Steve Austin Talks WrestleMania 32 Plans, Reigns’ Push Being Similar To His & More
As noted, WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the guest on the special 100th edition of Jim Ross’ “Ross Report” podcast
On likely being at WrestleMania 32 and discussing what he may do at the show with WWE:
“I’m almost, at this point, 99% sure I’ll be in Texas for WrestleMania [32]. In what form or capacity or whatever, I have no idea. We haven’t discussed anything creatively. One idea makes sense for me to be there, which I can’t talk about now, but obviously, I’d like to do this one endeavor they’re talking about, whether we do something in the ring or I’m part of the show remains to be seen.”
On his belief that NXT should be represented with two WrestleMania 32 matches — one for the men and one for the women:
“I like a lot of those people down there in NXT and as evidenced by some of the houses they’ve drawn, some of the shows that they’ve done, a lot of people are hungry for some of those NXT performers, those wrestlers, so, yeah, man, throw a women’s match on there and two of the guys. Don’t do this: please don’t give me a four team tag match just so you can throw a bunch of NXT [talents] on that big stage because everybody’s going to be watered down and won’t be able to do anything worth a damn because they’re going to be on time restrictions. Everybody’s going to want to be getting their stuff in and it’s going to be a cluster, so yes, feature some NXT talent at WrestleMania. Two matches would be great, but give them some time [and] let them do their thing.”
On thinking WWE should bring back Goldberg and induct him into the WWE Hall Of Fame:
“Oh, absolutely bring Bill Goldberg back. I’ve heard some chatter off [of] his Twitter account that he’s looking for a match and maybe that’s just rumor, but man, if there is a guy that deserves a send off, that is Bill Goldberg. He had a hell of a damn run in WCW. He’s a Hall of Fame guy in my opinion, for his impact on the business. He wasn’t around real long, but his impact was felt big time,” Austin stated. “His run in WWE wasn’t all that it could have been, but he came in at a weird time. But bring him back and put him in there with somebody that he can do his thing with, whoever that is, whether they go 2, 3, 10, 15 [minutes], I don’t know, but it would be fun to see Bill back in the ring. It really would for me.”
On WWE pushing Roman Reigns in similar fashion to his own “Stone Cold” character:
“Well, in my view, I always thought he’s going to have to go heel first and then kind of walk through the fire just like The Rock did, the way things are going, but Vince [McMahon] seems resolute in going down the road he’s going with and that’s going with a similar storyline [as] I did with Vince 15 years ago. So, nonetheless, we’ll see how it goes and the way they see it is as a babyface and their number one guy. And it’s interesting because with so many guys out, the number one guy in the [professional wrestling] business, John Cena just going through shoulder surgery, and Seth Rollins being out, these are all people [Reigns] needs to be in the ring with, by the way, I’m just saying, you’re putting a lot of weight on this guy’s back, a lot of pressure on this guy, and the spotlight is clearly on him.”
On thinking Reigns should go into WrestleMania 32 as champion because he just won the belt:
“Just for me, from a credibility standpoint, for him and his character development, I say leave the belt on him and put a hell of a challenger in there with him. And he doesn’t need to regain [the WWE World Heavyweight Championship], he needs to hang onto it. That’s my two cents.” Austin added, “here’s the thing. If you indeed took the belt off of him at WrestleMania losing to Brock Lesnar, I don’t think that discounts the credibility [of Reigns]. Depending on that match, you can lose that match and gain people’s respect just by your performance in the match and how the story’s told. I don’t believe if he was to fight Brock Lesnar, that’s not a must win match for him, but it’s a must five-star performance for him.”
