Steve Austin Responds To Ahmed Johnson Claiming That Austin Was Racist

During WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry's conversation with Steve Austin on The Steve Austin Show, Henry noted that he was not a fan of former WWE performer Ahmed Johnson. Specifically, Henry brought up an incident that had occurred between Johnson and Ron Simmons in the ring.

"The only time I've ever seen [someone mess with Ron Simmons] in real 3D was dumbass Ahmed Johnson out of all people in the world to pick a beef with. He kicked Ron and lacerated Ron's liver and Ron was out for about nine months. I'm thinking the whole time, 'When Ron comes back, I feel bad for [Ahmed Johnson] because he gave him his body and he kicked him as hard as I've ever seen a human being kick.' Teddy Long was driving the car with me and he said, 'You know, Ron Simmons is coming back next week.' I said, 'That's cool.' And he said, 'No, you're not listening, this is between me and you. I live in Atlanta and I talk with Ron all the time. Ron is pissed. and he said when he comes back, he's going to hurt this dude?don't be around him cause he got heat.'

"So, they get back and I remember the first time I saw Ron [since the injury], he walked right by me like I wasn't there. Someone went and sat next to him and he grabbed all his stuff in a huff and moved it over to an area where he was by himself and that was so unlike Ron. He was so angry being back in the arena knowing that Ahmed was coming. He was mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen. I remember looking at the card and it was Ron Simmons vs. Ahmed Johnson and I went, 'Holy cow!'.

"It was a sell-out. This is not when you sell all the tickets in the arena but when all the boys are peaking through the curtain because they want to watch what's going to happen with their real eyes rather than watching on a monitor or in Gorilla position. It was not a lock up. It was a mauling. Ron ran through him. His back hit the ground. Ron stomped on his stomach and when he rolled over and tried to get up, Ron kicked him in the ribs and broke three of his ribs. It was like watching a tiger or a lion attack some helpless animal in the wild. And Ron pinned him. Ahmed Johnson was over as hell during that time?.Six months later, done. He got killed off in one night. That night that Ron came back and whipped his ass, his run was over. He was never the same. He had to leave. He couldn't be there anymore. Ron ran him out of the business. And his life of crime started. He wasn't a good enough wrestler to go to WCW and be a player. People carried him his whole career."

Henry went further into detail about Johnson saying that he set a negative example for wrestlers. Henry said that he was told on his first day to set a good example for men after him and felt that Ahmed did the opposite.

"As you can tell, I don't like him," Henry said. "I never liked him. He was a bad example for a black man. People struggled to get in this business. And try to make it a success and to make it equal and better than equal and he was ruining it. Ernie Ladd told me on my first day in the business, 'Henry, don't mess it up for everyone that looks like you afterwards.' And I feel like Ahmed didn't get that memo. Nobody told him. I think he was such a liar and people didn't have enough faith in him to do the right thing that they wouldn't have helped him anyways. So he ended up doing his own thing."

Henry also told a story of how Ahmed Johnson attempted to drop pills into Henry's drink while at dinner. Henry admitted that someone trying to distort his clean and drug free life infuriated him.

"He tried to pill me one night. I went out to eat with him and Fatu. I turned my drink up and there's two Somas in my water. I don't drink alcohol. Two Soma's could have killed me for all I know. I said, 'Look guys, who put this in my drink?' Fatu said, 'Look man, I'm not saying nothing about nobody else but I didn't do it.' And there's only two of them sitting there. I said, 'Don't finish your meal because I'm going outside and we're going to handle this outside.' I waited thirty forty minutes. I just threw his and Fatu's bags out of the car and went on my way to Miami. So, I never liked Ahmed since. He never apologized or anything. I'm a guy who has based my life off being drug free and you're going to try and pill me? You go to prison for that now."

Steve Austin himself chimed in agreeing that he himself is not an advocate of Ahmed Johnson. In the nineties, after Johnson won the Intercontinental Championship, Johnson went back to his vehicle to find racist and derogatory terms spray painted on his car. Johnson said he heard through fans that Steve Austin was seen near Johnston's car the same night.

"That guy has said things about me that were untrue," Austin said. "Not a fan either. Thank you for attesting to [me not being a racist]. I've never been able to address that because I've never had the- never needed to. That's a completely fabricated story and is complete horse sh*t and I've maintained my silence and this is the first time ever I've addressed it or talked about it."

Henry responded by doubling down on his statements about Johnson and defended Steve Austin's claims.

"I would attest that you are not a racist," Henry said. "You ain't have to validate [Johnson's] stupidity. I'm glad we can address it because the source that it came from was not valid enough for anybody to believe it anyways."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.