Post by CandyKANE on Feb 24, 2003 7:43:36 GMT -5
MONTREAL – Feb. 23, 2003 – Before No Way Out kicked off tonight, WWE.com caught up with Stone Cold Steve Austin to discuss his return, and to ask him to elaborate on many of the comments he made in the current edition of Raw Magazine.
WWE.com: What’s it like being here?
Stone Cold: Well, I showed up at RAW (in Los Angeles) a couple of weeks ago and saw the guys on the RAW crew, talked to a lot of people and said hi to everybody that I hadn’t been around in so long. Today, I’m seeing the SmackDown! crew for the first time, and just kind of saying hi to all those people. I missed them. I definitely feel like I’m back home. I wouldn’t say there’s tension in the air, but I wouldn’t say I’m completely relaxed; I don’t think anybody’s completely relaxed. But I’ll say I’m glad to be back.
WWE.com: That was my next question – What kind of reception are you getting from people?
Stone Cold: I’m getting a fine reception. There were a couple of people who either I pulled aside or they pulled me aside, and we kind of buried the hatchet with stuff that went on. Like I said, I did what I did, and so be it. Some people can understand that, and some people aren’t going to understand that, but that’s just the way it is. We’ll see how everything goes from here.
WWE.com: What kind of response are you getting from the article in Raw Magazine?
Stone Cold: Everybody I talked to who read the article liked the hell out of it. It was a very candid, open, honest interview. I’ve haven’t had one person come up to me and say, “Hey, that article sucked.” Everybody liked it. I finally got to tell my side of the story.
WWE.com: In the article, you said you hadn’t had a beer for a while. Is that still true? Did you have a beer in Los Angeles, or was that near-beer?
Stone Cold: That was non-alcoholic beer. From what I hear, there was a little flack coming from the office down in San Antonio, saying I shouldn’t even drink non-alcoholic beer because it’s sending out a bad message. Non-alcoholic beer is non-alcoholic beer, in my opinion. That being said, we’re not looking to ruffle any feathers with a little beer drinking. We’ll get by without it for a while, and when that time is over, go back to drinking the beer.
WWE.com: What do you know about your schedule at this point? Are you working house shows? All TV events? Some TV events?
Stone Cold: I don’t know. I was surprised to be in a match with Eric Bischoff.
For a long time, I just took one day at a time, and I still take them one day at a time. So I’ll just say that I’m here tonight, I’ll be in Nassau Coliseum a week from tomorrow – I know I’ll be there. I’ll play it by ear.
WWE.com: I wanted to ask you about some of the things you talked about in the article. For example, you discussed your frustration with the creative process and the fact that some Superstars sit in on production meetings. None of that stuff has really changed. Do you think you may end up getting frustrated again, and walk out again?
Stone Cold: There were a couple of other reasons why I walked out. It wasn’t everything I said in the article; there were a couple of other things beyond creative and all that other stuff, which is my business and it’s Vince McMahon’s business, and we’ll keep it between us. But I’ve talked to several of the writers, and called a few of them aside, and we’re all on the same page. Yeah, I was critical of the writing. By the same token, people can be critical of me. I’m open to constructive criticism. Some of the guys I kept referencing in the article, I deliberately got them alone and said, “Hey, it wasn’t my time. I was going through some personal problems. Professionally, I was running into a brick wall.” I understand what they do. But also understand that they came from a different system than I came from – from the small circuits and the small territories, that’s the way I learned the business. They’re thrust into the system from a writing standpoint. I understand how they have to construct a show, and how we’re so fast-forward these days producing all the TV shows we produce. I understand their role, but they’ve got to understand my understanding of how the business works, along with some of these other guys who can’t be turned into robots. They actually have to feel and learn and educate themselves – be put in different situations and respond accordingly, to lose being green and turn into a competent hand, whether heel or babyface. So yeah, I run my mouth a lot, and I say what I feel, but I understand they have a job to do, and they’re working their ass off to do it. Just a couple of different backgrounds, but I think everybody’s on the same page now.
WWE.com: That day in June when you walked out, do you think there was anyway that you could have gotten things changed – gotten the match you didn’t want to compete in changed – if you would have stuck around, and that you wouldn’t have needed to leave the company?
Stone Cold: Like I said, there were a lot of things going on – some things that will never be mentioned. So I left and that’s pretty much the way it went.
WWE.com: Some people have said, “Why didn’t the guy stay? He was one of the few that had enough backstage influence to get things changed.”<br>
Stone Cold: Like I said, it wasn’t all about the creative. It was about a few other issues that I had going on personally, and between me and Vince.
WWE.com: You talked in the article about your knees and your other physical problems. How are you doing physically?
Stone Cold: Very average. I’ve still got the same problems I’ve always had.
WWE.com: Your time off didn’t give the injuries time to heal up?
Stone Cold: No. They’re not the kind of injuries that heal up.
WWE.com: Was it strange or different to fly up here alone, when you had been traveling alongside someone else for the last few years?
Stone Cold: I’d definitely say different. I’ll leave it at that.
WWE.com: You talked about Debra in the article, and there still seemed to be a lot of feelings there. Do you think there’s any chance of a reconciliation?
Stone Cold: In the game of life, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m never going to say never. Who knows? I’ll leave it at that.
WWE.com: Has anything changed with the relationship between you two since the article came out?
Stone Cold: No.
WWE.com: You said in the article that when you left in June, you thought that you were done with WWE. Did you think about, or have you thought about, what you’re going to do when you’re done with wrestling? You’re still a young man.
Stone Cold: For a while, I didn’t think about it at all. Until I buried the hatchet with Vince, I didn’t even do appearances as Stone Cold Steve Austin because I knew WWE would come down on me and slap my wrist. It was after J.R. (Jim Ross) set up the meeting with Vince and me in Houston where I buried the hatchet, I said, “What about doing personal appearances?” And Vince was cool with that. So that’s what I’ve been doing until I came here today. I’ve got a few projects on the side that haven’t fully developed yet, so I don’t want to talk about it.
WWE.com: What’s it like being here?
Stone Cold: Well, I showed up at RAW (in Los Angeles) a couple of weeks ago and saw the guys on the RAW crew, talked to a lot of people and said hi to everybody that I hadn’t been around in so long. Today, I’m seeing the SmackDown! crew for the first time, and just kind of saying hi to all those people. I missed them. I definitely feel like I’m back home. I wouldn’t say there’s tension in the air, but I wouldn’t say I’m completely relaxed; I don’t think anybody’s completely relaxed. But I’ll say I’m glad to be back.
WWE.com: That was my next question – What kind of reception are you getting from people?
Stone Cold: I’m getting a fine reception. There were a couple of people who either I pulled aside or they pulled me aside, and we kind of buried the hatchet with stuff that went on. Like I said, I did what I did, and so be it. Some people can understand that, and some people aren’t going to understand that, but that’s just the way it is. We’ll see how everything goes from here.
WWE.com: What kind of response are you getting from the article in Raw Magazine?
Stone Cold: Everybody I talked to who read the article liked the hell out of it. It was a very candid, open, honest interview. I’ve haven’t had one person come up to me and say, “Hey, that article sucked.” Everybody liked it. I finally got to tell my side of the story.
WWE.com: In the article, you said you hadn’t had a beer for a while. Is that still true? Did you have a beer in Los Angeles, or was that near-beer?
Stone Cold: That was non-alcoholic beer. From what I hear, there was a little flack coming from the office down in San Antonio, saying I shouldn’t even drink non-alcoholic beer because it’s sending out a bad message. Non-alcoholic beer is non-alcoholic beer, in my opinion. That being said, we’re not looking to ruffle any feathers with a little beer drinking. We’ll get by without it for a while, and when that time is over, go back to drinking the beer.
WWE.com: What do you know about your schedule at this point? Are you working house shows? All TV events? Some TV events?
Stone Cold: I don’t know. I was surprised to be in a match with Eric Bischoff.
For a long time, I just took one day at a time, and I still take them one day at a time. So I’ll just say that I’m here tonight, I’ll be in Nassau Coliseum a week from tomorrow – I know I’ll be there. I’ll play it by ear.
WWE.com: I wanted to ask you about some of the things you talked about in the article. For example, you discussed your frustration with the creative process and the fact that some Superstars sit in on production meetings. None of that stuff has really changed. Do you think you may end up getting frustrated again, and walk out again?
Stone Cold: There were a couple of other reasons why I walked out. It wasn’t everything I said in the article; there were a couple of other things beyond creative and all that other stuff, which is my business and it’s Vince McMahon’s business, and we’ll keep it between us. But I’ve talked to several of the writers, and called a few of them aside, and we’re all on the same page. Yeah, I was critical of the writing. By the same token, people can be critical of me. I’m open to constructive criticism. Some of the guys I kept referencing in the article, I deliberately got them alone and said, “Hey, it wasn’t my time. I was going through some personal problems. Professionally, I was running into a brick wall.” I understand what they do. But also understand that they came from a different system than I came from – from the small circuits and the small territories, that’s the way I learned the business. They’re thrust into the system from a writing standpoint. I understand how they have to construct a show, and how we’re so fast-forward these days producing all the TV shows we produce. I understand their role, but they’ve got to understand my understanding of how the business works, along with some of these other guys who can’t be turned into robots. They actually have to feel and learn and educate themselves – be put in different situations and respond accordingly, to lose being green and turn into a competent hand, whether heel or babyface. So yeah, I run my mouth a lot, and I say what I feel, but I understand they have a job to do, and they’re working their ass off to do it. Just a couple of different backgrounds, but I think everybody’s on the same page now.
WWE.com: That day in June when you walked out, do you think there was anyway that you could have gotten things changed – gotten the match you didn’t want to compete in changed – if you would have stuck around, and that you wouldn’t have needed to leave the company?
Stone Cold: Like I said, there were a lot of things going on – some things that will never be mentioned. So I left and that’s pretty much the way it went.
WWE.com: Some people have said, “Why didn’t the guy stay? He was one of the few that had enough backstage influence to get things changed.”<br>
Stone Cold: Like I said, it wasn’t all about the creative. It was about a few other issues that I had going on personally, and between me and Vince.
WWE.com: You talked in the article about your knees and your other physical problems. How are you doing physically?
Stone Cold: Very average. I’ve still got the same problems I’ve always had.
WWE.com: Your time off didn’t give the injuries time to heal up?
Stone Cold: No. They’re not the kind of injuries that heal up.
WWE.com: Was it strange or different to fly up here alone, when you had been traveling alongside someone else for the last few years?
Stone Cold: I’d definitely say different. I’ll leave it at that.
WWE.com: You talked about Debra in the article, and there still seemed to be a lot of feelings there. Do you think there’s any chance of a reconciliation?
Stone Cold: In the game of life, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m never going to say never. Who knows? I’ll leave it at that.
WWE.com: Has anything changed with the relationship between you two since the article came out?
Stone Cold: No.
WWE.com: You said in the article that when you left in June, you thought that you were done with WWE. Did you think about, or have you thought about, what you’re going to do when you’re done with wrestling? You’re still a young man.
Stone Cold: For a while, I didn’t think about it at all. Until I buried the hatchet with Vince, I didn’t even do appearances as Stone Cold Steve Austin because I knew WWE would come down on me and slap my wrist. It was after J.R. (Jim Ross) set up the meeting with Vince and me in Houston where I buried the hatchet, I said, “What about doing personal appearances?” And Vince was cool with that. So that’s what I’ve been doing until I came here today. I’ve got a few projects on the side that haven’t fully developed yet, so I don’t want to talk about it.