

00:52:01interesting

00:52:01people I've

00:52:02ever met

00:52:02in my

00:52:03life

00:52:03and I

00:52:04I love

00:52:04a guy

00:52:04but to

00:52:05answer your

00:52:05question

00:52:06that match

00:52:07in Wrestlemania

00:52:0713

00:52:08I knew

00:52:09we had

00:52:10those people

00:52:10from Jump

00:52:11Street

00:52:11I dived

00:52:12on him

00:52:12started whipping

00:52:13his ass

00:52:14and then

00:52:15we go into

00:52:15a barricade

00:52:16I start

00:52:17bleeding

00:52:17like a

00:52:17stuck pig

00:52:18and finally

00:52:19after a couple

00:52:19of attempts

00:52:20he turns

00:52:20me over

00:52:20in that

00:52:21sharpshooter

00:52:21and I'm

00:52:22laying there

00:52:23and I'm

00:52:23in a push

00:52:24up position

00:52:24and I am

00:52:25trying to

00:52:25escape

00:52:26and we

00:52:27love working

00:52:28Chicago

00:52:28Rosemount

00:52:29Horizon

00:52:30because

00:52:30first of all

00:52:31the fans

00:52:31are terrific

00:52:32and the

00:52:33acoustics

00:52:33in that

00:52:34building

00:52:34that's a

00:52:36wooden

00:52:36ceiling

00:52:37so it's

00:52:37like when

00:52:38they yell

00:52:39it's kind of

00:52:39like hitting

00:52:39the gas

00:52:40pedal

00:52:40you get

00:52:40an immediate

00:52:40response

00:52:41everything you do

00:52:42in that ring

00:52:43is driven

00:52:44by a response

00:52:45and so man

00:52:46those people

00:52:46are just

00:52:47quick

00:52:47and so we

00:52:48had that

00:52:48crowd

00:52:49hook line

00:52:49and sinker

00:52:50and I was

00:52:51going to

00:52:51pass out

00:52:51in a pool

00:52:52of blood

00:52:52got the finish

00:52:54earlier from

00:52:54Vince

00:52:55the pool

00:52:55of blood

00:52:56was not

00:52:56planned

00:52:57until later

00:53:00by two

00:53:00individuals

00:53:01but there

00:53:01was a no

00:53:02color policy

00:53:02in effect

00:53:03and I was

00:53:03laying there

00:53:04bleeding like

00:53:05a stuck

00:53:05pig

00:53:05and I'll

00:53:05never forget

00:53:06to answer

00:53:06your question

00:53:07that moment

00:53:07was

00:53:08finishing

00:53:09that match

00:53:10executing

00:53:11the double

00:53:12turn

00:53:12and laying

00:53:13there

00:53:14man I

00:53:15bled like

00:53:15a stuck

00:53:16pig

00:53:16I was in

00:53:17a puddle

00:53:17of blood

00:53:18you never

00:53:19want to hit

00:53:19something

00:53:19that's gory

00:53:20but it was

00:53:21an extended

00:53:22period of

00:53:22time

00:53:23laying there

00:53:24passed out

00:53:24while him

00:53:25and Shamrock

00:53:25were going to

00:53:26take care of

00:53:26business

00:53:27and I

00:53:28just performed

00:53:28my ass off

00:53:29worked my ass

00:53:30off

00:53:30so did

00:53:30Brett

00:53:31and he

00:53:31really brought

00:53:31it that

00:53:32match

00:53:32laying there

00:53:33in that

00:53:33pool of

00:53:34blood

00:53:34with my

00:53:34eyes closed

00:53:35because that

00:53:36was all I

00:53:36had to do

00:53:37until both

00:53:38those guys

00:53:38got out of

00:53:38the ring

00:53:39and then I'd

00:53:39get up

00:53:40and it was

00:53:41my idea

00:53:41to stun

00:53:42the referee

00:53:42because I

00:53:43said I still

00:53:44gotta just

00:53:44if someone's

00:53:45gonna try

00:53:45to help me

00:53:46I'm not

00:53:46just gonna

00:53:47start hugging

00:53:47on him

00:53:48and thank

00:53:48you for

00:53:48helping me

00:53:49up

00:53:49I'm still

00:53:49a rattlesnake

00:53:50laying in

00:53:52that pool

00:53:52of blood

00:53:53most satisfying

00:53:54moment in

00:53:55my entire

00:53:56wrestling career

00:53:56that's awesome

00:53:57I got a

00:53:58question

00:53:58who was the

00:54:00best

00:54:00who did you

00:54:01enjoy wrestling

00:54:02with and

00:54:03performing with

00:54:03the most

00:54:04in the lens

00:54:05of you

00:54:06trusted them

00:54:07because I've

00:54:08realized with

00:54:09the interviews

00:54:10that I've seen

00:54:10with other

00:54:11wrestlers

00:54:11that you

00:54:13have your

00:54:14life in

00:54:14their hands

00:54:15and vice

00:54:15versa

00:54:16okay so

00:54:17not who

00:54:17was the

00:54:18best performer

00:54:18for the

00:54:19crowd but

00:54:19who was the

00:54:20best to

00:54:20wrestle with

00:54:20in that you

00:54:21you could

00:54:22trust them

00:54:23and y'all

00:54:23could put on

00:54:24a show

00:54:24and protect

00:54:25each other

00:54:25there's a

00:54:26lot of guys

00:54:27like that

00:54:27and you

00:54:28hit the nail

00:54:29right on the

00:54:29head

00:54:29I recently

00:54:31was in a

00:54:31ring and we

00:54:32was hitting

00:54:32the ropes

00:54:32pretty damn

00:54:33hard and

00:54:33the people

00:54:34standing around

00:54:35were like

00:54:35holy

00:54:36I didn't

00:54:37I didn't

00:54:38know you

00:54:38guys are

00:54:38moving that

00:54:39fast or

00:54:39the things

00:54:40happened in

00:54:40that ring

00:54:41so violently

00:54:41I said

00:54:42yeah man

00:54:43it ain't

00:54:44ballet

00:54:44I loved

00:54:46working with

00:54:47Bret Hart

00:54:47there was so

00:54:49much trust

00:54:49and respect

00:54:50and like I

00:54:51said the

00:54:51high profile

00:54:51matches I've

00:54:52had with

00:54:52Rock

00:54:53Undertaker

00:54:53Triple H

00:54:54the list

00:54:56could be

00:54:57a mile

00:54:57long

00:54:58but if

00:54:59I gotta

00:54:59give you

00:54:59one guy

00:55:00Bret to

00:55:01hit

00:55:02man

00:55:02heart

00:55:02he was

00:55:03just awesome

00:55:04and there

00:55:04was a trust

00:55:05and respect

00:55:06there from

00:55:07day one

00:55:08and he saw

00:55:09me coming

00:55:09up and

00:55:10he had

00:55:11taken a

00:55:11year off

00:55:12to get

00:55:12some time

00:55:13off to get

00:55:14a knee

00:55:14cleaned up

00:55:15and he

00:55:15picked me

00:55:16as his

00:55:16opponent

00:55:16to come

00:55:17back

00:55:17and

00:55:18I think

00:55:19it was

00:55:19in the

00:55:19Garden

00:55:19for a

00:55:21Survivor

00:55:21Series

00:55:21match

00:55:22and that

00:55:22helped me

00:55:23before we would

00:55:24end up feuding

00:55:24what a year

00:55:25later

00:55:26so Bret Hart

00:55:26Bret Hart

00:55:27he talked

00:55:28about

00:55:28landing at

00:55:29Pool of

00:55:29Blood

00:55:30when I

00:55:30was a

00:55:30boy

00:55:31and would

00:55:32watch

00:55:32Ric Flair

00:55:34and Dusty Rhodes

00:55:35and all

00:55:35those guys

00:55:36wrestle

00:55:36and man

00:55:37they bled

00:55:37every

00:55:38they bled

00:55:39on a

00:55:39Monday

00:55:39regular

00:55:41show

00:55:41and

00:55:42I always

00:55:43thought

00:55:43as a

00:55:44boy

00:55:44like

00:55:45how does

00:55:47that process

00:55:47like how do

00:55:48you get so

00:55:49comfortable

00:55:49with man

00:55:51I'm cutting

00:55:51tonight

00:55:51and

00:55:52do they

00:55:53I mean

00:55:54obviously

00:55:54that might

00:55:54be pre-planned

00:55:55they know

00:55:56that that's

00:55:57going to

00:55:57happen

00:55:57how do

00:55:58you get

00:55:58yourself

00:55:59mentally

00:55:59there

00:55:59to do

00:56:00that

00:56:00repeatedly

00:56:01time

00:56:01and time

00:56:02again

00:56:02because

00:56:02for me

00:56:03that was

00:56:04probably

00:56:04the most

00:56:04it's obviously

00:56:06visually

00:56:06shocking

00:56:08you know

00:56:09when you're

00:56:09watching a

00:56:09match

00:56:10and there's

00:56:10just blood

00:56:10everywhere

00:56:11and those

00:56:11guys

00:56:12especially

00:56:12back in

00:56:12those days

00:56:13were just

00:56:14bleeding

00:56:14hard

00:56:15covered

00:56:16and you

00:56:16remember

00:56:17that

00:56:17right

00:56:17yes

00:56:18as a

00:56:20wrestler

00:56:20do you

00:56:22remember

00:56:22the first

00:56:22time

00:56:23you

00:56:23bled

00:56:24oh man

00:56:24but to

00:56:25answer your

00:56:26question

00:56:26to go

00:56:26back to

00:56:27what you

00:56:27were saying

00:56:27yeah

00:56:27it's the

00:56:28exclamation

00:56:28point

00:56:29on a

00:56:30great

00:56:30feud

00:56:31and it's

00:56:31like hey

00:56:31man

00:56:32it turned

00:56:32into a

00:56:32blood

00:56:33bat

00:56:33but I'll

00:56:35tell you

00:56:35I went to

00:56:36wrestling

00:56:36school

00:56:36I was in

00:56:37there for

00:56:37about five

00:56:38months

00:56:38one day

00:56:39a week

00:56:39there was

00:56:4025 kids

00:56:41in class

00:56:41we had

00:56:41one ring

00:56:42so ring

00:56:42time is

00:56:43pretty limited

00:56:43yeah

00:56:44okay so you learn a bit of chain wrestling

00:56:45you learn how to take a bump

00:56:46you just learn how to fall

00:56:48and protect yourself

00:56:50and part of the 101

00:56:53and the 201 class

00:56:54ain't well here's how you get color

00:56:56no one teaches you

00:56:57that's what it's called

00:56:58get color

00:56:58a little juice

00:57:00all of a sudden

00:57:03man we was in

00:57:03we was in Dallas

00:57:05and there was gonna be a match

00:57:06Eric Emery was booking

00:57:07I think it was about

00:57:08no the first time

00:57:09was in Tennessee

00:57:10anyway

00:57:10I was in a locker room

00:57:12and I think it was

00:57:13Jerry Lawler

00:57:15or somebody

00:57:15I said

00:57:16it might have been Chris Adams

00:57:17I said hey man

00:57:18someone told me

00:57:19we was gonna go out there

00:57:20in like a big battle role

00:57:21type thing

00:57:22and bleed

00:57:22and as a new guy

00:57:24in the business

00:57:25I hadn't even been in a year

00:57:26and now all of a sudden

00:57:27somebody wants me to bleed

00:57:28well okay

00:57:29what's the process

00:57:29so I asked one of the guys

00:57:32I said man

00:57:32how do you make a blade

00:57:34and the guy showed me

00:57:35his technique

00:57:36and then you know

00:57:37you know like those

00:57:38old school razors

00:57:39the old ones

00:57:40right

00:57:40double sided

00:57:41yeah double sided

00:57:42clip that thing in the middle

00:57:43and then you know

00:57:44get some corners

00:57:45and make a small thing

00:57:46push it through a piece of tape

00:57:48you know

00:57:48so you gotta pull tab

00:57:49and you know

00:57:50put it on your wrist

00:57:52some guys are carrying their mouth

00:57:53some guys in their waistband

00:57:55but me

00:57:56if it was a big

00:57:57if it was a big pay-per-view

00:57:58man

00:57:58you know

00:57:59I got plan A

00:58:00I got plan B

00:58:01and I got plan C

00:58:02so I'm out there

00:58:03with three options

00:58:04yeah

00:58:05dang

00:58:06and so

00:58:07you know

00:58:08it's a very

00:58:09interesting feeling

00:58:11when you first push that

00:58:13that blade

00:58:14into your head

00:58:14because there's like

00:58:15a crackle of that skin

00:58:16and then you

00:58:17then you're gonna drag

00:58:18just a little bit

00:58:19oh man

00:58:20and at first

00:58:21you know

00:58:21you're kind of like

00:58:22man this

00:58:22it's like a rite of passage

00:58:24though

00:58:24you're expected to do it

00:58:26because you grew up

00:58:27seeing it

00:58:27and all of a sudden

00:58:28now you get a chance

00:58:29to do it

00:58:29and then all of a sudden

00:58:31you know

00:58:31it was like in the 90s

00:58:32so you know

00:58:33trading blood

00:58:34with a lot of people

00:58:35and some of these guys

00:58:36you know

00:58:36were party animals

00:58:38it's like

00:58:39man

00:58:39you think

00:58:39those guys

00:58:40gotta be the dumbest

00:58:41people in the world

00:58:42and like the guy

00:58:43you know the guy

00:58:45that always bite

00:58:46on the open cut

00:58:47and then spit the blood out

00:58:48I would imagine

00:58:52you're right

00:58:53there's some people

00:58:53that I would just be like

00:58:54I don't want to color

00:58:55juice with you

00:58:56tonight

00:58:57there were those guys

00:58:59there were those guys

00:58:59those guys

00:59:00that were like

00:59:01really out there

00:59:01and the thing about it is

00:59:03man when you get out

00:59:04on that mat

00:59:04you know

00:59:05some of those outdoor shows

00:59:06that mat is so hot

00:59:08on those

00:59:09like we did some

00:59:10rodeo

00:59:10I know you saw of that

00:59:11Bakersfield

00:59:12Bakersfield California

00:59:12you've been there

00:59:13so it's so hot

00:59:15the mat's about 120 degrees

00:59:16it's hard to lay there

00:59:18just for a three count

00:59:19man guys are kicking out

00:59:20but when you get

00:59:23in some of those arenas

00:59:24like the Sportatorium

00:59:25in Dallas

00:59:26that building

00:59:27was so

00:59:28the wrestling atmosphere

00:59:29was so thick here

00:59:30and you know

00:59:30the Carolinas

00:59:31I mean the wrestling

00:59:32is hot here

00:59:33especially Ric Flair territory

00:59:34Four Horsemen

00:59:35Crockett's

00:59:38so that

00:59:39but that mat

00:59:40just like this

00:59:41you know

00:59:42you got

00:59:43you know

00:59:43metal construction

00:59:45some 2x12s

00:59:46a little bit of a

00:59:48mat

00:59:48about like that

00:59:49and you got the tarp

00:59:50but on top of that tarp

00:59:51man guys

00:59:52been walking around

00:59:53in the dressing room

00:59:54I mean you drink your coffee

00:59:55maybe you got to

00:59:56take care of business

00:59:56or you're at the urinal

00:59:57and you're taking care of business

00:59:58and all of a sudden

00:59:59you're walking to the ring

01:00:00so

01:00:00it smells like

01:00:02stale beer

01:00:03popcorn

01:00:03piss

01:00:04sweat

01:00:05and then you got

01:00:06blood on top of it

01:00:07it's like

01:00:08any night of the week

01:00:10you get staph infection

01:00:11it's got to be

01:00:12one of the most

01:00:13unsanitary places

01:00:14to roll around

01:00:15with another guy

01:00:16and get sweated on

01:00:19or bleeded on

01:00:20I just invented

01:00:23bleeded

01:00:24I'm so glad

01:00:27you answered that

01:00:28for me

01:00:28because I think

01:00:28that was probably

01:00:29the number one

01:00:30question on my list

01:00:31ever since I've been

01:00:31a little boy

01:00:32about wrestling

01:00:33as to how that

01:00:33process goes

01:00:34for somebody

01:00:35and you answered

01:00:35it perfectly

01:00:36you talked about

01:00:37mankind

01:00:37this is a guy

01:00:39from our vantage point

01:00:41that sacrificed

01:00:42himself more

01:00:43than anybody

01:00:44were all wrestlers

01:00:45like that

01:00:46or was he just

01:00:46someone special

01:00:47I think

01:00:48I think he knew

01:00:49that was going

01:00:50to be his

01:00:50he had to

01:00:52I don't think

01:00:53he had to

01:00:53I don't think

01:00:54Mick

01:00:54well Mick gets

01:00:55a lot of credit

01:00:56because he's one

01:00:57of my best friends

01:00:57in the business

01:00:58and we travel together

01:00:59we're two of the

01:01:00cheapest guys

01:01:01in the history

01:01:01of the business

01:01:02as far as

01:01:03saving our money

01:01:03staying at

01:01:04you know

01:01:04box hotels

01:01:05stuff like that

01:01:06I don't think

01:01:07I think he did it

01:01:09because he knew

01:01:10that he wasn't

01:01:10going to be

01:01:11certainly wasn't

01:01:12going to be

01:01:12a high flyer

01:01:13a mat technician

01:01:14and I think

01:01:16he to a point

01:01:17enjoyed the pain

01:01:18and I'll never

01:01:19forget man

01:01:20that floor

01:01:21in Dallas Texas

01:01:22was that hard

01:01:23wood floor

01:01:24it's probably

01:01:25harder than

01:01:25any concrete

01:01:26I've walked on

01:01:27and I'll never

01:01:28forget from my

01:01:28early days

01:01:29when he got

01:01:30in the business

01:01:30just a couple

01:01:31years before

01:01:32I did

01:01:32and I was

01:01:32out there

01:01:33in a crowd

01:01:33drinking beer

01:01:34with my football

01:01:35playing buddies

01:01:36and we was

01:01:36out there

01:01:36drinking beer

01:01:37throwing stuff

01:01:38at wrestlers

01:01:38and he dropped

01:01:39that elbow

01:01:40from apron

01:01:41onto that

01:01:41floor

01:01:42or get

01:01:43suplexed

01:01:44out on that

01:01:44seam

01:01:45and just

01:01:45you know

01:01:47when Undertaker

01:01:48threw him off

01:01:49that cage

01:01:49into the hell

01:01:51in the cell

01:01:52in that

01:01:52announce desk

01:01:53I think he

01:01:54did it

01:01:54because it

01:01:55was a means

01:01:55to an end

01:01:56and it was

01:01:56a style

01:01:57that worked

01:01:57for him

01:01:58and so a lot

01:01:58of people

01:01:59didn't think

01:01:59Mick Foley

01:02:00is one of

01:02:00the smartest

01:02:00guys in

01:02:01the business

01:02:01and I think

01:02:03that was his

01:02:03calling card

01:02:04to answer

01:02:04your question

01:02:05that's awesome

01:02:06when did

01:02:07the beer

01:02:07bashing

01:02:08start

01:02:09because that

01:02:10became so

01:02:11iconic

01:02:11just the

01:02:12imagery

01:02:13of that

01:02:13it was part

01:02:15of your

01:02:15identity

01:02:15in a big

01:02:16way

01:02:16when did

01:02:17that start

01:02:18and how

01:02:19did you

01:02:19keep that

01:02:20going

01:02:20was it

01:02:20even that

01:02:20hard to

01:02:21I can't

01:02:22remember

01:02:22exactly

01:02:24when we

01:02:24started it

01:02:25and I

01:02:25didn't invent

01:02:26it

01:02:26Sandman

01:02:27was doing

01:02:27his version

01:02:28of it

01:02:28and ECW

01:02:29and when I

01:02:31did it

01:02:31I wasn't

01:02:31saying

01:02:31hey

01:02:32the Sandman

01:02:32did this

01:02:33I'm going

01:02:33to copy

01:02:33it organically

01:02:35happened

01:02:36I don't know

01:02:36if I grabbed

01:02:37a couple

01:02:37of beers

01:02:37out of the

01:02:37audience

01:02:38or I just

01:02:38figured

01:02:38hey man

01:02:39you'd like

01:02:39to drink

01:02:39beer

01:02:40so much

01:02:40you know

01:02:41because we'd

01:02:42have that

01:02:42cooler full

01:02:43of beer

01:02:43underneath

01:02:44that announce

01:02:45table

01:02:45or Mark

01:02:46Eaton

01:02:46used to

01:02:47throw me

01:02:47those beers

01:02:47but you know

01:02:48Sandman

01:02:49would crush

01:02:49them off

01:02:50his head

01:02:50I would

01:02:51just

01:02:51bang

01:02:51clack

01:02:51them

01:02:52together

01:02:52like that

01:02:52and you

01:02:54know

01:02:54people would

01:02:54say

01:02:54man

01:02:55Steve

01:02:55always got

01:02:56mad at

01:02:56you

01:02:56because

01:02:56you wasted

01:02:57all that

01:02:57beer

01:02:58and I

01:02:58say

01:02:58they don't

01:02:59understand

01:03:00you ain't

01:03:01in show

01:03:01business

01:03:02you don't

01:03:02get it

01:03:03half goes

01:03:04in

01:03:04that's

01:03:05for me

01:03:05half goes

01:03:06on

01:03:07that's

01:03:07for everybody

01:03:08else

01:03:08it's a win

01:03:09win situation

01:03:10you gotta

01:03:11have some

01:03:11showmanship

01:03:12to it

01:03:12what if I

01:03:13had to

01:03:13collect

01:03:13two beers

01:03:14together

01:03:14and just

01:03:14sipped

01:03:15them

01:03:15I wouldn't

01:03:17have been

01:03:17worth a

01:03:18flying

01:03:18s***

01:03:19plus

01:03:19you wouldn't

01:03:20have had

01:03:21the beer

01:03:21on the

01:03:22petri dish

01:03:22it was

01:03:23called

01:03:23the mat

01:03:23that you

01:03:24I would

01:03:25kind of

01:03:25sanitize

01:03:26it

01:03:26I used

01:03:28to tell

01:03:28people

01:03:28by the

01:03:29time I

01:03:30got

01:03:30finished

01:03:31I was

01:03:31so beat

01:03:32to shreds

01:03:32I told

01:03:33people

01:03:33hell I

01:03:34was

01:03:34drinking

01:03:34for a

01:03:35living

01:03:35and

01:03:35wrestling

01:03:35on the

01:03:36side

01:03:36do you

01:03:37still

01:03:37drink

01:03:38beer

01:03:38yeah

01:03:39I got

01:03:39into

01:03:39the

01:03:40beer

01:03:40business

01:03:40I

01:03:41drank

01:03:41light

01:03:42beer

01:03:42for

01:03:4230

01:03:43however

01:03:44many

01:03:44years

01:03:44it's

01:03:44been

01:03:44and

01:03:45I

01:03:46finally

01:03:46started

01:03:47all this

01:03:47craft

01:03:48beer

01:03:48stuff

01:03:48started

01:03:49springing

01:03:49up

01:03:49and I

01:03:50said

01:03:50oh man

01:03:50let me

01:03:50give this

01:03:51stuff

01:03:51a try

01:03:51because

01:03:52back

01:03:52in

01:03:53he

01:03:53was

01:03:53kind

01:03:53of

01:03:53considered

01:03:53a

01:03:53snob

01:03:54if

01:03:54you

01:03:54wasn't

01:03:54drinking

01:03:55the

01:03:55regular

01:03:55beer

01:03:55everybody

01:03:55else

01:03:56was

01:03:56and

01:03:56hell

01:03:57you

01:03:57know

01:03:57back

01:03:57in

01:03:57the day

01:03:57we

01:03:57drinking

01:03:57Schaefer

01:03:58light

01:03:58hell

01:03:59that's

01:03:59all you

01:03:59can afford

01:04:00so I

01:04:00started

01:04:01drinking

01:04:01the pale

01:04:01L's

01:04:02it was

01:04:02pretty

01:04:03good

01:04:03I tried

01:04:04my first

01:04:04IPA

01:04:05it was

01:04:05a little

01:04:05too much

01:04:06and I

01:04:06went back

01:04:07to the

01:04:07pale

01:04:07L

01:04:07and I

01:04:09said

01:04:09hey

01:04:09man

01:04:09I

01:04:09miss

01:04:10that

01:04:10hop

01:04:11on that

01:04:12IPA

01:04:12so I

01:04:12really

01:04:13got into

01:04:13the

01:04:13IPAs

01:04:14and I

01:04:15teamed up

01:04:15with us

01:04:16to get

01:04:17in the

01:04:17beer

01:04:17market

01:04:18so I

01:04:18have

01:04:18Broken

01:04:19Skull

01:04:19IPA

01:04:21it's a

01:04:216.7%

01:04:22alcohol

01:04:2340 IBUs

01:04:25and that

01:04:26beer is

01:04:26handcrafted

01:04:27by myself

01:04:28and the

01:04:28owner

01:04:28Rob

01:04:28Croxall

01:04:29to my

01:04:30specifications

01:04:30and I

01:04:31think it's

01:04:32one of

01:04:32I'm very

01:04:32partial

01:04:33but that

01:04:33built

01:04:33was built

01:04:34for me

01:04:35it's one

01:04:36of the

01:04:36best

01:04:36IPAs

01:04:36in America

01:04:38and so

01:04:38I'm very

01:04:39proud of

01:04:39that beer

01:04:39what's

01:04:40coming next

01:04:41for Stone

01:04:41Cold

01:04:41you know

01:04:42hopefully we

01:04:43do a good

01:04:43job on

01:04:43this show

01:04:44and we

01:04:45got seven

01:04:45to start

01:04:46off with

01:04:46and

01:04:47do you

01:04:47know who

01:04:47all your

01:04:48guests are

01:04:48you don't

01:04:49have to

01:04:49give them

01:04:49away if

01:04:49you don't

01:04:50want to

01:04:50but you

01:04:50got some

01:04:51pretty cool

01:04:52yeah

01:04:52I have

01:04:53some really

01:04:54cool guests

01:04:55and you're

01:04:56one of

01:04:56them

01:04:56and I

01:04:57look at

01:04:58like this

01:04:58I mean

01:04:58either we're

01:04:59going to

01:04:59get to

01:04:59do seven

01:05:00of them

01:05:00or we'll

01:05:01do 28

01:05:01of them

01:05:02or 56

01:05:02but we

01:05:04got seven

01:05:05and I'm

01:05:06looking forward

01:05:06to them

01:05:06Aaron

01:05:07and hopefully

01:05:08they do

01:05:08well

01:05:08I love

01:05:09talking to

01:05:10people

01:05:10I love

01:05:10talking with

01:05:11you guys

01:05:11and it

01:05:13gives me a

01:05:13chance to

01:05:14get back

01:05:14out on the

01:05:14road

01:05:15do cool

01:05:15stuff

01:05:15that I

01:05:16wouldn't

01:05:16get a

01:05:16chance to

01:05:17do

01:05:17otherwise

01:05:17and I'm

01:05:19probably

01:05:19going to

01:05:19spring back

01:05:20up and

01:05:20kick my

01:05:21podcast

01:05:21back into

01:05:22gear

01:05:22I had to

01:05:23take care of

01:05:23a few

01:05:23things

01:05:24I took

01:05:24myself

01:05:24off the

01:05:25air

01:05:25for a

01:05:25while

01:05:25I got

01:05:26everything

01:05:27straightened

01:05:27out so I'll

01:05:27make a return

01:05:28to that

01:05:28and I

01:05:29continue my

01:05:30ventures in

01:05:31the beer

01:05:31business

01:05:32the pocket

01:05:32night

01:05:32still hunting

01:05:33oh I'm

01:05:34still hunting

01:05:34oh man

01:05:35different and I

01:05:35enjoy my

01:05:36I'm in

01:05:37business with

01:05:40I love

01:05:41doing that

01:05:41that's one

01:05:42of the best

01:05:42things I

01:05:42got

01:05:43hunting has

01:05:44been really

01:05:44good because

01:05:45do we still

01:05:46got time

01:05:46yeah

01:05:47okay so

01:05:47back when I

01:05:48had the ranch

01:05:49in Texas

01:05:49we had that

01:05:50place for

01:05:5010 years

01:05:51and you know

01:05:53in south Texas

01:05:53everybody's high

01:05:54fence because

01:05:55everybody's trying

01:05:55to grow big

01:05:56ass deer

01:05:56okay and you

01:05:58don't want your

01:05:58neighbors shooting

01:05:59your deer

01:06:00okay well we

01:06:01did that for 10

01:06:01years and we

01:06:02had some monster

01:06:03deer and we

01:06:04was feeding

01:06:04protein 24-7

01:06:05on top of all

01:06:06the protein

01:06:06they already got

01:06:07to eat

01:06:07and so we

01:06:08were raising

01:06:09those deers

01:06:09culling

01:06:10and you know

01:06:11rarely shooting

01:06:12trophies because

01:06:12we're growing

01:06:13we're looking

01:06:13long term

01:06:14we're playing

01:06:14a long game

01:06:15like you like

01:06:15to say

01:06:15and it got

01:06:18to be such

01:06:19a process

01:06:19we had an

01:06:20awesome setup

01:06:21out there

01:06:21had a double

01:06:23wide hook

01:06:24to a triple

01:06:24wide with

01:06:25this 2,000

01:06:26square foot

01:06:27man cave

01:06:28five wide

01:06:29you talk about

01:06:30super redneck

01:06:30but it was

01:06:31cool and

01:06:32over at the

01:06:33barn was

01:06:35our cooler

01:06:36but during the

01:06:37cull process

01:06:38man you're

01:06:38taking out

01:06:39your undesirables

01:06:39you got to

01:06:40control the

01:06:41population

01:06:41because they're

01:06:43in a 2,000

01:06:44acre rectangle

01:06:45and all the

01:06:47culling

01:06:47all the does

01:06:48you got to

01:06:49do that

01:06:49and man

01:06:50after doing

01:06:51that for 10

01:06:52years

01:06:52what I love

01:06:54now

01:06:54you're not

01:06:56hunting over

01:06:56bait in Nevada

01:06:57that's where I

01:06:58hunt now

01:06:58I can go

01:06:59anywhere in the

01:06:59United States

01:07:00and hunt

01:07:00I get a lot

01:07:01of invites

01:07:01but I'm a

01:07:02hermit and I

01:07:03just like to

01:07:03stay in my

01:07:03own territory

01:07:04my brother-in-law

01:07:05is probably the

01:07:06best guy in

01:07:07Nevada

01:07:07and knows the

01:07:08entire state

01:07:09like the back

01:07:09of his hand

01:07:10it's uncanny

01:07:11so you're out

01:07:12there free

01:07:13range

01:07:13I drew my

01:07:14first tag this

01:07:15year for a

01:07:16mule deer

01:07:16my previous

01:07:17years I'd

01:07:18bought landowner

01:07:18tags

01:07:19I had a

01:07:20landowner

01:07:20antelope tag

01:07:21this year

01:07:21and was

01:07:22successful

01:07:22my first

01:07:23year out

01:07:24there I

01:07:24shot a

01:07:24big ass

01:07:25175

01:07:25mule deer

01:07:26and I was

01:07:27just I was

01:07:28like hey man

01:07:29it happened

01:07:29on the first

01:07:29day

01:07:30I said hey

01:07:30man it's

01:07:31gonna be

01:07:31pretty easy

01:07:32this past

01:07:33season

01:07:33first day

01:07:34out there

01:07:34we saw a buck

01:07:35probably about

01:07:36a 150 buck

01:07:36and I

01:07:37I wasn't even

01:07:38gonna give him

01:07:38a time of day

01:07:39I said no man

01:07:39I'll pass

01:07:40we got four

01:07:40more days

01:07:41to do this

01:07:41if you see

01:07:44something out

01:07:44there that's

01:07:45like that

01:07:45that's in

01:07:45that ballpark

01:07:46you better

01:07:46take him

01:07:47and you

01:07:47don't want

01:07:48to take

01:07:48a young

01:07:48buck

01:07:49for no

01:07:49reason

01:07:49because you

01:07:50don't do

01:07:50that

01:07:50and so

01:07:51I got smoked

01:07:52and so

01:07:53that was

01:07:54a landowner

01:07:55tag over

01:07:55it cost

01:07:55$4,000

01:07:56I just got

01:07:58a $4,000

01:07:58lesson

01:07:59and how

01:08:00not to get

01:08:00some meat

01:08:01in the freezer

01:08:02and when I

01:08:03talk about

01:08:04deer hunting

01:08:04because it's

01:08:05something that

01:08:05I love

01:08:06and I grew

01:08:06up doing

01:08:06we eat

01:08:07every single

01:08:08thing we

01:08:09take

01:08:09and what

01:08:10we can't

01:08:10eat ourselves

01:08:11we donate

01:08:11to food banks

01:08:12and the good

01:08:13thing about

01:08:13hunting in

01:08:14Nevada is

01:08:15I'm just

01:08:16taking one

01:08:16animal

01:08:17I'm taking

01:08:17one deer

01:08:18and one

01:08:18antelope

01:08:18and my

01:08:19wife is a

01:08:19vegetarian

01:08:20first vegetarian

01:08:21I ever met

01:08:21in my life

01:08:22she has him

01:08:23we used to

01:08:24go down to

01:08:24South Texas

01:08:25and we'd go

01:08:26through the

01:08:27McDonald's

01:08:27order a

01:08:27McVeggie

01:08:28burger

01:08:28because they

01:08:30got them

01:08:30in LA

01:08:30down to

01:08:31South Texas

01:08:32like what

01:08:32in the

01:08:33hell are

01:08:33you talking

01:08:34about

01:08:34you just

01:08:35not want

01:08:35us to

01:08:35put the

01:08:36meat in

01:08:36there

01:08:36like an

01:08:38air burger

01:08:39so I get

01:08:42two deer

01:08:42to eat

01:08:42and realistically

01:08:43I mean

01:08:44how much

01:08:44more can

01:08:45you eat

01:08:45chicken breast

01:08:46stuff like

01:08:46that

01:08:47I got

01:08:47a place

01:08:48in Ohio

01:08:49and bow

01:08:50hunting

01:08:51only

01:08:51and

01:08:52we love

01:08:53it

01:08:53you're welcome

01:08:54to come

01:08:54anytime

01:08:55we do the

01:08:57same thing

01:08:57we eat

01:08:58what we

01:08:58kill

01:08:59and donate

01:09:00what we

01:09:00don't keep

01:09:01and it's a lot

01:09:02of fun

01:09:02I've had that

01:09:03place

01:09:04we've owned

01:09:04it

01:09:04me and a

01:09:05friend of

01:09:06mine

01:09:06for probably

01:09:07five years

01:09:07I got one

01:09:08buck off of

01:09:08it so far

01:09:09you just

01:09:10out there

01:09:10just enjoy

01:09:10I enjoy

01:09:11the managing

01:09:11and culling

01:09:13and getting

01:09:14things where

01:09:15you want

01:09:15them and

01:09:16growing the

01:09:16population

01:09:16and seeing

01:09:17the same

01:09:17deer every

01:09:18year and

01:09:18watching them

01:09:19grow and

01:09:19do

01:09:19a lot of

01:09:20fun

01:09:21learning about

01:09:21firing up

01:09:22your food

01:09:23plots and

01:09:23moving things

01:09:24around and

01:09:25how that all

01:09:26works it's pretty

01:09:26interesting

01:09:27and Ohio has

01:09:28good deer

01:09:28have you ever

01:09:30heard the

01:09:31hole in the

01:09:32horn buck

01:09:33that's a famous

01:09:34buck from

01:09:34Ohio

01:09:34I guess maybe

01:09:35someone shot a

01:09:36hole in one

01:09:37of his horns

01:09:37with a .22

01:09:38but it was

01:09:38found dead on

01:09:39the side of

01:09:40a railroad track

01:09:40or the road

01:09:41so no person

01:09:43killed him

01:09:44he died of

01:09:45whatever causes

01:09:45but research

01:09:46the hole in

01:09:47the horn buck

01:09:47because if I'm

01:09:48not mistaken

01:09:49that is an

01:09:49Ohio buck

01:09:50nice

01:09:50well man

01:09:51I'm going to

01:09:52hang out with

01:09:52you the rest

01:09:52of the day

01:09:53because we're

01:09:53going to film

01:09:54your show

01:09:54and I appreciate

01:09:56you coming out

01:09:56here doing our

01:09:57podcast

01:09:57you're a legend

01:09:58somebody I was

01:10:00a huge fan of

01:10:01we got a lot of

01:10:02people that are

01:10:02listening to our

01:10:03show that are

01:10:03huge fans of

01:10:04yours

01:10:04they're going to

01:10:05love this

01:10:05podcast

01:10:06look forward to

01:10:08the rest of

01:10:08the day

01:10:08and thank you

01:10:09hey man it was

01:10:10good being here

01:10:10and you know

01:10:11as many times

01:10:12we got a chance

01:10:13to shake hands

01:10:14on the infield

01:10:14we never got a

01:10:15chance to talk

01:10:16because you were

01:10:17fixing to go out

01:10:17there and do

01:10:18business and I

01:10:19was going to go

01:10:19drop a flag or

01:10:20whatever so I've

01:10:21enjoyed being on

01:10:22the podcast

01:10:22obviously a big

01:10:24fan of you know

01:10:25all the Earnhardt

01:10:26racing stuff

01:10:27and it's going to

01:10:28be good spending

01:10:29the day with you

01:10:29absolutely

01:10:30thank you Steve

01:10:30thank you

01:10:31thank you

01:10:31Dziękuje za oglądanie.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended