WWE Did Not Want Steve Austin To Do One Of His Trademarks At WrestleMania 38
On The Pat McAfee Show earlier this week, WWE announcer and occasional wrestler Pat McAfee talked all about WrestleMania 38.
During this year's big show he defeated Austin Theory in singles action and then lost a match to WWE owner and chairman Vince McMahon. Steve Austin would appear not long after to lay everyone involved out with stunners. Of course, the previous night's Mania card saw Austin wrestling, and defeating, Kevin Owens. Something that surprised everyone, according to Pat McAfee.
"There was a time, maybe over the weekend, on Saturday where Steve had the KO Show that then turned into a match, which none of us knew was going to happen," McAfee said. "It's his last match ever."
Asked if everyone, including himself, was surprised Austin's WrestleMania appearance turned into a match, McAfee said that was in fact the case. He also described some of what Austin did during his appearance.
"All of us, I believe all of us were," McAfee admitted. "I just assumed it would be some sort of fight or whatever. I didn't know what was going to happen there. But he was working on coming out or whatever and we're in a different era now of the WWE than we were then. So I got to watch this dude's entrance with an empty stadium or whatever, you know? He goes right to that top rope f-cking both fingers straight up in the air, right? Straight up in the air, both fingers like this. The old 'ahhh.'
"He's doing his whole thing and then I see three producers run over and they're like 'can't do that. Can't do that.' So he goes to the next one and he does it again. 'Can't do that.' He was like 'alright.' So he just put his fists up or whatever. So then, as I was watching him, I was wondering 'there is no way he keeps that middle finger down.' Like the middle finger from Steve Austin is coming at some point. Last night he had a couple where he f-cking slipped up."
As cool as it was to see Steve Austin wrestle, Pat McAfee did admit he was not a big middle finger guy growing up watching wrestling during the Attitude Era. In fact, he was more of a crotch chop guy.
"I wasn't a big middle finger guy," McAfee said. "My brother was a big middle finger guy. I was more of a crotch chop guy. Yeah, I was a big crotch chop guy. I think they (WWE) heard all those stories and they're like 'well, we can't be doing this. We can't be this.' So I think that was the change and then, obviously, the business goes in an incredible way, and then they're just kind of stuck with it.
"But there's a couple of us, and by us, I should not be saying that. But it's hard for me not, if I'm in the middle of a fight with someone not to be like 'hey, f-ck you. How about that?' And it's hard not to do that."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Pat McAfee Show and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription