“Stone Cold” Steve Austin Claims No Animosity Exists Between Him and WWE

In the latest edition of “The Steve Austin Show,” WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin claims no animosity exists between him and WWE executives. Previous rumors stated that Austin’s podcast was replaced by WWE for their WWE Network exclusive live podcast program with Chris Jericho’s due to issues between The Rattlesnake and WWE CEO Vince McMahon. However, Austin says this is not the case.

Austin addresses various rumors surrounding himself and WWE, starting with rumors as to why he wasn’t at WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara, California, saying,

“There is no heat. One of the rumors was I supposed to be on an airplane with The Undertaker. Not true. I don’t know where Undertaker lives. Last time I checked it was Austin, Texas. I currently reside in Los Angeles, California. When I’m not there, I’m at the Broken Skull Ranch. So, why they would have me and Undertaker on the same commercial airplane, I have no idea. So, that rumor is completely untrue.

I was never part of any part of any kind of Creative discussions with me participating in WrestleMania 31. So, there was no booking, there were no ideas, I didn’t turn down anything. So, I simply wasn’t there. I was never scheduled to be there.”

Austin said that he did watch the event on the WWE Network from his Ranch, but was never supposed to appear. He talks about WWE replacing “The Steve Austin Show” with “Talk is Jericho” for their live WWE Network exclusive podcast program, saying,

“I’m not doing the podcast on WWE Network just because we did the initial two (with Vince McMahon and Triple H) and were going to make a deal and move forward. A deal wasn’t made and we’re not moving forward. End of story. There’s no heat there.

Some people said that Vince McMahon wasn’t happy with the questions I was asking. Not true at all. Again, a deal could have been made, a deal was not made, WWE went the direction they went, and I’m going the direction I’m going in. Hey man, if we partner up down the road and do business, that will be gangbusters. Because for the rest of my life, I will have WWE blood running through my veins.

When WWE and Steve Austin are in business together, it’s always a good thing and always a fun thing. So, no matter what anyone says, there is no animosity from any standpoint – from WWE’s point of view, from my standpoint.

I’m stating the case plainly, clearly, and as efficiently as I can without going into to too much more detail, which is between myself, Vince, and WWE. Private matters. But, for all the public things I just talked about, those are the answers to the questions. No heat, nowhere, it’s cool, moving on.”

The Rattlesnake also opened up about not hosting the next seasons of WWE’s reality show, “Tough Enough,” stating,

“Everyone says there’s heat with Steve and Vince. And Steve turned down the Tough Enough gig. No, that’s not true. I’ve been talking with WWE about doing Tough Enough for quite some time. Quite some time. It was supposed to be shot in February or March. Right now, we’re in April. Well, it didn’t happen in February or March, through nobody’s fault. There are so many dynamics and so many moving parts planning a show the magnitude of Tough Enough. It takes a while to get all those pieces in order.

Once WWE finally got those pieces in order and could go to camera was the same exact time that CMT said, ‘Hey, we want to do more episodes of Broken Skull Challenge.’ Both things lined up the same time, and I had the previous commitment to Broken Skull Challenge. In a perfect world, had we been able to film Tough Enough in February or March, then I was scheduled to do it, and that would have been an absolute blast.

So, I didn’t turn down Tough Enough because I have heat with Vince McMahon. That was my first reality TV hosting gig and I absolutely loved it, and it helped get the other gigs that I now do as well. So, scheduling problems prevented me from doing Tough Enough. I didn’t turn it down for any other reason than that. Wish I could have done it, too bad I couldn’t. That’s just the way it is.”

You can hear the entire episode here.

Editor’s Note:

Austin is awesome. No heat apparently, just business differences.