WWE.com has posted an interview with Steve Austin ahead of the live WWE Network interview he will be doing with Vince McMahon tonight, and the following are some highlights:
Was there one particular interview where you felt like you were really getting the hang of interviewing a guest and were getting your stride?
AUSTIN: Mick Foley came by the house, and he’s a longtime friend of mine. We used to travel together in WCW and a little bit in WWE. Mick’s a talker anyway, but he’s a guy who’s genuine and we actually are friends. We’re both very frugal with the dollar, both like to work our a**es off and we both like to laugh, so it’s just pure organic conversation. I’ve been very proud of a lot of interviews, but that was one that I’m most proud of.
WWE.COM: Was there one particular interview that was particularly enlightening for you?
AUSTIN: Talking with Ken Shamrock was almost a one-way conversation. I knew Ken was a tough guy, one of the toughest in the world at one time and still tough as nails. I went to Ken Shamrock’s house right outside Reno, Nev., and was sitting in his living room when he started to tell me a story. I had heard he had a tough background, but there are two times in that interview when I teared up. I’m “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and I didn’t cry, but I teared up. Ken saw me, and he almost started tearing up, too. I’d never experienced anything like that. To hear some of the things that he went through, my jaw was on the floor. We tried to talk a little bit about UFC, but I was so devastated about what I’d heard about his upbringing, I was drained. It was incredible. Ken was so honest sharing that story with me.
WWE.COM: Now that you’re entering people’s eardrums with your podcast every week, chatter about your in-ring return has reached a fever pitch. Is there any part of you that wishes the rumors would die down?
AUSTIN: That’s all just chatter, because you never hear me on the podcast selling myself in a match. Hulk Hogan’s trying to stir a matchup, calling me a coward. A lot of what I say breaks over into the mainstream, but I don’t ever want to sell a match that I cannot deliver, because I wouldn’t be living up to my word.
WWE.COM: Point blank, is there any chance we’ll see the black trunks and black boots anytime in the near or distant future?
AUSTIN: As we speak right now, no.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
