Stone Cold Steve Austin
I'm pro-WWE, but also I maintain my independence and speak my true thoughts, never bashing the product. But yes, I can be critical. I've earned the right to be critical.Collection: Independence
I'm for same-sex marriage.Collection: Marriage
Man, I had a good time working on 'Grown Ups 2.' First of all, when I read the script, it is hands-down the funniest script I've ever read. It's laugh-out-loud funny.Collection: Funny
I love my mother to death. I'm pretty much a reflection of her.Collection: Death
I'm telling you, there have been some great finishers in the world of pro wrestling or sports entertainment. Whatever you want to call it. Man, I enjoyed the Iron Claw back in the day. I believed it was real.Collection: Sports
I'm honest and tell it like it is. I've been around the horn a few times and learned valuable lessons from screwing up a bit. So, if I can pass off advice or make someone smile on the way to work, I'm for it.Collection: Smile
Man, it was a great ride back in the day. Obviously, I started out in WCW, and I was a good mechanic back in the day. Got fired from that gig, made a turn for ECW.
A lot of people say, 'What set the Attitude Era up?' or, 'What started the Attitude Era?' To me - and I was allegedly the leader of it - sports entertainment, pro wrestling, whatever you want to call it has always had an attitude. So, why that particular generation got labeled, I don't know.
When you see me on TV as Stone Cold Steve Austin, that's definitely a part of my personality.
I didn't do choreographed fighting for a living. I was a professional wrestler for 15 years; there's a big difference.
Say the average arena is 20,000 people. You're in the very center of that arena, and you're playing to the worst seat in the house up there. So everything is very big, very large. It's like a very violent form of Broadway in a 20x20 ring.
You cannot put Paul Heyman with Roman Reigns. People would know you're putting Paul Heyman with him because there is a problem.
Paul Heyman works with Brock. The magic works between Brock and Paul because of their dynamic and their chemistry.
I think they've got to give Kevin Owens a run with the belt. He's a veteran, and he's really clicking on the mic, and the kid is super talented.
They made a three-hour 'Raw,' but two hours is about my time limit. I ain't got that kind of attention span.
I like pure pro-wrestling, when it's serious in its orientation and presentation - like it's a legit sport with Jim Ross calling the action.
With the Monday Night Wars, it was almost a pay-per-view every single Monday between the two factions because they were trying to throw everything but the kitchen sink to win the ratings war.
It's like I tell everybody, if you get a chance to win the Royal Rumble or the King of the Ring back when they had it, that means you're gonna get a push. You getting an opportunity at something big, and it can really set up your future for you. So if you're that guy, boy, it's pressure.
When I went out and did what I did in the world of professional wrestling as Stone Cold Steve Austin, pretty much anything and everything thing I said was ad lib, on the spot, just let it fly and go for it.
Everything I've done goes back to pro wrestling. Had I not been able to achieve what I did, I guarantee you... my high school jobs were always working in the highway department - driving dump trucks, patching up roads, digging ditches, driving a forklift.
I think if I'd never had found pro wrestling, I'd be a blue collar guy, working a 9-to-5 job.
I'm glad about 'The Curtain Call' now, but I remember being very confused watching it all go down because I was right there behind the curtain watching it all, and I couldn't believe these guys were breaking kayfabe.
I go back to the old school days of that Attitude Era stuff. Everybody knows when I speak of the Attitude Era, my favorite stuff is of the mid-'80s, all that NWA stuff, the World Class stuff, the stuff that Bill Watts was doing.
Wrestling is a very serious subject for me.
I think 'The Condemned' has a great story. It's a lot more than a mindless action flick.
I've been in the entertainment industry - wresting, but the entertainment industry since 1989; if you have thin skin, you're going to have a tough time in this town, but I've got thick skin.
When I got into professional wrestling, I started, and I starved for two years, and I finally got some breaks. And then I got the biggest break, and I made the most of it and took wresting to its highest level ever.
I would consider doing something along the lines of 'Tough Enough' because that was my first endeavor into reality television, and that is a world I know and love, and that's why I was on that show.
I love the business of pro wrestling, and it is something I know better than anything else I know about.
The thing about the 'Broken Skull Challenge' is that there's really nothing else like it on television.
I own a ranch in Texas, so there's always something to do as far as work goes, whether it's tractor stuff or tearing down fence.
I got out of the business when I got out. The hunger was out of my system.
I'm not addicted to wrestling anymore. For a long time, I was.
As much as I love the business and I love my fans, I don't want to be at every WrestleMania.
I don't have the talent of Daniel Day-Lewis. I'm Steve Austin, so when I get to hang out and be who I am, and I live on set, it's like a paid vacation, man.
When I came to WWE back in the day, I'd been working seven-and-a-half years, and I was very frustrated. I started getting some momentum, and my work was very vicious, and it was very believable.
Once I came up with the 'Stone Cold' thing, it was like a snowball rolling down a hill; it just kept getting larger and larger, and I wasn't afraid to push the envelope.
People go into that arena, and they know the fix is in. They know what pro wrestling or sports entertainment is. That being said, they want it executed to the highest level so that they can suspend their disbelief and buy in, and so, in a world of make believe, you make people believe in you. It's as real as it can be.
Everyone out here in Los Angeles is trying to do whatever to break into films. It is a tough industry to get into, kind of like pro wrestling in a lot of respects when you think about it.
I got pile drived in '96 or '97 and was a quadriplegic for about a minute and a half. I couldn't move anything. It was in the Meadowlands at a pay per view with a million or two people watching, and I couldn't move. That cost me a surgery, but I healed pretty quickly, so that was probably my worst day at the office.
I found out in pro wrestling that it works better if you just try and be yourself versus working on something you're not, so I'm me, and maybe it's magnified a bit, but it's easier just being me.
I respect Hulk Hogan because his career lasted some 30 odd years. I think I lasted about 15, but during my peak years, I took the business to a height it never seen before.
I really value my days down there in ECW in Philly.
It goes - for me - WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam. The big three.
I want to be careful when I'm breaking down matches because I don't want to offend anybody or knock anybody's work. It took me a long time to get where I was at, so I know how it feels when someone knocks on you.
Driving a forklift is kind of like riding a bicycle. You've either got forklift skills or you don't, and I can remove somebody's molars with a forklift.
Cancer has affected my family; my mother and father have battled cancer. I know how tough it is.
I appreciate everyone that had supported my career.
I don't know if a pro wrestling career prepares you for Hollywood. When you get out there, and you're in an arena for 20,000 people or 90,000 people, it's a lot different than being on a quiet set with 100 people, so I think you get used to dealing with cameras.
I enjoy reality television.