Vince McMahon Joins The Steve Austin Show - SAS CLASSIC

The following program is a podcast one.com production from Hollywood, California by way of the broken skull ranch. This is the Steve Austin show. Give me a hell yeah. Yeah, now here's Steve Austin. Hi everybody, welcome to the Steve Austin show and welcome to the WWE Network. I'm coming to you from Tulsa Oklahoma where I'm speaking with my yes. The chairman and CEO of WWE, Mr. Man. That's how you doing. I'm doing great. Welcome to the Steve Austin show. Thanks. Welcome to your network. Thanks. Speaking of network. Yep. How's it going? Right out the bat. Where you go time to sit down and mess around and get you comfortable jumping to the frying pan. How's the network doing? It's doing great. Thanks. The subscriptions are good. Entertainment I think is great. About a 97% satisfaction level on it. So I pretty much tell you, you know, whether or not people like it. What have been some of the headaches and hassles? I know there's a lot of people over in the UK. They send me a lot of emails. They're looking for the network. Yeah, I mean, that's been a start. Stop. Start. Stop. Kind of like thing. We hope to have it pretty much settled by the first of the year. I'm going to say about it right now. I don't want to say anything definite because it's like, Oh, okay, then that's the deadline. But so it's right around the corner. Yeah, so I say, so a while back. I got a call from you. And you said, Hey, man, we're going to unveil the network. When do this in Las Vegas? Can you be a part of it? Down in South Texas, Dome RV. It was a part of it. I was very proud of it. And will this thing ultimately meet your expectations? Because you have high expectations and everything you do. I do have high expectations. And I think it definitely will. It takes a little time. It's a subscription model much like Netflix. It just takes a little while to build up, you know, all the content you want to build up and make sure you're listening to the audience and give them exactly what they want. I think we're giving them exactly what they want tonight. I'm on your show. You know my show. Yeah, okay, let's talk about giving them what they want. How in tune right now with you with the WWE Universe. You always like to listen to your crowd. Are you giving a crowd what they want? Because I just got finished watching three hours of live sports entertainment slash pro wrestling. Well, not come from sports entertainment. That's not where you come from. You know pro wrestling is, you know, what my dad did. Come on. I've seen you play the guitar. I've heard you sing. That was under the sports entertainment umbrella. Of course. When I got in the ring, I wrestled a quarter. Yes, absolutely. Did you have what we put on a show? Yeah, you take people through highs and lows in your entertainment to the wrestling match. Absolutely. Telling stories. That's what we do. Ferbily physically in the ring. We're telling stories the whole night is a story. And hopefully we entertain everyone. Don't always, you know, when some of these matches don't always hit. You know that. Right. And the audience knows that as well. Some of them really do. I thought that Bray Wyatt tonight, you know, look pretty damn good. So did Ambrose thought the six man match tonight was really good. I think we started off with a pretty hot start out with a bang. I liked the night show. Now three hours of live wrestling. Three hours of live sports. You gotta help me out here. I run a podcast. It's pretty loose. Right sports entertainment. Three hours live. How tough is that to do every single one? No one does that. And again, we're the longest running weekly episodic television show in history. And you think about how many years we've been doing this. And how many shows and three hours live it, you know, and here in Tulsa. I mean, it's like we're all over the world. And when you come and you're doing you're traveling every week, you know, these structure on the road every week. You know, this set, you know, we do magic with a lot of a lot of help with a lot of people behind the scenes make all of this happen. Performers have to be right. You know, whether or not they hurt or haven't had any sleep or whatever it is. And you know this very well. When you go out and put in that live audience, you got that adrenaline going and you want to perform to your best extent. That's what our guys and guys do every week. Now I got fired up just watching the show. I like being around the environment. I enjoyed my time. You know, my run here is a W. Yes, you did. I did too. When you when I look at the show, I'd like to see more entering wrestling action. Right. Another umbrella of sports entertainment. But you've got to run the three hours show. You've only got so many guys and gals. Am I wrong or in wanting more wrestling? That first segment. Sometimes I think takes a little too long to set the hook. Sometimes it does. I think in order to care about the match, you have to care about the performers and the storyline that goes into it. Therefore, you have to build up to that. It was just two guys out there wrestling. And they're just wrestling for wrestling sake. I don't know their stories. So therefore I don't care about the outcome. So I want to know what the outcome is going to be once you have two individuals that are adversaries out there. I understood. I walk in here to Tosoclo, Homa and there's a different vibe in here. And you know, obviously my heyday was back in the attitude era. But there's just a different feel in the locker room. And you know, there's really no other options. You know, then the WWE out there. Really when you think about it to make 11. Now there's there other. You got TNAs and other guys, but I'm talking about the big leagues this is it. It seems to me guys and gals backstage walking on eggshells. They're trepidaceous. They're a little afraid to really go out on a limb because there is no other option. And if they piss somebody, if they take somebody off here, well then, you know, there goes their career. Well, don't piss anybody off. I pissed a lot of people off. I had no you have that's my challenge in locker room. Well, I got a much go ahead. You have this a different group of guys and gals and millennials. You know, they're not as ambitious quite frankly. And they're not trepidaceous at all. I just don't think they necessarily want to reach for that brass ring. The last person who really reached for that brass ring. And all likelihood was John Cena. Now there are others coming up now who definitely want to reach for it. Ambrose is one of them Seth Rollins is an other one. Roman Reigns is an other one. So I think you've got some people here who are chomping at the bit to make a difference. But when you walk around backstage, you don't hear as much, you know, camaraderie perhaps and laughter is in your era. Shenanigans. But then again, you know, there's some other things that they do. But you just said this locker room wasn't as ambitious as the one I was in. I would suggest that's correct. Why is it? It's a different again. I said it's millennials. It's a different one of you. Well, if you reach for that brass ring and you fall in your butt, no one wants to fail. And there's this feeling that, you know, this insecurity that if you fail, you're, you know, you're exposed. Right. So I, you know, I think that that's largely pretty much what it is because you get everybody the opportunities. You have everyone resources, but you never had. You know, we things that we do now from television production standpoint, social media. Oh my God, social media is huge. You know, it helps talent in so many different ways. It gives them the tools that you didn't have other people like you did not have. It's a relation of those tools that's very important for talent to use. And they do use them, you know, but not in a way you did. I want to sit here right now in front of you in front of the world on the WWE Network and issue a challenge to the WWE superstars. And I talked a lot of the guys, John Cena, some of the guys I've known for years and some of the guys who I just met. And I'm going to issue them a challenge to go out on a limb because I'm sitting there looking you right now. And you're saying, I think you need more superstars. You need more depth on this roster. Agreed. I mean, John Cena and every top guy here wants another dance partner, but you got to get up that letter to be a dance partner. But you've got to go on a limb to get over. Correct? Yes. You got to take a chance. You do indeed. Okay, I get asked all the time on my show. Steve, tell me how you get to the top in pro wrestling. How do I get into how do I get to the top in sports entertainment? Right. How to get to just to get into business in general as a promoter. What are you looking for and a potential WWE superstar? I'm looking for someone who has charisma, someone who has a great deal of heart, strong work ethic and some innate skills and someone who wants to learn as much as they possibly can, which in fact we learn every single day. All of us, you know, you did every day. Everyone does as a promoter you do. So I mean, you want someone with those kind of skills, verbal skills, physical skills, you know, and someone who has the passion, you know, for our business. And once you find that, it's simply giving someone those tools to be able to work with and put them in the right environment against the right opponent, opponent. And from there, you continue to build. First thing, you know, you've got yourself a star. A long time ago, you and I were watching a match. We were watching the matches at Madison Square Garden. The entrance to Madison Square Garden is very short. It's a blue curtain, it's the cheap ass blue curtain covers, you know, the entrance from the backstage area. And you and I were watching the matches and a particular guy went out and he got a pretty damn good pop. Got a better pop than he normally did. And we looked at each other say, "Hey, man, it's a pretty good pop." And you looked at me and you said, "Yeah, I really hope he gets over." And that was a light bulb went off of my head because I was starting to really gain momentum and stone coat. Starting to get hot. And so my point is, you know, as a promoter, that said to me, you don't have a magic wand that you can just make someone be over. Now you can put the jet pack on someone and put the rocket boosters on them and send them with some forward momentum. But they're in lies, what they have to bring. Well, it's the audience, really. And the audience makes your breaks a star. You can put everything you can. All the resources in the world behind someone at the audience doesn't want that person to be a star. They don't believe any. It's not going to happen. Okay, let's talk about a couple of kits. I was just talking to Cesaro backstage. Got a lot of physical skills, strong dude, great entering work. What's the one piece where he's not connecting? He's not connecting yet, and we hope he will. I mean, does it quite have the charisma? Does it have quite the verbal skills as well? It may be because he's Swiss. I don't know in terms of the European style. But those are the big things that he's lacking. The audience needs to care about you. They need to be able to feel your presence. You need to be able to project that in an extraordinary physical talent, extraordinary. Right. But at the moment, and hopefully you'll get it, he lacks it. You know, but organically I started to like the kit when they split him up from swagger and zebcoaster, went off on his own. Kind of, he was doing some impressive things in the ring and started to respect his ability. Then he put him in Paul Heyman, who I love, but as a heal manager. So then I'll be sudden you're saying, hey, now you've got to hate this guy because he's guilt by association with Heyman. Then he goes back by himself. And so he kind of got thrown or lost in the shuffle and lost a little bit of direction. But before he went with Heyman, I just started liking the guy because I started respecting him. And then he kind of lost his momentum. And just from a booking standpoint, what can you do to further his cause? He's certainly. I'd rather be answered everything. Right. I mean, I'm not certain I listen to a lot of people, a lot of people's advice and listen to the audience. I'm not so sure as I have that answer. I'm not giving up. Don't give me wrong. Right. And he's a great talent in ring talent physically. I just, there's something missing and you know, quite frankly, I don't know. I can't put my finger on it exactly to say, okay, now we're going to the dance. Right. I was backstage, got a mill around. I see a lot of guys walking around with piece of paper. You've got a big writing staff here for a live television taping. And back in the day, back in the old days, you used to sit by your swimming pool with Pat Patisserie. No, I would. It was a two-man process. I'd go down in, Jim Ross come by or Bruce Pritchett or whoever. Right. But basically it was a couple of man's show. And so how did it get so complicated? Did the world of sports entertainment get that much harder when I left? Because when I was here, you know, there was a handful of writers, a couple. And you were overseeing them. You kept, you know, those guys in check. They're cranking out some good stuff. How did this process get so complicated? I mean, the company was growing by leaps and bounds. It went public. And it's a different company today. And things have changed. You have to change with the times. So having a, quote, bunch of writers around is crucial because it's not going to come from one man. And when the one man has the answers to all this creative stuff, and quite frankly, it's not a one-man show. It grew into this extraordinary organization. You know, with a lot of people, a lot of talent. It could be the writers or executives and what have you. It's just, it's a huge mammoth organization. I can't do it all. When I set back with Pat Patterson, you know, at the swimming pool, so to speak, which was a blast. And poor Pat, you know, I worked him to the bone. Right. But as I do most everybody, me first. But nonetheless, you know, Pat and I would sit there for hours and, you know, in book and in right television and things about nature to someone, you know, walked along. I wanted to say hello, or came from the office with a message or something like that. And when it happened, we would normally push them into pool. Right. And it happened in the block window. It happened in the dusty roads. And the look, you know, quite frankly, of, and I love pranks as you know, ribs. And the look on someone's face, when you shove them. And they're in the air and they're saying to themselves, "No, this is not happening. I'm not really going into pool. I'm not really going to, and then when they come up, they realize that they're completely totally wet. Watch the whole deal. It is one of the funniest things in the world." Now, one of the funny stories that happened on these illustrious booking sessions was, "Everybody." "You have to have some fun. Our business is about fun. That's what it's about. So you have to have fun making fun. And we still do. I know, which leads me to my story. Okay. This is one of these illustrious booking sessions at your swimming pool. You were the guy walking by the swimming pool. Your son, Shane, pushed you into the pool. And as he tells a story, you were suspended above water for almost five seconds. It seemed hang time. And a lot of four little words, "Boyle out of your mouth." You turned red and then you sank into water. The story goes that the water then started to boil. Exactly. No, that's not really the case. But God had chased him everywhere. He drove away, got away. What happened, Shane? Where is he at? Shane is busy. He's doing a number of things. He's busy working in Japan. And he's got his fingers in a lot of pots. And he's a happy camper. And enjoying his family. Why did he decide to get out of the WWE? It was sort of a mutual feeling. It's a situation whereby he had talent which could take other places. And let's face, family businesses are very, very difficult. Sometimes, my wife was one time, as you know, in the business. And Shane, so we don't all get along all the time. And sometimes, being a son or being a dad, it's difficult in business. And having your wife working with you, that's not a piece of cake either. So, you have to do in the end. You know, I try to, and it's my interpretation, to do what's right for business. Did you want your kids? Shane and Stephanie getting the business because your father did not want you to get the business business. No, he did not. I wanted Shane and Stephanie, and of course Paul's now working with us. And I wanted Shane and Stephanie to do what they wanted to do. And I didn't push them into the business. You know, they both worked, you know, summers during the middle of school and so forth. And Shane worked at a warehouse. And once we used to do the merchandising and everything, which was a riot. Because one, I think it was his second summer he was working at the merchandise warehouse. And he said, "Daddo want a raise." Who are you to ask for a raise? You do any better, you know, go someplace else. Right. And he found a job working as a laborer, you know, for a brick machine. And he probably doubled his wage. I was proud of him because he left. Yep. Now you got into business when your dad has an answer, wanted a raise. Your dad refused a raise and Y'all fixed it going air. We were an answer. We were in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, where we used to do television every three weeks. That in Allentown, back to back. And it was funny because I wasn't always sitting in my dad's meetings. I mean, I loved to be around my dad. I listened to him, I asked a few questions, you know, not too many to irritate him. But I was a good listener. And I wasn't always privy to his conversations, but talent. Normally, I wouldn't be. But on this occasion in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, Ray Morgan was the announcer. And his best friend was the president of the Afro organization, American Federation of Television Radio Artist. I think it still exists. And Ray wanted a raise. And so we're in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. We're about to go on the air. And Ray says to my dad, I'm not going out there unless you give me what I want. And my dad had his quarters used to have a bunch of quarters in his hand. He'd play with the quarters. He looked at Ray, didn't say anything. And finally he said, I'm not going to give you the raise. Ray got up and walked out. And I'm sitting in this cloakroom is where this conversation is happening. I'm sitting in this cloakroom and I'm seeing myself, wow, that was awesome. First of all, I was just proud to be there and listen to all that. And proud of my dad, proud of the fact that he told this guy to take off. And then about two minutes later, silence, about two minutes later, I said, two minutes later, I said, dead. What are you going to do now? I mean, and he said, is that the infamous-- The quarters, he looked at me and he says, you're going to be the announcer. I had no experience whatsoever, not ZIP. And then he said, and you're going to do a good job. But don't worry, I'm going to give you somebody that's going to help you. If you run out of something to say, then you ask this person the question, and they'll answer it and it'll be entertaining. Okay, Pop, what did you say? So now I'm starting and the person you gave me was Arnold Skolen, who was a wonderful, wonderful human being, but I'm in a few words. And I would ask Arnold Kerstins and his anchored would I be yep or nope? That was it. So after several weeks of that, I went back to my dad and said, "Pop, I'm doing the best I can out here, but you really give someone that can out here that's going to help me." You know, Patterson was one of them. There were a number of them that Anthony and O'Rocko was a riot, I had no idea what he was saying, but he did, I think. But it was just humorous and entertaining to listen to him. So there were a number of individuals that sat out there with me, and which I played ribs on and things about nature. I mean, you have to have fun again making fun. I want to ask you, yep, or no question. You want to talk about CM Punk? Only for a standpoint, or first of all, I would like to do this. I would like to apologize. Sometimes in a big corporation, the legal people don't necessarily know what talent relations are doing and conversely. And punk got some severance papers moreover on the day he got married. And that was co-incidence. So I want to personally apologize for that. Although then that, the only thing I want to say about punk is that there have been a number of individuals in the past who have been disgruntled, said a lot of things about the organization. And I'm not going to wash the dirty laundry in public. I don't think there's any reason for that. I think that there are a lot of things that he may say that he may regret one day in terms of looking back at it. But nonetheless, I hope that one day we'll be able to get back together again. You and I got back together again. We had our differences. I'm like, "Hogan, oh my god." We got back together again after the ultimate warrior. There's a list, a long list of them. And assets, what I try to do is to give the audience what they want. I try to give them what's best for business. And I know that's like we use that phrase on television now and so forth, but that's always been my philosophy. I take my ego, which is sizable. Okay? And I'll put it over here and say, "Okay." Now, he goes over here events and yaddy, yaddy, yaddy, yaddy, yaddy, here's the way you really feel is a butt. What is the best thing for business? So I'm hoping that one day we can get back together. So you'll be open to working with Pock in the future? Sure. I mean, again, I think. Did you listen to the interview they did with the band? No, not a wrestling. No, I did. I did. You get to show for any sports entertainment fans out there? No, I did not. You know, I understand that he used a lot of ex-motives and things about nature. And I don't know. I mean, I don't want to speak for Pock, you know what I mean? He speaks for himself. I just. I heard it was a number of things that he said that it's his point of view. Right. You know, and there's always two sides to every story. I mean, back in the day, and I don't want to put myself in Punks shoes because he is in a very unique situation that he is in specifically. But back in the day, I was in a similar position. Not the same circumstances, but I was working my ass off. I was a little bit burned out. I didn't like similar creative, but we were rocking a rolling pretty good. And then I was wrestling Rick Flair in the cage in Columbus, Georgia. And Jim Ross Collins gave me the creative for Monday Night Raw. And that's when I was going to do the favors for Brock Lesnar and a King of the Ring qualifier match. And with no bill of no nothing. I mean, here's a guy, of course, who's as soon as he walked into the WWE, he said, "Hey, man, this guy's a player." He had that look. He had that it. And he's a good friend of mine. And all of a sudden, I get the 4-1-1 that I'm supposed to do the favors that night. And quite frankly, me to you guys like me are pretty hard to find. You know that, right? Sure. So, I mean, I feel-- Pretty hard to build and work with, too. Correct. How hard was that to work with? You? Yeah. Well, sometimes you were so hard to head it. It was not to be believed. Because what you would do is you would say, "I don't like the creative." And I use some expertise in there, and then, you know, and in Trim Bludger, he told the whole story, he goes, "Steve would you say, 'No, I'm not doing that.'" Well, do you have an answer or a substitute proposition? No. So, I was kind of a horse's ass being real quick. No, no, no, no, no. You know. Not that. You weren't a horse's ass. You just didn't have an alternative. So, then I started digging. And more times than not, we'd come up with it. Because you had an idea in your head, you know, it's just that you couldn't explain. But I couldn't figure out. And one of the reasons, you know, I'm not one of the reasons, but while we're talking about, you know, guys are similar situations. The punk, myself, I was a little bit burned out running hard, but I would work my ass off, you know that. So, the punk. What's that? So, the punk. But I got that piece of book, and I was like, "Hey, man, tell Vince if that's going to be creative, I ain't going to be there." And so, he calls you, and he says, "Hey, man, whatever you do, when you get through working flare-in, that cage call Vince." So, I called you about 2 o'clock in the morning. You broke down the store line for me. You didn't fall in 24/7. I know. You did. These days, when I call you, you won't answer. Back in. First grade, Vince on a lie. Hey, so anyway, I saw it in show up. I know, showed it. And it was the worst decision I've ever made in my life, and I've been, professional decision I've ever made in my life, and I've owned up to that. And I tell you what, when I was watching, I watched last night, our old DVD, Austin Versus Man, if nobody's ever seen it, you can check it out on the WWE Network, it's badass, it's well put together. And it made me remember a lot of things that I don't remember. What night the grade is the athlete and the grade is the performer you ever worked with? Oh, man, you're athleticism off the charts. But when I look back, I was gone from a company for about eight months. When I walked off, you called me three times, left three boys messages on my phone. But as hard hit as I am, and I got this from my mother, once you pissed me off, I mean, I'm bad. And so I never turned your phone calls. And finally, I get a card in the mail from Jim Ross. And he says, "Hey, man, if you ever want to talk, just give me a call, I'm here." And I said, "Man, it's just a little paper card." And it meant so much to me. I called his ass on the phone and talked him for two or three hours. And finally, he said to me, "Hey, if I put you in the vents in the same room together, you think you guys can get back on track." And I said, "Yeah, man, I'd love to do that." And so anyway, you and I met in a high-rise hotel. It was Houston, Texas. And man, it was about the 30th floor, and I was the first one in the room. And while I walked in, I was thinking, "Man, this is a hit." So something's going down. Because I was the first one in the room, right? I was the only guy in the room, dude. And I said, "Wait, here you come." And it was very uncomfortable and it was very awkward. And we got everything settled, and I came back to work. And I credit that to Jim Ross. Jim Ross was an important part of my career. He has been for the entire WWE. Is there a guy like Jim that can bridge the gap between UNC and Punk? Well, unfortunately, there was. And that's really, I think, moreover the problem is a lack of communication. And I think I could legitimately say that, you know, Punk has some degree of lack of communication skills. He's pretty much a full-owner. Me too. I know. And had there been a JR or someone like that to get us together, I think we could have worked things out. Right. But it didn't happen that way. And anytime you get attorneys involved in something, it's like it's going to hell in the hand basket. You know? And I'm not so sure that's not what happened here. It's a lack of communication. When I left the company, I was gone for eight months. Didn't get a paycheck for eight months. That hurt, but that was my mistake. On top of that, after you and I had our come to Jesus meeting, then we're cool. We'll get back in business together. You said, "Well, Steve, I think it's only right I should find you." And I said, "Well, how much you going to find me?" And you said, "You remember this?" You said, "$650,000." And I said, "Huh, dang!" I said, "$650,000, a little bit of a lot of money, right?" And you said, "Steve, I feel like I've got to slap your wrist." I said, "Slap my wrist, you chopper my damn hand off." And you said, "Well, what do you think it should be then?" "Well, this is my job skills as a negotiator." I said, "How about 250?" You thought about it for a second? Well, okay, then, Steve, 250 grand. So you find me 250 grand. No one's ever, I never tell that story out in public, but you find me 250, Jesus. You want to find me 650. Had I said a buck 25, would you have said, "Hey, Steve, that's cool." I can't tell you now. I'm just kidding. I think that when you walk out, no matter what the reason, then you're walking out on not just the company, you're walking out on the audience as well. And you have to do something, you have to try to do something to make sure that that didn't happen again because otherwise someone doesn't like a creative or whatever it is, and they don't like their spot with a dross or mania or any other situation. And you have problems. So I mean, you try and do something to otherwise you didn't make to be running the asylum so it's a bit. It's a penalty. It's a penalty. Yeah, I wanted to share that just because all the guys, I talked to when I came back. I was going for a long time. And I talked a lot of the type of guys and saying, "Man, I was wound up bad decision and I was running pretty hard, pretty fast back in the day." And I let the guys down. And a lot of guys, you have to put yourself in the shoes and someone to appreciate a situation sometime. So that's where I was at. But I want to make sure the boys knew that I did actually pay a price other than taking eight month pay, case and zero pay, and we're making pretty good money back in the day. But you find my ass too. Yeah. You deserve it. I did. No. I think also one of the things though that you, I think one of the things Steve you did was have communication skills certainly not so much with me all the time. But with the rest of the talent, he owned up to who you were. You got along with everybody, most everybody. And because just from a business standpoint, you have to have someone to work with. It's dancing. You have two people to dance. So I think that you're a little bit different that way than punk. Because again, I think he's a loner and that's fine so are you. Sometimes I am as well. Sometimes actually I'm very introverted and shy. Wonderful human being. Well, if I could say the word that goes to BS, I would. I know you were you introverted in shot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When? I see you. No, no, no, you're not going to see it here. You're not going to see it in front of 10,000 people. That's easy to do. Right. But me to room of six or seven people or like a quote party of some kind and I, you know, I'm very very uncomfortable. You know, my wife was running for office and as a senator, potentially, and and Connecticut. And I went to a couple of those things and they're like, oh man, you'd find me over, you know, you know, you know, convincing with the bartender. Right. Those are my people. Right. You know, and not the political hoi peloi kind of stuff. So I don't, you know, I don't have a lot in common with, you know, with those kind of people really. And I am shy. I, you know, you know, you're, you're sad yourself. This is complete. But you know, when we're around a small group of people, I don't, I don't really want to be there. You know, right. So I'd rather be invisible. Right. That's not going to happen. But yeah, you know, I mean, call it whatever you will. I call it shy or whatever. But it's maybe there's no other words for this is the Steve Austin show. The Steve Austin show Steve Austin show. All right. We're going to get back to my interview with WWE's Vince McMahon right now. One of the guys that I was making my rounds when I came back and apologized to was the undertaker around a long time. He was a guy, stand up guy, lead at the locker room and had a hell of a sheer surround. And I remember being, I remember being down in New Orleans there at number 30. And I was watching the match in the truck with Kevin Dunn and beer in each hand. And this was the match that I had to watch. I got to a bad ass competitors in the ring and Brock Lesnar and undertaker and I had to see the finish. All of a sudden, man, I'm watching that referee. It's a three count after that third F five, whatever it's called. And I couldn't believe my eyes. I was like a guy in a front row. His eyes got this big. I was like guy in a truck. I said, Holy smokes, what just happened? Right. How when and why was the decision made to end the streak? Well, no one wants to give back to the business more than the undertaker, more than Mark Callaway. And he knew it's important to give back to the business. There come to time in which it's time to do that. So why not then when you consider who else was looking down the line when you look at talent roster, who else possibly could undertake a work with. And at that time, give back and the biggest possible way he could to help someone be a star when you're not talent roster, you know, who was going to be there was no one on the roster, potentially, you know, in the following year, year after that, it was timing. And the one person whose time was there at that moment who Mark thought, OK, this is it. How do we block? Come on, dude. You can't tell me the undertaker made that decision. I made that decision. OK, you made the decision. OK, I thought you said he was serving himself up. No, no, no, you're you're you're giving the story about, OK, you guys been around a long time. And no one wants to give back more than the undertaker, right? No, no, no, no, yeah, yeah. I think you agree with that. He's the most one and most unselfish people in the ring. Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, OK. But that had to come to a shocker as hell. I think it did, you know, I think there's no question it was a shock to everybody. That's on me. You know, those are decisions. Those decisions, you know, are, you know, aren't easy to make, you know, and but there's that you have to make difficult decisions sometimes. You know, that's my job to do that. And I think I made the right call at the right time. Come in to this year's Rossomania. I don't think Brock Lesnar could be any hotter than he will be reminding everyone of what happened of Brock Lesnar breaking the undefeater street under Undertaker streaks. So to me, it was the right call. OK, you've got Brock Lesnar, bad ass dude, big cat, very physical. Great success here. Tries to play a little pro football goes to USC has success. Here comes back to WWE success is a world champ. He's not around. Right. Where is he? Can we not have him on television more than we have him on? I don't think you want anyone on television. Why not more than they have him on because he's a special attraction. Yes, you know, when you see Brock Lesnar, you know, it's almost like when if you recall Jake to snake Roberts when he first came into the ring and he brought this big python. Oh my God. That was like give you the will. He's just watching on television. But he did it week after week. No father Jakes goes to his book on television. After while it's like Jake wasn't special anymore because he bring out the snake and you, you know, become jaded as human beings and what have you. So Brock, the contract we made with him, you know, only allows us X number of dates. So to me, it's not about the title. It's not about the title that draws people into the arena. It's about the performer and about, you know, his opponent about the story, you know, and how they're going to resolve that story. So it's not really about the title. And only, you know, that's, you know, I mean, does it help sometimes? Sure it does, but it's not just about the title. And if you see a lot of Brock, you're going to see a lot of the same thing. How many people can you beat up? If he beats up half of the, you know, baby face roster, who's left? Right. You know, and it can't be just one match, you know, at WrestleMania. It's got to be a whole bunch of matches. Sometimes you can rock things about nature that was the main event of WrestleMania more often than not. There's more than one. So, you know, you can't just rely on one match these days, you know, the business has changed. And you have to appeal to different segments of the audience as to what draws. Right. Are we ever going to see much of an Randy Savage in all of them? Oh, absolutely. Definitely. And in the near future, 10 years from now. Time line on this. No, I'd say, I'd say so. I'm not so sure if it's this year. I'll be able to be so. So that's a yes. That's a yes. Well, you think I'm not your corsets, yes. Why do you look at me that way? Because I'm just he's going in, right? Yes, he's going in. All right. Staying, talk about staying for a while. He spent so long down there in WCW. And we were at battle with those guys back in the money and that war which I want to get to his role here in WWE. What's it going to be? I think that well, you made a hell of an impression. When we do his first time in great piece of business, I'm in triple H. Love it. I think it was. I don't I again, his character is one in which you don't need to see a lot of. Because you know, you become accustomed to it again. I think it was see some off, you know, staying and I wouldn't be surprised if you don't show up at WrestleMania. Got you. You know, you keep saying these guys. You can't see them too much. Man, I was out there for ever. I know you were right. So is it because of contracts or is it because it's both because of contracts and it's also look, we did everything imaginable with you. You know, it's like, you know, every week it was something else. Oh, don't get wrong. But I know it was my therapy. I loved it. And I was involved at the privilege of being involved a lot of that. You know, but it's different time now. You know, and again, it's you have to roll with the punches and you have to change with the times. You know, and we're doing that. Talk about the Monday Night Wars for a while, man. There's a lot of my career that I forgot. In the head of Steelchairs and Drinking Whiskey beer, right down the road, taking flat back bumps. I had the best time in the world. But when we got the Monday Night Wars, man, I mean, it was, it was everything with the kitchen sink. It was hardcore competition. Right. You always tell me the story. You tell the story on occasion of that one time when you get the phone call from Ted Turner. Vince, I'm in the wrestling business. And your answer was Ted. We're not in the same business because I'm in a sports entertainment business. So anyway, we go to battle. I'm just gonna start running that show over there. And we're going to head to head and it's hot and heavy. Finally, after about two years, we win. But ultimately you put Ted Turner out of business. Was it our mission to put them guys out at business or just win the Monday Night Wars? Ted and I have a different business philosophy. Ted Turner's business philosophy and moreover was let's go hurt my competition. My business philosophy is much different than that. My business philosophy is let's help us. So let's help us have that's the way we're going to compete. We're going to have a much better product. I thought we had a much better product. Anyhow, despite all those guys going down there, I thought we had a much better product. It was something new with Hogan and Scott Hall. Those guys going down there. And you know, it was, it was new. It was, and I got it. W.O. and things about nature. To me, it was just a matter of time. If we could stay with them, you know, before we beat them, because we had a better product. We had more passion. They did. You know, anytime you have talent involved in from the standpoint of controlling their own creative, man, you need someone to be able to sit back and help that talent develop, you know, and be able to say, yes, no, it can't be a talent saying, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. You have anarchy then. It's no different than running any kind of business. It's an executive. You all have to tour the line because any other executive says, well, I'm not going to do that. You're what? He'll show it. It's things like that. And you know what I mean? Again, and I still to this day, it's like I wanna make the best product repossibly camp. Sometimes we hit, sometimes we miss. - But at the end of the day, we weren't trying to put them out of business. - No, we weren't trying to. - But then we did, and then you bought the company for whatever was on the dollar. - Right. - Now, did you shoot yourself in a foot by doing that? Because now, you don't have anybody to compete against. - No. - And I'll do respect to TNA. - Yeah. - We're talking about real deal straight up. - I get that. But see, we compete with everything on television. Think about that. You know, we're holding our own, you know, with Monday night, wrong, with Smackdown. - But with, with, with then specifically sports entertainment, squared circle, wrestling. - Okay, from a sports entertainment standpoint, Steve, here's a situation. We were going so hot and so heavy, and they were too, who was going to burn out the quickest? - Right. - Always kept something in the back pocket. Always. You know, you can't just let, "Here, here it is." And that's what they did. Here it is. They were not have ideas. They ran out of the creative elements. You know, you had the inmates running your asylum. It was chaos. They didn't have the dedication. They want to make that trip every Monday or Tuesday. - Mm-hmm. - They didn't want to do that. It warmed down. I give up. - That's what happened. - When you bought the, when you bought the business from your father. - Right. - You had a global vision of domination. - Not domination. Out of global vision. - Global vision. - Right. - Domination. - I'm a dumbass. Anyway, you went out to have buttons, territories. Which was something no one did back in. I mean, every now and then, but, you know, someone used to put a firm foot down and stop that. You were able to do that. You put every day I'm territory out of business. - I ain't on the second. It's almost like bread screwed bread. I didn't put them out of business. They put themselves out of business. - How did they put themselves out of business? - They just played in this, okay. So I went to Vern Gagne, you know, and wanted to talk to Vern about buying him out. Well, Vern thought, I couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it. I laughed at me. I'll dare this kid at the time. Although I would change it all, I'm sure. But nonetheless, how would could this kid at one time buy me out? It's an insult. But yet, he listened to me. - Right. - You know, didn't go anywhere. I was building a right to check if I could, you know, and it would have to be like I bought my dad's business. It doesn't have to be a dollar down and that sort of stuff, you know, all the way through it, what they call the balloon payment at the end. - Right. - Because I didn't have the money. That was the thing about it. It was like, all I had, you know, was creative skills. A really strong work ethic, a lot of luck, and a set of grape fruits. - Right. - Because when you go up against Vern Gondia, you know, Vern Gondia was a multi-millionaire. I had nothing at the time, except just that. And a lot of these other guys, the guys in Kansas City, you know, I mean, they all had money stashed away, but they didn't put it in the business. You know, I think Harley would say that, you know, having a bit of a Kansas City is like, "Oh, come on, their television show was a ring to probably "I hadn't been swept out and, you know, "and God knows how long, you know, in a small little area "in a studio, whatever, and that was their product." Well, what we did, what I did, was I kept reinvesting in the product, reinvesting in greater production, you know, Saturday nights main event on NBC. Things about nature, would Dick Ever saw helping me. Later on, Bonnie Hammer, you know, helped me as well. It from, you see you, a USA standpointer. Many from the outside, you guys look from the outside, bring them in, you know, and try and help you grow to this day we're constantly investing, you know, in our business, and you have to invest in your business. Otherwise, it won't grow. - But without any competition, I mean, how do you compete with yourself just to make the in-ring product better? Can you build all these stars down in Florida, at FCW? - Oh my God, I think we definitely are. You know, and again, when you look at it, as much before you got brave, you know? - You've got XT. - XT, I'm sorry, I would get it. Okay, okay, but when I wanna look at that, - That's the only source we have, by the way. You got all, you know, used to have the territorial system, which, you know, okay, you're saying I put them all out of business. You know, they put themselves out of business, generally speaking, because they all have vast resources, far greater than mine. They just went like, "Oh, I've got my money. "I'm not gonna compete." Except one guy, Bill Watts. Bill Watts and Oklahoma and all that kind of stuff where we are today, it's like, the first time we ran against Bill Watts, you know, loaded up the show so forth, and Bill is infinite wisdom, 'cause Bill was a street smart guy. - Right. - You know, much like myself, but he's real street smart. So we had a first-live event. When we did, Bill, in the parking lot, I think it was, next door, had this huge, free, you know, come see the boys work, come sign autographs, and you know, all that kind of stuff. And it was like, "Mmm." You know? So I don't wanna compete with Bill, that's the only time we did. You know, Bill subsequently sold out the Jim Kroc, I was like, "Ah-ha, I know where I'm going now." Cracket went in the brightest branch in the tree, you know? So, and I didn't think, really understood the business. So, nonetheless, that then was okay. But, competing with Bill Watts, and, you know, and all those other guys could have competed that way, but they didn't. They just gave up the ship. So you can, say, "I've put him out of business "or whatever it is," and I don't, it's final made if you have that point of view. I really don't care, as you know. Nonetheless, it is what it is. But, as you're a question, going back to it, it's like, "Oh, wait, there's no out there "in sports in your town, you're gonna compete with, "and therefore, eventually, you're laying on your lazy ass." No, that's not the case, because everything we do on television, when you think about a number of channels now, and social media and things about nature, last year, cable was down 10% across the board. Right. In terms of viewership, why? It's not because people spend less time in front of the television set, you know? Because that's not the case, it's up right now. It's just that there's subscription television, there's all kinds of things, you just hook up to the internet. My God, you got any number of things. So, at the same time, we're holding our own. Our competition is anything on television. Our competition is anything in a live event, whether it's Disney or a concert or whatever it is. That is tough competition. When you're talking about Bill Watts, you've referred to him being pretty case you got. One of the greatest minds in the business, in my opinion, is Jim Ross, who came from the Bill Watts tree, and spent his whole life in the business, and is no longer with WWE. Is there a heat between you and guests? There's no heat from my standpoint. You know, I think that, you know, there was an incident in Los Angeles, which you were a part of, and you, as a matter of fact, stated your opinion as part of that situation. And, you know, I'd rather not go into it. Yeah, okay. But nonetheless, I think that, you know, it was like, "Oh, man, you just don't do that." It was very unprofessional and very unliked, Jim. Jim and I worked very well together. You know, I like Jim as a human being. He has a lot of institutional knowledge, and I'm not so sure we won't get back together, too. We talk on the phone all the time, and we break down the product and the ring, and what you guys are doing. And we booked the territory. Good, Jim is one of my dears. Well, I know that's my point. Jim's one of the broadest guys I've ever heard, whether it's a guy who's gonna be a devil's advocate, bounce something off, just basic logic. Common sense when it comes to the business of sports entertainment. You know, there's been great finish guys, you know, any ground down there for Pat Patterson, his phenomenal. Just all-round knowledge of the business, you really can't get anyone with more depth of knowledge than yourself or Jim Ross. I don't know that that human being is walking to planet. I don't know either. I think I know it's all about growth as well. And what Jim wanted to do, and I helped him get there. His desire was to leave Connecticut, expert of Connecticut, and go back to Oklahoma. And that's what Jim wanted to do. Well, Jim really paid his dues with me. And as you know, anyone who works with me, I never ask anyone to do anything in the ring I wouldn't do, or anything, you know, in the office I wouldn't do. And you know that is a fact. Right. So JR really, really worked hard. And as everyone does and contributed greatly, JR decided his own volition. Not me, I want to go back to Oklahoma events. You know, I want to take it easy. You know, I want to help some, you know. But that's what I want to do. I don't want to do what I'm doing now. And it takes 24 or 7, 7 days a week to be able to put this product together. You can't do it on a half-ass kind of way. You can't do that. You've got to be all in on this. And when Stone Cold calls at 2 o'clock in the morning, you got to answer the phone. Right. So, you know, in addition to all of that, and you consider all the vast aspects of our company now as a public company, and so many places, so many different businesses that were in and what have you. It's a big magella. You know, and JR contributed greatly as did you, as did so many other performers, you know, before all of you guys. And so many other executives before JR. But when someone says, burn me out, Vince, you know, I want to go over here. The Steve Austin Show, the Steve Austin Show. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let's get back to my sit down with Vince McMahon. I want to talk about you and me and the ring together. We were magic. We were made for each other. You said basically that Stone Cold character was the Vince McMahon character. Right. There-- and I've said this before, as much as I love working with the rock, Brad Hart, the Undertaker, the best guys in the business, no one has ever reflected back at me what you did as an opponent. You know, he'll babyface whatever I was. I got no one greater than you that did that. What in the hell was it? In your opinion, why are chemistry was what it was? Because it was-- people would say, oh, yeah, you got to kick the hell out of his boss. Somebody wants to beat up your boss. There's a little bit more than that. You can put anybody in my shoes to do the things that I did. No, that's not true. Anybody in your shoes, but they wouldn't had that same magic. Why were we so similar? Or why did we work so well together? Because you've had great fuses with everybody else too. But you and me is a whole different story. Well, I understood. I mean, you're sort of a self-professed redneck to a certain extent. And no one thinks of me that way. And I don't look at it necessarily as a regulatory term. But my background is one that's different than the way I look, you know, manicure, you know, all that sort of stuff. You know, I grew up in eight-foot wide trailer park, you know, a trailer in a trailer park. And things were, you know, different, you know. But I understand the common man. Because that's really who I am. He's like, oh my god, put on the bulls**t. That's, you know, but that's-- you never change who you really are. You would just do it on an all the kind of stuff and have some money in the bank and whatever. You know, well, I guess some people do change with the money in the bank. But I'm still the same guy. And that's the way I think. And I think that's an advantage in our company because our audience is Americana. Our audience is the common man. I don't mean that in a regulatory way at all. You know, we have as many white collar people watching us as there are percentages in the United States. We have as number of blue collar, as number of minorities. You know, so we have a vast audience. We think about our audience. You know, it's like in quadrants. You start out with kids, two to 11. And you go all the way to-- you're not even people my age-- who watch our products-- it's a huge, vast audience. And it's not one size fits all. You've got to have a little bit of this for that person, a little bit of this for that demographic. Certainly, I would hope that tonight, yes, I'm getting back there with you and me. I'm going back. So you have to have something there. But you have to have a degree of common sense and understand the way psychologically people think. And when someone would, as a kid, even growing up, pretend that they were better than me. Oh, my God. Wow, that made me angry. And the old thing of like, they've got, quote, money. Or someone says, got money. Man. Because I knew who I was. And to this day, no better than anyone else in the world. But no one's better than me. And that was my philosophy. So I understood the psychology of all of this. And I'm, you know, Stone Cold Steve Austin's character. That's really who I am on the inside. Right. Understanding a psychology so is pretty easy for me, to do the reversal. OK, then I'm going to be the guy that I despised when I was growing up. That's who I'm going to be. And I'll know how to throw things around. I'll know how to try to keep people down. I've got more money than you. I've got more influence than you. You're a piece of crap, you know? I mean, things like that. So a lot of that, I understood, understood, because of my childhood as well. It's just really, really screwed up. But I learned from it. And it's what it was. And that's part of who I am today. So it's not just a guy in a suit, and a nice plane, and not sort of stuff, and that play, by the way, we do a lot of work. You've got one minute. I've got one minute. Yep. We just getting started. We're just getting started. We've got one more minute on the WWE Network. OK, I've enjoyed it as I have always enjoyed working with you. And I look forward to the next time. I was at-- Well, I want to stay a little bit longer if we go out there, because I want this hands from a podcast, because you and me were mung together. And it was about love and hate. And it's one thing to just go out and do something. It's like someone playing a song. You can hear that song. But if you hear the song, it's one thing. But if you feel that song, it's a whole different ball game. They're wrapping me up a 20 seconds. No, well, OK, since I happened to own the network, let's do it. OK, we're going to go on for another 15 minutes, whoever's got that. OK, so-- 15, go. So-- Yeah, I know there was an incredible amount of magic. And you're working punches brutal. And-- You were the most uncoordinated bastard I ever threw in the damn ropes. And when you threw me into that cage at the same Valentine's Day massacre, I mean, it was brutal because you're supposed to kind of let a guy get a heads up and nowhere is going. And you just slung me into the ring with full force. This combination, uncoordination, you personify. I'm the first time I rang you ass up with the stun. It wasn't a garden. Oh, my god. And I almost lost you, but I recouped. And then I went ahead and dropped you a ring up, and then we resolved to the money in the races. But-- I took the worst stunner of anyone and never took it the same way twice. I know. And the thing about it was, with your uncoordination, when the fact that anyone-- No, no, listen, one good, man. I'm fixing up, put you back over with your uncoordination. And I was wearing those damn jeans that were too damn tight. Sometimes I couldn't pick my leg up high enough. So I kicked you in the ball. I was out on a damn here every single time I gave it a stunner. It was like it always going ribbed. But I mean, I wasn't shooting for you. Yeah, I was trying to kick it in the gut. I couldn't pick my leg up high enough. Man, you got me in a shins one time. You got me in the coliones. You know, it was everywhere, but that's OK. I didn't care. Because that was magic. Because we were entertaining the audience. At that time, I felt better or just as good as anyone had ever entertained the audience. When I-- to go out there and to feel that kind of magic is there's no way that I'm eloquent enough to describe what that feeling is. And there's no feeling like that. Yeah, I mean, I tell people at all times. And once you get in that ring, whether it's a crowd of 50 or 60, 80,000 like a WrestleMania, once you rock at house and you get that feeling in your blood, I mean, it's damn like something that you shoot in your veins. It was that addictive. And that's what it was when you and I stepped into the ring. And it was from jump street from the start to the finish. Now, you always wanted to be a pro wrestler. You always wanted to be in a sports entertainer, correct? And it's going back 60 years before that term was invented. 60 years. Actually, the title I won't want to be a pro wrestler, yes. You always wanted to be a WWE superstar. How about that? I'll correct myself. But your father wouldn't let you do business. No. OK. And then you got the announced job, which I love your now. Sometimes you was over the top. You always knew where you're going because you own the company, on the down low. You kept that in the reps. I eventually did. Right. But you always knew, I love your announcement. And sometimes you could go off the rails with a little bit of hooking us. With all due respect. Got dang, I love you. But we're sitting there talking to each other. But when you finally got to get in the ring with me, Stone Cold Steve Austin, was that when-- I mean, because you're in front of crowd, you always want to be a superstar. Yep. Now you are. How was it? I mean, let me talk about your mindset once you got into the ring. Because all the years you spent in the business, seeing the best ever, and working with your dad, a great promoter, guy you looked up to. And you came to know him later on in your life. Right. I came later on because my dad said, look, I never want you to be a rustler. Because you can't do both. You can't be a businessman. And also be a rustler. So I want you to be a businessman. Right. And if that were real reason, I don't know. But that's what he said. And make some sense later on, I was the businessman, not to that. Not that I had accomplished all of that. And then didn't have to continue to be that. If yesterday was an opportunity there. And it was like, man, it's always been my dream to be in the ring as a performer. And I had that opportunity. And I'm so happy that I took it because it was the greatest thrill of my life. And I walked down the ring, you know, finally when you guys started getting me over stone cold. And I came in as a ring master. And I'd talk to you. I went to your house twice to meet with you. And I knew in your head, you didn't know what the hell to do with me. I could be a mechanic for you. And that was it. I was a mechanic. And then you came up and you, one time you called me and pitched me the ring master, I just sounded like a man, bucks. And because I was, you know, working one night a week and filling with Paul Lee. And, you know, he really helped me out. Thank you Paul. But anyway, so I know I never had any, you know. You didn't see a superstar in me. And going back to the locker room and challenging this damn locker room to step up, go out on the limb and be creative and push envelope. Because you need superstars. You need guys that over. But back to you and me. And finally, you know, a couple of stone cold things. And I started, you know, really ramp it up and really getting over and getting the response that I was getting. Man, I always loved to work heal. You know, but I had massive success as a baby. And you know, we did the double turn. It was so many of 13. Right. I feel like for you finally because you had tremendous heat. And when you get the kind of response that you generate from that crowd, what was that like for you? I mean, because it was almost out of, it's at the real list. But let's put it that way. I know we got a PG audience right now, but I mean, it's at the real. You know, it really is. And again, it's understanding psychology. Right. Understanding what to say, when to say it because especially using the truth. People don't like it when you use the truth and use it against them. And having that degree of psychology and what have you. And the ability to portray this character because understanding who I never wanted to be, it was to be in the ring, but it was just beyond a thrill. It was like everything to that, from Hogan and all those stars preceded Bruno, all those guys was like, man, I really want to be in there so badly. So when I have the opportunity, it was, you know, and you use the tried expression. - It's like a deal. I mean, you always get a kick out of your response, your pop. You know what? - You're working a hillababy. - Right. - Then also you live in, you know, vicariously to that other guy you're working against. - There are pop. And you're gauging it and you're like, okay, men wouldn't as good as on either part. Oh, wouldn't what I wanted to be. Wouldn't what I envisioned. But when you both get that double monster pop, it's like, hey, man, we're off to the races. You and me were in Memphis, Tennessee at the pyramid. It was a good thing. - Yeah. - I was in the middle of the city. It was a god dang, what was the name of that paper view? You took the bump off the cage. St. Valentine's Day Massacre. - What was it, Massacre? - And you know, you got the big idea. You want to take this bump off that cage and land on that damn table. And you hit and you head whip down and you hit that damn desk. And did you hurt your neck? Did you get knocked out? Where were you? - I'm on a shoot. - The table didn't go down the way. If you look at it slow motion, I came down and hit the edge of the table. And then came back up. - The worst place to hit it. - Yeah. - Didn't hit the sweet spot. - Right. It hit the sweet spot. It was moreover, I had which, you know, you can laugh at it now. You know, but I could have bled out internally. But I had, when you, it would come down from the small of my back, I had the biggest bruise you've ever seen over both cheeks and it would come underneath all the way to the back of my knee. It was like, when you look at it now, it was like, oh my god, they might have blood that went into that. - Right. - You know, but at the same time, you know, I wouldn't trade that either. - Was the bump, well, you know what I mean, you wanted to get the crowd everything you could. - Right. - And basically, it was a guy who could work, Russell, and I kind of changed him a little bit to a brawl at that point. And we told the story that needed to be told without doing, you know, a whole lot of wrestling inside the ring. - Right. - Speaking about bleeding, I busted open, Russ many of 13. Brett the Hitman Heart, quick story. We walked into your office, and you know, that night, you know, because of what the crowd was doing. Stone Cold was getting a better pop than a lot of baby face he was working with. Brian Pilman, you said, "God, I'm a rest of soul. You should tell me all the time." He goes, "God dang it kid, you're a baby face." And I would say, "If you, I'm a heel," because I took, you know, being heel very seriously. And, you know, so the pops were building. You saw the riding on the wall. Brett had been around for a long time. He's one of my favorites of all time. And, you know, he was starting to get a little long-winded and pissy-money. And so you saw the double turn there, so we went to execute. And 13, we went to your office, and you say, "Hey man, here's us. We're gonna go down." There was only three men in the room. Steve, you guys may have a hell of a match. At the end of the day, at the end of the match, we're gonna pass out and sharpshoot her. End of story. I said, "Well, I don't really been in a company. I don't know, give or take a year or a year or so. I didn't have a whole lot of stroke." You know, just come out and be in a ring match, and just sing. And so I said, "All right, man, that's cool." Brett was cool with it because he's going over. And so we walked out and we're gonna send my main, undertaker and sitter in the main. And, you know, I found out about the match sitting on my house, and in my house in San Antonio, I had a submission match. Stone Cold Steve Olsen versus Brett the Hitman Heart. I thought we were gonna stink the joint out, because I'm not a submission wrestler. We walked in the ring and Brett says to me, "Hey Steve." And he was looking out for me. If you're gonna do the finish like this, you know, I think you need to be bleeding. And I said, "All right, man." And I said, "I don't know about that." And he wrote about this in his book. And he goes, "You know, I didn't have the stroke." And he said, "If you want me to get it for you, I will." And I said, "All right, man." I walked back into your office, and I double checked with you. I was cool with going out like that. But I said, "Vence, are you sure this is the right way to go about this match?" And he said, "Oh God, thanks Steve. I'm telling you to work." And Chicago was my town. And they really took into the stone cold thing. To this day, Chicago was a strong town for me. Rosemount horizon, that building, that, the way that thing, the acoustics, it was just conducive to having a great match. And so all of a sudden, out the ring we go, and we had that crowd hookline and sinker, and all of a sudden, stone cold bangs is head on the guardrail. I come up bleeding like a stuck pig, working through the rest of that match. You Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are calling that action. Brett delivers a punch to me, and I throw my head over here. And I spray blood all over Lawler's paperwork. You still got the paperwork for this day from that match. What were you thinking with a no-color policy? And all of a sudden, you got two guys out there, and stone cold is bleeding as ass out of her. You matter than a hornet, because, well, what were you? Because in your commentary, you say, "Oh, it's unfortunate. Things like this don't happen very often." I guess, baby, you know, looking back on it, we all have the tendency to rewrite history. But I'm sure I was a little pissed off. And at the same time, it's not about what I want ever. It's about what the audience wants. So I'm pretty good listener, as I said before, and when you're listening to the audience, and you're going crazy, you know, because of this finish and because of what's happening now, and you've got color and so forth, it's like, "Hmm, man." You know, well, it's like, "Okay, it's against policy." But listen to the audience. Look what's going on here. You know, so I'm a pretty good listener. So I think that, you know, from a personal standpoint, you know, a company standpoint, I was a bit pissed off because you break the rules. On the other hand, it's about the audience wanted. He gave them what they wanted. No, I got four minutes to rep. I appreciate you giving me a little extra time. I want to go back to the WWE Superstars. I want to go back to the WWE Universe. Are you listening? Are you tuned in? Are you really giving them what they want? How can they let you know? I mean, there's no competition. We're not throwing everything, but the kitchen sink. Adam, every single Monday night, like we were back in the day. No. God dang, and the people who won were the people at home every Monday night because they're getting some badass stuff. Right. So. We have control of our own destiny. Right. So what's the future for WWE? I think the future's good. You know, I think when, again, when you look at television ratings, you know, they're not what they were when we were competing with WCW. But we're more than holding our own. You know, we're holding up strong for television ratings. So, you know, can it get better? I think it can get better. Has the action transition more to, you know, back and forth rather than a straight-up formula, kind of like a baby face shine, healed heat. A couple of hope spots come back and then to finish. Right. And now it's more segmented. Is that because, you know, the world has turned into short-tension span theater? Because that's what it seems to me when I watch. I think there's no question about that. You know, again, it's like from, you know, we don't have conversations anymore. We text, you know, or tweet or whatever the case may be. You know, so it is that. You know, it's a lot of other factors that go into it. But at the same time, I think that, you know, you have a short-tension span. Nonetheless, you've got to reach the audience. And when you're out there for three hours, you know, you can't reach them all the time. People tune in. They tune out, no matter what it is. We're going back to football, going back to where it may be. You know, but nonetheless, they're enjoying the product. Can't it get better? That's what I always want to do. Make it, you know, make it better. Am I out of touch? No. Am I 69 years old? Yes. Can I take you to the gym and kick your butt? Probably. I want to ask you one final question. But people, people can send me feedback by sending me stuff to questions at SteveAusterShow.com. How can they voice what they want to see as far as WWE programming to WWE? Do you remember the audience? Man, listen to the audience. Do what? I don't know. I should listen to critics. No, no, no. It's about a critic, but just people that can send in their voice to the WWE Universe. Is there email? I mean, it's on social media. Okay. At WWE on Twitter, send in your feedback on what you want to see. So, and at Vencewick Man on Twitter. And so, you think it's sending you the feedback and you can get what the people want. Now, last question. When are you going to ride off into the sunset? I got about what? I got 60 seconds. I got 60 seconds. I always ask you every time I see you when you don't give this thing up. Right. I work as many hours now as I always have. I'm enjoying the business now more than I've always had and I've always enjoyed it. I'm healthy, not going whatever. And I think I have it lost a step. Physically, I have it. Mentally, I don't think I have. Some people think I'm out of touch. But most people who say that are critics and things about nature. And again, I listen to the audience and it's important to listen to the audience. It's important to give them what they want, but how do you know what they want? You've got to try a number of things. I think, within XT, some of the guys who come up from there, they're getting great reactions. It's going to take them a while. And maybe, so we're down the line, maybe another stone cold. And if there is, we're good to go. You can catch money at the bank. That's it. Hey, man. That's going to wrap up our conversation. I could do this with you any day of the week and this was kind of a little note written down here. But man, there's so many things that you can, you know, there's so many things that you and I can talk about. It's just unbelievable. But this was a start. Hopefully we'll get a chance to do this. This is my most curious, not a kind of injury, having your show done. And yeah, and a good looking dude on top of that. There you go. I'm Steve Austin. This is Vincent Mann. I'm Vincent Mann. The chairman of the CEO of WWE and it's been a blast talking to him on the WWE Network and the Steve Austin Show podcast. Vince. Thank you, Steve. You're the best. Thank you. This has been a podcast one production. Download new episodes of the Steve Austin Show every Tuesday at podcast1.com. That's podcast0ne.com. and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Titanic, or the Wolf of Wall Street. - No matter your vibe, download the Pluto TV app to spend summer doing what you love. - Watching endless movies. - Tell me that's not the deal of the summer. 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