“Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to promote his new WWE network series this weekend, The Broken Skull Sessions. During the discussion, Austin commented on the new “Wednesday Night War” between AEW and NXT.
Austin knows first hand how important competition is to professional wrestling. He led the charge for WWE in their war with WCW during the Attitude Era. As great as WWE was during that time, Austin knows that WCW Monday Nitro lit a fire under them.
“Without competition, who knows what would have happened in my career,” Austin wonders. “Who knows what will come out of Wednesday nights, but I believe in competition. I know AEW is doing their thing and they say they’re not competition, and WWE might say it’s not competition, but if it’s on across from each other, it’s competition.”
Austin remembers WCW Nitro beating WWE RAW in the ratings for nearly two years. During that time, he felt RAW was the better product and couldn’t believe WCW kept winning week after week. By the time WWE broke through, their product was white hot.
“I’m thankful for the ‘Monday Night Wars,’ said Austin. “They helped define me. They helped Vince, and it helped us go out on a limb with some of the crazy stuff we did in our feud that became water-cooler talk and transcend the business.”
Steve Austin also appeared on CBS Sports’ State of Combat podcast and commented on CM Punk’s return to WWE TV.
“Just the fact that he’s returned to be doing business with WWE, I love, because I don’t know, they split up on bad terms, and now they’re back in business together,” Austin said. “CM Punk was a lights out pro-wrestler, great promos, great work, great talent, so to have him back in the fold, obviously, I guess they ironed out whatever they need to iron out, and both sides are happy, so it’s great to have CM Punk back in the pro-wrestling/sports entertainment business. It’s a breath of fresh air because the guy brings a great perspective, great insight, and great opinion on all things sports entertainment.”
Catch Steve Austin’s new show, The Broken Skull Sessions, this Sunday night on the WWE Network immediately following WWE Survivor Series. Austin’s first guest is none other than his longtime rival and friend, The Undertaker.
