Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast
Release Date: October 26, 2017
Guest: Stone Cold Steve Austin
Recap By: Matthew Wilkinson
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Newsworthy Items
- Steve Austin wants to be able to take on any acting role, not just action
- Stone Cold wouldn’t have returned to WWE had it not been for JR
- Stone Cold thought jobbing to Brock Lesnar was bad business
- Sam thinks the 30 for 30 on Ric Flair is a must watch
- Sam enjoyed Raw under siege
- Sam thinks Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon will wrestle at Survivor Series
Show Highlights/Rundown
Sam welcomes everyone to the show and said it has been a good week for him. He said he doesn’t always look at the iTunes rankings because that isn’t what the podcast is about. But, he said his dad is a numbers guy and will check everything. He informed Sam that after three years, he was the number one wrestling podcast in the world.
Sam said it is unbelievably humbling and wants to thank everyone who has downloaded or listened to his show (congratulations, Sam). Sam teased on Twitter about his first ever interview with Stone Cold from 2010 and said he was terrible. He thinks it is important at times to throw yourself under the bus, which is why he has decided to take a walk down memory lane and let people hear the bad interview.
Stone Cold Interview
Sam welcomed Stone Cold to the show and asked if he goes by Stone Cold or just Steve Austin now that he is a movie star. Steve said he gets called both. He doesn’t mind either as he has been called a lot worse in his life, but in his movies he is always credited as Steve Austin
Sam pointed out that he legally changed his name to Steve Austin, which he confirmed, saying he did it for legal reasons rather than just wanting to be Steve Austin all the time.
Movies
Sam wondered what the difference was between fighting in movies and in a wrestling ring? Steve said a lot of it is the camera. In movies he is focused on where that is, whereas in wrestling, he just went out and did a job and let them capture him. It is a little bit more technical in the movies, but he is getting used to it after shooting several of them. He enjoyed watching the big stars on The Expendables as a learning experience.
Sam asked about The Expendables and Steve said as far as big budget movies go, he expects that to be the biggest in 2010. It will be the bomb.
Sam mentioned that his last three roles have all had jail themes. Steve thinks that is his outlaw past catching up with him. He said it might be a coincidence or just his comfort zone, as he was very successful in that type of role on Monday Night Raw. But Steve does want to develop his acting ability so he can pull off any type of character with any background.
Sam wondered if he would take a role like The Rock in The Tooth Fairy. Steve said that while he respects Rocky, he needs to make smart decisions for his hardcore fanbase. If he does 20 or 30 more action films he would consider himself a lucky guy, but if he can do some comedy he would be happy to do it as long as they’re good movies and his core fans enjoy it.
Sam asked if it was hard going from being a wrestling legend to the new guy in terms of acting. Steve said that if you do something new you always start someplace else. He knows where he is at and really does believe in himself but he needs to crawl, then walk, then run. You have to make it look really smooth.
Guest Host Raw
Sam brings up that Steve was back on Raw recently as the guest host, and how he had mentioned in other interviews that it was weird being back. He wondered if that makes him think moving to acting was the right choice? Steve thinks going to acting was the right move for him, but it doesn’t have anything to do with hosting Raw or wrestling. He got out of wrestling because his body told him he had done enough, but he admitted he could get another few years out of it if he wanted to, but he doesn’t see the point. He wants to be living a normal life for the next 30 years or more, so there is no point in risking that.
Returning Wrestlers
Sam said it is rare for people in the business to retire when they can still compete. He asked Austin’s opinion on Hulk Hogan still wrestling while he can’t hit the leg drop. Steve said it’s interesting. He respects the legacy and career of Hogan but admitted they aren’t the best of friends, nor are they enemies. It is what it is and that is all he can say on the matter.
Sam then asked his opinion on Bret Hart returning to WWE for WrestleMania. Stone Cold said he was glad to hear about it, as there was so much real life animosity between Bret and Vince. People mature with age and it is like seeing a 100-pound weight come off Bret’s back. Austin is looking forward to the match and thinks it will be entertaining (hindsight is a wonderful thing).
Stone Cold Walking Out
Sam then spoke about how there were times towards the end of Austin’s run that there were reports he walked out on this or that. Sam asked if he regrets that or are if he’s glad he had them to grow from? Austin said that when he looks back, he was running so hard and the level of intensity was so hard, he was white hot and made a knee-jerk reaction. They wanted him to do a job in Atlanta in a non-publicized match that didn’t have enough notoriety with Brock. It was real piss poor business, and even though he was always willing to do business, it wasn’t the right time.
Austin admitted he shouldn’t have walked out as it cost him, the company, and the fans a lot of money and memories. He wishes he had turned up at the arena and simply told Vince it wasn’t happening.
Steve then said that if it hadn’t been for JR sending him a card and speaking to him over the phone, he would likely not have buried the hatchet with Vince.
Stone Cold’s Legacy
Sam wanted to know what Stone Cold thought of his legacy when he looked back at his career. Steve said it only really hit him when he saw his Hall of Fame video package. The bottom line is, he brought grey to a black and white world. While he was never a great wrestler, he was one of the greatest of all time. At the end of the day, he sold tickets, a s**t pile of them.
Sam asked if there is anyone in WWE now who can bring them back to the spot they were in? Steve said he doesn’t know, but he thinks John Cena’s the number one guy right now and they are doing steady business in a PG environment. He would love to see another Stone Cold and watch someone smash all his records and see how it happens. He’s always looking for that.
Finally, Sam wondered if Steve would like the pressure of TMZ if he had a big movie break. Steve said he’s been at the top and had it pulled from him before. Whether he was starting in wrestling or selling out arenas, he has always been the same guy and that’s down to how he was raised. No matter what happens in his movie career, he will always be that same guy.
State of Wrestling – 30 for 30: Nature Boy
Sam kicked off the State of Wrestling by discussing the fact he had just seen the premiere of ESPN’s new 30 for 30 called “Nature Boy,” a documentary based on the life and times of Ric Flair. A lot of stars attended the event, such as Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Mick Foley, and of course, Charlotte. Sam had a blast and thanked ESPN for the invite. He claimed this was a documentary that will not disappoint anybody, and one person who contributed to the film will surprise people. It got a reaction from the live crowd.
The 30 for 30 shows are a big deal and this will help put Ric into the eyes of pop culture even more, taking him out of simply being a ‘wrestler.’
Sam went in apprehensive because he didn’t want it to simply be a highlight reel of Flair’s career or a basic introduction to wrestling, as that would be things he is already aware of. He also thought it was interesting because that this is not a WWE 24. WWE cooperated, they gave clips and superstars for interviews, but they have no editorial control of the movie.
Thankfully, Sam wasn’t let down. It told the story of Ric as a wrestler and included how far the sport took over his home life too, which he felt was important. It also opened Sam’s eyes as to why Ric is regarded as high as he is today. He thinks this movie will bring him to another level. Believe it or not, there is still more mountain for him to climb.
Sam thinks the reason Ric is looked at the way he that he is largely is down to the fact that you believed what he was saying in his promos and his actions backed it up. He likened it to The Undertaker, who is such a big star, not because of his win/loss record, but because of how hard he worked to keep his character real and his actual life a secret. This doesn’t happen enough nowadays due to social media and wrestlers giving a wink to the fans to say they know about things. He used the examples of Bullet Club, The Miz and Kevin Owens of people who still live their acts.
TLC
Sam thought that TLC was a decent PPV, and most of the undercard matches were good. He felt the two women’s matches were quite good and the A.J. Styles vs Finn Balor match was terrific. The crusierweight tag match was entertaining too, making four really solid matches on the undercard.
The main event is where the show lost people, as it was chaotic. It’s the second-time vehicular man slaughter has happened to Braun on a PPV. He added that coming out of the PPV, Braun is a good guy.
It wasn’t a great match by any stretch but there were fun parts to it. It was ridiculous, but you kind of have to do that, right?
They could only do so much Shield stuff because they are missing Roman Reigns. But it’s still 5-on-3, so you have to do something where the bad guys don’t look ridiculous getting beat up, even though they outnumber the good guys ,and the good guys don’t just get their butts kicked. It could have been a fun story to have Miz beat Angle and then have Kurt attempt to boss Miz around on Raw.
Sam sung the praises of Miz, saying he thinks he should be in the conversation for the WWE or Universal title but he needs to win some actual matches for that to happen.
Survivor Series
Sam then moved on to Survivor Series. He thought just introducing all the matches at the top of Raw was a little low energy. He loves the idea of the champions fighting each other and the 5-on-5. He doesn’t expect the title matches to have the belts on the line.
Survivor Series has become the sleeper show that has grown in recent years after slumping a little. He mentioned Goldberg and Sting have both provided shocks the last two years, which have helped the PPV.
Sam buys into the idea of having the two brands on one show as a selling point. He thinks it does make these shows bigger than they were before. At the other dual PPVs, you don’t see Raw vs. SmackDown matches, so the idea of them being at war once a year makes sense.
Miz vs. Baron Corbin is a match that will take a little bit of work because they are both good bad guys. They are real bad guys that people don’t want to turn.
However, he thinks that Alexa Bliss vs Nattie is a fun one, that’s a cool match he wants to see. He also thinks Seth and Dean vs. The Usos is going to steal the show.
Sam then went on a tangent about Finn Balor losing to Kane on Raw (a rant that needed to happen, let’s be honest). He said he had no idea what that was, especially after beating A.J. Styles clean. If people think a guy who loses to Kane will be facing Lesnar for the title then they are wrong, even though he likes Kane.
In terms of the teams, obviously you will have Randy Orton, and he would imagine Shinsuke Nakamura on the blue team. For Raw he thinks you have Roman and Sheamus and Cesaro, because obviously you will have good guys mixed with bad guys.
You should put money on Kurt Angle and Shane O’Mac being the team captains and both wrestling the event.
Raw Under Siege
Sam mentioned there was a lot of criticism for the Raw under siege angle and the fact that Raw didn’t get revenge, which he thinks is okay because that will come later. He didn’t necessarily have a problem with Smackdown working together and attacking Raw. To him ,it was like athletes on a team that are simply defending their team. They go in and take the first shot.
People picked out Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode, but he isn’t thinking their story is the greatest thing around right now so it doesn’t bother him.
Sam didn’t find it an amazing thing, it wasn’t NWO cool or as cool as the original Nexus takeover, but he thought it was unpredictable. It visually looked cool and it’s something we are doing for four weeks until Survivor Series.
Moving to the women, Sam had positive things to say about Alicia Fox, who he said had one of the best weeks in a long time. He loves the idea that she is the captain. It’s unpredictable and she is doing fun stuff.
In terms of women’s wrestling, Asuka is the woman to beat and nobody is on her level. Sam wants to see her face Charlotte at WrestleMania, title vs. title in what would be a dream match for the women’s roster, one I personally believe could be one of the show’s main event matches.
Jeff Jarrett
One thing a lot of people were talking about outside of WWE was Jeff Jarrett. This is a story that has expanded throughout the week. Jeff has been fully removed from Impact Wrestling altogether. He came in and re-branded the company. Sam said the announcement has come from nowhere.
He added it wasn’t a good week for Jeff, as him and TNA split and then he was called out for being a drunk at an indie event, of which video footage leaked.
Sam said as of this recording he believes Jeff has put himself into rehab and wished him all the best in his recovery, as he thinks he is someone who has achieved a great amount despite never having the WWE machine behind him.
Rating 6.5 /10
It was an interesting episode this week with Sam deciding to do an interview from 2010. It’s something that worked and didn’t at the same time in my opinion. It was fun to go back and listen to Sam back then and see how much he has evolved (and he really has) and also listen to Stone Cold discuss his movie career, which never really took off. However, because it was so old some of the conversation was outdated, which hurt it slightly. As normal, it was a strong State of Wrestling, though, and it was cool to hear about 30 for 30 because it isn’t out yet and Sam has knowledge of it. As usual, a fun listen.
Subjects Covered (With timestamps)
00:00- Sponsor Ads
01:41- Show Introduction
13:41-Stone Cold Steve Austin Interview
15:36-Differences Between Movies and Wrestling
21:43- Guest Host of Raw
24:00- Returning Wrestlers
26:05- Stone Cold Walking Out
27:49- Stone Cold’s Legacy
39:05- State of Wrestling- 30 for 30: Nature Boy
58:26- TLC
1:04:34-Survivor Series
1:15:02-Raw Under Siege
1:22:46-Jeff Jarrett
About the Writer
Matthew Wilkinson is from Bradford, England. He’s been a fan since the late ’90s with the Attitude Era and was then heavily invested again through the rise of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. He can be found on Twitter at @MC_Wilkinson1
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