On a recent episode of the “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which airs twice a week at PodcastOne.com, the WWE Hall Of Famer conducted a Q&A with his fans about a wide variety of topics.
Regarding the infamous “Kliq Curtain Call” at Madison Square Garden in New York City back in 1996, “The Rattlesnake” said he remembers it well and spoke about how the aftermath of the incident led to big things for his own career.
“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.”
As a result of the Curtain Call, Triple H was left to take it on the chin in terms of discipline, meaning WWE had to come up with a different plan for the winner of the King Of The Ring tournament that was coming up, and at a time when winning the tournament would almost guarantee a healthy boost for your status in the company.
“Vince [McMahon] wasn’t going to screw Shawn Michaels because Shawn was already cantankerous. He was his World Champion and he needed him happy, so he had to punish somebody and he punished Triple H. And he told me, two weeks going in the event I was going to win King Of The Ring. Had I had not won that event, Austin 3:16 would never have happened. ‘Cause Stone Cold Said So’ would never have happened organically, so I don’t know what would have happened. I might have been a midcard guy my whole career. And that’s the bottom line. Who knows what would have happened? I’m just glad it did and I’m glad I got the opportunity.”
Another topic “Stone Cold” addressed was whether or not his good friend and former tag-team partner in WCW, the late Brian Pillman, let him in on the fact that his infamous “Loose Cannon” persona was actually a gimmick and not a shoot (in most cases).
“Brian didn’t smarten anybody up to what he was doing. He worked everybody and if anybody ever talked to Brian, and he dropped some 411 on what he was doing, I’d like to hear it.” Austin continued, “but, man, as far as I know, Brian kayfabed everybody on that ‘Loose Cannon’ s–t. Guys didn’t know if he was crazy, shooting, working, what, because there was no separation.” Austin continued, “Brian called me all the time, but Brian never called me and said, ‘hey kid, here’s what I got going next’, and he was totally in character 100% of the time. He worked himself out of a contract that was signed. They terminated a contract because he wanted everything to be a shoot and that was the biggest work of all time, to terminate a contract to play into his storyline when he knew he was going to jump, so Brian didn’t smarten anybody up to anything.”
Check out the complete Q&A with Steve Austin on the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show” at PodcastOne.com.