The Steve Austin Show – Unleashed!
Release Date: August 10, 2017
Recap By: Chris Gaspare
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Top Newsworthy Items
– Austin thinks McGregor/Mayweather is becoming a “sideshow” through them trying too hard.
– Even though he thinks it’s a great match, Austin feels Savage/Steamboat deserves “an asterisk.”
– X-Pac regrets being difficult to work with on his second WWE run.
Show Highlights
Show introduction and Austin prepares to buy a new truck
Austin’s “Check Engine” light has been on his beloved fourteen-year old truck. CT Fletcher recently told him that he needs to get a new truck, and Austin finally agrees. After Broken Skull Challenge is finished filming, he plans to take the RV and visit his parents in Texas, go on vacation with his wife in California, and vacation in Nevada. Then he’s going to go test drive every pick-up truck on the market and buy a new vehicle. He said that filming the television show right now has been “a blessing and a curse” with Hershey’s recent death. He’s still processing, but he’s too busy to dwell.
X-Pac and Austin discuss calling matches in the ring and Savage/Steamboat at WM III
The two discussed calling matches compared to planning matches. X-Pac said when he was younger he loved calling in the ring, but now that he’s older and has more injuries, he talks about the match ahead much more.
Austin is a big proponent of calling in the ring and sees it has more natural in order to react to the crowd. Even though he believes all that matters is what the fans see and that it’s a “great” match, he feels the Randy Savage/Ricky Steamboat match from Wrestlemania III deserves “an asterisk” because the match was planned out ahead of time. He much prefers the Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat matches where they called a majority in the ring.
X-Pac acknowledged that when planning before the match, wrestlers need to “know what people want,” which Austin called “a gamble.” Austin went on to describe a time where he tossed out the game plan in a match with Chris Benoit because he simply wanted to work with him through calling the match. He told Benoit he would take the heat for it. He said Bret Hart did the same with him at Wrestlemania 13 where they called the match in the ring. He said that when he worked with Ricky Steamboat was when he first realized that with the greats, you didn’t even need to call some spots. He put Steamboat in a head lock, and Steamboat immediately reversed in a wrist lock without calling it. This allowed Austin to get back into a head lock, usually by pulling Steamboat’s hair. It was simply natural and unspoken.
Austin said that the idea that heels call the spots is not always correct. He and X-Pac agreed it should be the senior or most over guy that calls the match. Austin joked about how HHH always wanted to call the matches, but that he was good at it at least.
Listener questions on Kane’s mask, McGregor/Mayweather, and regrets
The rest of the episode revolved around listener questions for X-Pac. The first question was about whether wearing Kane’s mask was difficult. X-Pac said that attire in general is difficult because guys are wrestling and sweating in their outfits all the time. He said that Kane would carry Febreze with him everywhere and spray his mask. They both agreed that working with Vader was difficult sometimes because his attire would get “funky.”
X-Pac said that doing laundry can be difficult on the road and sometimes wrestlers had to decide to wrestle in smelly attire or wet attire, and he would prefer smelly to wet.
The next question was about what X-Pac’s favorite era was. He said that he thinks everyone’s favorite is “the era you grew up in,” so his favorites were World Class Championship Wrestling, NWA, and the Florida territory.
Another emailer asked what they thought about WWE cutting the pyro from the beginning of shows. X-Pac said that if someone is watching wrestling for the pyro then there’s a bigger problem at hand. He said he thinks people are making “too big a deal” out of it. He went on to say compare highspots to special effects in movies, and when special effects started to dominate movies, their quality went down.
Another emailer asked about their thoughts on Conor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather. X-Pac said that he agrees with Chael Sonnen, who was on his show recently, who said that Mayweather needs to win and win decisively.
Austin said that he thinks they are trying too hard with the angle leading up on the bout, which should sell itself. Consequently, he said they have turned it into a “sideshow” and run the risk of it becoming “a joke.”
Another question asked X-Pac how he thinks his career would have played out if he were larger. He said that he doesn’t think about that. He wishes he would have worked more on his mic skills and would have been easier to work with behind the scenes. He said that in his first run in WWE, he “let things happen” to him that made him defensive when he went back for his second run. He said he only allowed them to work him fifteen days per month, which a wrestler can’t work if they want to be a top guy. He also said he was “a contrarian.”
For instance, Shane McMahon told him that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were going to do his theme song, and instead he said no and requested Uncle Kracker, or he was told they were going to put him in a program with Chris Jericho for the IC title at Wrestlemania, and he said no, he wanted to finish out his program with Kane, even though it was on his last legs. He said that attitude held him back from a bigger push. If, however, he had to put his brains in a specific wrestler’s body, he said he would choose Randy Orton due to his genetics.
Score and Review (8/10)
Even though this was a filler episode, this is Austin’s show at its best from a wrestler fan’s perspective. Getting to listen to listen to two respected veterans discuss the complexities and intricacies of calling spots in the ring and critiquing legendary matches is something that most wrestling fans relish in, which makes the first half of the podcast a must listen. The second half is strong as well and could have been longer honestly. X-Pac always has interesting perspectives on the business and great stories. While it might be a filler episode while Austin films his television show, it was a good filler episode with a great guest.
Timestamps
00:00: Show introduction and Austin prepares to buy a new truck
14:37: Sponsor Ads
16:33: X-Pac and Austin discuss calling matches in the ring and Savage/Steamboat at WMIII
35:42: Sponsor Ads
37:31: Listener questions on Kane’s mask, McGregor/Mayweather, and regrets
1:00:32: Ads and Plugs
About Chris
Chris Gaspare is a teacher from Maryland who has been watching wrestling since 1989 when he saw his first WCW Saturday Night episode and quickly rented as many NWA and WWF VHS tapes he could find in local stores. He also attended Tri-State Wrestling Alliance and early ECW shows in Philadelphia, which really kicked his fandom into high gear. He lapsed in the mid-2000s, but returned to the wrestling fold a few years ago.
For more, check out last week’s recap of The Steve Austin Show – Unleashed!
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