Steve Austin Talks Brock Lesnar Helping Samoa Joe Get Over, WWE Needing Competition, Paul Heyman
Recently on The Steve Austin Show, Steve Austin shared his thoughts on whether the lack of competition in the pro wrestling industry has hurt the product, being 'a Paul Heyman Guy', and the feud between WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and fellow WWE Superstar Samoa Joe.
According to Austin, the lack of competition has hurt the pro wrestling business and 'The Texas Rattlesnake' wishes there was a WCW around today to challenge WWE.
"First of all, I think competition is paramount. I wish there was another WCW around. It was so fun back in the Monday Night Wars, to go head-to-head with those guys. They were pulling out everything but the kitchen sink. We were doing the same, and they kicked our ass in the ratings for about two years. Then, we turned the tables on them. The product was at its absolute best or was at least striving to be from a writing and performance standpoint and from a storytelling standpoint. So competition is key. WWE is the holy grail. It is the major leagues. It always has been. And WCW put up a valid fight back in the day. Back in the day, I was in WCW fighting WWF! So competition is king. I wish there was another federation for WWE."
In response to a fan question asking for whom Austin would like to work out of Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon, Eric Bischoff, and Paul Heyman, the former Dangerous Alliance member and self-professed 'Paul Heyman Guy' asserted that he would chose to work for Paul E.
"Man, I'll tell you what, that's one heck of a list of names right there. Goddang, that's a hard one!" Austin continued, "if you know anything about me, you know that I'm a Paul Heyman guy. When you look at that list of names, I have tremendous chemistry with Eric Bischoff, with Stephanie, and with Shane. Shane has probably taken 100 Stunners from me. I have outstanding chemistry with all of those people, but with Paul Heyman, going back to my days in ECW, when he first helped me out learning how to cut a promo, helped me focus, and help me start to really define or scratch and wonder who or what I was as an entertainer and not just be a guy named 'Stunning' Steve Austin. I really enjoyed working with Paul so much."
In Austin's view, the build for the Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe match at Great Balls Of Fire was done well; says Heyman and Lesnar were "trying like hell" to get Joe over and that he is positive that 'The Beast' and 'The Advocate' want to help 'The Samoa Submission Machine' as much as possible.
"Man, I think Brock is such a great business guy and I think there's mutual respect there. And I think that Paul E. probably loves Joe. And I just think, yeah, they're trying like hell to help get this guy over to the next level. Joe has done a great job of getting himself over and just going down that road of the intensity level that I wanted to see from Joe."
Open two cans of 'Audio Whoop Ass' here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: The Steve Austin Show