Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line On The Most Popular Superstar Of All Time

[rovert]

When this was first announced I thought this was going to be a lazy cash grab. But I feel completely confident in the opinion that the documentary is probably WWE's best ever neck and neck with the Rise & Fall of ECW.

 

I cant believe something so strong came so soon after the amazing Bret Shawn Greatest Rivalries DVD. If you are a wrestling fan of any description you must watch this. Very inside and Steve just telling it like it is.

[FLIK]

Hmm, did they touch on the Debra situation?

I remember in his book all he would say was a cryptic "i'd like to comment but the lawyers won't let me"

[rovert]

Hmm, did they touch on the Debra situation?

I remember in his book all he would say was a cryptic "i'd like to comment but the lawyers won't let me"

I could be corrected here but there was no mention or illusion to Debra. His WWE departure was put down to burn out, drinking and creative issues.

 

I am no apologist on the Austin being heavy with his hands with women issue.

[Marty]

There was no mention of Debra (there was footage of course, but no mention of Debra by name in any of the interviews), thus no discussion of what went down in 2002.

 

I liked the doc in a "celebration of Austin's career" way, but I don't feel it really dug all that deep or anything like that. He seemed less harsh on Owen for SS97 than other interviews I've seen/read (if anything, Bret seemed a little harsher). Seemed more understanding of WCW's position when they released him in 1995. Also took the "If I had to do that again, I might have handled things differently" line when discussing him walking out in 2002.

 

Other that that, like I said, it's one of the best DVDs they've done covering the guy's career. They've arguably chosen all his best matches and promos/segments. Covered his career top to bottom quite nicely (although more WCW stuff could've been used). It was nice to see some USWA stuff in there. But again, I didn't think it was that deep a doc. Heck, at least Orton's talks about things like his suicide attempt. All that said, it's a fun set if you're an Austin fan.

[FLIK]

Orton's talks about things like his suicide attempt.

Never heard that story, what's the deal with that?

[Marty]

Orton's talks about things like his suicide attempt.

Never heard that story, what's the deal with that?

 

I can't remember exactly what Orton said. Thinking about it now, I think they referred to it as a near drug overdose too (my mistake above). I'd have to rewatch it just to see, but I remember whatever the incident was being brought up here at the time (around Sept or Oct of 2007). They pretty much don't hide the idea that Orton was pretty screwed up in the past in a lot of ways before he settled down, got married and had a daughter.

[kjh]

I went into detail about what Orton said about his drug overdose in my DVD review at Cageside Seats. Personally, I think it's best to avoid the seedy stuff if the participants aren't willing to be honest about it. There was a lot of BS about how Orton and WWE handled the situation at the time:

 

Randy claims that he was suspended for 60 days over his OD, but that's untrue. His sixty day suspension after WrestleMania 22 for "unprofessional conduct", where he was originally scheduled to win the World Heavyweight title again from fellow addict Kurt Angle, was due to him flagrantly smoking marijuana backstage at a time when they had just instituted their WWE Wellness policy. It was during this suspension that the OD is believed to have occurred, but at the time Randy denied the rumours that this had happened to everyone, including WWE management, and he wasn't further punished over the incident.

 

Randy did talk about stumbling onto buses ten minutes late for a European tour while Hunter shook his head at him, but neglected to mention that he was sent home on April 18th 2007 from this tour for trashing a hotel room in Germany and causing many thousands of dollars worth of damage. Orton was brought back less than two weeks later for the Backlash PPV, which was a controversial decision at the time.

 

Randy credits the dedication of his wife, who stuck with him through thick and thin, and the birth of his daughter to him being able to turn his life around for the better. He claims that he's been clean for the last few years and has even got a tattoo on his elbow of a biblical passage about being sober and vigilant. Of course, as the tragic death of Eddie Guerrero proved, the wrestling industry's definition of clean and sober is slightly different than the dictionary version.

[Marty]

Thanks Keith.

 

Back to Austin's set: That fourth disc (the one with all the promos and segments) is one of the most fun discs they've made. Arguably the fastest two and a half hours one can have, especially if you're an Austin fan.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I'm loving this set so far, and I just thought of something and I'm hoping someone can confirm this or not. Wasn't the signature sound of the glass breaking at the start of Austin's entrance inspired by the Pillman home invasion, as you heard Austin breaking the glass of the door?

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

No, he started using his famous theme at Buried Alive two weeks before the Pillman angle aired.

[Johnny Sorrow]

No, he started using his famous theme at Buried Alive two weeks before the Pillman angle aired.

Right, but did it have the glass breaking before the theme started?

[Bob Morris]

Regarding Austin's theme, I don't remember if it had the glass breaking at Survivor Series... in fact, WWF The Music Volume 2 uses a theme in which Austin was dropping one-liners throughout the music (and I don't even remember WWF ever playing that version of the theme... I know it wasn't used for the 1997 Royal Rumble, that one definitely had the glass breaking).

 

As for the DVD, I got it yesterday and really enjoyed it. I haven't bought previous Austin DVDs, so I can understand those who have seen other DVDs saying that Austin didn't really provide a bunch of new insight. I did find it interesting that Austin was the one who wanted to turn heel, but it was good to see him admit that was a mistake, even though it did give him a chance to show a new side of his character.

 

Of course, it can also be argued that the Austin heel turn was what led to the "What? chants that, while they worked in the context of promos in which Austin, or whoever Austin was bantering with, intentionally set things up for it, became annoying when fans tossed out the chant in nearly every promo a wrestler tried to cut.

 

The fourth disc is definitely fun. That Livewire interview was a hidden gem... Austin clearly set himself up as a "me against the world" character there. It's also good to get the ECW promos as it gives you the perspective about elements that Austin developed, which were later used in the promos that defined his most popular WWF character.

 

One thing I've always wondered is how Austin's character would have been like if he went back to the "natural born killer" gimmick that the Stone Cold character was first being developed. It would have been interesting to see if he could have gotten some mileage out of it in the main event scene.

[Bob Morris]

Having watched more of the DVD, I must say I really like the insight Steve Austin gives on the guest commentary with Jim Ross. Austin talks quite a bit about pacing and timing and how he sees too many young wrestlers today wanting to move too quickly along to the spots they want to do. I thought those were good observations about what really goes into making the difference between a good match and a match that's just a spotfest.