Stone Cold and Vince McMahon

After Raw went off the air last night, Stone Cold held his podcast, live on the WWE Network, interviewing the owner of WWE, Vince McMahon. Here are a few thoughts I had from the podcast.

First off, I'm glad Austin covered everything I think that is on the minds of wrestling fans. Not only CM Punk, but about pushing guys, Macho Man's HOF status, and others. When the podcast started it seemed to me Vince had a little trepidation, almost like he was unsure what Austin was going to ask him and didn't want to be blind-sided. After about 20 minutes or so, I felt like his nerves calmed a little and he felt more easy. That's not to say I thought he was nervous, again, just he didn't want to be blind-sided by Austin.

Austin started talking about pro wrestling versus sports entertainment, and Vince kind of cut him off, disagreeing that Austin didn't come from "pro wrestling". Vince said pro wrestling was what his dad did, and that he does sports entertainment. While I see the argument there, I do have to agree with Stone Cold. I'm sure we can go back longer, but my first thought was of Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler. They were going at each other and it was called pro wrestling. Was there entertainment there? Of course, they appeared on Letterman for crying out loud, but no one called it sports entertainment back then. There's always been entertainment in it, again, thinking about Gorgeous George and him strutting around the ring, playing to the crowd. So I agreed with Austin about that.

Getting back to the point though, Austin said it seemed like the wrestlers are walking around backstage on eggshells. We've heard that before from others. Vince called out the locker room, saying it's a different generation, and not as ambitious as previous generations of wrestlers. It'll be interesting to see how the talent reacts to that. Seth Rollins already did, posting on twitters

No better way to grab the brass ring then to take out the so-called last guy to do just that. #WWETLC #TablesMatch How's that for ambition?
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) December 2, 2014

Austin commented that they have to go out on a limb for success. Great advice, not just for wwe superstars, but anyone, in any field, trying to gain momentum and break through.

Macho Man's hall of fame status was asked point blank. Vince gave a straight answer "Yes". It was a funny moment because Austin didn't really follow up with another question or point, he just let that answer linger in the air, staring at Vince, to which Vince asked "Why are you looking at me like that?". Austin stared and asked him again in a way as if to say "Bro, settle with me, man to man, is he going in?", and Vince said he will be in the hall of fame. Maybe not this year, but he'll be there. So there's that.

Cesaro's name came up. Vince complimented Cesaro and thought he does great work, but when asked by Austin what's keeping him back, Vince said he lacks a little charisma and doesn't quite have that "it factor" yet. I think a lot would disagree. He was getting over with the crowd a lot, especially with the "king of swing" gimmick and then they squashed it, putting him with Heyman and now by himself. I hope Cesaro is able to do something that changes Vince's mind.

Austin then turned the attention to CM Punk, asking Vince if he wanted to talk about him or the situation. Vince didn't side step the question, and though he did say he didn't want to air dirty laundry he address the situation, saying a big part of the problem was probably a lack of communication, which from the Art of Wrestling podcast with Colt Cabana, it sound about right.

Austin said that lack of communication was one of, if not the biggest problem when he walked out on the company for eight months. Vince did offer an apology to Punk about the termination papers on his wedding day and said that was nothing but coincidence. That I don't think I'm buying. Maybe, MAYBE, Vince didn't know about that, but there's no way anyone can convince me that didn't happen on purpose.

One of the last things that kind of peaked my interest was Austin asking about Brock and where he was. Vince said he didn't think Brock needed to be there every week, because that title is a special attraction. Man, whoever sold that line or gimmick to Vince should get a raise. I disagree with some of that. Does that champ need to be there every week. I'd say no. Does that champ need to defend every ppv. I'd also say no to that. But not being on television or the ppv events month after month? I don't think that's best for business. He's a special attraction, treat him like one. Have him ringside for a number one contenders match. Make a special appearance on a couple T.V. events. But to not hear anything from him for over two months, and with TLC coming in just a couple weeks, looks to be over three months soon, I think it hurts the title. Just my opinion.

Anyways, I enjoyed the podcast, and enjoy most of Steve Austin's other podcasts over on Podcast One. Who knows if Vince will do another interview like that in the near future, so it was cool to get his feedback and views on things.