– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin noted on Twitter on Sunday that he officially signed up for the WWE Network to watch the WWE Payback pay-per-view. Austin tweeted the following:
– The following is the official description for the latest edition of “Who’s Next w/ Goldberg.”
Who’s Next w/ Goldberg – Ep02 – Terry Crews
“NFL Stud-Turned Wrestling Legend Bill Goldberg welcomes NFL buddy turned actor Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Old Spice stud) to talk about his journey and what makes a real man.”
– The following is the official description for the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show.”
SASu – EP120 – TNA’s Cowboy James Storm Pt 2
“Cowboy James Storm and Steve Austin are sharing their tag team pet peeves, and the worst matches of their respective careers (at least according to Dave Meltzer). They’re also talking Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart, the Superkick, the Stone Cold Stunner, cars, vegetarians, and 80s heavy metal.”
– The following is the official description for the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho.”
TIJ – EP43 – TNA’s Bully Ray Pt2 & WWE Payback Predictions
“TNA’s Bully Ray (formerly known as Bubba Ray of the Dudley Boyz tag team at WWF/E) is back talking about ECW, Paul Heyman, shaving his head, working for WWE, and his favorite matches! Plus, Egypt returns to predict this weekend’s WWE Payback PPV matches with Chris! Who will come out ahead?”
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat recently visited Malaysia to promote WWE’s upcoming tour of that country. Steamboat did a lot of media and even took a tour of Kuala Lumpur, the country’s largest city.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently revealed that he recorded a new “Steve Austin Show” interview with former WWE Superstar Big Van Vader. Vader noted that their discussion, which was recorded on Friday for the podcast that will air next Tuesday, lasted almost six hours.
– The debut edition of Bill Goldberg’s “Who’s Next? with Bill Goldberg” podcast, which features an interview with NASCAR legend Tony Stewart, is now available at PodcastOne.com.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
Who’s Next w/ Goldberg – Ep01 – Tony Stewart
“NFL Stud-Turned Wrestling Legend Bill Goldberg kicks off his new weekly show with his buddy, Auto Racing Superstar Tony Stewart and some words of encouragement from the legendary voice of Pro Wrestling, Jim Ross.”
– Speaking of PodcastOne.com shows, the latest edition of Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which features an interview with TNA star James Storm, is now available.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASu – EP118 – TNA’s Cowboy James Storm
“TNA’s Cowboy James Storm stopped by 316 Gimmick Street with a 6-pack of Coors Light and a whole mess of squared-circle stories. He’s namin’ names too – favorite promo guy, favorite of all time, and who gave him his gimmick. Plus, hear about his call to WCW, why he’s partially blind in one eye, and which college offered him a scholarship to play basketball!”
Comic book artist Greg Capullo recently tweeted some drawings he did that captures some of the most iconic visual moments in WWE history, including Hulk Hogan slamming Andre The Giant at WrestleMania, as well as Steve Austin bleeding profusely in Bret Hart’s “Sharpshooter” at WrestleMania.
– The latest edition of Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show,” which features a Q&A with Eric Bischoff, is now available. The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASc – EP115 – Eric Bischoff Q&A
“You had questions for Eric Bischoff… and he had answers! Does he regret firing Steve Austin from WCW? Was Bret Hart really a good fit for WCW? Who’s Eric’s favorite wrestler? What are Eric’s thoughts on Bill Goldberg’s streak & how was he to deal with? Will Eric ever return to WWE in any capacity? Check out the Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff Q&A now!”
– Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Jim Ross and Roddy Piper are all doing big numbers for their PodcastOne.com weekly podcasts. On the iTunes Top 300 Sports Podcast list, JR is currently number one, while Austin’s “Unleashed” show is number two. Austin’s regular podcast is number four, Piper’s is number five and Jericho’s is number ten.
– The following is a video preview for this Sunday night’s edition of WWE Total Divas:
As of right now, WWE is pushing the following four retired wrestlers, in order, the most: Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Steve Austin and Ultimate Warrior. Warrior was higher on the priority list a few weeks ago, but that was due to the fact that he tragically passed away.
For the month of April, more people purchased Warrior merchandise on the internet than anyone else in the company, including John Cena.
The latest internet merchandise numbers, in order, were Cena, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, The Wyatt Family, The Shield, Evolution and Hulk Hogan.
The latest arena merchandise numbers, in order, were Cena, Bryan, Randy Orton, Warrior, Rob Van Dam, Brock Lesnar, The Wyatt Family, Batista and Sin Cara.
It’s worth noting that Cena was head-and-shoulders above the rest of the top sellers at the arenas, with the second highest person on the list (Daniel Bryan) not even coming close to his sales figures.
– During his latest Steve Austin Show podcast (with Eric Bischoff), Austin revealed that his new “Broken Skull Ranch Challenge” reality competition will premiere on CMT on July 6.
– Chris Jericho has commented on Adam Rose’s debut on RAW, specifically, people comparing Rose’s character to his. On the latest “Talk is Jericho” podcast, he went ‘in character’ and says Rose is not a Jericho clone:
“A lot of people says it looks like a Chris Jericho rip-off. No. Not a Chris Jericho rip-off. You know why? Because Chris Jericho can’t be ripped off, baby. Often imitated, never duplicated. Y2J.”
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff was Steve Austin’s guest on this week’s Steve Austin Show podcast, which you can listen to at PodcastOne.com. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Rumors Of WCW Being Shut Down In The Early 1990’s:
“What I saw from my perspective was that Turner Corporate was tired of [wrestling] politics. They tried the Jim Herd experiment. That didn’t work. They tried a couple of other variations of Jim Herd. They tried Kip Frey. That was a disaster. They tried all these different variations of management and leadership and I knew that Turner Corp. – I don’t remember who told me – but I had gotten word that they were considering pulling the plug. (pause) I said, ‘If they pull the plug, I’m going back to Minneapolis.'”
“So, I threw my name in the hat. I had heard they were looking for an executive producer – they tried the Bill Watts thing – and they wanted to get away from wrestling people. They wanted someone to run the company who understood the entertainment business, but wasn’t so entrenched in wrestling that they were sucked into the politics of it.”
Pitching Himself To Turner Executives:
“I was passionate and I felt it. I believed in it. I believed in myself. I’ve been passionate about wrestling since I was a little kid and I was passionate about my approach to it. And the solution that I had, especially given that Turner had identified as their problem, which was not wanting any more wrestling guys running a television company. So, it worked.”
His Vision To Make WCW The Top Wrestling Promotion In The World:
“The vision was to broaden it because – if you go back in time and look at what WCW was and where it existed in that moment of time where I had that opportunity, it was considered a very small, third-rate, kind of Southern, hereditary aspects of the NWA and Crocket regional promotion, and they were trying to compete with the WWF at the time. So, if you want to compete at their level, you have to be able to play at their level. So, my approach was to mainstream it and to make it feel bigger and make it feel more mainstream and less regional.”
– The latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show,” which features part one of Steve Austin’s interview with Eric Bischoff, is now available.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASc – EP113 – Eric Bischoff Pt. 1
“This conversation was just too big to limit to one episode! So here you go – part 1 of Steve’s sit down with Eric Bischoff! Covered in this go ’round: Buffalo Bill Cody Beer, mules & horses, AWA’s Verne Gagne, DDP, Hulk Hogan, the beginning of the end of WCW, bow hunting, flying lessons, Eric’s modeling career, and Malaysian Flight 370.”
– The latest edition of “Piper’s Pit,” which features Roddy Piper’s interview with Diamond Dallas Page, is now available.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
PP-Ep5 – Diamond Dallas Page
“Hot Rod and Diamond Dallas Page together on one podcast! Look out! Stories about Dusty Rhodes, Michael “P.S.” Hayes, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Scott Hall, Jesse Ventura, Jody Hamilton, and Edge! It’s one heck of a roller coaster ride!”
– Camera crews from the E! reality show “Total Divas” were in attendance at the Sunscreen Film Festival on Thursday night. Many of the Divas from the show were at the festival to support The Bella Twins, who introduced “Confessions of a Womanizer,” a film they are featured in. John Cena was also in attendance. Footage of this is expected to air on a future edition of the show.
– The WWE Shop website has released new “Evolution of a Hall Of Famer” plaques for Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels today. They have also released “Evolution of a Superstar” plaques for Undertaker and John Cena. They are going for $89.99 a piece.
– Chris Jericho recently noted via his official Twitter account that his guest on this Friday’s edition of his “Talk Is Jericho” podcast will be up-and-coming WWE Superstar Cesaro.
– Speaking of podcasts, the latest edition of Steve Austin’s weekly “Steve Austin Show” is now online. The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASu – EP112 – The Return of Fluffy Guy aka Gabriel Iglesias
“Holy Cow! Once the record button got pushed, hilarity ensued! Fluffy Guy aka Gabriel Iglesias & his comedian friend Jerry Rocha talked Wrestlemania 30, The Undertaker, and first squared-circle matches! Plus, hear Fluffy cut a promo on CM Punk, and Stone Cold cut a promo on Fluffy’s webmaster!”
– John Cena and Nikki Bella will be attending the ninth annual Sunscreen Film Festival on May 1st at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida. The film, “Confessions of a Womanizer,” which features The Bella Twins, will be screened. Total Divas cameras are also expected at the event to film possible footage for a future episode.
– The official WWE website recently added a feature looking at the top 50 talkers in pro wrestling history. The top ten looks like this:
10. Chris Jericho
9. Hulk Hogan
8. Bobby Heenan
7. Mick Foley
6. Paul Heyman
5. Dusty Rhodes
4. Steve Austin
3. Roddy Piper
2. The Rock
1. Ric Flair
– Chris Jericho revealed via his official Twitter account that Santino Marella will be his featured guest on the Friday edition of his “Talk Is Jericho” podcast at PodcastOne.com.
– Speaking of Podcast One, the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show – Unleashed,” which features Austin interviewing former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas, is now online.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASu – EP110 – WWE referee Jim Korderas
“Longtime WWE referee Jim Korderas was in the ring the night Owen Hart fell to his death, and shares the story with Steve. Jim also remembers his pants-splitting, first big squared-circle appearance, calling matches for Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, and Jerry “The King” Lawler, taking bumps, and playing cards with Big Show!”
Eric Bischoff mentioned on Twitter that he will be a guest on both Jim Ross and Steve Austin’s podcasts. Here’s his comments regarding those upcoming interviews.
Looking forward to spending time with @JRsBBQ@WWEJimRoss on his pod cast. Lots of history with Jim that we have never covered publically.
During part one of Paul Heyman’s appearance on Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show” podcast on Tuesday, Austin admitted that he would be tempted to make a return to WWE for a match against Brock Lesnar. Heyman joked during the interview that this news would be the headline coming out of the show. Heyman continued to make a push for said-headline in a recent tweet on his official Twitter account. Heyman noted the following:
Speaking of Heyman on the “Steve Austin Show,” part two was released via the “Steve Austin Unleashed” version of the show on Thursday. The official description for that show reads as follows:
SASu – EP108 – WWE’s Paul Heyman Pt 2
“WWE’s Paul Heyman aka Paul E. Dangerously talks to Steve about the demise of the ECW, the WWE conference call that got him fired, the craziest workers in the business, the Heyman Hustle, think tanks, and Vince McMahon’s sneezing issues.”
– Part one of Steve Austin’s awesome interview with Paul Heyman is now available on the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show” podcast. The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASc – EP107 – WWE’s Paul Heyman
WWE’s Paul Heyman talks CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, the greatest managers of all time, and forming the ECW. Plus, hear the stories behind the giant cell phone gimmick, the creation of Paul E. Dangerously, why Paul LOVES the Raven character, and Mick Foley promos, and who he thinks epitomized the ECW brand!
– Also new at PodcastOne.com is the latest edition of Roddy Piper’s “Piper’s Pit” podcast, which again features “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. The official description for that show reads as follows:
PP-Ep2 – Steve Simeone and Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Hot Rod welcomes comedian Steve Simeone and Hacksaw Jim Duggan to Piper’s Pit! They’re talking Wrestlemania 30 and saying R.I.P. to the Ultimate Warrior.
Despite initial reports to the contrary, the latest word going around is that CM Punk is still receiving his merchandise checks from WWE. As noted on Thursday, WWE has been continuing to sell Punk merchandise, including the distribution of new Punk merchandise at WrestleMania Axxess in New Orleans this past weekend.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin has mentioned several times when reflecting on his walkout of WWE that during his hiatus, he was not receiving money from WWE, including profits earned on his merchandise being sold. He noted when talking about Punk walking out on the company during recent podcasts and media interviews that Punk is leaving tons of money on the table, but apparently that is not the case.
At the time Punk walked out on the company, he was the number two merchandise-mover, trailing only John Cena. At this point in time, while the latest official figures have yet to come in, it is believed that he is still among the top five wrestlers in the company in terms of current merchandise sales, and possibly as high as number three.
– The following is the latest edition of The JBL & Cole Show, which features an appearance by WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
– As previously reported, former WWE Superstars Chris Jericho and Edge noted that they would be attending the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn this week. You can check out a photo of the two at the event below.
The deals made to bring “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock in for the WrestleMania XXX opening segment with Hulk Hogan were finalized before the final WrestleMania “go-home” edition of WWE RAW. For reasons that are currently unclear, WWE decided against advertising the return of either guy on television.
Austin’s appearance was promoted the day before the show on the WWE Network, but that is likely because it became a news story when Austin told TMZ that he would be participating in the show. The Rock’s appearance wasn’t mentioned until the night before, but that was only announced via social media.
WWE released new CM Punk merchandise during WrestleMania XXX weekend in New Orleans. Based on the fact that Punk breached his contract by walking out on WWE, WWE is legally within their rights to unload their existing CM Punk merchandise inventory. However, the legalties of producing new merchandise for Punk and selling it while he is not active in the company becomes a bit tricky.
For whatever this is worth, Steve Austin noted on a recent podcast that he was not paid for the merchandise WWE sold of his when he walked out on the company, however the company did not produce new Austin merchandise while he was on that particular hiatus.
– Former WWE Superstars Chris Jericho and Edge will be attending tonight’s Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn, New York.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin interviewed Michael Hayes for the latest edition of his “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which is available today. The interview was conducted while Austin was in New Orleans for WrestleMania XXX.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASu – EP106 – Michael “P.S.” Hayes
Michael “Purely Sexy” Hayes met up with Steve in NOLA! Check out the stories about The Fabulous Freebirds, refereeing, what Michael did for Steve’s career, and why you should never call him Dok Hendrix! Plus, Steve remembers the Ultimate Warrior! R.I.P.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin noted on his latest “Steve Austin Show” podcast that WWE legend The Undertaker has agreed to record an interview with him for a future edition of his show.
– Former NFL star Shawn Merriman, who was one of the members of the WrestleMania XXX pre-show panels, has signed a contract with WWE. JBL and Michael Cole noted during one of their recent podcasts that Merriman is “joining the WWE family” and will be reporting to the WWE developmental center in Florida.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper debuted his new weekly podcast, “Piper’s Pit,” which will be available every Monday. The first edition of Piper’s podcast features “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, as well as actor Richard Tyson and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
PP-Ep1 – Richard Tyson and Hacksaw Jim Duggan
It’s the debut of Piper’s Pit, and Rowdy Roddy Piper has actor Richard Tyson, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan in the Pit! They’re talking movies, wrestling, and the WWE’s Legend’s House.
– Also new at PodcastOne.com today is the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show,” which features Austin talking about his experience at WrestleMania XXX on Sunday, the WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony on Saturday, and also features a new interview with Lita.
The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASc – EP105 – WWE’s Lita
Wrestlemania 30’s in the books, and Steve’s got plenty of thoughts about what happened! Plus, he witnessed first-hand Lita’s (aka Amy Dumas) induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in NOLA! And she joins him to talk about that, along with her ring philosophy & training, her neck injury, life in Nicaragua, and not being a Diva!