[1996-09-22-WWF-Mind Games] Interview: Owen Hart, Brian Pillman & Steve Austin

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I always liked the utter contempt loose cannon Pillman had for fans, but he had so obviously lost almost all of the momentum he had going earlier in the year. Owen does a good interview saying he and Bret had made up the past few months as Bret was starting to realize he was better, or so he believed. He thinks Bret is getting senile since he's getting older and didn't show up, but that even more than that, he's scared of Steve Austin.

 

This brings Austin out to do a fun promo about how Bret left the moment he came to the WWF.

 

"If you put the letter 's' in Hitman, you have my exact opinion of Bret Hart."

[PeteF3]

Pillman is wearing a t-shirt with a gun captioned "I DON'T CALL 911." Foreshadowing! Brian offers some choice thoughts on the cesspool of drug abuse, battered women, and welfare recipients that is Philadelphia. This Bret-Pillman conflict is kind of weird, considering where Pillman would be in just about a month. Owen gives a pretty funny interview talking about how bitter and senile Bret has become in his old age--he and Pillman have some good chemistry. Bret is afraid of Austin, a position that Stone Cold comes out and supports. Vince, who has improved as an announcer by an order of magnitude already, has some great uncomfortable responses to the more off-color lines of both Pillman and Austin, including the great Austin quote above.

[soup23]

Quite a trio for this promo and each person played their role well. This really feels like the tipping point when they were giving Austin an opportunity to enter a feud with a bigger name and see what happened as a result. His promo here has a great edge and actually compliments the more cheesy heel role Owen has played in the promotion for the past two years.

[Exposer]

Pillman rips Philadelphia in a funny moment. He introduces Owen as his guest who insults Bret. Owens says Bret is scared to come back to the WWF because of Steve Austin. Austin comes out & cuts another great promo on Bret this time essentially calling him a piece of shit. He says they will eventually lock up & he will beat his ass. Austin is really confident in his character. It's great to watch unfold. All three guys are such great heels here. The segment ends gloriously with Pillman shouting "Philadelphia sucks!"

[tim]

Pillman has some choice words about the city of Philadelphia which may or may not ring true to this day. Really good promo from Austin, showing some real edge, and the idea of an Austin/Bret feud right now continues to be really appealing.