Did Stone Cold accept Vince’s corporate-friendly questions? OH HECK, YES! The 1 hr 10 minute conversation started very fast going through Austin’s questions, and slowed down into marking out over their feud by the end with such hard hitting questions like “why were we so great together”. The biggest problem was that Vince gave corporate answers, and SCSA didn’t call him on it. Here’s the highlights from Vince (my thoughts in italics):
On the Network: It’s doing great. 97% satisfaction rate. (Lol! Well it’s 90%)
On the WWE superstars: Wrestlers are terrified backstage, because nowhere else to work – so don’t piss people off. Wrestlers today aren’t as ambitious. Austin “challenges” the roster to be creative, push the limit, replica rolex gmt master take chances and all that bollocks. Yeah, a bit hard when you’re given a 3-minute match laid out move-for-move with no promo time mate. It annoyed me that Austin echo’d Vince’s sentiments that it’s the wrestlers’ fault they’re not over/successful.
Vince on wrestler bumps: “I wouldn’t ask you to do something I wouldn’t do” – but you ask people to do this shit every night, not once in your life 15 years ago!
On Cesaro specifically: No charisma or verbal skills, maybe because he’s Swiss. The Audience don’t care. He lacks “it”. Bullshit! Could’ve sworn he was over at Wrestlemania.
On himself: “Am I out of touch? No. Am I 69 years old, yes.” Hilarious. He mentions being out of touch again later on. (i.e. he believes there’s obviously some truth to it – how could he be in touch being in the WWE bubble, spending 20 hours a day getting his staff to re-write RAW!)
On the audience: “Voice your opinion. I listen to the audience.” Really? The liverpool crowd heard “Have more fun god-dammit!” They were voicing their displeasure/apathy for what they were seeing….
On Shane McMahon: He’s in Japan. Got a lot of fingers in pots. He left “mutually”, saying mixing family and business is very difficult. Shane was kicked out. Vince, H and Steph repeatedly kiboshed his WWE business plans, including buying into UFC (before it exploded) and the original ECW. It’s a real shame.
On Punk: Says getting fired on his wedding day was an unfortunate coincidence. (Bollocks, H talked to Punk right before going on his honeymoon, so he knew when he was getting married) Apologises and hopes they can get back together again. Says he didn’t listen to the Colt podcast. (bullshit!). Part of the problem was Punk’s lack of communication skills, that he’s a loner. Shocked he’d mention the headline (firing Punk on his wedding day) but he should’ve mentioned how good their medical care is…
Ending the Streak: Vince’s call, nobody else on the roster was better suited. (Wow, a giant fuck you!)
On Savage in the HoF: Yes. Soon. (Probably in 2015, actually, along with Sting)
On WCW: Says WCW tried to hurt WWF, while WWF wanted to help themselves. “Territories put themselves out of business.” Says they got their money and stopped competing. (Which is complete horseshit! eg Vince agreeing to pay Stampede a million dollars to close; they close; here’s $100,000, actually I can’t pay you, here’s Stampede back, doesn’t matter because the crowd is gone – BOOM, killed Stampede for 10% of the cost.)
On competition today: Everything on TV, e.g. Disney. (Except UFC of course! That’s why WWE have a no-go-to-UFC in the contracts.)
On JR: Calls him unprofessional, he said “I’m going home to Oklahoma and take it easy”. There was obviously so much more to this but it was deflected pretty quick into ‘it was JR’s fault’ territory.
Some funny bits:
When Austin met Vince in a hotel after Austin’s departure in 2003. He was first in the hotel room and thought it was a hit. Austin also mentions haggling Vince down his fine from $650k to $250k.
With his uncoordination, Vince admits he took the worst stunners ever and never the same way twice. Austin’s Jeans too tight and when kicking Vince, kicked him in the shin and balls.
Austin “I’ve had massive success as a baby”. Obviously means babyface but I laughed at Austin being the New Year’s baby
When Austin initially tells Vince they’re wrapping up, he nonchalantly says “I own the Network and we’ll get 15 more minutes”. That’s boss! Literally.
“Looking back on it, we all have a tendency to rewrite history” That’s getting spliced into a future episode!
Overall it was a fun watch but unfortunately laced with B.S., coasting past CM Punk in a matter of seconds and giving corporate-friendly answers. But it’s likely the best we’ll ever get out of him, so worth seeing.