Steve Austin Recalls His Fondest Memories In His Career

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin was recently in conversation with Alfred Konuwa of Forbes, where he touched on a ton of topics, including his new A&E show, “Stone Cold Takes On America,” his relationship with CM Punk, WWE’s sale to Endeavor and the UFC merger, the Broken Skull Challenge, modern wrestling compared to the Attitude Era, “Superstar” Billy Graham, and more.

During the interview, Austin also reminisced about his battles with Bret “The Hitman” Hart and The Rock, while also fondly discussing working with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat at house shows during his time with the USWA. He said,

“Man, I would’ve to go to the match part of it, like working with Bret the Hitman Hart, who put me on the map with Survivor Series and [WrestleMania] 13. Working with the Rock. Anytime we laced them up, he brought out the best in me and I brought the best in him. Those three WrestleManias we had were some of the greatest moments that I really enjoyed. All those Vince moments, driving all those vehicles. But if I really dig back into the stuff that I really loved, it was some of those matches. Like at the Los Angeles Forum working 30-minute Broadways with Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat with no cameras there, and a house that was only a quarter-full. But it was the work, and it was some of those old buildings in the USWA when I was learning, and I was still green as grass.”

Elaborating on why his earlier days in the business are dearest to him, Austin said,

“Those are the things that I really remember; the learning periods and spending life on the road and getting into an industry where you truly had to take care of yourself, and no one was gonna help you. And if you were lucky, one of those veterans—and a lot of them did—took me under their wing, under their learning tree and told me ‘Hey man, this is what you need to do and you only have so many bumps in your body, so choose them wisely.’ The advice that I was given, those types of things that are the things that really matter to me.”

When asked how these experiences compare to beer bashes and whatnot while working with Vince McMahon during the peak of the Attitude Era, Austin said,

“Oh man, the beer bashes are great! That’s the showbiz aspect of it. And what I liked about the Beer Bash stuff was—a lot of times when Raw went off the air, I kept on going. And several times we built up, or I built up, huge fines for Vince because of overtime in those union cities. But just the fact that I could go out there in a situation sometimes, maybe the television stuff didn’t go like he wanted it to, but you had that aftermath just for the house. To go out there and make up for it and ad lib, think on your feet and improvise. Those were the three qualities that I guess were buried within me. But working with WWE enabled me to find, own and perfect those techniques to save my ass when it needed saving.”

Having discussed the importance of mentors, the interviewer brought up CM Punk, who is often compared to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Read more: Steve Austin Says He Regularly Texts CM Punk; Lavishes Praise On Him

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