Vince McMahon on Stone Cold Podcast

[Fando]

 

 

 

So hopefully Austin will talk about his reasons why he didn't bring up the fact an ex-superstar blew a hole through the Wellness Policy on a future podcast.

As someone who probably wouldn't have passed a wellness test when wrestling, do you really think Austin was going to go down that road?

Nah but I'm not gonna get all misty cuz Randy Savage's name was brought up instead either.

i don't think anyone here got misty eyed about Savage but Austin's reaction was priceless. Anyway what else would you have asked him about?

 

 

I would have asked for a live comment on the accusation that the concussion tests were a joke, that the medical staff is negligent. Not in those words. Gently, but something that would provoke something more human than the cut and paste style response sent to Yahoo.

 

It's wrestling though so yeah, "good facial expressions."

[Steenalized]

 

 

 

 

So hopefully Austin will talk about his reasons why he didn't bring up the fact an ex-superstar blew a hole through the Wellness Policy on a future podcast.

As someone who probably wouldn't have passed a wellness test when wrestling, do you really think Austin was going to go down that road?

Nah but I'm not gonna get all misty cuz Randy Savage's name was brought up instead either.

i don't think anyone here got misty eyed about Savage but Austin's reaction was priceless. Anyway what else would you have asked him about?

 

 

I would have asked for a live comment on the accusation that the concussion tests were a joke, that the medical staff is negligent. Not in those words. Gently, but something that would provoke something more human than the cut and paste style response sent to Yahoo.

 

It's wrestling though so yeah, "good facial expressions."

 

I really doubt Vince would ever touch a question on concussions or the medical staff's failures in any meaningful way. It's begging to get used against him later.

[goodhelmet]

If anyone, including Fando, thought Austin was going down the medical route, they are deluding themselves. I absolutely agree that the issue is important but it isn't what I expected or anticipated from this interview. I apologize for enjoying the wrestling portion of the podcast.

[C.S.]

Wow...

 

Melissa Joan Hart ‏@MelissaJoanHart

"I own the network" - @VinceMcMahon getting more time on #StoneColdPodcast #awesomeness

 

https://twitter.com/MelissaJoanHart/status/539645617702985728

[The Chief]

Loved Austin reigning Vince back in when he started going off the rails about how fun it is to throw people in pools, lol crazy Vince

 

This was really fun and Steve is the best person to interview Vince at this stage. I thought he asked the best questions he could with the time he was given. I hope we do get a round two with questions ala Punk on AOW.

[Fando]

If anyone, including Fando, thought Austin was going down the medical route, they are deluding themselves. I absolutely agree that the issue is important but it isn't what I expected or anticipated from this interview. I apologize for enjoying the wrestling portion of the podcast.

 

What I thought was it would be interesting to hear Austin give his reasons for not going in to that on a future podcast.

 

 

 

I really doubt Vince would ever touch a question on concussions or the medical staff's failures in any meaningful way. It's begging to get used against him later.

 

 

 

Okay, so everyone will keep giving Vince props for not dodging questions...

[goodhelmet]

Fando, I agree it would be interesting to hear his take on the subject. I think I know the answer but somebody should ask Austin.

[Fando]

The wrestling portion:

 

Austin walking Vince through how the writing has mangled Cesaro in the eyes of the viewer and then getting hit with the "Listen to the audience" line was brutal

 

Vince turning a question about why everything on his show is so convoluted now with some bullshit swimming pool stories and then getting Austin to follow his lead was masterful.

 

Never felt jaded about Jake Roberts until after he came back from WCW washed up so what Vince said didn't really make sense to me. Was interesting that was the analogy though considering Stone Cold was "born" after finally burying Roberts.

 

From there, you could imagine JR asking a lot of the same questions but it would be terrible to watch.

[W2BTD]

Austin broached all of the correct topics, but his lack of follow ups was a killer, and he never pressed Vince once in a meaningful way. I wasn't expecting him to grill Vince, but you can press the guy without putting his feet to the fire. Austin wasn't great here at all. He let Vince control too much of the interview, and 90% of it was uninteresting recycled stuff that we already knew, or just boring insights that went nowhere. Vince talked a lot but didn't say a ton, but really came off badly and out of touch at points too. He really has his head in the sand with a lot of things.

 

Oh hey, 20 more minutes of tired Mr McMahon vs SCSA talk. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I could watch one of the 19 docs on The Network for that. What a waste of time.

 

If I scored the biggest interview in wrestling and got virtually nothing interesting out of Vince like what happened tonight, i'd be kicking myself. Austin gets a C- at best.

[W2BTD]

 

 

 

 

 

So hopefully Austin will talk about his reasons why he didn't bring up the fact an ex-superstar blew a hole through the Wellness Policy on a future podcast.

As someone who probably wouldn't have passed a wellness test when wrestling, do you really think Austin was going to go down that road?

Nah but I'm not gonna get all misty cuz Randy Savage's name was brought up instead either.

i don't think anyone here got misty eyed about Savage but Austin's reaction was priceless. Anyway what else would you have asked him about?

 

 

I would have asked for a live comment on the accusation that the concussion tests were a joke, that the medical staff is negligent. Not in those words. Gently, but something that would provoke something more human than the cut and paste style response sent to Yahoo.

 

It's wrestling though so yeah, "good facial expressions."

 

I really doubt Vince would ever touch a question on concussions or the medical staff's failures in any meaningful way. It's begging to get used against him later.

 

 

That should be of no concern to the interviewer. You cant control the answers, but you are in total control of the questions.

[Marty]

One of the bigger takeaways I got from this was that Vince seems more willing to work with Punk than he is with Cesaro.

[TRMD]

Austin broached all of the correct topics, but his lack of follow ups was a killer, and he never pressed Vince once in a meaningful way. I wasn't expecting him to grill Vince, but you can press the guy without putting his feet to the fire. Austin wasn't great here at all. He let Vince control too much of the interview, and 90% of it was uninteresting recycled stuff that we already knew, or just boring insights that went nowhere. Vince talked a lot but didn't say a ton, but really came off badly and out of touch at points too. He really has his head in the sand with a lot of things.

 

Oh hey, 20 more minutes of tired Mr McMahon vs SCSA talk. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I could watch one of the 19 docs on The Network for that. What a waste of time.

 

If I scored the biggest interview in wrestling and got virtually nothing interesting out of Vince like what happened tonight, i'd be kicking myself. Austin gets a C- at best.

 

Unbelievable.

[Jmare007]

 

Feel pretty discouraged about continuing to watch as often as I do if that's how Vince feels about Cesaro. Ridiculous.

Austin whiffed on this one giving Vince the easy way out. He ALWAYS puts Cesaro over on his podcast but Austin didn't really put over how over Cesaro was doing the Swing and after winning the Battle Royal and how it was creative's fault for not pushing him as a babyface. I think he let Vince off the hook on this one with bad phrasing and not making a strong argument out of the gate.

 

 

The Swing thing I agree. A direct question about why they took it out and how it obviously damaged him would've been better than what we got.

 

BUT, Austin did lay out the booking of Cesaro and how he went from hot to cold in a couple of months. The fact that Vince didn't interrumpt him or defend the booking by blaming Cesaro or explaining why they did what they did to him tells me Vince was conceding him the point about booking. Specially because immediately after Steve talked about the booking, Vince admitted he didn't know what to do with Cesaro. In my view that's Vince saying they fucked up and don't know how to get him over.

 

That's depressing considering getting Cesaro over again doesn't look like an impossible task, but it's still a very honest answer about what the hell happened to his push.

[TRMD]

I wouldn't be surprised if this podcast results in Cesaro getting some special attention. Maybe another little push.

[JerryvonKramer]

Watching this now and quite stoked. Running comments:

 

 

 

- Vince is looking a bit old but he's got awesome wizard-like eyebrows now. His tie is absolutely ridiculous. I appreciate Austin starting with a Network question and pressing him about the UK situation.

 

- Interesting answer with the Network and Netflix comparison. "I'm giving them want they want, I'm on your show". Ha ha!!

 

- "Are you giving the fans what they want?"

 

"Pro wrestling is what my dad did" Wow

 

It's interesting that he sees storytelling as the key thing.

 

- Austin is actually laying out some of his criticisms here. Fairplay to him. Vince thinks that wrestling for its own sake isn't enough of a hook to get people to watch -- no huge surprise there.

 

- "Well don't piss anybody off" Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. "They are millenials" Wow. Greatest heel of all time. He buried half the roster there. This is reasonably incisive from Vince -- he senses a lack of ambition in the talent pool.

 

- "The audience makes or breaks a star" -- hmmmm, Vince, but what about when you've fought them?

 

- Stuff on Cesaro - fascinating. If I was Cesaro I'd be seeing the writing on the wall.

 

- Stuff about Vince and Patterson pushing guys in the pool was funny. Although it did slyly get away from the modern situation with the writing team.

 

- Story about how Vince became a commentator has been my favourite thing so far -- image of Vince Sr with the quarters in his hand like an old-school Mafia don was awesome. The idea of Skaaland saying "yip" and "nope" -- hilarious.

 

- I believe Vince when he says serving Punk his severance papers on his wedding day wasn't his call. And I believe him when he says he'd be willing to work with Punk again.

 

- He thinks Austin has better inter-personal skills than Punk. Seems like a fair comment. The idea that Vince is secretly shy seems ridiculous.

 

- Very open on the ending of the Streak and his thinking behind that.Fair play.

 

- He's more convincing on Brock as special attraction than as Brock as champ. Why waste the title on him then? Austin should have asked.

 

- Savage in HoF. Straight away "yes definitely". Ha ha.

 

- Contract question was good. "roll with the punches, change with the times" was a cagey evasive answer.

 

- "Did you shoot yourself in the foot doing that?" Great question that had to be asked. I don't know if Vince answered it. Austin takes it back to the territories. "Hold on a minute, it's almost like Bret screwed Bret". Ha Ha. Interesting to see going into the territories from Vince's point of view -- he saw himself as a kid with balls vs. a bunch of older guys who were millionaires.

 

- Wow burial of Crockett. But put Watts over very big.

 

- He sees the competition as other forms of entertainment. I think he always has.

 

- Stuff on JR really good. Respect to Austin for standing up for his friend too.

 

- "Our audience is Americana. Our audience is the common man". Fantastic line.

 

- Interesting that he sees himself as the Stone Cold character. I wouldn't have expected this level of psychological insight from Vince. Almost like he's an artist or writer of some sort. You can also tell that he was INCREDIBLY close to that whole angle and sees it as his masterpiece -- and that he's not as close to whatever has been happening since.

 

- "I own this thing and we're going to go another 15 minutes". Awesome.

 

- "Am I out of touch? No. Am I 69 years old? Yes." Ha ha ha, well take that forum posters.

 

 

Honestly this was about as good as it possibly could have been considering who was involved and where it was recorded. I get the sense that Vince got a kick out of this and would do it again. The man has been involved in so much stuff and been in the business so long, that who know where things might go if Austin could ever get him to do it again. Just need to let Vince's ego take over a little bit to allow him the time for it. Plus if it's a hit for the Network there might be a business case.

 

I really hope this is just the beginning of a series of these. Absolutely loved it.

[anarchistxx]

Interesting the level of coverage this has got. Pretty sure Rolling Stone, Complex and other publications don't routinely cover wrestling. Is there anywhere to download it?

 

 

 

Feel pretty discouraged about continuing to watch as often as I do if that's how Vince feels about Cesaro. Ridiculous.

 

Thought he was quite fair. Cesaro does have limitations as a talker and a character. The attempts to persevere with him show that they are fans of the guy. I agree that Cesaro was badly mismanaged in the months after he got really hot earlier in the year though.

 

 

 

or challenged the nonsense about Brock being the only one who could end the streak because there was no one else left (what about Bryan a year or two down the road?).

 

There is no way the majority of the fanbase is going to buy Daniel Bryan beating Undertaker. He would suffer a major backlash.

 

 

 

- I believe Vince when he says serving Punk his severance papers on his wedding day wasn't his call. And I believe him when he says he'd be willing to work with Punk again.

 

Aren't all the signs that Vince really likes Punk? It makes sense that he does, because reports are that HHH and Stephanie absolutely despise him - at which point he must have had some strong backing high up in the company to stay at the top of the card as long as he did.

[stomperspc]

Austin broached all of the correct topics, but his lack of follow ups was a killer, and he never pressed Vince once in a meaningful way. I wasn't expecting him to grill Vince, but you can press the guy without putting his feet to the fire. Austin wasn't great here at all. He let Vince control too much of the interview, and 90% of it was uninteresting recycled stuff that we already knew, or just boring insights that went nowhere. Vince talked a lot but didn't say a ton, but really came off badly and out of touch at points too. He really has his head in the sand with a lot of things.

 

Oh hey, 20 more minutes of tired Mr McMahon vs SCSA talk. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I could watch one of the 19 docs on The Network for that. What a waste of time.

 

If I scored the biggest interview in wrestling and got virtually nothing interesting out of Vince like what happened tonight, i'd be kicking myself. Austin gets a C- at best.

 

I disagree that he never pressed him in any meaningful way. Austin simply asking many of the questions he asked constitutes "pressing him in a meaningful way". How is point blank asking why Cesaro isn't being pushed not a meaningful question? From my viewpoint, I thought Vince answered that question completely truthfully in the sense that his response (not charismatic enough, lacking a crowd connection) was how Vince views the truth. Even then, Austin still got in a line implying that he thought the booking was partially to blame for Cesaro. I thought the way Austin approached the Punk stuff was very smart. By asking Vince if he wanted to talk about it or not, he put the ball in Vince's court. You can tell Vince went into the interview preparing to make one statement about Punk (the "apology" followed by stating it was a lack of communication) but by approaching it in the way he did and then using his own situation (which Vince would obviously be more comfortable talking about), Austin was able to get more out of Vince about Punk than I think Vince initially wanted to give. Even Austin's stare at Vince after Vince said Savage would go into the HOF without committing to an actual time frame was an example of Austin pushing Vince to commit to his statement more (by repeating it a second and third time).

 

I have found Austin to be a talented interviewer on his podcast and this interview was no exception. Remember that this is the same Vince who has gotten into angry confrontations with interviewers in the past when he has been asked questions he doesn't like. He's not exactly the easiest guy in the world to interview. Vince might have given his version of the truth more often than not during the interview, but it was still a version of the truth. Austin didn't get many corporate speak answers out of him. It was far more candid of an interview than I expected and a lot of that credit belongs to Austin for the way he conducted the interview.

[JerryvonKramer]

I did want to say too that of course all the attention is going to go on questions about recent stuff (Cesaro, Punk etc.), and of course they had to talk about Austin vs. McMahon, but the most interesting stuff in the interview for me was the brief insights into Vince Senior, the young Vince during the territorial days, how he saw the competitors etc.

 

Austin only had an hour with him and did a great job. But there were almost 4 or 5 different interviews going on competing for time and attention.

 

- Vince under his dad

- Vince vs. territories / Hogan expansion

- Attitude era memories

- Modern-day issues

- General insights into the business and into the psychology of promoting

 

We basically got glimpses into all of those, but not enough time to get into any of them properly.

 

The biggest take aways for me were 1) how Vince views the business and the line he kept repeating about "listening to the audience" -- he confirmed a lot of the things I've thought about him for years 2) How CLOSE he is to that Vince vs. Austin storyline and how much it means to him on a personal and professional level, he might have not realised it but he came across like he thought that was the apex of anything he'd done as a human being period, personal, performer, business-wise. 3) That he seems to want people to challenge him, that he respects guys who are prepared to take risks and break the rules. And ... weirdly, seems to think that Cena is such a guy.

[kjh]

If anyone, including Fando, thought Austin was going down the medical route, they are deluding themselves. I absolutely agree that the issue is important but it isn't what I expected or anticipated from this interview. I apologize for enjoying the wrestling portion of the podcast.

 

I agree with Will that it was the wrong platform to go down the medical route. Austin's not a journalist, he wasn't there to press Vince too hard on anything controversial. If Austin is concerned about Punk's medical claims, then that should be done in a private conversation between the two, which is how a lot of this will play out. I don't have any issue with that.

 

Now, if the wrestling media doesn't bring up the hypocrisy of WWE being honoured by the Sports Legacy Institute and Triple H being on the board of directors for the SLI, while a WWE doctor pressured CM Punk to work a European tour with a concussion, on the next NXT conference call he holds (presuming there is one next week before NXT Takeover: R Evolution), then that's worth complaining about.

[NintendoLogic]

Vince was off his rocker when he said Cesaro doesn't have charisma, mic skills ("maybe because he's Swiss" is as groan-inducing as that infamous Vince Russo interview about Mexican and Japanese wrestlers not being able to get over in America)

 

It's not that ridiculous. Other than Bruno Sammartino, how many guys who weren't native English speakers have been really strong promos?

[moazzam23]

Cesaro isn't a great promo but he is charismatic and had a great connection with the crowd throughout the first 3 months of the year, before they paired him with Heyman. If Vince thinks he lacks charisma and doesn't connect with crowds then maybe he didn't watch Wrestlemania this year.

[C.S.]

or challenged the nonsense about Brock being the only one who could end the streak because there was no one else left (what about Bryan a year or two down the road?).

 

There is no way the majority of the fanbase is going to buy Daniel Bryan beating Undertaker. He would suffer a major backlash.

 

There might have been a backlash, just because the Streak was broken, but that would've applied to anyone breaking it. This nonsense about it "being unrealistic" for Bryan (or any smaller wrestler) to beat a bigger wrestler has always struck me as a dishonest talking point. It's wrestling. David vs. Goliath is one of the most basic storylines (wrestling or otherwise), and it always works when done correctly.

 

 

Vince was off his rocker when he said Cesaro doesn't have charisma, mic skills ("maybe because he's Swiss" is as groan-inducing as that infamous Vince Russo interview about Mexican and Japanese wrestlers not being able to get over in America)

 

It's not that ridiculous. Other than Bruno Sammartino, how many guys who weren't native English speakers have been really strong promos?

 

Cesaro is perfectly understandable though. His accent is not thick or marble-mouthed by any means. Regal and Barrett both have thicker accents, and they've gotten over as great talkers. (Granted, they're probably better on the mic than Cesaro, but it isn't because of Cesaro's accent.) Even Davey Boy Smith got main event opportunities from time to time - and he was hardly a great talker, with an accent as thick as molasses.

 

Edit: I just realized you asked about people who were not native English speakers. Different situation than Regal, etc. obviously, LOL. But how do we know Cesaro isn't a native English speaker? It's possible, like many kids from other countries these days, that he learned how to speak both languages fairly early on.

 

According to Wikipedia, Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. While English isn't listed, it's plausible that he could have learned it...unless there are stories of him coming to this country and not knowing the language?

[Steenalized]

 

 

 

 

 

 

So hopefully Austin will talk about his reasons why he didn't bring up the fact an ex-superstar blew a hole through the Wellness Policy on a future podcast.

As someone who probably wouldn't have passed a wellness test when wrestling, do you really think Austin was going to go down that road?

Nah but I'm not gonna get all misty cuz Randy Savage's name was brought up instead either.

i don't think anyone here got misty eyed about Savage but Austin's reaction was priceless. Anyway what else would you have asked him about?

 

 

I would have asked for a live comment on the accusation that the concussion tests were a joke, that the medical staff is negligent. Not in those words. Gently, but something that would provoke something more human than the cut and paste style response sent to Yahoo.

 

It's wrestling though so yeah, "good facial expressions."

 

I really doubt Vince would ever touch a question on concussions or the medical staff's failures in any meaningful way. It's begging to get used against him later.

 

 

That should be of no concern to the interviewer. You cant control the answers, but you are in total control of the questions.

 

Except Austin isn't an investigative journalist and he probably wants to have a continuing relationship with McMahon. That includes potential future podcasting and the rest of the interview. Piss him off and ask him questions that he's going to constantly side step on his own network isn't going to do any good.

[thebrainfollower]

The interesting thing was that if Vince is capable of any self analysis and truly believes he's going against mainstream entertainment he's a total failure. If WWE is competing with movie studios, networks and mainstream TV they've been getting their heads handed to them for 13 years straight.

 

Which on some level really does explain his anger management issues, horrible treatment of talent and employees, micro-management, contempt for any interviewer who isn't either his employee or one of a handful of former employees he respects, and desire to write only for himself and his 5th grade loves.

 

However successful he may have been in wrestling, Vince doesn't want to be involved or see himself as involved with pro wrestling. He's in entertainment. Running the company with the least mainstream appeal or success of any of his competitors. If he truly sees himself as against Disney, then he's about as powerful and successful as the IWCCW guys were against him in 1988,

 

I get a kick out of Jerry thinking that Vince saying he's not out of touch means something. Of course Vince's minions tell him what the internet says about him in general, heck even Cena called him out of touch to his face according to the Observer a year or two back.

[TRMD]

You have to love Austin repeatedly calling it Pro Wrestling even if it was visibly annoying the shit out of Vince.