STW #50: Austin Walks Out
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- On this episode: What happened when Austin "took his ball and went home" in 2002? Was it creative? Was he injured? Did it cost him a beer deal? How much did it cost him to come back? Listen if you dare, Bruce is sick and this is three hours of our worst episode ever! WHAT? Worst episode. WHAT? Ever.
Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard is an audio podcast that discusses topics, events, wrestlers and memorable moments through the lens of former WWE executive Bruce Prichard co-hosted by Conrad Thompson.
The show was launched in August 2016 on MLW Radio. The episodes typically range from 2 hours to 4 hours in length, and include discussions about previous WWE pay-per-views and former WWE wrestlers.
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Show starts at 10:44
Thank you they wasted 10 minutes of 🐂💩
Thanks. I look for the exact time for every show lol
47:00 is the start of some🔥
MVP
@@xanderthagreat8460lmao! That was amazing. Had me tearing up
Creative was horrible at this time. The fact that they started a feud between Eddie and Austin, 2 of the greatest workers of all time, over karaoke.
Facts.
I would have loved to watch that match!!! Guerrero vs Austin. Also, Guerrero vs Michaels would’ve been amazing
Creative is still horrible. It's as if they don't give a damn about what they're putting out on Monday and Tuesday night. Truthfully I tune in because I've been doing so for well over a decade now and I keep having faith that one night it's going to turn around and start getting better. I'll never give up on them but right now it's awfully hard to watch the garbage they're showing. Like I said before, I don't think they (Vince and the writers) even care anymore.
@@mattmoon5300 Guerrero vs. Michaels would've happened at WM 22 had Eddie not passed. :-(
Liberalman00 liar 🤥
Skip bullshit 10:45
SeamHead33 thank u sir. You've done a service.
Praises upon ye!
ＤＥＨＵＭＡＩＮＺＥ ＹＯＵＲＳＥＬＦ ＡＮＤ ＦＡＣＥ ＴＯ ＢＬＯＯＤＳＨＥＤ
SeamHead33 thanks
SeamHead33 thanks bro
LOL I love how Conrad goes from 0 to 100 real quick getting mad at Bruce not answering questions
bruce just doesn't come off as a genuine guy
@@GregHuffman1987 yeah that's because he isn't.
conrad gets mad if he doesnt get the answer he wants, whether its true or not
@@warshipsatin8764 exactly. If Jr said he didn’t know, he wouldn’t shout at him. I think he is closer friends with Eric and Bruce but I bet if he was doing one with Stone cold or someone like that, he wouldn’t go off on him. It’s super entertaining but a tad selective.
Conrads a disrespectful nobody. He's a smart Mark that married into the wrestling business that has no business doing anything other than sitting in the seat being a shity fan. The only reason anyone puts up with him is because he is a moneymaker for them with these podcasts. Anytime someone replaces him, the show is better without him. He is an obnoxious mouth breather that thinks he knows everything about the business and what should have been done when he wasn't there he didn't know the situation he's just a spectator monday-morning quarterbacking it with no expertise whatsoever. That's why he sucks off Dave meltzer. I love these shows because I love listening to people like Bruce and Jr who actually did something in the business for decades and we're a huge part of its history so I'll put up with Conrad to listen to them but he is so easily replaceable and it's not even slightly entertaining. He tries to do impressions like Bruce and his impressions are absolutely horrible he's not funny and he sounds like he's one cupcake away from a heart attack.
I love it when Bruce and Conrad fight. Good stuff!! 49:00
Yah he was right to call him on this bs
Everything single thing that Conrad said to Bruce about what was done to Hall was 100% right on the money.
The Scott Hall fight was really good
This is why I like listening to Conrad. He doesn't swallow all the bullshit these guys feed him. Him and Bischoff got into several very heated arguments, my favorite being the finish of Hogan/Sting at Starrcade.
@@-BigMike- the best fight was Eric and Conrad on the Great American bash. It was in the first 10 mins. An early episode.
The thing I don’t like with Vince is that he builds you up but there isn’t a wind down,he just abruptly demoted you. It’s like once he sees his next guy,he just loses momentum in the current guy. Same thing with Bret & Shawn,he expects loyalty from the guys but isn’t all that loyal to them & their brand.
Now's he's done with Cena after he's been on Top long then anyone in the Company's History. Reigns is not over
That's absolutely true, nice observation. There's no reason all of those guys couldn't have been steadily brought down to the top of the mid card before putting a guy over who's on his way to the main event scene and then having a respectful retirement match.
thalrg22 It's 50/50 booking. Even Russo himself stated the booking is horrible as hell.
@Shawn Agen A little Trailer Park Boys reference, eh?
Taker has been on top for 30 years. Vince never gave up on him.
The company dropped the ball with Austin in 2002. Nwo and HHH coming back were definitely big factors in Austin being phased out and his injuries caught up with him. But the company should have protected him better. Losing the Undisputed Title match to Jericho was the beginning of the end. Hyping Rock up as the "future" of the business against Hogan was a critical mistake. Austin was the man that put WCW out of business and took Vince and co. to a whole new level of success that has never been matched before or since. Austin deserved better, and do did the audience. Such a shame.
Rschr101 WWE creative just started mailing it in after WCW was bought by Vince.
Rschr101 Wrong. Austin didn’t put WCW out, he was the most popular WWF wrestler in the attitude but he didn’t do it him self @ all..
Without The Vince angle, rock fued, and any fights with Taker.. Austin wouldn’t
Be
Shit
RonnyApacolypse you got to be the dumbest son-of-a-b**** alive
ayham Hamideh naw ah doubt it
Fin Bluelor wrong rock was not the future cause he was going to Hollywood.
I feel when Steve didn’t get the title shot against Hogan at Judgment Day was the nail in the coffin for Austin’s career as a top guy
Austin would have really had to sell a lot for Hogan. I don't see a match with Hogan being good. I'm glad it never happened. The Austin and Bischoff Angles were great. I love Bischoff. Damn good heel.
Cause he didn't wanna work with Hogan simple as that.
@@bdot187um I may be remembering wrong, but didn’t they tease doing a match a few years later or something? I believe it was at one of the Hall of Fame ceremonies and Austin walked up to the podium and said “if you wanna see me open a can of whoop ass on Hulk Hogan, give me a hell yeah!” or something like that, and the camera panned to Hogan who had this disgusted look on his face. I don’t know maybe I’m remembering it wrong
@@kellijones6481 in 2002 when hogan was first brought back along with the nWo, the original plan was for Hogan to Headline Wrestlemania X8 with Austin, but Steve refused to work with him, thats why we ended up having the classic between Hogan & rock, Fast forward to the 2005 hall of fame ceremony thats when the fans started chanting for "Hogan Austin" even Hulk had to acknowledge it by winking at him and saying how about it..or something of that nature...few months pass and we reach the raw homecoming show, Here we see the obvious teasing by wwe to see if the fans are up for it, and when Hogan issued the challenge the fans lost there shit...Austin didn't mind the promo but at the end refused (again) to work with him, and by the 2006 hall of fame the chances of a match happening was over...but still the fans pressured Hogan he responded with the money sign and that "it would be a Hella of a match"...at that same night Austin apparently went into business for himself with that whoop ass line that's why hulk was caught off guard...at the end I believe it might have been one or even two man's egos that robbed us of having that match, some might blame Hogan the other say its Austin, but If you ask me I would say that by 2005/2006 none of the parties involved were gaining anything outta beating the other, but hey at least we got to Hogan vs Rock, which ended up being one of the greatest mania matches of all time.
Hogan was terrible at selling at the time the match against undertaker was horrible I doubt Austin could’ve made the match better with the injuries he had he wasn’t the Austin before the neck injury
"Get out of the business if you can't handle it?" Why the fuck would he ever have to have beer poured on him. Knowing he was an alcoholic they should never have put Hall in that situation
He says that from day one there were reports of Hall going out and partying and doing all the things he does but they still booked that angle with the beer.
No, he said the beer being poured on him was Steve's call and a spur of the moment thing...LISTEN to it.
@@stefan4123 THANK you!
From what I gathered from his DVD's and interviews since this happened, the reason he (Austin, Pronouns pal) left was both creative and his health. His health was going downhill, he was wearing himself out, and one day realized how much bullshit he was doing. He realized that he was literally destroying himself for really terrible creative.
I love listening to all the Conrad podcasts this one is one of my favorites and you can bet your bottom dollar cuz Stone cold said so
10:45
I love that Conrad doesn't take any shit from anyone, including Bruce.
@Marcus B A what?
Conrad ruins this show with his whiny bitchness
@@FatLadyKiller It's literally his show - what are you doing here? lmao This is a buyer's market, plenty of fish in the sea.
@@fuzzydunlop7928 it is not at all Conrads show, it's Bruce Prichards show. No one cares or listens for Conrad. He asks impossible questions and cries like a bitch when he's not given an answer he wants. It's frustrating and unnecessary. Bruce is the reason for its success and the reason people listen. No one, except maybe you, tunes in for Conrad.
19 Year Old Me: Firmly on Austin's side
38 Year Old Me: Kinda on Austin's side but now understand more of Vince's side. I can understand Austin was burnt out and frustrated with creative, but you show up and disclose your problems with the man that's signing your checks. I get Austin didn't want to disclose health problems but it could have went a long way with helping moving forward
U old af. Damn
I'm on vince's side on this one, I mean sure the Creative wasn't the best at the time but Austin didn't help either, they tried to pair him with hogan that didn't work tried it with hall it didn't work, with flair not so much, last attempt with Guerrero was too late he was gone, so yeah vince is responsible for his Creative mess but you can see that he tried several times steve wasn't willing to do anything.
Porn has less ads than this podcast
TheDev097 hahahahaha 😂😂
TheDev097 did you pay for it? Stfu.
I pay for UA-cam red. I shouldn’t have to deal with any ad. Within a video as well as UA-cam ads.
I don't like the ads but I can't hate on them getting that money. It's nice to know someone is paying 'em for making it.
Adam S. Messinger I agree
The only thing I've ever disagreed on with Bruce, Steve Austin should have never been a heel!
It's True even Steve Austin has admitted he regrets the Heel Turn
Yeah he was a heelface naturally. Fight the man type of shit. Badguygoogguy
I'm guessing you mean after the babyface run. Because heel Austin from 95-97 was fucking legendary. His in ring work was never better.
It was his own idea though, so you can't fault vince for that shit
@@bdot187um Vince owns the company his choice at the end of the day.
Man 49:00 not the only time Bruce defends bad wwf/e. Taz called him out on his podcast with Conrad recently . how the fuck is your response to a man who shouldn't be near alcohol due to personal demons be "if you can't handle it..."
I find it interesting that King of the Ring was discontinued after 2003, I believe. As a fan I gotta admit I pretty much tuned out full time after 2001, but I always randomly come back to check things out. I don't recall seeing any kind of tournaments of any kind since then, and I'm guessing it's for this reason. Sometimes I just think wrestlers are babies. Tournaments are great, look at March Madness. Taking a loss in a tournament means nothing! No build up, no nothing. It's just a fun match.
i dont blame austin for walking out
If I was Scott, I woulda gone with him.
he should have been fired. you get paid to do what your boss tells you to do. doesn't matter what Austin's opinion on the situation was. his boss told him to do something, and he didn't.
Well you’re a mark that’s why.
You should, Austin accepts blame and says it was the worst moment/mistake of his career. Says he was immature about what happened and that exhaustion was what triggered it. Wish he could take it back.
@freshtendrills fucking facts!
What was Stone Cold personality like after the neck injury, and what wrestler[s] did he himself want to put over and mark as the face of the franchise (if any). Great show btw, can't get enough of it
So austin makes Vince a legit billionaire, but Vince acted like a complete teenager who got broken up with when austin decided to leave. I would of liked to have seen austin never return, I wonder what Vince would of done, I guess HHH would of made Vince back into just a multimillionaire sooner. A dvd like the original ultimate warrior 1, instead it's called don't cross the boss the steve austin story
Check out 49:00 it shows how fucked this company is.
And you, if in that same position, wouldn't have been angry if the person that made you billions just got up and left? Where does it end with people? Vince handled it poorly but come one now. Both Steve and Vince are to blame here.
Steve didn't want to do the job and put new talent over. I wonder if the following year, Trips threatened to pull an Austin if he didn't get what he wants (hence his reign of terror in 2003).
When I was 15 years old watching the Hall/Austin angle, I knew it was wrong for them to do the whole beer thing.
Lol how?
What do you mean how? It was no secret that the man was a recovering alcoholic back then. Vince is petty and has poor taste...enough said. Simple common sense.🙄
@@eastsidelingo8404the vast majority of us didn’t know he was an alcoholic. If you did, you were one of the few smart fans. Stop acting like everyone had backstage knowledge. That’s why every time WCW and WWF made backstage references, they were met with confused silence. You’re so full of shit it’s coming out of your nostrils
Conrad is the best interviewer ever!!!!!!!! He calls everyone out on bullshit
To me when Stone cold said "ok" he meant "you decided what you were gonna do. I told you what my response to that was going to be; if you want to go in that direction. So we're done because this is a job I'm not willing to do and we disagree. Ok." That's what happens when people don't shoot straight. You have to mean what you say
Indeed.
The Fact They Had Jericho Champion Was A Testament Of How Much Bullshit The Creative Was. Austin Should Have Won The Undisputed Championship In December 2001 And Went To Face Triple H At Mania In A Babyface Program
A heel Austin vs face Triple H in 01....that just don't sound right at all.
2002 was just a bad year for WWE. Rock basically had one foot out the door. The bad booking of Austin. Abruptly shoved into the midcard. Jobbing to Brock. Austin only had one shot at the WWE Championship back in January. Austin could've been a 7-time champion. But creative had other ideas.
Thank you fucking facts but i love 2002 wwe went down hill in 2008 going pg
At least we got hbk vs hhh at summerslam
Ppvs were great in 2002. Absolutely fucking great. Just terrible booking for Austin
@@thaterasound Brock is a child. Austin would have whopped that blockheaded paint-chip eatin' lizard brained piece of ass.
He was supposed to win but refused to put over HHH
"Artful Dodger". Corny is 💯 percent correct! Lol
I love Conrad!
"Worst fucking show we've ever done!"
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Eddie and Austin would've been a fun feud
@Joseph Geiger It could have worked but the writing for it was so bad. Them starting a feud over karaoke??? No wonder Austin walked out, it was such a waste of both guys' talents.
2002 was the year that killed the business. Still have not recovered and the show today is total shit.
Spot on it was 2002 when I stopped watching. Not watched a single show since then.
Bye felicia
Yeah 2002 and 2003 was fuccing brutal!
i stopped watching right after WM 19. But I've slowly starting coming back over the past year
You are correct, I held on for a *bit* more but once HHH beat Booker at Mania I peaced out
Austin's health caused a lot of what happened. He had been hurt a long time. It caught up it with him. I'm suprised he lasted as long as he did.
I love Austin but he was a diva
Conrad and bruce fighting is hilarious. Conrad is totally right though. If forcing an alcoholic to drink is ' the business' then that is toxic and, quite frankly, garbage from a creative standpoint.
.
its hilarious Conrad's anger comes out of nowhere lol
Brand splits still suck. Austin was right
2:40:36 “Worst fucking show we’ve ever done!”
My favorite STW moment
I liked the one about an hour or so earlier when he said
"I want you to give us something here because so far you have given us not shit on this entire show"
Mind you I listen to 83 weeks and he has had some epic blowups with Eric but that line made the show for me
haha, nice. Like Vince and Steve, or an old married couple.
I'm listening to this episode for the first time many years later, but I was shocked at around 49:42 when Bruce's response to an alcoholic have beer poured on him is that if he can't handle it to get out of the business. I'm no legal expert but it wouldn't surprise me if Scott Hall had some sort of potential lawsuit against WWE for that angle.
Good for Conrad speaking up. They were wrong to want to pour beer on Scott Hall.
And they were wrong for making Steve take a chair shot against Flair. But you wont hear Conrad say anything bad about that cause it's his father-in-law
Austin vs Lesnar woulda been a million buys..
Nice chest 😍
Steve Austin holding The Pixar ball...
;)
He took his ball and went home lol
@@GamingAndTvI love Austin but he didn’t like putting guys over the record with him against the rock is like 5-1 and his only lost was his retirement match
I love how wrestlers say 'I don't mind doing the job, providing the story is right' lol
haha has anyone ever said the opposite? i dont like doing jobs? even Mil Mascaras tries justifying it
You have to understand that poor storylines = less money. It's about making money and drawing
It's funny because if Hulk Hogan said that, everyone would get mad, but Stone Cold says it and nobody cares.
@@jimson3785 Because what Austin said always made sense.
Less so with Hogan.
In 2002, it was all about making sure Paul Levesque (Triple H) had a good return to TV. He missed about 8 months due to a quad injury that could have ended his career. Vince is a vindictive man. He didn't get the pleasure of firing Steve. I am pretty sure Steve would have been fired due to that warrant. The creative for Austin had went to hell. It was so bad for him. I couldnt believe how they wanted him to job to Brock with no reason.
Kinda wish HHH never returned.
Let’s be real clear and this is coming from a stone cold mark: Stone Cold was basically a one feud wonder, much like what we are seeing with Becky now. The period that Austin was mega over was when he was feuding with McMahon. Two of his three mania matched with the Rock feature Vince heavily in either build up or finish. And all you need to look at are his feuds outside of the Vince storyline, even if just slightly. NO ONE cared about face Stone Cold vs face Undertaker at Summer Slam and that was the height of Stone Colds popularity.
He had every right to be frustrated because the reality was that, as over as he was getting before the screwjob, the heat that McMahon got from it propelled every storyline MCMAHON was involved in. Hence the Rock also getting over even bigger by feuding with McMahon.
Well ran dry when they tried it with Roman Reigns though.
@@evilsWa The fuck? Austin vs. Undertaker @ SummerSlam 98 still holds the all-time record for a SummerSlam PPV buyrate with 700,000 buys. That's almost as much as Wrestlemania gets today! "NO ONE cared" my ass, it sold out MSG in less than a week. He then drew another 600,000 buys for the next SummerSlam in 1999 feuding with HHH who wasn't over at all. Face Austin was the biggest draw in the business with the exception of Hulk Hogan.
@@GorditoCrunch343 People are jealous of Austin.
Thank you for this I love how you simply called out the attempt to destroy stone cold even if they say they didn't, you spoke the evidence , he was the biggest bread , stone cold did not deserve this , thank you
Except the WWE was no just fine after Stone Cold left. This was the beginning of the end. Look where they are now with 3 people watching Raw every Monday.
They are more valuable now than back then.
Ratings went in the shitter once Austin left and Rocky sold out for Hollywood. WWE lost most of the mainstream audience to the UFC and now only die hards and children watch wrestling. Their programming is geared toward a younger audience and it shows. Still fun to watch old matches but these days the product is garbage.
Man I miss these old shows so much, the 3 hour long odysseys.
Conrad, Goldust and Mr Perfect weren't surprise entrants to the 2002 Royal Rumble. They were advertised beforehand that they would appear.
By 2002 it was clear that the WWE didn’t see Austin as a top guy anymore They felt that he was past his prime and he was plagued with too many injuries this is why they put him in these shitty angles during that time… I actually was at his final wrestling match against the rock at wrestlemania 19 in Seattle
I think bringing back the NWO was the wrong move they should have created some type of kliq faction and left Hogan out of it. You still could have had the Rock vs Hogan and it still would have been epic but you could have also had the greatest faction in history. Maybe some kind of DX spin-off that included all of the kliq.
That's what I think everyone wanted but at the time Shawn wasn't wrestling by the time he made his come back Nash was hurt and hall was gone so all you had lest was Hunter and Shawn which led to a great rivalry between them
Nwo should have came back in the invasion angle
They should have brought them back but not done it just to job them out and turn Hogan face. They could have had a long, drawn out story arc between NWO and Austin that lasted a calendar year. And then turned Hogan face after a lot of teasing. Just wasted so much potential material. And they could always have done Stone Cold vs Lesnar later on.
@@longhuynh7380 no they could've came as is in 2002 as the lethal poison, unfortunately bad creative and people not wanting to work with them hurt them , which eventually ended the nwo in the summer of 02.
@@GLPitt1 i totally agree.
Austin shouldn't have turned heel...invasion of wcw should've started at WM 17 by interrupting rock vs austin 01 forcing two top guys to shift their focus to defend the company
Exactly this is the right time to introduce the big guys from wcw too hall Nash hogan Goldberg and bischoff would have been better than ddp booker t and
Jeremy Cr8iveSoul would have been nice if we had heel michaels vs face Austin that would have been perfect
At least Eric B admits the Hall drunk angle was wrong. Say what you want to defend creatives action but it was wrong. WWE loves to exploit personal issues into a story line. Look what they done to Matt Hardy when Edge and Lita were caught.
Um they released Matt Hardy and then Matt Hardy told the entire internet about his backstage dirty laundry and the internet masses threw it into the wwes face so hard that wwe had to blow it off in an angle and also punish Matt for airing his personal business at the expense of the company. So bad example.
Even though Matt Hardy was the one to bring it up and turn it into a story
@@woody72691 Yeah, but Matt was basically a guy who made it to the big league and never got screwed like that before... So he reacted in that way.... And Lita seldom came back because that whole angle and stink followed her until she left WWE
I'm not even going to respond to that
@@woody72691 it's true tho
Looks like they used a pic of G.G. Allin for Austin's face.
Jeff N Doubt anyone on here will get that reference
This comment deserves 100 thumbs up.
It had to be a pic where he wasn't covered in poop and blood.
Punk fuckin' Rock?
"I'll kill em"
Conrad was right about them pouring beer on Scott Hall. That was stupid and wrong.
He did the same thing to Jake Roberts. Stone Cold loved to mock alcoholics.
@@EGarrett01 Austin never poured beer on Jake. He didn't even have beer as a gimmick yet. That was Jerry Lawler pouring whisky in their feud. Austin only mentioned "a cheep bottle of thunderbird" in the infamous 3:16 promo.
Yes but Austin for some reason loved to mock alcoholic characters.
@@EGarrett01 Like who? How do you know that??
Because he did it more than once including when it wasn't booked.
If WCW was still in business WWE wouldn’t have buried Austin like they did when he left
When he left? He left because they wanted him to lose to Brock Lesnar. That's not being buried! If was to lose to Christian, yeah, I understand, but Brock Lesnar!
Austin was do shortsighted. He could of formed a rivalry off that and it could of ran into a main event at Wrestlemania.
You don't know what being buried means
@@ToxicAvengerCleanYourMind it isn't getting buried, but wasn't this some random Raw with no build up? If I recall, they hadn't even been involved in anything prior. So it's not like they had plant d the seeds and this was the first of many matchups.
@@jmiyagi12345 yeah, true...good point. I don't know though...when you make it to the top like Austin did, he didn't want to leave...I can't blame him really and he probably knew he was about to retire anyways so yeah, I see your point
So far 2:15:00 in they've totally danced around the fact that it was just stupid and senseless burying of all their other talent in order to try to shove Triple H down everyone's throat and Austin was just the only guy with enough stroke to say no and leave.
EGarrett01 You're wrong you stupid fuck, because he had just gotten the monster pop when he returned and ppl wanted to see him get the title back.
Wow, so HHH managed to get ONE pop therefore they should bury everyone else! That's brilliant. HHH was a mediocre piece of shit who never got over no matter how many titles he won.
HHH's babyface turn went over like a wet fart in church lmao. He should have just stuck to being the heel that works with the guy who draws.
@@EGarrett01 you have zero credibility if you believe Triple H never got over.
Oh really? Hulk Hogan slammed Andre the Giant. What was HHH's famous in-ring moment? "Austin 3:16" is the biggest piece of merchandise ever. Where's HHH's giant piece of merchandise? The Rock became a movie star. What did HHH do in mainstream entertainment where Vince couldn't push him? Ric Flair had the greatest matches of all-time with Ricky Steamboat. What famous series of legendary five-star matches did HHH have? Tell me. What is he without his never-ending god push from hell?
Scotch tape booking.....I like that!
Sure, as a term I guess.
Terrible when you're watching it on TV.
This proves to me that the wide scale rehab WWE pays for and hands out like Oprah handing out houses is just for good publicity and to be frank is probably a smart move for the future of the BUSINESS... but not for the good of the WRESTLERS themselves.
Props to Conrad for sticking to his guns - i have worked in the corporate creative field before and you get thick skin from handling heated arguments, so i wasn't surprised Bruce could handle it. But most podcast hosts are too polite and respond commonly as a kiss ass - no matter what you think of Conrad, Bruce's words proves that WWE doesn't really give a shit about their employees' abuse issues and Bruce is a class A bullshitter (probably more the fault of the industry than his own)
@1:07:54
Scott Hall was and had been for a long time an addict. He let the companies he’s been a part of down MANY times. And as Bruce said and Stephanie has said, WWE paid for Scott’s (AND OTHERS) rehab, many many times. Don’t give me this bleeding heart shit. WWE did all they could from a corporate stand point.
Nobody gonna argue that Hulk & Austin are the 2 biggest wrestlers of all time!!! Love how they argue like brothers over the Scott hall issue lol
Mike Sharon what makes a huge face is a huge heel... i think to mention hulk-Austin, almost have to list it as hulk/Andre, Austin/Rock
The greatest match that never happened along with austin vs goldberg
Mike Sharon The Rock was at least just as big. 1997-1999 Austin was no doubt the biggest star in the WWF, but by 2000-2002 Rock was discernibly bigger.
raw after the first brand split was the complete shits when compared to what was happening on smackdown.
Sting Rey UK Triple h was on smackdown in the first three months of the draft right? Because Ik you're only saying that cause you remember triple h with the big gold belt on raw, but that was not until September.
Paul Heyman was head writer of Smackdown at the time. He made that into an A show.
I think I speak for most people when I say it was difficult watching raw week in, week out until Cena came
@@altruistic3276 I mean Cena was something new and fresh on RAW after like 2 and half years with WWE. Then he also had his little reign of terror that made the male fans boo him..
Hurricane double chokeslam was Austin and Triple H not Rock
I love this episode my favorite cause Steve was my favorite wrestler of all time and totally understand why he walk out I would have to
Agreed. Steve deserved better
Joe Rauch he walked out because he simply was too selfish to pass the perverbial torch....
Being booked to lose in a qualifying match at KOTR 2002 against Lesnar who was green as hell after you were one of the two top guys of the Attitude Era is enough to set anyone off. Brock made his debut the night after WM 18, Goldberg made his debut on September 22, 1997.....that would be like Goldberg being booked to beat Hogan at Starrcade 97 in an opening match just 3 months later, makes absolutely no sense.
Chris Gilfeather before Brock he was supposed to face HHH at Mania and drop the undisputed title and he refused coz of his ego he didn’t wanted to go 3-1 on Title matches on Mania
I didn't see Austin a babyface
God bless you Conrad. Listening in 2022, new to this podcast. As a recovering addict who is 6 years clean, thank you for calling out the bullshit with Hall to Bruce. And fuck him for his attitude toward it. Keep speaking the truth and calling out this business for its BS. I don’t watch wrestling and haven’t since the 90s. But I followed the attitude era and this has all been very enlightening
I felt the same way. Congrats on your sobriety!
This was definitely Prichard's worst moment on this podcast. It makes you appreciate Bischoff more for admitting it was wrong to exploit Hall's alcoholism in an angle.
I always felt Austin’s character never recovered from the loss to Triple H. Yes, Austin had somewhat of a character resurgence in 01, but it was always something about that defeat that took the mojo away from Steve. Although Austin has lost matches against other opponents, Triple defeating Stone Cold at No Way Out was the beginning phases of his burial.
Brenden Jones Stone Cold did not get buried you idiot. He won the title . It was Austin who always did the burying of other wrestlers
Here we go with a loser internet troll. I was just giving my perspective of Austin in 01, if you don't agree that's your prerogative.
I'll come at you more respectable. The match with Triple H at No Way Out '01 was very competitive that would end with both guys knocking each out with weapons, but Hunter just happened to fall on top of Austin. Stone Cold would instantly get his heat back by giving Triple H the Stunner. The following month, Austin would go on to with the title in one of the biggest main events ever, at one of the biggest Wrestlemania's ever, in his home state of Texas. Stone Cold would remain the top heel for the majority of 2001 and won a hell of a lot more than he lost. So, please explain to me how you feel he was buried, because I honestly don't get it.
bigb860 All the things you mentioned are valid points, however, for me the character was just not the same. For instance, when they were doing the Two Man Power Trip storyline Hunter always felt like the “guy” over Austin, despite Steve being the champ. Yes, Stone Cold won a lot of matches and had classic showings against Jericho and Benoit, but he also had some monumental losses (some losses understandable, such as “Unforgiven” ppv).In fact, his win/loss record staggered from Summerslam through Vengeance. He even had some television losses to Booker T. One was a First Blood match and the other was a regular singles if I am not mistaken. Perhaps you are hung up on the word “burial”, and for that maybe I should have used another word. Austin has loss many matches ranging from his time in WCW to his rise to the top. For whatever reason however, I just felt the Triple H loss was the beginning of the end of the character for me and it was that match that did it.
It never made sense for Triple H to win that feud with Austin after trying to kill him with a car. I'm sure that having Stephanie in charge of creative led to that decision but it didnt help Austin at all.
Ultimately I always looked at Vengeance 2001 as the end of Austin. When he lost the Undisputed title tournament to Jericho I think he lost a ton of momentum and motivation. His health was rapidly deteriorating during this time and the booking was terrible in 2002. Steve was never the same after that loss to Y2J.
In retrospect this is definitely one of Conrad's best episodes ever on any of his podcasts. He was hilarious without turning heel
He's totally replaceable. When he is out and someone else takes his place the shows are way better. Jim cornette and Kevin Nash have way better partners in their podcasts. Conrad is nothing more than a money mark that makes the money which is why they put up with it. He's a never was and the wrestling business. The only thing he's ever done is Marry into it and make money for people who actually did something in the business. His impressions are horrible and he thinks he knows it all when he's never done shit. His business is a con as well. The dude is a scumbag and the only reason people listen to anything involving him is because of the people that he leeches off of
Conrad was 100% correct in that argument.
Everyone with a bad neck has an expiration date. Yes people like Edge and Paige/Saraya are exceptions (and even they need a limited schedule), but people like Lita, Malenko, Bob Holly, Austin, Kurt Angle, and Paul Orndorff had to hang it up prematurely or use substances to keep going. I firmly believe Benoit was approaching his breaking point, physical health-wise, around the time he did what he did. And if Big E ever comes back, he’ll definitely have a limited schedule. Steve saw the writing on the wall regarding his health and the bad creative was enough for him to say “enough, I’m out”
The creative problems led to wwe trying to rehire Russo
Anything would've been better than Stephanie being in charge, bro.
Then like 2 years later Rock leaves for 7 years😂😂😂
He was really out after summer 02 was just a part timer the last two years.
@@kb4231 he left in '03 after the Goldberg match and came back for a few months about a year later
I wonder how much HHH and Stephanie played in the demise of Austin during this time?
Steve was the last obstacle in the way that prevented Hunter's politics backstage. Once it became clear that he was on his way out in 2002, HHH immediately made a power play for the top spot.
And also opened the door for Shawn to make a "miraculous" recovery once Austin and Rock were gone
This was definitely a huge factor in Austin being downplayed in 2002. But I would say it started in 2000 when he returned from the neck surgery. Stephanie had just been given creative control and Steve got saddled with Rikishi...Im sure HHH suggested he be put in the angle and Austin never got a win over Hunter in that whole feud. Luckily 2001 was a triumphant comwback year for Austin, he definitely found his groove and was better than ever...but HHH getting injured also helped a ton. Long story short, Steph and Trips definitely influenced the fall of Austin.
Interesting too that the ratings exploded when Austin took the title from Shawn in 98 and later the audience basically disappeared when Austin left and Shawn returned in 02.
Had nothing to do with HHH.... STEVE WAS UPSET BECAUSE HOGAN WAS COMING IN..... THAT WOULDVE POSSIBLY HURT AUSTIN'S TOP SPOT....
Hall and Austin should have had a great match. I get that Austin was tentative about working with Hall, but he was the best worker from the NWO, even on his worst day.
I think Austin should have just rode the wave. I think the writers would have eventually found something for him. Or he'd come up with something. If he needed time to recover from injury, that's something else.
Hall when sober, was way better in the ring than Austin. But Austin was rightfully concerned about his neck and the Outsder Edge. And Hall not being sober.
Conrad calling Bruce Jack Dick is amazing podcast listening.
2:40:00 had me dying "worst show weve ever done next time don't let me put this shit on a poll if you don't fucking know anything" 😂
At the 50:00 minute mark this turns into shoot. Wow
Woof, Prichard was wrong with that Scott Hall shit.
I'm about 1/4 into this one and I'm pretty well versed why Steve said BYE B*TCH!
Austin part of the arguably the greatest WM match of all time and had the greatest rivalry of all time Austin vs Rock
Scott Hall was in the WWF when Jake "The Snake" Roberts came back in 1996. Obviously we knew that Jake was (trying) to recover from alcohol and drug abuse. _According to Jake,_ Jerry "The King" Lawler poured actual alcohol on Jake in one of their spots. Jake also talked about getting ribs with people pouring liquor in his soda bottles. I'm sure that Scott saw some of this before he left for WCW and even if he didn't I'm sure he knew about it. The point is that the angle was stupid on their part to do that, but to say that Scott wouldn't think something like that COULD happen is pretty obtuse.
Especially when you consider the fact that no one except Triple H wanted him there to start with. It annoys me when people have to go from one extreme to another. It was a f'd up thing for them to do, but at the same item it should not have been a surprise to anyone. Including Scott Hall.
Bryan Mack It's crazy that hall didn't let them know he was on anabuse.
John Jandoh - Why is that even necessary? Do you give a list of medications you are on to every employer you work for? Had he of KNOWN they were going to do that then he would have told them he was on that medication.
*BEET DEBRUH* EDIT: As far as the Scott Hall on medication thing goes, I am pretty familiar with that type of medication and I had absolutely no fucking idea that it would kick in just from CONTACT with alcohol, which is what seems to be the case in that instance. I'm usually one pounding the "fuck youself" drum to the WWE but I can't fault them for that. It seems like a freak occurrence.
Dollar shave sliced my face up reeeeal good.
Ouch. What were you using as shaving cream?
I respect Conrad for calling bull**** on stuff like with Hall. But Bruce and he keep getting together to do it.
Conrad is right about the Scott Hall situation.
@Shawn Agen my dad's is an alcoholic. I wouldnt want to watch his asshole bosses putting him through that on global TV.
@Shawn Agen I was waiting with bated breath for your masterful retort. Instead you blurting out "wrong" like a childish bitch.
Imagine if SCSA didn’t return. He would have been blacklisted like Bret Hart was for 5 years.
The Monday Night Wars Killed Wrestling. They started giving away big matches every week and guys worked over and over and watered down the product
Nicholas Calvo agree but at the same time it was amazing as it pushed Vince to raise his game.
Disagree. They still put on big PPVs back then. Adding Smackdown is what watered things down.
The brand split, Austin retiring, Rocky selling out, and Triple H being over pushed is what ruined wrestling.
That's fucked up they did that to Hall
Bruce does himself no service with that argument. Like unless you are a wet t-shirt contestant, getting beer poured on you really isn't in any job description.
Again, he said it was het of the moment and Austin's call..are you people deaf?
54:16 the way he said fucker lmao 😂
2:40:30 lmfaooo
Start 10:42
The one good thing that came from his walk out was that they brought The Rock back early...
AAAnderson055 they had to do it coz Rock was leaving so who’s gonna the face of the company? Rock was okay putting over Brock
Rocky left 2 months later.
They should've just had Undertaker beat Austin at WM 18 and have Scott Hall beat Ric Flair instead. Austin couldn't complain then because he'd be in a feature match with another fellow top guy and could become a part of The Undertaker's Legendary Undefeated Streak. Then just have Flair with Arn Anderson lose to Scott Hall with Kevin Nash.
Should have been Hogan and Austin and not Hogan/Rock ..... 1 of MANY mistakes WWE made with regard to WWF/WCW match-ups!
Austin would not work with Hogan they offered him the match then he quit because he didn't want to do the job with Brock
@@jordanwillett8456 You are correct ..... heard that same thing recently. It's too bad too because that was the real era megastar Vs era megastar. But yes, apparently Austin did not want to work with Hogan he has said. He has also said, I believe, that he didn't want to work with Scott Hall either. So I guess he just wanted to work opposite Nash at 18 possibly??
You Notice Of a all The Dream Matches Fans Dreamed Of During The Monday Night Wars;Hogan vs Rock, Goldberg vs Austin, Sting vs Undertaker, Kevin Nash vs Kane, Lex Luger vs Triple H & Sid Vicious vs Kane, The Only Match That Did Happen Was Hogan vs The Rock, The WWE'S Past vs The WWE'S Future. Where Is The WCW vs WWE In That. They Wanted Hogan vs The Rock, But Not As Much As Goldberg vs Austin, Sting vs The Undertaker & Hogan vs Austin. Probably Kevin Nash vs Kane Too. Lex Luger & Triple H, Both Were Blond At First With Long Hair, Then HHH Dyed His Hair Brown, Luger When He Cut His Hair, It Looked A Darker Color. And They Both Are 6' 4" Very Ripped With 6 Packs & Muscles With Similar Shapes.
Yes I know. It would have been the culmination of everything. Biggest match of all time. However, on paper it's the biggest match ever, when you think of how it would physically go and the logistics, i don't know if it would've lived up to the hype. However, after typing that, these are the two biggest of all time that are masters at crowd work and telling a story, it totally could've been done. They left money on the table
The part about Scott Hall shows how insensitive Bruce is. Business is business, but to be like “if you can’t handle it get out of the business” is wild. Knowing his personal addictions and than exploit that is dangerous. Imagine he end up offing himself or worse.. imagine he turned to a Chris Benoit. Businesses have to take responsibility man.
In 2002 Rock was discernibly bigger than Austin
Rock transcended the wrestling business, but in wrestling he was not bigger than Austin.
William Ellis in 2002 he was. ‘00. Austin was but by late 2000-2002 Rock was bigger, yes in wresting
No, he was never on Austin's level in wrestling.
Austin and Undertaker were the biggest fucking divas in the world in 01-02. So many missed opportunities
We need that Sherri Martel Episode!
I just listened to the Sherri episode and I was curious what else was on the poll from this one and DDP is the only one of the 4 to not get an episode so far. I hope he gets one in 2020 on STW. That'd be an interesting listen, but that is definitely more of an Eric Bischoff topic for 83 weeks.
Conrad may have slightly over reacted to the stone cold/Scott hall beer angle.
Daniel Didion no he didn't, Bruce was CLEARLY full of shit with that situation and Conrad rightfully so called his ass out on it .
Daniel Didion I agreed with Conrad on that one. That's pretty messed up and inconsiderate. Careless as well and these guys are supposed to be a fraternity
He didn't over react at all IMO. Bruce had an awful take on that situation. If you know Scott Hall has a drinking problem and the company clearly wants him to stay away from alcohol, why would you ever dump beer on him in an angle? That's stupid. The idea of "if you can't handle it do something else" is ridiculous. There were so many other things Austin could have done to him instead of that. The alcohol never should have been involved.
Jetsfan89 if you're working with stone cold, doesn't beer kinda come with the territory?
Jetsfan89 Agreed, Love Bruce, but I’m in Recovery, if somebody was dumping Dope On Me, it would trigger me, and I would end up using, bad angle, and just kind of heartless, Austin could of done so many other things, and why wasn’t it just Austin, vs Kevin Nash, that would of been more realistic, You Got Austin the Face of The Company, vs The Guy who Came up with the Stone Cold Gimmick, well Tweener, Diesal who was the face of the company for 1995, he held the title for 362 Days, but he was hurt or something, but Hall, wasn’t the Hall of 1996 in 2002, Nash could still go, and it would of been a way bigger attraction, And Austin Could of Wrestled Hogan at wm, he didn’t want to be booed, The Rock Never Minds, Rock as a Heel, Hollywood Rock, Best Rock Ever, But Austin vs Hogan was The Plan, but Austin didn’t want to get booed, after just turning face again.
He could've been the guy to end HHH's 2003 title reign, that would've sold. However could've wouldn't
Had his health not failed and according to him, Austin has said he could've wrestled another 5 years. Austin beating the son in law in 2003 would've been great.
This episode could've been a lot better but it still has one of the best Bruce/Conrad bicker-fests of all time.
Conrad is an insufferable bitch. His hindsight guided virtue signaling is some weak shit. The fat ass needs knocked down a peg. His name isn't in the title for a reason. He's not the draw.
I'm so over his fat whiny ass. He literally thinks it's his show not Bruces. He needs to be replaced
I don't understand the hate for Conrad... And how is mocking someone in recovery with their old vice that they're dying to use but know that they can't NOT a little fucked up? It's just a total lack of compassion, empathy, and respect. That's like tying someone who trusts you up who is a freshly-recovering opiate addict and then dumping bottles of Morphine, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, and heroin all over them just to laugh at their inner turmoil of wanting to use but knowing that they can't. That's prey mentality. It's like throwing a surprise coming-home party for a crack addict coming out of rehab, and at the party everybody is trying to get him to snort a line (while they aren't doing any, because they're just doing it to see if he fucks up). That's like a human experiment and an abuse of power that shouldn't be there in the first place. It's not funny, it's cold hearted. Love Bruce but I like Conrad just fine. Show would be different without him.
That's like if he was a heroin addict and they threw heroin at him in the ring and said if you can't handle it get out of the room that's a little crazy to me
When you have Austin's money. You don't have to take crap from anyone. Lol
I think Austin's heel turn in 2001 was underated. That was some of the most entertaining stuff I've ever seen. He started the watch thing and the WHAT? He and Kurt Angle was amazing chemistry...that stuff I still watch today so I enjoyed Steve Austin in the summer of 2001!
It was a great run, probably the best in-ring year for anyone in wrestling history. Problem was that the fans didn't want to see it and were not going to boo their hero. Ratings plummeted and house shows suffered over time after that, worst move possible for business. At least it made Kurt a big star for that short span, so there's that.
My favorite year of wrestling. That was peak for me and if you look at the ratings they were never higher after that year. Most people turned out after Austin left and Rocky sold out for Hollywood.
No, it didnt work. He was not a good heel and it basically ruined him.