Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar finally went nose-to-nose on Monday night…on a podcast. Austin interviewed the former UFC and WWE champion in an interview that was a bit disappointing for what did and didn’t happen.
As I noted on the CCB Monday, Monday was D-Day for Austin and Lesnar. While many have reported that the match was not happening, some felt that the match could be set up with the podcast. There was no angle, not even a promo cut to give any indication that the match is happening. Sadly, it’s time to close that WrestleMania 32 door and throw away the key.
[adinserter block=”1″]Regarding what did happen, I have to say that it was probably one of Austin’s only lackluster podcasts. Sure it was interesting to see Brock interviewed on WWE TV in this kind of light, but at the end of the day you probably didn’t learn a much more than you already knew. Austin generally hits his guests with tough questions but I have to say that he appeared to go easier on Brock than anyone else I have ever heard him sit down with.
That said, there were a couple of interesting takeaways from the interview. For starters, Brock told Austin that he wasn’t giving the fans the middle finger at the conclusion of WrestleMania XX. Brock said that he was giving the finger to Vince McMahon. I could be wrong but I think most of us presumed that Brock was shooting the bird at the capacity crowd that was booing him.
Brock isn’t caught up in being a WWE superstar, it’s quite the opposite. Brock described it as a job, saying he clocks in and clocks out just like everyone else. Brock also talked about having a say in his booking and while he has the freedom to challenge Vince on ideas, at the end of the day he’s there to do a job and it’s Vince’s call. Lesnar also admitted earlier in the podcast that he never watched pro wrestling growing up.
Lesnar said he doesn’t like people. He said he likes his space and while he doesn’t mind being the center of attention in a sold out arena, he doesn’t like interacting with people. He said that doesn’t like to see his neighbors much and prefers to keep to himself at home.
Lesnar mentioned Ray Traylor (the Big Bossman) and Curt Hennig as his mentors when he came into the WWE. He told Austin that he rode with them both and learned a lot about psychology, the business, etc. Austin said that Traylor took a real liking to Brock when he came into the WWE.
Lesnar talked about his first big match on the main roster, which was a Triple Threat with Rock and Triple H. Lesnar said he was real green and Rock and Hunter left him out of the match. He goes on to say that Rock was always very good to him.
Maybe the most revealing conversation came when Austin brought up his WrestleMania XIX match with Kurt Angle. Austin specifically brought up the botched shooting star press. Lesnar said that he should have never done the move. Lesanr said that someone he wouldn’t name talked him into doing the move, intimating that he was angry about it. While that person wasn’t named, Dave Meltzer speculated on his podcast that it was Angle.
On the UFC, Lesnar said that he was sure he was going to get cut after losing to Frank Mir. Lesnar said his biggest weakness in the UFC was his battles with diverticulitis. He said the doctor told him that he was going to try to save his life first, then his career. Lesnar also said that Heath Herring said something to him about teaching him a lesson on the way to the octagon and it lit a fire under him. Lesnar said he had every intention of returning to the UFC when his contract was up earlier in the year and it was not just a negotiating ploy.
[adinserter block=”2″]Unfortunately there wasn’t as much conversation around Austin’s walkout as you would have expected. Remember, Austin walked out years ago when he was asked to do a job to Lesnar on RAW. Austin asked Brock how he could come back after the bad blood. Lesnar said that Austin had his own bad blood with the company. Austin tried to explain that he saw big money in a match with Lesnar and wanted to save it. Austin started to apologize before Lesnar told him he really didn’t care. Believe me when I tell you, Lesnar’s body language reinforced that.
Austin asked him how much gas he had left in the tank and Lesnar said he has a good idea of where his future was going but wouldn’t say.
If you’ve never heard a Stone Cold Podcast before you’d probably like it. Yet if you have heard some of Austin’s past interviews, you had to be disappointed. There are dozens of questions and topics I would have hoped to hear Austin bring up but for whatever reason he didn’t. Overall it was cool to see Lesnar in that environment, but it certainly didn’t come close to living up to the hype.
Watch it all in its entirety on WWE.com.
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I think of all us wanted to hear some controversy and “worked shoot” stuff from Lesnar and never got it. So now we know he’s a regular kind of guy outside the ring, likes whiskey and steak, but I feel he’s one of those in-ring characters best left in the act — in other words, don’t let us see he isn’t a beast in real life.