WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has recalled the first time he was expected to deliver a scripted promo. Speaking with National Wrestling Alliance’s Eli Drake on his podcast, The Steve Austin Show, Austin looked back on coming back from surgery only to have a script presented to him by Vince McMahon.
“I’ll never forget when I came back from getting my neck fused, C3 and C4, in ’99 or whenever it was,” Austin recalled. “And when I left, we were cutting promos just like I told [Drake], man, you kind of go out there and it was what it was. You might have a bullet point or two, or someone might say, ‘hey man, remember this’ or whatever, but you go out there and you cut a promo.”
He continued, “When I came back, that’s when the papers started coming around. And all-of-a-sudden, man, I’ll never forget […] I was in a room with Vince, and, well, somebody had to track me down. I was watching matches. ‘Hey man, Vince wants to go through this promo with you’ and so, just like this piece of paper here, and I said, ‘Vince… when I get my hands on you… I… am… going… to… tear… you… limb… from… limb…'”
Austin explained how Vince expected him to deliver an “A-promo.” He pushed back, however, believing he wouldn’t be able to. He shared how the “Stone Cold” character was clearly missing from the words he was given. He shared how nothing helps him inhabit “Stone Cold” more than when the red light is on for the cameras, and he’s in front of a live crowd.
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
