All language subtitles for Biography WWE Legends s04e07 Stone Cold Steve Austin.eng

- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is
the most popular superstar

in WWE history.

- Austin 3:16 says I
just whipped your ass.

- He was a beer-drinking, middle
finger flipping,

anti-authority figure.

And he represented
the "common man."

And he did a lot of the things
that we all want to do,

which is rebel against your
boss, blaze your own trail,

have fun doing what
you're doing workwise.

He became so famous
that he was able to glue

the WWE and pop
culture together,

and they've been glued
together ever since.

[crowd cheering]

- The Austin Era has begun.

- His sticking power is unlike
anything because decades

after his wrestling career,
he still has

one of the highest selling
shirts in the WWE.

The closer he got to his true
self, the more success he had.

And I think that resonated
with people because he was being

genuine and being
real and being himself.

And that's why we started the
biography with the question,

what's the difference between
his character and himself?

And I think, as you'll see, he
had a-a hard time answering that

because he was
just being himself.

- I don't even know what
the difference is really.

- This is the Director's
Cut A&E Biography,

WWE Legends on
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

- We cool?

Okay, good.

Um, who is Steve
Austin the man

and who is Stone Cold Steve
Austin the performer?

- The difference between "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin the man

and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
the performer is, basically,

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin
is exactly that.

Uh-

I don't even know what
the difference is really.

♪

- Steve Austin is one of
the biggest superstars

in the history of
the wrestling business

because of his passion for it.

[crowd cheering]

- He had this meteoric rise
that burnt hot and fast

and changed
an entire industry.

- Talk about your
Psalms, talk about John 3:16.

Austin 3:16 says I
just whipped your ass.

I think the separation between
"Stone Cold" and Steve Austin

is only a matter of the
surrounding that I'm in.

- The character
was a real person.

The look in his eyes
told a real story.

And you know why?

Because it was a real story.

- He went from
being a guy from Texas

to a pro wrestler to a
pop culture icon.

- He was the defining
character of a generation.

The disruptor of the status quo.

The pivotal player in the
complete re-imagination

of the industry.

- I've been retired for so
long, I don't miss it anymore.

I don't crave it.

You can never replace it.

I'm not trying to say that you
can, but I wouldn't say there's

anything about the life I used
to live on the road that makes

me yearn to go back in
time and relive those days.

But I do what I want when I want
right here in this damn ring

and can't nobody stop me.

The whole world knows my name
is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

If I'm going straight to hell,
you're damn sure coming with me.

- "Stone Cold" Steven Austin,
his reign on top

was second to none.

- Steve Austin changed the
way the game was played.

There will never ever
be anyone like him.

- He's the man responsible for
making WWE more than we thought

it could ever be.

- People gravitated
a lot to the energy

that I brought
to the business.

[crowd cheering]

- Steve didn't have a long
career being on top,

but he had that one peak
that like, wow.

No one can come close to that.

- Stone Cold is a showbiz guy.

Steve Austin is a regular guy.

They just happened to be
rolled up in the same package.

- I was born in Austin, Texas,
but we didn't stay there long.

I grew up in a
little town called Edna.

I'm proud to be from Texas,
you know, born, bred, raised.

You know, it's tough, it's
cowboy country,

and it's-it's rugged.

I think the reputation of Texas
kind of precedes you

and the fact that you're
from that state.

- You know, it's not a
one-stoplight town,

but we just have
a few stoplights.

And it's a town where
everybody knows everybody.

We had a huge
house, our yellow house.

It was on half of an acre.

It was great growing
up in a big family.

Scott's the oldest then Steve
then Kevin, Jeff and then me.

As a kid, Steve was very shy.

Yeah, yeah, he was shy.

- Oh, just shy enough that
when-when we called down to

Dairy Queen to o-order, you
know, three tacos or whatever,

you know, hell, I put my
sister on the phone.

"Jenny, can you
order my food for me?"

- So, he's seven years older
than me and he would literally

call me into the kitchen and
hand me the phone to Dairy Queen

and have me read off his order.

- I broke out of that shyness

when I found football
in junior high.

I used athletics to
help me find confidence.

- I noticed him when
he was in junior high.

I was the high school coach.

He was a physical
specimen, I guess you'd say.

- When he started seventh-grade
football, that's-- As far as

long as I can remember, that's
all he wanted to do was

work out, eat right, and
just build his body.

- We're eating Little Debbie's
and Captain Crunch cereal.

And he's over there with the
Blender with this protein stuff

and putting raw eggs in it.

And I'm thinking, "What?

Who does this?"

You know?

He does.

- I was a running back,
and I wasn't very fast.

But I weighed about 205 pounds.

And my line averaged about 165
pounds, so I didn't have a whole

lot of blocking and I ran north
and south because I wasn't fast

enough to run east and
west and I ran over people.

- Straight-A student,
National Honor Society.

Steve never drank
beer or raised hell

during high school like I did.

So, every weekend, all my
buddies would come over.

We're sitting on the back patio,
drinking beer, raising hell,

having a good time.

And Steve would open
up his bedroom window.

"Y'all shut the hell up.

I'm trying to sleep."

- He was popular, but he just
had such bigger dreams

and goals for himself.

- He used to actually practice
signing autographs

back in the day.

We'd be in the kitchen

and he'd just be writing his
name different ways.

Trying to check out
which-- what fit best.

He asked my opinion.

"What the-- What are
you talking about, man?"

[chuckles]

Yeah.

- At first, you know, I
wanted to be a rock star.

But I can't sing, play any
instrument-- musical instruments

so that's out the door.

- Channel 39
presents Houston Wrestling.

- One day, my mom
was in her chair

reading her
Redbook magazine

and I was flipping channels and
I came across pro wrestling.

It was Houston Wrestling.

For some reason, the lighting,
the smoke-filled arena,

the rope banister
around the ring.

Uh, one of the guys is just
bleeding like a stuffed pig

in the ring and it just
resonated with me.

I was like, "Holy cow."

I fell in love with
it that-that day.

- Growin' up, we only got three
channels here

and the Houston Wrestling
was on every Sunday.

And Steve always watched it.

If I wanted to anything else,
he says, "Man, you can have TV

after wrestling's over with.

- And apparently, yeah, he
told I guess friends and-and

my brothers that uh, he was
gonna be a wrestler one day.

He said those words.

- Well I'll be doggone.

- You know, coming
from a small town,

you don't really get noticed.

Um, you have to put in a whole
lot of work and you gotta kind

of get yourself out there
and he was able to do it.

- Coming out of high school,

I went to Wharton
County Junior College

and they offered me a full ride
to North Texas State University.

And football at that
level was more serious.

- This is the young man we
talked about--

- He was a real good player.

- Yes, real good play by Steve.

He's played very well,
gotten better every game.

- I really didn't enjoy the
process anymore

as far as the education
process goes.

I had had an absolute
gutful of doing research papers.

Alegebra number 2 and
Calculus were kicking my ass.

It just wasn't my cup of tea.

I was through in college and I
wanted to drop out so I did.

Oh, we had a connection from
the athletic department at

North Texas to the
Watkins Motor Lines.

With 17 hours to go, I just
said, "Man, I'm outta here.

Let me go work on a freight
dock and make that $400 a week."

I love driving a forklift.

I could pull your
tooth with a forklift.

At Watkins Motor Lines,
we were 30 miles

from the
Sportatorium in Dallas.

So me and my buddies would ride
down there and we would

drink beer and throw stuff at
the wrestlers and raise hell.

Man, the Sportatorium is the
greatest building in the world,

atmosphere personified.

And then I'll never forget,
man, we were out there me

and my buddy Ralph and he's
giving me the elbow he goes,

"Man, you're as big as him
because you gotta get in this.

Man, you oughta be a wrestler."

I said, "I'mma do it,
I'mma do it, I'mma do it."

And so I'd-I'd wanted
to for a long time.

and I'll be damned if I didn't
go home, man, a couple of days

later and I was changing
channels and there was that

commercial that Chris Adams put
on for his wrestling academy,

and I said, "That's it.

That's-that's my-
that's my way in."

- Hello everybody, this is
"Gentleman" Chris Adams here

bringing you exciting news about
our May three-day

pro wrestling camp.

You'll spend three full days
working out in the same ring

that you see on your TV here at
the world famous Sportatorium.

- The one thing that surprised
me when I showed up that first

day, I just thought there was
gonna be a bunch of monsters in

there that looked like me,
killers that wanted to get into

the business of pro wrestling
but they were just regular

people off the street.

- I don't know if I met
Steve as much as I saw Steve.

I was, uh, injured during match
so I went up in what's known as

the crow's nest where family and
friends could watch the matches,

and that happened to be the
first lesson that

"Gentleman" Chris
Adams was giving

for his new wrestling school.

And me and a couple of guys were
laughing about how bad all

of the trainees were, all of
them except this one guy with

long blond hair and
definite gift of athleticism.

And it was clear that he had it
whatever it is,

he had it right away.

- By the time
he started wrestling,

it was mid to late 1989.

Austin started wrestling
for the USWA

which was the United States
Wrestling Association.

So he was wrestling in Memphis
and in Texas and all points

in between that the
USWA was running.

- I rolled into Nashville
and I needed a place to live.

I didn't know where to go and
they said, "Hey man, you know

try the Congress Inn
out on Dickerson Pike."

So I rolled in there and uh
checked in, and man,

I didn't have no money.

So every week or when-whenever I
had enough money,

I would pay my rent.

Times were really, really lean
and I didn't have a hotplate,

I didn't have a microwave.

And I remember I went to the
grocery store,

I bought tuna fish cans,

I bought some potatoes
and for breakfast lunch

and dinner I'd eat
tuna fish and potato.

And after a few days I ran out
of tuna fish, so for breakfast,

lunch and dinner, I'd peel
a raw potato and eat that.

A lot of guys ended up living
with dancers and a lot of guys

knew where all the buffets were,
all of the-- you know, any kind

of all you can eat thing,
they knew where they were.

- You had to figure out a
way to survive back then.

There was a time period there
where I actually the-- I spent

nights in my car.

I think I made $11,000 in a year
and put 10,000 miles on my car.

- You were barely getting by,
and so you're paying your dues,

traveling 400 miles to make $10.

- I'm making 15 and $20 you
know a night, making 400-mile

roundtrips, you
can't afford to eat.

I remember calling my mom or she
called me and asked me how I was

doing, and I said "Mom" I
said, "is there any way for my

birthday this year could
you just send me $40?"

And it's the only time I ever
asked my parents for money,

and sure enough a couple of days
later my mom sent me two

$20 bills and it
meant the world to me

because I could afford to get
something to eat again.

That's part of paying your dues,
and I just figured, you know,

you know, starving or doing
whatever it takes

because I didn't have a plan B.

I wanted to be a pro wrestler so
if this is what it takes to be

one this is what I'm gonna do.

I showed up to my first
match in Memphis

and Dutch Mantell
was the booker.

I go and introduce
myself to Dutch Mantell.

I said "Hey, man,
I'm Steve Williams.

I'm here to wrestle."

He goes, "Your
name's Steve Williams?"

He goes, "You can't be that here
because there's already

a "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.

It'd be confusing on the card."

And he goes, "You got 15
minutes to come up with a name."

and he walks away.

And I'm just two months in the
business, new territory,

don't know anybody and don't
know what the F to do.

The match is about to start,
and you know, I'm making a life

changing decision,
and he goes,

uh, "All right, what'd
you come up with?"

I said, "I ain't got nothing."

He goes, "You're Steve Austin"
and I started calling myself

"Stunning" Steve Austin.

And I had a red robe
with sequins on it.

All I did was wrestle, you know,
go to the gym in the morning,

get in the car, go wrestle
somewhere, and drive back.

That was life.

I was a sponge and I was
absorbing all this information

from these great minds who would
teach me information that they

got from
generations before them.

- I've been very impressed by
Steve Austin's ability

and how far he's come in
such a short time.

He's showing that he
has the potential

to go a long, long way.

He will be a superstar if he
gets with the right kind

of people and just sits
back, listens and learns.

- Yes sir.

- You watch the matches and you
listen to the crowd and you put

the two together and watch-watch
they're doing and-and listen

to the soundtrack,
"Oh, that works.

That doesn't work."

Oh yeah, one, two, three.

- A place like USWA at that
point, it gave those wrestlers

an opportunity where even if
they were

only making
10, 20, $30 a night,

the payoff was maybe someone
from the WWE

or World Championship Wrestling
at the time might see me

and they'll bring me up and kind
of they'll be my guardian angel

and suddenly I'll be
making way more money.

- Well, I think "Stunning"
Steve Austin definitely has

a fantastic future ahead
of him in this sport.

- At that time I was on the
booking committee at WCW which

was World
Championship Wrestling.

And we were all challenged and
compelled to try to find some

new faces, some new young
athletic talents that we could

build that had potential.

Gosh, he checked
all those boxes.

- Back in the day the standard
deal for WCW, and this is crazy,

you made $75,000
you know, guaranteed.

You'd go from getting anywhere
from 20 to 60 or $100 a night

to 75,000 a year.

It was like the mother-load.

You know, again this is, uh,
'92, '93, and that's a lot

of money, especially coming
from where-where I came from.

- WCW was a little different
level; bigger television

opportunities, bigger
chance for national exposure.

- Welcome back to World
Championship Wrestling and I'm

Missy Hyatt.

And now, I would
like to introduce

"Stunning" Steve Austin and the
"Vivacious" Veronica.

- WCW, I think it was my first
appearance on the ring

and Missy Hyatt's gonna
interview me,

and I'm walking
down the aisle

and I'm just I'm in
another world, right.

And I can hear the announcer
over the crowd going,

"And from Hollywood, California"
and I'm like "Man, who the --

is that guy talking about?"

I'm walking to the ring,
"'Stunning' Steve Austin."

[chuckles]

I was like "When did my Texas
ass with this accent you know

become from
Hollywood, California?"

- I would just like to take this
time to welcome you

to World Championship Wrestling.

- So I get out there and climb
in the ring and I'm doing this

interview with Missy Hyatt
and of course I got the biggest

booger you can have hanging out
of your nose, and I was like,

"Really?"

It wasn't- it wasn't a
great first appearance.

[chuckles]

- "Stunning" Steve Austin.

- Steve always had
great natural intensity.

It wasn't prefabricated,
it wasn't manufactured.

It was real.

- You can see that he could tap
into his athletic background to

bring a reality in the fight
that very few other people

can match.

- Ooh, did you see that?

- He had a solid run
throughout his time in WCW.

At one point he was part of a
tag team The Hollywood Blondes.

They were this young, vibrant
arrogant tag team, spitting

in the wind against the veterans
of that company at the time,

but he was always one of the
secondary performers

in the company.

- I don't think anyone in WCW
ever visualized Steve Austin

as being the top guy.

- I was keenly aware that
there-there was that upper level

and I wasn't a part of it.

Unless something happened, you
could not break into that-that

next tier.

Aesthetically, I
didn't have the right look.

I didn't have the
right gimmick or persona.

They didn't think
I was marketable.

- Get out of my face.

- From the Land
of the Rising Sun.

- It was over in Japan
on a three-week tour.

And the third night of that
tour, I jumped off the top rope

into a splashing
fly and he moved

and I tore my right
tricep off my elbow.

And so, I wrestled for two and a
half weeks with a torn tricep,

you know.

And as soon as I get
back to the United States,

my first major surgery.

And I remember, uh, getting a
call from Eric Bischoff, who was

running the WCW at
the time, and he goes,

"Steve, I'm just,
you know, letting you know that,

you know, you're getting fired."

And so that's how it went down.

Got a FedEx the next day
and I was out of a job.

I'm sitting there
trying to heal up now.

The money is
gonna stop coming in.

I got bills to pay
and my family to feed.

I'm like, "Man,
what am I gonna do?"

- So in this upcoming act,
you'll see a director's cut

exclusive, which is a
more in-depth look

into The Ringmaster
character and Steve trying

to discover that character.

- He's all business, McMahon.

He's not in there trying to
impress anybody with how good

he looks or like how pretty
his hair is or anything.

He just wants to beat up
people and win matches.

- I think Steve looks back on
that character in a frustrated

way because he was coming from a
time in his career at ECW when

they gave him a mic and he
flexed his skills on the mic

and he knew he was a good talker
and he knew he was entertaining.

- Eric Bischoff told his
secretary to tell her secretary

to leave a message on my
answering machine for me to call

Eric Bischoff.

And then I called Eric Bischoff
and he proceeded

to fire me over the phone.

- And he gets to the WWE and
the first thing he is told is,

"Don't talk."

And I think that that was hard
for Steve because he knew

he was good on the mic.

He knew he could
cut a good promo.

So I think when he looks back
on that time, it's frustrating

because he was
being told one thing

and he
believed in another.

- Because everybody's
got a price for

The Million Dollar Man.

[laughs]

Vince put Steve with me.

That's-that's the rub, you know,
'cause when he first started,

obviously, he was a newcomer,
but, uh, I don't think anybody

at that time envisioned
just how big he would get.

- He takes himself back into
that moment 'cause you can see

he's thinking, "How did
they not let me talk?

That was my strength."

And ultimately he
was proven right.

That was one of the most
memorable things about his

career was Steve is maybe the
best talker

in the
history of the WWE.

So it's ironic that the first
direction he's given is,

"Don't talk."

- The Ringmaster.

- But exploring that character
is interesting because it's- it

also is just another example of
how hard it is to be successful

and everything has
to line up perfectly

and that includes
a good character.

- In September 1995, I was
the owner of the ECW

and was in charge of all the
creative direction.

Someone from WCW buzzed me
that Steve was being let go.

So I called Steve and I said,

"Uh, hey, I heard
you got fired."

- Right off the
bat, the phone rings.

It's Pauly.

Paul calls me and he goes,
"Kid," he goes, "why don't you

come over and
start working for me?"

I said, "-- Paul," I
said, "I-I can't work."

I said, "I've got a torn tricep.

- "Oh, hell, kid,
I-I'm-I'm hurt.

I can't do anything."

"Can you talk?"

"Oh, hell, kid, I can
talk all day long."

"Come on on up and talk."

- And I said, "Man, what do
you want me to talk about?"

He goes- he goes, "Just-just
talk about how you feel."

- "If you're pissed
off, come and vent.

Let's talk about that."

I wanted that authentic
outrage on my television show.

- Sure enough, there I
am flying up to Philly.

We go to that God dang-- ECW
Arena, which is a complete --.

- ECW was- well, it was- it was
purgatory,

basically, probably closer to
hell than purgatory.

- ECW is Extreme Championship
Wrestling, and I dare say they

earned the extreme, uh, moniker.

- At ECW, we were obsessed with
delivering performances that

were going to redefine the
industry, with doing things that

had never been done before.

- There were tables and barbed
wire and blood and guts

and people flying
into the crowd.

- We took in, uh, misfits.

I mean, if there was an island
for misfit wrestlers,

it was ECW.

- Oh, my God.

- I'm the new guy
in the territory.

What's my mission?

What's my goal?

Who am I?

What am I?"

You know,
you're-you're kind of lost.

I'll never forget that
night when I-I cut this promo.

It was about seven or eight
minutes long,

and I just started talking, and
it was a one-take promo.

And everything I
said was how I felt.

You know, a couple of weeks
ago, when Eric Bischoff told his

secretary to tell her secretary
to leave a message on my

answering machine for me
to call Eric Bischoff.

And then I called Eric Bischoff,
and he proceeded to fire me over

the phone.

We're gonna put the US title on
you and then we're gonna take

you here, and then you're
the number one contender.

So then you got
this world title shot.

Well, all -- that
never happened.

When I wrapped up that promo
and they shut off that light,

everybody in that room started
clapping,

- Standing ovation,
and rightfully so.

- He was able to express himself
in a way that you just could not

do, or that we were not
allowed to do in WCW.

- Man, after being held down or
kind of restrained in WCW,

where no one believed in me,

I knew that I had to take
chances on myself.

- You could tell that he was
energized and that he had

an axe to grind and he was
grinding it really well.

- And a lot of people saying
that's kind of- that maybe that

was the genesis of what Stone
Cold would-would come from.

Steve-O-Mania is going run wild
on the ECW, brother,

I'm saying my prayers.

I'm not gonna do this --
anywhere, not even in ECW.

- Well, Jim Ross was always
an admirer of Steve's talent.

So I knew ECW was always
vulnerable,

that Jim Ross would recruit
Steve into WWE.

Once Steve did that interview
on ECW, Jim Ross came after him,

and rightfully so.

How could he not?

I didn't realize how
fast it was gonna happen.

- The WWE was subsidizing
ECW when Steve was there.

So we-we had our eye on him for
quite some time, at least I did.

I just had to wait for the right
place, the right time to get him

to WWE.

- So and then the phone rings,
and it's a maroon phone,

and I'd pick it up.

"Steve.

Vince McMahon."

"Hey Vince, how're you doing?"

"Hey, wanna bring you
as the Ringmaster,

uh, Master of the Ring."

- From a creative standpoint,
the character of the Ringmaster

was the best in-ring
performer and could do it all.

And to me that was Steve Austin.

- And I'm sitting there
listening to Vince make this

pitch, and I'm
like, "Ringmaster?"

First of all, it sounds like --,
but more importantly than that,

I need more money than I'm
making from ECW

and I ain't got
no other options.

So I said, "Sounds good.

Let's do it."

- I give you The Ringmaster.

[laughs]

- First appearance of "The
Ringmaster" Steve Austin was on

the Brother Love Show, and being
Brother Love, I-I gotta host it

and-and do the
introduction of Steve.

- And Ringmaster, right here in
front of everybody, I want to

officially crown you my
Million Dollar Champion.

- We partnered Steve with

Ted DiBiase "The
Million Dollar Man".

We immediately put the Million
Dollar Championship on Steve so

that Steve had a claim to, uh, a
championship that he didn't win.

- When I saw the, uh, the
wardrobe or what they wanted me

to wear, 'cause they wanted
me to wear green singlet like

emerald green, the color of
money, and I said,

"I ain't wearing no singlet."

So they made me
some green trunks.

I showed up there with kind of
ha- kind of a half assed- look,

but it was what it was.

- He was known for
the long blond hair

and for being
a great wrestler.

And then he shows up, and
he's got a shaved head.

You know, he has like a
very unaudacious debut.

- Behold, brothers and sisters,

Behold.

The Million Dollar Champion.

Vince told me, "Whatever
you do, don't let Steve talk.

Don't give him a
microphone, whatever you do."

Paul Heyman calls me that day,
and Paul says,

"Bruce, whatever you do,

make sure you put a
microphone in Steve's hand.

Give him the mic, let him talk."

So, I'm kind of in between
a rock and a hard place.

Brother, Ringmaster.

Steve came to me and Steve says,
"Hey, after we do the- the

whole presentation, do you
mind if I say something?"

I said, "Sure, just do it."

- Back up a little bit, brother.

Everybody out there in TV Land,
I'm gonna give you a chance

to be somebody.

Come on, get the camera
on that hand right there.

I want everybody out there in
TV Land to touch your screen

and feel what it's like
to be destined for success.

When I'm sitting there looking
at the guy doing it with the

buzz haircut, like, man, you
know, the emerald green trunks,

it just- it wasn't a great
presentation or a great look.

I'm gonna do it all,
and you're gonna see

what the Million
Dollar Man

and the Million Dollar Champ are
gonna accomplish.

And then I'll have
every single thing

that I want out of the WWE.

- Back body drop, very
impressed with The Ringmaster.

- We made the mistake of
bringing Steve in as a villain.

That's how he was cast
as with Ted DiBiase.

The Ringmaster and the Million
Dollar Man looks great

on-on an 8 x 10.

You know, you got two
amazing personalities.

Teddy and Steve had
little to no chemistry.

It didn't work.

Nobody's fault.

It's just that way sometimes.

- I don't think that Steve was
particularly fond of having

a mouthpiece, having Ted
DiBiase as a manager.

- My Million Dollar Champion, a
man who had a heart like mine,

The Ringmaster.

- Because Steve was
confident in his verbal skills.

- When you combine wealth and
greed, you don't only create

a winner, you create a monster.

Well, that time was hardest
because, you know, on one hand,

it was a great opportunity, but,
you know, there's no as far as

a character or anything,
Ringmaster is not like seeing

Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan,
or something like that

on a billboard.

- I can now look back and I
can appreciate Steve Austin

realizing and feeling deep
down, like, in here that this

Ringmaster character is not
happening because it's not me

and it's not authentic.

- Unbelievable.

Look at the laugh on DiBiase.

- When I joined the WWE, I
knew the-the territory was down.

You know, things weren't great.

They-they-they were getting by,
but, you know, we'd go out,

and I don't know, it seemed like
the houses would be,

like, a quarter full.

But I was willing to be a part
of the system just because it's

so new, it's so big, and I'm so
far low down, you know, that I

ain't got a reason to act like
a big shot, because I ain't.

Because here I am as a
Ringmaster, a new gimmick,

a bad gimmick.

And, you know, you don't
know who and what you are.

- He's all business, McMahon.

He's not in there trying to
impress anybody with how good

he looks or, like, how pretty
his hair is or anything.

He just wants to beat up
people and win matches.

- This character is a stretch
because I-I don't know what it

is or what it's supposed to be.

As The Ringmaster, I didn't know
who and what I was or how I'm

supposed to do things,
so it's very confusing.

And after a while, I just
stopped wearing the green trucks

because they weren't
paying attention to me.

So I'm thinking, I don't think
they really got plans for me.

- Vince looked at Steve, saw an
average guy, says, "I don't know

what to do with
him, and that accent.

It's just I can't relate to him.

There's nothing about
him I can relate to."

- My initial impressions of
him was he's wasting my time.

- There was no way to go
with the Ringmaster to make it

marquee.

I don't give a damn
who was doing it.

There's nothing there.

And I said, "Man," I said,
"this gimmick ain't worth a --."

And after six months or so, you
know, Vince is kind of like, "F,

I don't care what he does.

If he's not happy and he wants
to come up with another name,

let him."

And I was living in a log cabin
on 10 acres right outside

of Georgia in Douglasville.

And I was over there in my-my
log cabin, and I was drinking

some beer, and that's when they
had that special on HBO about

Richard Kuklinski "The Ice Man".

Well, Richard Kuklinski was a
hitman, you know, for the mob.

He's cold blooded.

He's remorseless.

I was glued to the set.

When you're sitting there
watching and you got a couple

of beers flowing, and it's
like, man,

this-this could be something.

And I pitched that, and, you
know, that-that was when

all the ideas started flowing.

- That's a tricky situation
where you're fairly

new in the company.

Mr. McMahon has agreed to give
you a character change,

and you were given a
list from creative.

The fact that I can rattle off
more of Stone Cold's names

than the terrible
names that I was given

speaks to just
how bad they were.

- And I just gotten those
three pages of names

like Fang McFrost.

- Snowman.

- Otto von Ruthless.

- Mr. Freeze.

- Ice Dagger.

- Ice Dagger.

- Cool Luke.

- Fang McFrost.

- Cool Cat.

- Chilly McFreeze.

- Chilly McFreeze.

Some of the worst names
you could ever imagine.

- Even given everything else
in the Austin package, if he's

Fang McFrost
or Chilly McFreeze,

we're not having this
interview right now.

- And my wife at the time made
me a cup of hot tea,

and she goes, "Drink your tea
before it gets stone cold."

And she looks at me, she goes,
that's your name,

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

You know, I'm not a rocket
scientist, but when she said

that name, I knew
that was the one.

I said, "Okay,
this-this is a good name."

And I wanted to be from
Victoria, Texas, because, you

know, I just thought it had a
good ring to it, a good sound,

but okay.

Now, who is this guy?

Who and what is
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin?

I got me some black boots made.

I always thought black was
badass, and menacing

from Darth Vader, Oakland
Raiders type stuff,

and it fit my persona.

I remember one time we were in
Pittsburgh and we were about

to work Mellon Arena, and there
I was with that buzz haircut.

You know, I looked in
the mirror and I said,

"Man, what are you doing?"

So I buzzed it all off with a
razor and then that's when

I started messing
with the mustache

and finally turned
into a goatee.

So I started-- Once I got that
goatee down, you know, that's

when things started getting a
little bit more menacing

and picked up the
visual that I needed.

- I believed in the character
because the character

was a real person.

Steve totally embraced
the presentation

of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

He loved it.

He owned it.

He created it.

He was bold enough to bet on
himself and push, and push,

and push until McMahon almost
threw his hands up and says,

"Okay, okay, let's go.
Let's try it."

He just needs a chance.

Give him a reason to
be a main event guy.

- 1995 to 1996, Stone Cold
starting to find himself

as a character.

And then they had the 1996 King
of the Ring tournament,

which would take place in June.

The King of the Ring is
one night pay-per-view.

Wrestlers all go through this
tournament, and the winner is

pretty much earmarked to
be the next great star.

That's the message
from the company.

We're going to try and push
them, and promote them,

and move them up
behind the scenes.

It had already been planned,
Triple H was going to win

King of the Ring,
but before that,

Triple H ended up punished for
his role in something

called The Curtain Call.

- We did a big no, no in the
wrestling business where all of

us came together in Madison
Square Garden, myself, Triple H,

Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall.

We were expressing a real
friendship out there that had

really nothing to do with
whatever was going on in the WWE

at the time or from a
storyline standpoint.

We were pulling the, uh, curtain
back, uh, more so than anyone

wanted the
curtain being put back.

It's very frowned upon

and Triple H got in
a lot of trouble.

- Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

It was already- It was already--
Vince had sat me down, talked to

me about it, "Here's where I
wanna go, King of the Ring."

And then for me, that
was the next level, right?

And, you know,
that all went away.

- So in the pecking orders, you
looked at it, you looked at who

needed that boost and who
needed maybe just a nudge.

Steve was the guy.

- I'm walking in-in-in the
building, dragging my suitcase

behind me, I hear
this voice, it's Vince.

He goes, "Steve, I just wanna
let you know in two weeks you're

winnning King of the Ring."

I was pretty happy because you
know when you're winning the

King of the Ring, you're going
to get a big shove after that.

And before, there were
no future plans for me.

Go to, uh,
Milwaukee's Mecca Arena.

And I go out there and I'm
working with Mark Mero, and we

do this thing, we're having a
match, and he kicks me

in my mouth and we
finished a match.

I beat him.

My mouth was busted
open pretty bad.

So they take me in an
ambulance to the hospital.

And so I get stitched up, 14
stitches or whatever

in my upper lip.

And they bring me back because
I'm gonna wrestle

Jake "The Snake" Roberts in the
finals and I'm gonna beat Jake,

and become
the King of the Ring.

When I come back, my mouth is
stitched up and as soon as I get

out of ambulance,
there's Michael Hayes.

- We're in the back
of the Mecca Arena.

And he came out, he was going
to the ring to go take on Jake.

I mean, literally
going to the ring.

And I said, "Jake
just cut a promo."

He says, "What did he say?"

And I said, you know, he just
uses some Bible quotes and,

you know, that he was gonna win.

- My soul was purchased by
the blood of the Lamb, brother.

So how can I lose if I just go
out there and know the power

above is reaching
down and lifting me up?

- And when he told me that,
I immediately thought of the

football days back in the day
when they're kicking

the field goals a point after,

they always had John 3:16 signs
behind the field goal.

So anyway, we go out there and
we have the match,

myself and Jake, and because my
lip was busted up,

we had a real short match.

After the match, I go over there
to do the interview

with Michael Hayes, who
smartened me up.

You thump your Bible and
you say your prayers,

and it didn't get you anywhere.

Talk about your Psalms.

Talk about John 3:16.

Austin 3:16 says I
just whipped your ass.

- Austin 3:16 says, I
just whipped your ass.

- Austin 3:16 says, I
just whipped your ass.

- He said, I just
whipped your ass.

- I just whipped your ass.

And thus a franchise was born.

- There was a vibe of
like a rocket ship

igniting its
engine to take off.

- That was the moment where the
character really became a star.

That's the epicenter
of the explosion

that eventually happens.

- I remember thinking halfway
through this promo like,

I'm watching this guy get made.

And part of me was like, holy
--, that should have been me.

But also, holy --, I
wouldn't have cut that promo.

- But I think the stitches in
his lip and coming back only

added to the aura
of that interview.

- I just got back from the
hospital, so I just kind of put

that together in my head.

And I didn't know what kind of
holy -- moment that was,

but it was.

And then on the backside of it,
I knew I needed to wrap it up.

I needed to put a button on it.

And that's the bottom line
because Stone Cold said so.

And that's the bottom line
because Stone Cold said so

was on the spot.

I went to bat twice, and I hit
two grand slams out of- out

of an event I was
never supposed to win.

Next night we showed up, all of
a sudden, there's Austin 3:16

signs, and we realized
there might be something here.

- Next night on Raw, you saw all
these Austin 3:16 signs

all over the building.

- I remember thinking to myself
at that time, man,

everything happens
for a reason

because this guy is going
to be massive now.

- One day, I'm talking
to our merch guy

and I'm sitting
in the arena.

He goes, "Steven, office finally
wants to come up

with a t- shirt for you.

You got any ideas?"

I said, "You're
goddamn right I do."

I said, "Put Austin 3:16 on the
front, put a skull in the back

and carve in Stone Cold."

"Okay, Steven."

And sure enough, we came
up with that shirt,

and it sold like a sumbitch.

- From that point on, when he
got the chance to speak,

there was an intensity there
that you couldn't help

but want to watch that segment.

The way he walked, the way he
stalked opponents,

the way he looked at people.

He had that icy glare.

Because he was in the zone at
that level, you couldn't help

but be like, "I got to
see what he's going to do."

- Why do you keep
asking me stupid questions?

No second thought, I'll
whip your asses right now.

Shut up.

Stone Cold never gave a
rat's ass about anybody.

I don't know what
pressure is, fat boy.

Because I got a big bunch of
bananas and I can tell you where

to stick each and
every one of them.

You ain't worth the
sweat off of my-

-brow.

My mom used to tell me,
"Steven, if you were on TV,

I wouldn't let you watch you.

You're a piece of garbage.

- Oh, no.

- So you can take your
camera and stick it, son.

I ain't leaving yet and you can
stop counting me down because

I gone and told you once, son.

We got a damn problem.

- Hey.

Wait a minute.

- No more.

- That's a production assistant.

- He is now the guy in
the eyes of the audience,

like he can do no wrong.

They wanna be
part of that chaos.

They wanna be
part of that energy.

They wanna go and experience
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin,

the act live.

- And you really start feeling
that momentum because you're

finally getting the
desired response

that you want
from these people.

So now, now that I'm-I'm getting
that feedback,

I can feed it to you.

Throughout that period of
time, I'm trying my hardest to

entertain you or grab your
heartstrings to make you feel

what I'm feeling, channel that.

I'm doing my damnedest
to try to affect you.

And I guess I was effective at
making people feel emotions.

- That there's a perception that
Steve just came out of nowhere,

that that's a misconception on a
lot of people's parts

Stone Cold lived within and it
took ten years to come out.

- Because if you look at
that time period,

WWE is at its lowest point.

The only way they could have
gone any lower is

going out of business or for the
company to fall apart.

He dragged them into success.

Austin's ascension
is tied intricately

to the ascension of WWE.

We're coming back to life.

The flame isn't dead.

By 1997, Stone Cold is
the hottest he's ever been.

The company's building him as
one of the biggest stars

in their company.

He's driving revenue.

He's selling merchandise.

He's making money.

- But up next, ladies and
gentlemen,

the Intercontinental
Championship matchup.

It's Owen Hart in a title
defense against

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

- Me and Owen were going
to have a hell of a match.

And we had had this plan where
he'd end up hitting me with

a tombstone pile driver.

And I said, "You go
down to your knees, right?"

Because I'm
looking for clearance.

He goes, "No.

I go to my ass."

I said, "But seemed like you
got to go down your knees."

He goes, "No."

And when Owen said this is how
I do it, I trusted him because

he's Owen Hart.

And so anyway, we get out there
and things go like they did.

And, man, when he goes to his
ass, and my head is sticking out

about six inches below his ass.

And, boy, I got spiked on
the mat, and it was not good.

- Let's see what
Austin can do with-- No.

How about that

- A gutwrench. Tombstone.

Tombstone Piledriver.

Shades of The Undertaker.

- Yeah, it-it was gnarly.

You could tell immediately that
Steve was, you know,

that he was injured.

- I'm afraid Austin is hurt.

- It sounded like someone hit a
big gong and it was my skull,

you know, striking that damn
ring dead center in the middle.

And then I didn't feel anything
because I'm laying there

and I'm paralyzed.

And I was like, man, on one
hand, I could have freaked out

and got scared, but
instead I remained calm.

I was like, "Don't touch me.

I can't move."

And so, he starts buying time
because I think I'm never going

to move again.

- As soon as he got
injured, I called his wife up.

I said, "Did he really get
hurt, or is this a show?"

She said, "No, he-he
really got hurt."

It was 1997.

To this day, I-I-I cry about
it every time I hear about it.

- I'm thinking, I got to
get out of this match.

I got to get out of this
match so we can go back.

And Earl Hebner is our
referee in that match.

And I told Earl, I said,
"Tell him, roll up for the win."

I thought I could start
moving my arms and legs.

And when I tried to, if you go
back and watch that, it's like

my knees are creaking to
get in a crawl position.

And I can't crawl like this
because my hands don't work.

So I had to crawl
using my forearms.

And I give him the initial
thing, and he goes with me,

and he doesn't try to fight it.

It's the worst roll up in
the history of the business.

And, man, I am- I am gone.

I've been, you know, I'm
quadriplegic for 60 seconds

and my world has been
turned upside down.

The referees come to the ring
and they--

Three of them help me up.

I got my arms around their
shoulders, and I-I pull them off

because I wanna get up, and I
wanna address that crowd

and hold up that belt.

And only reason I held up that
belt was to signal to that crowd

that, "Hey, man, I'm cool."

And, man, when you look at that,
my eyes are open,

but I'm worlds away.

The referees help me to the back
and as I'm walking, this leg

is dragging behind me quite a
bit because of my nerve damage.

- I watched Steve stand up on
legs that he couldn't feel.

I don't know how
in the hell still

that he was able to get up.

That's the will that
supersedes what the body can do.

- Everybody
thought I broke my neck.

I didn't break my neck.

I bruised my spinal cord.

I'm a pretty tough guy.

On that night, I was
1% tough and 99% lucky.

You know, and that's-that's
why I get a little bit emotional

about it because if-if anything
would have went any differently,

I'd have been in a wheelchair.

I wouldn't be sitting
here talking to you.

Nothing that ever happened
after that would have happened.

Everything was on the line.

- Where's the ambulance?

Where's the ambulance team?

- Ambulance.

You want to just
call 911 or what?

Get the medics.

- I was putting a pair of shorts
on and I was sitting up there

against the wall, and I was
like, well, I was shaking.

I kinda started crying a
little bit because it scared me.

It scared me so bad.

- I think an injury of that
magnitude makes us question

our own mortality, and that's
not something

we're often faced with.

- And I remember I-I passed the
test in the hospital,

but the doctor said, you know,
"You're pretty --"

Initially, Dr. Torg said,

"Man, you're not
getting back in a ring."

And it's easy for a doctor to
sit there and tell me,

"Maybe you ought to think about
doing something else."

But this is what Steve Austin
has done for- does for a living.

I've done it for eight years.

Austin 3:16 started
a year and a half ago,

and I ain't ready to
give that up for nobody,

and no one's gonna run me
out of wrestling.

And there ain't a doctor in
the world that can make me quit.

It took me long enough to get to
the top, and you get to the top,

and it's like, man, you're
riding- you're riding

the lightning bolt and you're
going 100 miles an hour.

Then all of a sudden, man,
out of nowhere,

you come
to a screeching halt.

- Here was his opportunity he
worked so hard for

and like that
could all be over.

- And after that bad injury, my
anterior delts were on fire for,

like, a couple of weeks.

I mean, like, someone
put icy hot on them.

It was the weirdest thing

and I didn't think it was
ever going to stop.

And it turned into an itch.

And then finally it went away.

And like, when I took that
piledriver back in the day,

when those refs
are carrying me out,

you can watch my left leg kind
of dragging behind me.

- It's hard to watch.

- So, like, if I get cold, you
know, that-that leg

will kind of--

- Oh, wow.

- It just doesn't respond the
same and, you know, just--

When you-when you-when you
bruise your spinal cord

and bad stuff happens,

it just-
it doesn't reverse.

So, um, I've got some
atrophy and stuff like that.

Coming out of pro-wrestling
business I asked the guys

that are 5 years older than me
and 10 years older than me,

"Hey, man, how
are you feeling?"

So I kinda know what's next,
you know,

or what they're going through
because I know

they've been through the
same -- that I have.

I've never had any neck pain.

You know, everybody always
thinks, "Hey, man,

Steve got dropped on his head
and he got a fusion.

His neck's all jacked up."

Man, I feel good.

You know, every now and then,
if I'm sitting around too long,

I'll get a little gimped up.

Just got to
stretch it a little bit.

But I really can't complain
about anything through

all the surgeries and just the
wear and tear of the road

for-for what it's worth
through all the stuff.

I feel good.

- To WWE's credit, Steve's
credit, they managed to take

that injury and he
became even bigger.

- It has been said that anything
can happen here

in the World Wrestling
Entertainment, but now more

than ever, truer words have
never been spoken.

This is a conscious effort on
our part to open the creative

envelope, so to speak, in
order to entertain you

in a more contemporary manner.

- For me, the start of the
attitude era was the day

in late 1997 when Mr. McMahon
addressed the roster,

admitted that the
old days were gone,

and that if we were
going to succeed,

we would have to put our own
personal emphasis

into these characters.

- The attitude era is a point
in time in pro wrestling history

where WWE got a lot edgier.

It becomes violent,
it becomes chaotic.

They pushed
sexuality with women.

They pushed storylines that
were blatantly over the top.

- Get that mic out of my face.

- Everybody felt this
interesting shift that was

happening in wrestling and that
seismic shift now was away from

the cartoon era, the
superhero era, if you will,

in pro wrestling into an
edgier, reality-based program.

- The attitude era was era of
reality, the era of pushing

the limits as far as we could.

It's the golden era.

- The attitude era, a lot of
it was blending

reality and fiction.

It was more real and more
versions of ourselves,

just with the volume
turned way up.

Suck it.

- I would imagine doing the
suck it probably caused more

suspensions and detentions in
school than any other thing

in the history of
school in America.

- We saw the very best in
what people had to offer.

- It's Austin.

- And Steve happened to have
been the best of all of us

at bringing that to the plate.

He was in a
different stratosphere.

- It was the era of holy --.

Steve's glass was the
soundtrack to holy --.

[Stone Cold's music plays]

No matter what was
happening, "Holy --."

Right?

Like, that was the moment.

I'm getting goosebumps
right now talking about it.

[Stone Cold's music plays]

- Whether it's arena of-of 2,000
or 20,000 or 100,000, they know

when that glass breaks, there's
a sumbitch coming out there

to deal out a can of whoop ass.

- When that glass broke, here
he came with his whole head

bouncing, you know, and he's
saying whatever he's saying

under his breath, and you
just see that attitude.

- I remember the first time I
heard that glass break and I saw

him walk down to the ring, it
was the first time that I ever

got goosebumps in
my entire life.

20,000, 40,000, 60,000 people
were going absolutely insane.

I said, I wanna
be like that guy.

In that moment I said, I
need to be a pro wrestler.

- That was the walk of a guy who
had been down the road, paid his

dues, learned the business, and
got over despite what anybody

else thought about him,
this guy's not marketable.

He's never gonna draw no money.

The company
finally picked me

and that's the guy
walking to the ring.

- The character of "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin

was a very
reality-based persona,

which is not what this
industry was built on.

So, the whole attitude era that
was ushered in was ushered

in as an extension of the
personality that was brought out

by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

And that makes him, in many
ways, the most pivotal

human being and character in
pro wrestling history.

Now we have to go a
little bit higher.

Now we have to go a
little bit bigger.

- In this upcoming act, you'll
see a more extended version

of the Vince-Steve
rivalry and relationship.

And when Steve talks about the
moment when that all started,

he really lights up because
he got to physically

interact with his boss.

And for anybody,
if you like your boss

or you don't like your boss,
it still as appealing

and exciting to think about
what it would be like.

But I think, two, it was the
start of the biggest moment

of his career, his rivalry
with Vince McMahon

transcended wrestling.

People would tune into wrestling
to watch what's going to happen

with Steve and Vince.

- You can kiss my ass.

- And Steve looks back on that
time fondly because it

worked out, and it was exactly
what the WWE needed at the time.

And I think Steve is
proud of that interaction.

And I think that when he looks
back on those moments,

it's nothing but
good memories because

of how successful
the rivalry was.

- Welcome everyone to the
world's most famous arena,

Madison Square Garden.

- Vince knew if I stunned his --
in Madison Square Garden,

people would go ballistic.

- What's the matter with you?

- At that time, I don't believe
Steve had ever put his hands

on Vince and it was so taboo to
put your hands on your boss.

- In other words, you simply--

You got to work
within the system.

And I thought, wow,

this is really going to
work and work big.

- If that's what it takes to
make you

or the World Wrestling
Entertainment happy,

I'll work within your stupid
little system.

- I remember crowding around the
monitor that night at the Garden

when Steve finally
stunned Mr. McMahon.

- Oh, God.

Austin just stunned Mr. McMahon.

- You saw Steve being rebellious
against everybody,

including the off-limits people,
you know, Vince.

Oh, my God.

He touched Vince McMahon.

- Put him in jail.

Put him in jail right now.

- I thought it was
premier, hokey as --.

but premier.

- Vince McMahon is out.

- The stunner in Madison Square
Garden started it all because

we almost botched it.

I remember
kicking him in the gut.

He'd bent over and I grabbed his
head, and almost slipped out.

And we're going down.

I'm like, aw.

I won't say we
nailed it, but we did it.

And so, the roof
blew off the place.

- I thought Steve broke his
larynx because Vince

went straight down.

Oh, my gosh.

All of us in the
back were looking.

We're like, "Oh, my God."

Like, "Check on him," we
sent the medical guys.

Literally, I thought
he popped his larynx.

- Stone Cold just
dropped the owner of WWE.

There ain't nobody safe
when Steve Austin is in town.

- Vince went down like a
piece of cooked spaghetti.

It was funny and, uh, quite
enjoyable for a lot of laughs

for a few months
after that with the boys.

- It's not like we went
out and practiced it.

And his motor skills are a
little bit different than one

of the boys who's in
the ring every night.

We just assumed that he knew
how to do it

because he's seen
a bunch of them.

- I am the worst performer in
the world in terms

of taking that stunner.

I still don't know how to do it.

- The worst person to ever take
the stunner is Vince McMahon

because he's not a very
coordinated person,

and he knows it just
as well as I do.

- It was- it was ugly.

- Stunner, stunner.

Austin stuns McMahon.

- The worst I've ever seen.

- The fact that Vince took the
worst stunner of all time

didn't even seem to matter

because everyone saw what
they wanted to see.

They saw Steve stun the boss,

which is what
everybody had wanted.

- Vince may have taken a
bowling shoe, ugly stunner.

But of all the stunners that
Steve delivered, the ones

to Mr. McMahon
are, quite frankly,

arguably the most memorable.

- Stunner.

- Stunner.

- Vince McMahon just got
stunned out of his shoes.

- It was entertaining
to see Steve Austin

kick the crap out
of Mr. McMahon.

- Why did he do that?

What for?

- Out of all the people that
I gave a stunner to, I always

loved stunning Vince because of
what it stood for, you know,

me stunning him,
him being my boss,

and the evil things that
he was trying to do to me.

- Stone Cold's success in the
attitude era can be attributed

to many people.

But in order for your star hero
to become successful,

he has to have real
viable villains.

Vince McMahon
was the greatest villain

in the attitude era bar none.

- Vince could show up in some
way, take away like that thing

that you desperately wanted as
a fan, and it drove me insane.

And that's why the attitude
error was so popular,

was that Vince versus
Stone Cold rivalry.

- Vince and I were tailor-made
for each other to work together.

Vince was unique
because he was the owner.

Now he's feuding with me.

It's a real storyline.

You can kiss my ass.

All of a sudden, it
wasn't just about wrestling.

It was about this guy who is an
employee against his boss,

and everybody's an
employee that has a boss.

And a lot of times, the employee
has not liked

what the boss has done
or said to him.

- Screw you.

You're fired.

- Vince is crazy
and he really is.

That stuff is not far from what
Vince would do

as to what Mr. McMahon did.

- Mr. McMahon is a character no
way in the world like-like me.

We'll start with that.

Um, but he's arrogant.

I am a handsome,
affluent entrepreneur.

He's rich.

I said, black tie.

He can treat people like crap.

The thought of you, Austin,
makes me physically ill,

makes me wanna vomit.

- Everyday people saw something
of themselves in Steve, and they

saw Mr. McMahon as the system
that was holding them down.

- Nobody, especially Vince
McMahon,

tells Stone Cold Steve
Austin what to do.

And that's the bottom line.

- It was the consummate
working-class hero,

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin
against the machine.

Steve was the rage
against the machine.

- The Rattlesnake is here.

Oh, my God.

I don't believe this.

That's one of the Corvettes
of Mr. McMahon's collections.

- That's a $50,000 car.

- At that time, everybody wanted
to be Stone Cold Steve Austin.

He captured
everybody's feelings perfectly.

- You are the world's
dumbest son of a bitch.

Vince was like a kid in a candy
store getting to work

with me because he always
wanted to be a wrestler.

He finally got a
chance to perform,

not just oversee and
give instructions.

If you go back, man, you watch
some of the blue jeans I wore,

some of the shorts I wore
would get ringing tight.

I couldn't physically
pick my leg up high enough.

Always the target is the gut.

But when you can't pick
your leg up high enough,

right below the stomach
is the testicles.

- He didn't know where
those kicks were going.

We really- I had no idea.

He had no idea.

He was going to make
contact with something

that was in front of him.

- So many times I kicked him
right the jewels and he just go,

"God damn it, Steve."

- You know, if Steve kicks you
in the Netherlands or something

like that, it's
easy to sell that.

- We had to keep upping
the game a little bit, so-

- Stone Cold!

- What could Stone
Cold do to up the ante?

We had boards of stuff.

- What the hell can Steve do?

Something crazy.

I don't know.

Drive a Zamboni to the ring?

Seriously, that's
how it happened.

- This Zamboni incident, we
did Vince in the hospital.

- There you see, Mr.
McMahon via satellite.

- I want apple juice.

- Oh, man, that was a great one.

So I go out there.

- How about you, Doctor?

- Oh, I'll take it
from here, nurse.

And I said, "Man, I'm worried
about hitting you

with that bed pan."

Because that was
stainless steel bed pan.

Man, that sumbitch is hard.

He said, "God damn,
Steve, you got to."

- And I'm watching Steve,
and he's walking up

and down the hallway hospital.

And he's hitting his
head with the damn bed pan.

- I was kinda just bouncing it.

When you hit people with objects
for a living, you become

an expert at hitting people, you
know, with objects for a living.

So when I swung it, boy, I just
reached up and grabbed it,

and nailed him with it.

- It ain't ballet as the
expression goes, you know.

- Help me please.

- This is going to hurt you a
lot more than

this is going to hurt me.

[yelling]

- I love Vince.

The guy would do absolutely
anything for me

and I would for him too.

- Again, every now and then,
someone very special

would come along and um
Steve is that guy.

- Man, there's a period there
where everything we did

was a home run
and a grand slam.

And if you had a double or
triple, that was a bad day.

- At his peak, Steve was one of
the most recognizable

faces in the world.

- Austin 3:16 shirts
were now in Spencer's Gifts

and Hot Topic,
and Walmart.

And you go in Foley's or
Macy's and there's Austin 3:16.

It was everywhere.

- And of course, you know, he
had one quarter

where he made a million
dollars selling t-shirts.

- If you look at any sales chart
Steve Austin's t-shirts

are still amongst the best
sellers in WWE to this day.

- Well, it first hit me when me
and my wife

went out to Las Vegas.

Every single person I saw
walking the streets,

everybody has Steve
Austin t-shirts on.

It's crazy.

- If you turned on the
TV, all of the night shows.

- Please welcome,
Stone Cold Steve Austin.

- It's good to be here.

- "Stone Cold" Steve
Austin for the block.

- Any show like
that, he was on it.

Commercials.

- Can I get one more of those?

- Sure.

- Wrestling just
came in like a tsunami.

- Thanks, Dan.

That helps.

- Sports Center wasn't
embracing wrestling back then.

And I just remember this tidal
wave of whether you're accepting

us or not, here we come.

I wasn't even a wrestling fan,
but he was so big,

he crossed
over into mainstream.

- We'd like to welcome
back Stone Cold Steve Austin.

- He was bigger than wrestling.

People who aren't wrestling fans
or don't care about wrestling

even they knew
who Stone Cold was.

- When you crossover like that,

that's when you
know you've made it.

- Hey, man.

- Nice to meet you too.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

When Austin 3:16 became so hot
and everybody had heard about it

that we would be, you know,
in an airport and I'd get

preachers, and-and priests,
and religious people, you know,

They'd say, "Hey, man, is it
okay if I get your autograph?"

And I said, "Sure."

I said, "I thought
you'd be mad at me

for inventing the
Austin 3:16 thing."

He said, "Oh, no,
we don't care."

- Steve's legacy is one that
kinda makes it hard

for us to be WWE Superstars.

His impact is felt in a way that
none of us can kinda

compare to him.

You know, we certainly try,
but there's always gonna be

somebody somewhere that's
gonna say, "Pretty good.

Not Stone Cold, though."

[crowd cheers]

- When it was at its peak
during the Attitude Era,

it was Mob City.

Uh, it's like The
Beatles just landed.

It was amazing.

It sounds glamorous,

but you're choosing to
be on the road a lot.

You have to love the business
to put yourself through that.

That's where you really start
evaluating your entire life.

- When you're going to an
interview, one of the most

challenging parts of the
interview besides the questions

is how do we make this interview
look good and how do we make the

interview look true to the
person that you're interviewing?

Steve had been posting a lot of
Instagram posts about his car,

Blue.

It was a 1966 Chevrolet C10.

We got to his ranch and that car
was prominently featured

when we pulled up.

So our DP, Tom McCallum, had the
great idea of incorporating

that into the interview and I
think the car to us,

it really represented where
Steve kinda was in his life.

It was cool.

It was simple.

It was elegant.

It stood out, but it wasn't
too flashy, and I think that car

just felt sort of like an
extension of Steve at the time,

so we knew we wanted to-to make
it prominent in the interview

because there is this odd
connection that you could feel

between Steve and that car, and
it just was natural that it was

a part of the interview look.

- Man, when you're running like
I was a-at-at my peak, it's hard

to do anything other than be
a pro-wrestler because it-it

consumes everything about you.

You are in go mode 24/7, 365.

You are a slave to the road
and you never wanna come off

the road because if-if you come
off the road, you get soft.

So I was never home.

That's a recipe for disaster.

It's all looks fun when you're
seeing it on TV,

but it ain't always TV.

TV's a very small part of the
life that you live

when you're doing that job.

- The pressure was immense for
him and part of that was

I think because
he had so much going on.

As the pressure's mounting
around him work-wise,

he had a lot of
pressures at home

and a lot of pressures
with his family, and it's a lot.

It was a lot.

- And that's the thing about
the business, you've got all

the personal problems that
everybody else does.

I got two daughters.

Uh, Stephanie Britt's the oldest
and Cassidy Skye's the youngest,

and I remember I came home.

I think it was
Stephanie who was born.

I-I flew in.

I was in New York City.

We were working in New York.

It was the Garden.

Man, I flew home.

I was there f-for her birth and
then as soon as she's born,

I held her.

I gave her like
her first bottle.

I got on an airplane and I
was in Pittsburgh that night-

-working.

- The truth is even guys that
were married and had families

and things like that, they were
more married to the road

and the business.

- To be successful in this
industry, you have to be willing

to commit an enormous amount
of time away from being home.

There's just no
other way to do it.

It-it's an
extremely difficult life.

It really is.

If you have a
family, so difficult.

So difficult on everybody.

I think that's probably why
there's such

a high rate of divorce and-and
things of that nature.

- I tried to not
bring up that stuff.

I knew what family life is like.

It's unsatisfying.

It's a source of consternation.

It's a source of crying
children and heartbreak.

It's a source of
unhappy spouses.

- It's not like you're making
a conscious decision,

hey, I'm putting everybody else
on the back burner,

but I decided to get a divorce.

You know, when you go through
a divorce, they're chaotic.

So obviously,
you're very distracted.

I was living in a house, but
once I decided to get a divorce,

I moved literally about two,
three miles down the road in an

old double wide and although I
was going through the pain or

whatever goes with a
divorce, when I moved in to that

double-wide, me and the
double-wide, for some reason,

there's synergy.

I had two cinderblocks with a 1
x 12 plank where my, uh, TV was.

I had my cooler, you
know, uh, full of beer.

It's too bad that the marriage
didn't work out,

but I found comfort and solace
in that double wide.

You can be in the business and
you can still live a full life,

but everything else is
kinda like white noise

that I'm putting all my
chips in my own basket

and this is what I'm doing,

and that was the first
and foremost priority was me.

Selfish I was and I was gonna
ride myself and everything

that the business had to get to
the top and do the best I could.

- There's a sacrifice to
greatness and it's a price

that a lot of people are not
willing to pay because

there is an intensity to it.

There is an obligation to your
own vision and dreams that you

have to service at all costs
over and above everyone else

in your life including yourself.

Your own self-interests take a
back seat to your dreams

and aspirations of what
you want to achieve.

He's had multiple
marriages that fell apart.

He's had multiple friendships
that will never be repaired,

but that's the price you pay to
look back on a body of work

and have everyone else around
you say, "He changed the game."

- Man, I-I am very demanding.

I was a professional wrestler.

It's what I live and died for.

- He took a lot of
things personally.

He wanted everything to be
perfect and he would always

want to be challenged with new
information, and new creative.

You kept your star happy.

Keep your talent
happy as best you can.

- If you don't build new stars,

you can't feed the
superstars at the top.

So when Steve became the big
star in the business, he knew he

needed a fresh rotation of
brand-new stars to work with.

Mr. McMahon couldn't be that
equal because once they got in

to the ring together, it
wasn't a very good match.

It needed someone that you could
honestly look at and say,

"This guy can measure up to
'Stone Cold' Steve Austin."

- If you smell what
The Rock is cooking.

[crowd chants "Rocky"]

- If you build an opponent for
Stone Cold, that opponent should

be on TV regularly and go
six months without losing.

Start planting those seeds.

Can you imagine this
guy's gonna be like

when he takes on
Stone Cold someday?

- My first couple of years in
the business, man, I watch this

guy, Steve Austin, ascend to the
top and start to achieve this

incredible popularity and I
would just quietly watch in the

shadows, study his behavior, and
watch how he operated because

that was a position that I
wanted to be in,

and I think he knew that.

- I just remember watching
him starting to gain momentum,

starting to establish a
relationship with the crowd.

He's starting to get over.

There's something here.

I-I-I need to watch this.

- And I remember him saying
something to the effect

of there's something there, kid.

[laughs]

There's something there.

There was also this bond like he
was a big brother in a way,

and then we knew that
we were going to converge

and that we were going
to work together.

And as far as where The Rock
is concerned,

the greatest book ever
written is the one titled,

The Rock versus "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin.

[crowd cheers]

- They were natural together.

They had great chemistry.

I think that Steve and Rock
liked each other,

so that helped, and they
both rode that wave.

- Rock, Stone Cold
at WrestleMania.

- I loved the relationship of
The Rock and Steve

because they are both very,
very competitive.

They were always wondering how
the other was feeling,

how the other was doing.

They never left
each other's radar.

They pushed each other.

They made each other better.

- In the world of pro-wrestling,
you can only control so much,

and after that, it
becomes the intangible.

- Rock commandeering a camera.

- He can do it all.

- The Rattlesnake is up.

And the Stunner.

- And that intangible, what
everybody searches for,

is chemistry.

I knew exactly what he
was gonna do all the time.

He knew exactly what I
was gonna do all the time.

That's just kinda the special
thing that you just feel.

[crowd cheers]

- And it's like watching two
comets fly through the sky

and hit each other.

It never happens.

- The Lou Thesz Press.

- I think it was the Apex.

I mean it was-it
was really the peak.

And Steve Austin and The Rock
were the two hottest stars

in the business.

- We were fighting for
the exact same thing

and that was the number one top
spot in the company

at a time where the
company was on fire.

It's really rarefied air

and we were fighting for
that rarefied air.

But it was outta so much
love and so much respect.

- God, It was so fun to watch
and privileged to see something

like that when you have these
two big talents coming together.

- It's a new champion.

[crowd cheering]

- Man, that was a great ride.

[crowd cheering]

- Rock and I never
rode the roads together.

He ran with a different crowd.

But whenever
we see each other,

it's just like the last
time we left off.

It's a friendship
that is forever.

- That was a guy who
looked at me and said, "You.

You and me we're gonna go and
we're gonna go to the dance."

That decision to-to take me,
if you will, under his wing,

it changed my life.

- Steve sacrificed so
much for his success.

He sacrificed everything,
family, friends, time to get

where he needed to go.

- I'm putting all my chips
in my own basket

and this is what I'm doing.

And that was the first and
foremost priority was me.

- And I think when at an older
age when he's reflecting

on that, he thinks a little bit
more about the sacrifices

and who that impacted.

- When I asked Steve about
his daughters, he was much more

willing to talk about it
than I thought he was.

- In the past, I haven't talked
too much about them

and it's because of the strained
relationship that it was

and me being
gone all the time.

- And after the shoot he called
me and he said,

"I'm really glad I got to talk
about my daughters."

He said, "I-- I've wanted to do
that for a while

and I'm glad that
we talked about it

and, um, I'm glad that will be
in the biography."

So I think it was therapeutic
for Steve to finally talk

about his daughters
out in the open.

I'm still curious what that
relationship is like

and-and more, but I think it's
a start to Steve talking

about that kind of stuff.

And it's also-- it shows where
he's at in his life now,

willing to talk about certain
things that he probably wasn't

willing to talk about when he
was a little younger.

- Steve's gonna be the first
one to tell you

that he's got just a core
group of friends.

I mean, he is not gonna
just be your best friend

just to be
your best friend.

- They say it's
lonely at the top

and I think Steve
was pretty lonely.

- I ran with myself.

I was lone wolf.

My place was on top of that
roster, on top of that card.

There's so much jealousy.

I really live the-the-the thing
I came up with years ago,

DTA, don't trust anybody.

- DTA, don't trust anyone,
makes for a good catchphrase.

I don't know if it's the best
way to go through life,

but I think that is how Steve
went through his life

at that time.

- The DTA, don't trust anyone
thing, that wasn't Steve

playing a character, angry,
bitter, paranoid,

like there was a lot of that.

Steve's a very private guy.

He just is.

He never really talked
about his home life.

Every now and then he'd tell you
something about his family,

but for the most part he-he kept
all that stuff to himself.

- People have always
asked me about my daughters.

In the past, I haven't talked
too much about them

and it's because of the strained
relationship that it was

and me being
gone all the time.

I-I never won father of the year
because I'm purely on the road.

If I'm gonna come home for my
two days off every now and then,

I'm gonna cook some flank steaks
on the grill and drink beer.

That's as much as
I'm contributing.

I hate to say that,
that's the way it was.

They knew that I loved
them, but I wasn't there.

Back in 2001, uh, my wife took
the kids over to England

to visit her side of the family.

9/11 happened and then that's
when everybody was,

or at least she
was afraid to fly.

They kind of stayed over there.

I was always gone anyway,
so what's the big deal?

So they stayed over there, and
they kept staying over there,

and, uh, as time went on, well,
I called Stephanie just to talk

to them and when we started
talking and she had a-a proper

London accent.

When I hung up the phone, I
started crying like a baby.

Because she used to sound
exactly like I do

[laugh]

for better for worse
without the four-letter words.

She had my same accent.

And to hear her with an English
accent, yeah, that shook me up

because I was like, "Okay, er,
you-- you know what'd I do wrong

or could have done better?"

- That's the bottom line
because Stone Cold said so.

- Now that they're
older, we're on the way

to building better
relationships.

So now they're pursuing their
own things, I support them.

Uh, if I can give
them any advice, I do.

Through all the BS that that has
happened, we're talking now,

uh, the relationships, as
strained as they were,

they're better now, but it's
still a building block.

Because truly after
all these years,

we still don't know each other
as well as we should.

- That was the fustian bargain
that he cut with himself

in order to myopically,
obsessively go after the success

that he knew in his heart
he could achieve.

- You have to get it while you
can and then hope that you can

make up for all the other stuff
that you put on the bottom shelf

while you went out
and lived your dream.

There's a lot of
casualties that come with that.

And you have to
be willing to accept that

your window's really small.

For most guys, it-it
really is a small window.

- He always felt like he was
gonna lose his spot in line

if he was not on the road.

I can't be home.

I gotta be on the road
with the rest of the guys.

Because somebody else is gonna
have a great match,

they're gonna be
noticed and I'm not.

The drive for that--
The lust for that,

he could never get away from.

- Anytime that
someone is successful,

they have a hands-on approach.

Steve had a very hands-on
approach when it came

to the presentation of what
he was going to do.

Steve was very demanding, but
Steve could be guilty of,

"This sucks."

"Okay, it sucks, Steve.

What do you wanna do
to make it better?"

"I don't know.

God damn, you're a writer.

Write something."

Steve would get mad, throw
it away and-and storm off.

- This was at a time when The
Rock was kicking-- uh, breaking

Hollywood and "Stone Cold"
Steve Austin needed a new equal.

- Steve would've been very easy
to maintain and manage

if we'd always had a good
opponent ready for him.

And why wouldn't you?

I think that's what led to a
lot of Steve's frustration,

complaining about
his opponents, you know,

complaining who he
was working with.

He wasn't getting
red hot villians.

Nobody's ready and
nobody's been groomed for me.

The process had failed him.

When the creative stuff started
going south a little bit, it had

a more profound effect on him
than it would a lot of guys.

Because he felt like this
foundation's starting to crack.

- And I was like, "Dude,
what is going on here?"

When you've been trying so hard,
so long to be that guy

and you get that chance, you
ain't letting it go.

- I found out what
creative had in mind

for Steve and Brock Lesnar, and
I confirmed it with Vince.

"Oh, you're gonna
work with Brock tonight

and you're gonna lose."

And it certainly was very
premature

to try to have Steve and Brock
wrestle with no buildup.

This is a match that can sell
out indoor stadiums,

but there was no story there.

It was thrown together
and-and it meant nothing.

- Jim Ross calls me with the
creative for Monday Night Raw,

tells me, long story short,

that I'm doing a job
for Brock Lesner.

I said, "Oh, really?"

I said, "Well, if that's
gonna be the case,

I ain't gonna be there."

So sure enough, I woke up,
I had two bloody Marys,

got on airplane and I was flying
back to San Antonio

and I was mad.

It ain't about
winning or losing.

I'll let anybody beat me as long
as it's for a reason,

it means something, and
there's money behind it.

And so I-I said, "No.

I ain't doing it."

And I went home.

It was over.

I was done.

And it cost me a lot of respect
from my peers, a lot of money

and that's what I did.

And they-- As they said it, I
took my ball and went home.

- Man, it felt like he kicked
everybody in the cojones,

you know.

It felt like that all of
a sudden, "Wait a minute.

What is wrong with him?

How is he thinking this way?"

- To his credit, Vince
called me three times.

He left me a voice
message each time.

I never called him back.

I-I didn't wanna talk
to him on the phone.

I was still hot.

And for about six months, I was
huntin fishin and drinkin

and not necessarily
in that order

and making a lot
of bad decisions.

You know, just
time was going by.

Finally, I'm going
through my mail,

there's a card from Jim Ross.

I didn't expect a
card from Jim Ross.

"Hey man, just-just checking on
you want to see if you're okay?

If you ever wanna
talk, give me a call."

And I felt right then,

that that was my friend
throwing me a lifeline.

I called him up.

It was back when they had
those old Motorola flip phones.

I burned through two
batteries talking to Jim.

- We did speak for hours.

Life, football, you
know, booking,

marriage, relationships.

Boy, he really needed to talk.

- He goes, "Hey, man.

Do you think if I ever put you
and the old man in the building,

you can hash this out
and put it behind you

and come back to work?"

I said, "I'd love that."

He facilitated the meeting
between myself and Vince.

And I'm thinking, "Man, we're
either gonna fight or hug."

We started talking,
we hashed it out.

I told him what I was thinking

and we got back
on the same track.

And then, uh, shortly
thereafter, I returned to work.

- It's good to see you.

Very good.

- When I did come back,
I knew what I'd done.

So, I remember going up to
basically the whole locker room.

Yeah, I apologized to a lot
of guys and it was warranted.

[Stone Cold's music plays]

[crowd cheering]

- Well, "Stone Cold"
Steve Austin is back.

And I can guarantee you that I
am going to raise more hell

in this ring than I've
ever raised in my life.

- Steve is a very macho guy.

He's a very tough guy, so you
don't expect a guy

like that to really open up.

And I think it was just a matter
of him being in a place

in his life now
where he's ready to talk

about some of those things.

Because he's at a point in his
life where he is looking back

on his career and
what that meant.

And I think there's a lot
of self-exploration in that.

I think the part that stuck with
me the most emotionally

was when he was talking about
the end of his career.

Because he took himself into
that moment with The Rock

and you could see sitting across
from him in the chair,

I could see he
was in that moment

when he was telling
us about that.

- You know, just-just living
right there for about

an hour ago,
whatever it was,

he was asking some
most things where

I get a chance to get
transported back in time

and I start living some
of those feelings back

and I start talking to you like
I did, man, it's almost like,

uh- uh, cathartic or
therapeutic for me.

- In a lot of ways, it was the
end of a-a-a major part, if not

the most significant part of his
entire life up to that point.

How do you walk
away from something

that makes you who you are?

And so, when Steve
talked about that,

he was there in that moment
with The Rock mentally

even though he physically
wasn't there.

And I think seeing that emotion
from him and how much that meant

to him really stuck with me

and you could feel it sitting in
the room with him.

That emotion just
poured off of him.

And I think it affected everyone
that was there that day.

- Oh, the Stone Cold Stunner.

- I came back for a few months.

But man, it's a hard-ass job.

I was backstage with Bruce
Prichard one time

and I just kept having this
nerve jump in my leg.

And it was just like everything
in my nervous system was so shot

You know, the atrophy in-in my
hands, the other things

that I was
going through is,

like, finally
starting to unwind me.

It's like, dude, when is your
body going to give you enough

signals that you need to
get your ass out of here?

- The feeling was basically that
he had-he had pushed

the limits as
far as he could.

And that it was time to--

He didn't want to
push them anymore

and I think Steve just saw
the writing on the wall.

- I-I can't imagine how
agonizing it-it was for Steve

to make the decision that
his career was over.

He had to resign
himself to the fact

this is as far as
the character goes.

- Now, the question that would
then become who would he wrestle

and what will be the outcome?

Steve being an old school guy
wanted to go out the right way.

He wanted it to be
Rock, he owed it to Rock.

But he didn't want to distract
from The Rock getting a win

by him saying this
is his last match.

So, we kept that confidential,

which is the
professional thing to do.

And it shows great love
and respect for Dwayne.

- It's bigger than wrestling.

I just like The Rock.

And so, I didn't tell
hardly anybody at all.

Obviously, Vince
knew, Jim Ross knew.

And I told The Rock.

- When I found out that his last
match was going to be with me,

I had really mixed emotions.

You know, we hugged and it
makes me a little emotional now

because it is the ending of
a career that has been

so influential on not only me,

but the world of wrestling
that we love.

- It-It hurt to walk away.

It was-It was a real tough
decision to make,

but I just figured it was the
best decision for me.

- I think the days leading
into WrestleMania 19

were miserable for him.

How am I going to do?

Am I gonna deliver?

What are the
people are gonna say.

How do I look?

- Day before
WrestleMania, I was at the gym.

This is at a time when I
was drinking,

uh, about three
bottles of wine a night,

two pots of coffee in the
morning to get up

and a bunch of
energy drinks to get you going.

Really dehydrated, man my
feet kept jumping,

just nervous reactions.

I was, like, "Man,
what is going on?"

And I-I was staying at the Grand
Hyatt Hotel there in Seattle.

And I went up to the
floor that I was on.

As soon as I got out
of the elevator, man,

my heart started beating out of
my chest so hard and fast.

It scared the -- out of me.

And I was thinking,
"Man, I'm dying."

I just got my number called.

I'm gone.

And there was a WWE employee
named Liz DiFabio

coming down the hallway.

And I looked at her and she
could see that I was as serious

as a heart attack.

No pun intended.

And I said, "Liz,
I'm in trouble."

They take me down to the
emergency room

and they'd put all
these tests on me.

And they thought I had
a pulmonary embolism.

They thought a-a
bunch of things.

And the-the thing was that I
was just basically dehydrated.

Drinking too much, uh, alcohol
and way too much caffeine.

And finally, you know,
it's-it's time to stop.

- So, Vince and I were there,
he put too much on himself.

He worried too much.

He over thought the situation.

- So, I woke up next morning.

Doctor didn't want
to discharge me.

He wouldn't clear me to wrestle,
but I was going to wrestle.

And I was going to
wrestle The Rock.

Get to the building.

- Mr. Austin.

- We walked around
seeing everybody

going through the motions.

Hey, Mark.

- Hey, Steve.

- How Y'all doin?

If I talked to anybody or
hardly said anything,

I was about to start crying.

And when you're making the
decision to walk away from your

number one passion, that-- And
what-- that you live for, man,

I'll make this go away.

So, I was like
this all day long.

And then, of course, you know,
we'd get ready for the match.

It's like, "Okay, man.

Let's go turn it on.

Rev it up."

You know, if your
heart explodes.

[chuckles]

If I died in the ring, hey,
man, what better place to go

than in Mania in the middle
of the ring with The Rock?

So, you know, you-you can't
plan a better death than that.

[crowd cheering]

- That's what we're here
for, JR.

- The Rock said he
was gonna confront

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

[crowd cheering]

- I take it all in.

I feel everything.

And I sense everything, the
smell, the feel, the love,

the tone of that building.

[crowd cheering]

[bell rings]

- It ain't about nothing but a
wrestling match between

two of the greatest that have
ever been in the ring.

Oh, that's a clothesline.

And The Rock, is he gonna do it?

- Big one.

- Rock Bottom.

A third Rock Bottom.

A hook of the leg.

[bell rings]

- And The Rock's done it.

- When that three-count
hit, it was like,

[exhales]

I was just laying there.

It's like someone lifting 1,000
pounds of bricks off my back.

Damn near 70,000 people in
that building, couple million

watching on pay-per-view.

- We're both laying in
the middle of the ring.

And I sat up and I remember I
pushed the referee,

Earl Hebner, away.

- He knew that I was going.

He knew that I didn't want to go
and this was a hard decision

for me to make.

- I lowered my head down to
Steve's, uh, ear and I said,

"I can't thank you enough for
everything that you have done."

And then I said, "I love you."

- I remember just laying there
in front of 70,000 men and said,

"Man, I love you, too."

[chuckles]

I told him I loved him.

Verbatim, I said,
"I love you, too."

Two big-ass tough-ass guys
telling each other

that they loved the other one in
front of millions of people.

- I felt like that was a time to
tell Steve because there is no

other moment in our world
where we are as raw and open

and vulnerable than in
that moment right there.

When the one, two three happens,
it's just two men who have gone

on this incredible journey.

You know, I have goosebumps
now thinking about it.

It's-- That was the moment to
say, "Man, I love you

and I can't
thank you enough."

- What makes Steve's career
different than most others is

just how hot he got, how fast he
got hot, and how short of a time

he had to enjoy it.

- I was seeing the
end as something

that will never be replicated.

Seeing the end of a moment in
a pop culture genre

that will never be reproduced.

- Now I can go enjoy the
life that I have in front of me.

- You know, retirement always
sounds good and then there I was

and I was doing nothing
and I was going crazy.

Straight up.

I-- Man, I hit the
bottle pretty hard.

- I do know that he was a bit
lost after, you know, having to

leave the business, trying to
re-define himself

and see what is life
after wrestling.

He had three years that he
talked about how he was just

drinking and eating and
just a little bit depressed.

- I'll tell you this true story.

I woke up one morning, I was
looking right at myself

in the mirror, I said, "Dude,
the things that you are doing

are not conducive to
living a long life.

You better straighten
your ass up."

It took me three years of being
a -- up

to come to my senses

to say, "You know what?

You had to quit the business.

You ain't doing nothing now.

You better get your ass out to
LA and try to capitalize on,

at least, you know, some part of
the name that you spent so long

trying to build up."

Look at me, you piece of trash.

I heard you've been running
around saying you could take me

in a fight.

- I didn't say that.

- Let's get busy Hollywood.

And initially I came out to
California to get into acting.

I quickly realized that I
didn't really want to do that.

And when I found hosting and
reality television type stuff,

that's when I knew I'd
kind of found my niche.

I'm "Stone Cold" Steve Austin,
Jerry "The King" Lawler,

my next guest on Broken Skull
Sessions, check it out.

And that's the bottom
line because I said so.

- Great.

- And so I started podcasting
and the reason I started

was just keep in
touch with people.

I guess it was just all built
on the-the history

of what I put forth inside
the squared circle.

- He's got, uh,
podcasts that he does.

He's got TV shows he hosts.

I would say the biggest
difference between

the Stone Cold we see now and
the Stone Cold we saw back then,

he doesn't have the pressure.

- I'm a civilian now.

It took me a while to turn
into a civilian,

but I'm- I'm a civilian now.

My problem is, man,
I'm Type A personality,

so I'm always in a hurry.

I'm in a hurry when I
don't have anything to do.

This is Brownie, our chocolate
lab we rescued

about three weeks ago.

These are my, uh,
Kawasaki KRX 1000s.

This is my Corvette
and this is KLX 450.

This truck right here
is a 1966 Chevy C10.

I'm not a wrestler anymore.

I had a good time doing it, but
at the end of the day

now it's about life.

- When you step through the
curtain, you're in front

of the paying customer and
that's where you gotta be

the person they perceive
you to be on television.

[crowd cheering]

And you're-you're that person,
from the first step through

the curtain, until the last
step back through the curtain.

You're a performer out there.

- Talk about your Psalms.

Talk about John 3:16.

Austin 3:16 says I
just whipped your ass.

- Austin did it.

Austin did it.

- Nobody tells "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin what to do.

And that's that's the bottom
line because Stone Cold said so.

- When you come back through the
curtain, you're a human being.

And those human beings are
worried that moment when I'm

they step back through
that curtain, "Was I good?

Did they like me?

Did I do all I can do?

Did I maximize my minutes?"

Coming back through is where
the rubber meets the road.

That curtain is a big thing.

And how you navigate the curtain
and how you react on both sides

of it largely
spells your success

in the pro
wrestling business.

- Look, I got placed in a
real good situation, and I got a

chance to have a lot of
fun doing something I love.

But like I still feel like I'm
sitting here in this damn chair

and I'm still Steve,
the dude from Edna.

In my mind and in
my eyes, that's me.

That's all I can say.

- So now that you've seen the
full biography,

I think it's important to hear
the story

of when I first met Steve,
and I went in with all these

preconceived notion of who
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is.

I was watching clips
of him in the ring.

I was reminiscing on my
childhood as to what

I remembered with this guy who'd
go around and beat up everyone

that got in his face and
gave everyone the finger

and chuck beer at them
and all this stuff.

So I was intimidated.

I thought I was gonna go into
his house and meet Stone Cold.

Because everyone said he's
authentic,

and all I had seen was this guy
who was really aggressive

and I'm not an
aggressive person.

So I was intimidated.

And I walked in his house.

It was the day
before we were shooting.

I wanted to meet him with
no cameras around

and he was getting
ready for his podcast

and I was just observing
what I had seen.

I was typing really loudly,
which he said was annoying him.

And he threw me out of his house
within an hour of meeting him.

And so I thought,
"Okay, that matches up.

I just met Stone Cold.

He threw me out of his house."

So I didn't know what to do to
get back in his good graces.

I knew that he liked
tequila and I do too.

So I bought a bottle of tequila,
I went back to his house

the next day and I said, "Why'd
you throw me outta your house?

I didn't even do anything."

And I think that he was
surprised by that reaction,

especially coming from me.

And so immediately I saw a wall
come down and we drank a little

bit together and we got to
know each other a little more.

And from that point on, he was
really warm and friendly

and kind to me.

And I think that it flipped the
preconceived idea of Stone Cold

that I had in my head.

He actually had the ability
to be a really nice, genuine,

comforting guy.

I was excited that
that was the case

because it made
the biography more fun,

but it also showed
just his emotional depth

and where he can go if
he wants to go there.

I think the biggest takeaway
from this doc is what success

can look like.

I think people have this image
of success in their head of,

when you get to the
top, everything is great.

I think this doc shows there's
many versions of success,

and Steve's version of success
is singularly focused

at all costs no matter what.

That's a way to get to the top,
but just be cautious

of what that can do
and what being at the top

actually looks like
and feels like.

He made the ultimate sacrifices,
which was family, his time,

his health, and he was willing
to put all of that to the side

in order to-to march
his way to the top.

And I think that's a version of
success that's interesting

to look at.

And that was
the biggest takeaway

I had from watching the doc.

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0