STEVE AUSTIN: Webchat with the sun newspaper

[Paranoid Rattlesnake]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2003560001-2004050033,00.html

WHEN wrestling legend Stone Cold Steve Austin retired from the ring last year it was the end of an era.

Even though the Texas Rattlesnake still appears on-screen in a management role the question on every fans' lips for the past 11 months has been whether he'll ever open up one of his world famous cans of whoop-ass again.

And in our exclusive webchat Steve revealed that he could be making an in-ring comeback despite a catalogue of injuries.

The grappling icon told us he would love to face his old rival, and WWE owner, Vince McMahon one last time in a streetfight.

Stone Cold also answered your questions on being fired from WCW and temporarily walking away from the WWE, and gave us his thoughts on his fellow superstars from Hulk Hogan to Triple H.

So read on to find out all about the man who has made more money than other wrestler in history.

And check back next week for more from Steve, including why he's still haunted by the death of his best friend Brian Pillman.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Steve, are you going to wrestle at WrestleMania XX? I'd love to see Austin v McMahon.
David Hanmer

Right now I don't know what I'm doing at WrestleMania XX, I'm not going to be wrestling in a match but I could well be involved in one.

I would like to do a streetfight type match with Vince but I think WrestleMania is going to come too fast for us to do anything.

It's unfortunate we haven't started something yet, as in my opinion it would be too rushed to do it for Mania.

Could it happen somewhere down the line? Yeah, you could definitely see it some day.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


How are you enjoying your latest role as The Sheriff of Raw and what does a Sheriff do?
Danielle

The Sheriff is a title so to speak, obviously I'm not in any way, shape or form a legal law enforcement officer. The title gives me a license to raise hell, I can do anything I want on Raw whenever I want and however I want.

Whether that's riding around in a four-wheeler, mixing stuff up with the guys, making matches or drinking beer it's an entertainment vehicle throughout the show.

It also helps to tie storylines together and I think my promos can help people with their angles.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


How involved are you in the business part of the WWE? Would you like to play a bigger role in the creative or booking side?
Greg Lambert

Outside the ring I'm always thinking of T-shirt and merchandise ideas and I'm currently working on a camouflage line. As soon as I get my website up I'm going to have a whole store worth of stuff.

I love to sell T-shirts, I've sold more than anyone in the history of the business and that's something I'm really proud of. Eric Bischoff told me back in WCW that I wasn't very marketable and I proved him wrong!

I'll chip in my ideas on what's going on, but when it comes to booking a whole territory – or a whole program – that's not what I'm good at. I don't see big picture things like that, what I see are details. If someone gives me a story I can improve it – if they give me a steak and I can throw salt and pepper on it!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




PAYBACK TIME ... Steve hits a Stunner on Eric Bischoff


What's it like working with Eric Bischoff, and do you get on with him even though he fired you from WCW while you were out injured?
Gurdeep K

When I got fired from WCW, the guy called me on the phone and fired me. I was pretty p***** off, I only lived 30 miles from the arena so he could have driven over and done it face-to-face. If he'd done that I would have been happy.

His exact words were: "Based on the amount of money we're paying you and the amount of days you've been incapacitated, we're going to go ahead and exercise our right to terminate the agreement." I said "basically you're telling me I'm fired," and he said "yes" and the paperwork arrived the next day.

But getting fired turned out to be the best thing that ever happened in my life. It allowed me to go to ECW and learn how to cut a promo and then go to the WWE.

Nowadays I enjoy the chemistry I have with Eric Bischoff and wish I had more stuff going back and forth with him. He likes going live just like I do, he's very professional and good at what he does.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hi Stone Cold, you've had some of the best wrestling feuds in history. Who has been your favourite ever opponent?
Richard, San Francisco

The feud that really got me started in the WWE, which was known at the time as the WWF, was with the boss Vince McMahon. I couldn't wait to go back each Monday for Raw and continue the story with Vince. And, obviously, I loved working with The Rock.

I also enjoyed my feud with Bret The Hitman Hart, because I have so much respect for him as a worker and we had a great chemistry.

And Triple H, in 2000 when he was a bit lighter, was really something in the ring. He works a solid, classic style and there are no silly high spots – he goes out there and tells a story, just like The Rock and Bret Hart.

I also got to have a few matches with Shawn Michaels – one of the best workers I've ever been in the ring with – and any time I could wrestle Mick Foley was a blast, he has an insatiable hunger to please the crowd.

I loved working Kurt Angle, here's a guy who's a legitimate Olympic gold medallist and a machine in the ring. He was never really a fan of pro wrestling, and a lot of his peers considered him a joke when he decided to become involved. He adapted to the pro style faster than anyone I've ever seen in my life.

In my WCW days I loved working with Ricky Steamboat and before I retired last year I got to have several cage matches with Ric Flair - which weren't on TV - and I consider him the greatest wrestler in the history of the business. Working with Ric was a walk in the park and he's considered a legend for a good reason, because he's simply the best.

[Paranoid Rattlesnake]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Stone Cold - in your career you've hit your finisher, the Stunner, on a lot of people. I just wondered who in your opinion takes the best Stunner?
Andrew Dinsey, Milton Keynes

Shane McMahon takes an excellent Stunner. The Rock takes a very good one as well, but sometimes he gets a little carried away and bounces around like a pinball – that's artistic liberty.

The absolute worst Stunner taker in the world is Vince McMahon, it's absolutely horrible. He kills me and lays all over the top of me. You never know which way he is going to go and, to be polite, he's not really that co-ordinated.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Is there anyone who you would like to have been in a match with but have never faced?
Lisa Richmond

The people always wanted to see Stone Cold v Goldberg and the window was there for that match when WCW went out of business and he was really hot. He's a guy I would really have liked to have wrestled.

Now, I could still do something with Goldberg.

I've never fought Hulk Hogan, and that would be another blockbuster match. I don't know if it will ever happen but I've got a lot of respect for that guy's longevity, charisma and the career he's had. He's one of the guys who brought wrestling to a new level of popularity.

If Hogan came back he'd still be hot, although whether he'd be a big draw or not remains to be seen.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




GRIPPING ACTION ... Steve teaches Simon
LilsBoy how to sell a headlock


After you left WCW you said some bad things about Hulk Hogan, did you make it up when he came to the WWE?
Mickey Stirra

I don't know about making up. When he came in I shook his hand and said "welcome aboard".

I've had conversations with the guy but when you're talking to Hulk Hogan you never really know who you're talking to.

I don't know him very well, but I've not got no animosity towards the guy. He's come and gone from the WWE, then I have too.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It's been well documented that your neck's not in the best shape. Are you still getting a lot of pain from it and will you have another operation to correct it? What other injuries have you suffered?
Colin Symington

My first knee injury was a torn ACL on my left leg playing college football, I never got that fixed. Then I completely tore that ACL and my PCL also, so that was the cruciate ligaments gone completely on the left knee. Then I jumped off the ring onto Triple H on a table after a TV taping and tore the PCL on my right knee. So that's why I wear the double leg braces.

I had the triceps re-attached to my right arm, after I tore them in Japan in 1993, and that injury was the reason I got fired from WCW.

A piledriver I got from Owen Hart in 1997 made me a quadriplegic for about a minute and a half. When I hit the mat I couldn't move a thing but my mind stayed razor sharp and the first thing I thought was "Christopher Reeve".

By all rights I should have laid there waiting for the doctors but I was set on finishing the match. I won with the worst roll-up in the history of the business and when he kicked out it moved my neck again. That was in front of 20,000 people and live on PPV. It was a horrible experience.

That bruised my spinal chord and I have a white spot on there, and those things don't heal up. I've got levels three and four fused up in my neck and down the road I'm going to need more neck surgery, I'm just trying to put it off as long as possible.

I've got a lot of nerve damage in my legs, my hands and my arms. I guess I've also got about 200 stitches in my face and my head.

I am fine to walk around and go through normal day-to-day functions but I don't need to take the constant knocking around from wrestling. People can call pro-wrestling whatever they want to - but the chairs hurt and the bumps do too, and if you rack enough of those up it's going to catch up with you.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Who are your favourite up and coming superstars and tips to go far in the business?
Daniel Davies, Plymouth

Randy Orton has a good look and is coming into his own as a character, his dad Bob Orton Jr is one of my favourite wrestlers. He's fine in the ring and knows how to do a few moves and transitions, he doesn't need to do anything more spectacular than he's doing.

Randy is still green, but he is going to be really really good. When he gets the character completely tweaked I see money written all over the guy.

Brock Lesnar was getting to the top, but I think he got stalled with his storylines and got caught up in the mix a little bit. I talked to him extensively at the Survivor Series and he was a little concerned about some of the things they are doing with him. They need to get that guy pointed in one direction and run with him, because he's gone heel and babyface a couple of times now and early on in your career you don't want too many changes like that as the fans have to believe in what you are.

Edge is due back in April and I think this injury is going to help him show another level of maturity and toughness.

Chris Benoit is a phenomenal worker and I think he's due for a heavy push this year, and if not then the WWE have really missed the boat. Eddie Guerrero is another one of my favourites and I remember going to Japan with both of them, when I was in WCW, and watching them absolutely terrorise the place.

Of the younger guys I think that Jindrack and Cade are completely undeveloped, and have a long way to go on their characters, but mechanically are very good and I'd like to see big things from them.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hi Stone Cold, you're my favourite wrestler! Who were your favourites when you were growing up?
Nastradamus

I loved the old NWA - some of my favourites in the federation were Midnight Express, Rock N Roll Express, Jake Roberts – whether he was down there or in the WWE – and Dusty Rhodes. They had great wrestling, simple storylines and promos that were made up by the talent. Texas based wrestling was the same thing.

The WWF/E was more showbiz orientated. If I wanted characters I'd watch that, but for matches and work style the NWA won hands down.

The WWE did have some good talent – Cowboy Bob Orton Jr, Randy Savage, my good friend Paul Orndoff and Curt Hennig were all great workers.

But if you look at the roster - people like the Iron Sheik and Pedro Morales – it was full of walking gimmicks.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




THE STONE COLD TRUTH ... Austin
shows off his best-selling book


Why did you walk out on the WWE in June 2002?
Danny Button

The reason I walked out was because I was having health problems I didn't want to tell the office about.

On top of that I thought they were really cr***ing on me. The storylines they were giving me were not worthy of the biggest draw in the history of the business. I'm not sitting here bragging, those are facts, you can go and ask Vince McMahon and he'll tell you damn near the same thing. Will he admit he was cr***ing on me? No, he probably won't say that, but they were.

So I was sitting there getting this garbage and then suddenly I've also got all these health problems on my mind.

I could have handled it better than I did, but I react very quickly and I did what I did.

Before I came back I spoke to Jim Ross on the phone for two hours and I got back on board with Vince. I wasn't interested in wrestling but along came WrestleMania X9 and The Rock is a really good friend of mine, so I thought if I'm going to have a final match I want to go out at WrestleMania with The Rock.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I've heard and read many times that main event wrestlers down the years have used their status to jeopardize the careers of up and coming stars behind the scenes. How true is this?
Michael Bell, Sunderland

I don't think that's the case. It's not that people aren't willing to move aside, it's that there isn't anybody ready to take that spot.

When I came through it wasn't like Shawn, Bret, Vader and Undertaker stepped aside for me – I just blew right past them.

It's not a deal where anybody is holding anybody down. Some people were talking through some of the insider sheets saying that 'this guy and that guy are holding back the younger talent'. But when these guys went down with injuries, no one stepped up.

Either you have the ability to make it to the top or you don't. This business is first come first served, whoever can get over has a chance to get over using the tools and the time that they give you.

It's not a system where talent holds other talent back – either you've got it or you don't.

In WCW I was held back by the political system, not other wrestlers. In the WWE even that doesn't happen as Vince is always looking for his next big star.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've heard you say you regret your heel turn after WrestleMania X7? Why? It freshened up your character no end and your chemistry with Kurt Angle in and out of the ring was awesome?
George, Leeds

I wanted to turn heel because, as popular as I was, I was feeling a little flat and needed a new challenge.

It didn't really work as well as I wanted it to because The Rock left, Triple H went down with an injury and there I was really feuding with nobody. I'm not knocking the rest of the guys but at that level there wasn't anybody to work with.

And the bottom line was people really didn't want to hate me, maybe some people in real life hate me but people didn't want to boo Stone Cold Steve Austin.

I wanted to give the fans something different, but it turns out they didn't want anything different.

Everything happens for a reason, but if I could go back in a time machine it's probably one of the things I wouldn't have done.

The reason me and Kurt started doing the backstage stuff was because I was injured. All the guitar playing and things like that were my ideas because I wanted to do something that was going to be entertaining.

Vince would ask me what I wanted to do and I'd say I want to sing some songs. He didn't get it at first but when I started he played right into it and Kurt just joined right in. We were trying so hard not to laugh.

We just went back and forth and it was all completely ad-libbed. So much of what you see today is scripted, but that was straight up unscripted BS.

And who knows, there may be a time when I turn heel again but if that time ever comes it will be from listening to the fans. The reception and responses I get now do not indicate a heel turn.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Why do you not use the WHAT catchphrase anymore, the crowd still love it?
Paul Hunt

I can still do it and it all depends on whether I give the fans a pause to get it in there. But sometimes I want to deliver a promo without someone saying "What?"

If I'm really trying to nail a valid point – because that's the object behind a great promo – I won't do it.

I started doing that as a heel because I thought it would be really intimidating and a real f*** you that I wasn't listening to what anybody said.

Then when I started doing it as a babyface people just loved repeating it, hell in arenas before the lights went on everyone would be out there doing the whats and the Ric Flair whooos.

I never had any idea that one stupid word would get over like it did. One time in New York City Lillian Garcia was singing the National Anthem in front of a sold-out Maddison Square Garden and every time she paused they'd what her – it was hilarious.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been on a mission to find out what the best beer is. So who better to ask than Stone Cold? So once and for all Steve what is the best beer?
James Brindley

My advice is to keep looking! I'm looking at bringing out my own beer right now, I'm working with a brewery and we're looking at a formula… it's going to be a Stone Cold beer.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Ricky]

OK I am not going to flip out but I'm pretty sure this was posted like a month ago.

[Paranoid Rattlesnake]

OK I am not going to flip out but I'm pretty sure this was posted like a month ago.

WTF

I didn't even fuc</>king post this shit.

This is lame

[Razor Rybek]

:wtf:

[Rock Bottom]

The Rock takes a very good one as well, but sometimes he gets a little carried away and bounces around like a pinball – that's artistic liberty.

LoL, so true.

[ColdwaVer]

I'm pretty sure I've seen Shane and the Rock each sell a stunner right over the top rope.

[Corkscrewed]

The absolute worst Stunner taker in the world is Vince McMahon, it's absolutely horrible. He kills me and lays all over the top of me. You never know which way he is going to go and, to be polite, he's not really that co-ordinated.

LMAO


I also agree on The Rock and Shane, but I think Angle takes the best stunner. One knee to the floor, then a sort of flop to the side.

[Sephiroth]

Yeah, Vinnie Mac sucks.

[ColdwaVer]

LMAO


I also agree on The Rock and Shane, but I think Angle takes the best stunner. One knee to the floor, then a sort of flop to the side.

Yeah Angle also has the most "stunned" facial expression when he does it.