Steve Austin: Motivational Speaker

[Bix]

From the 2nd WON of the week:

 

At Summerslam, Austin gave a speech to the talent that left a lot of people with their heads spinning. Based on what we hear, this did not go over well. His three main points were that the talent dressed like slobs in public and they need to dress and carry themselves like professionals. Ric Flair or Lou Thesz could say that, but Steve Austin? He said that the company has no superstars, and it's time for someone to step up and become one. He told the story about how he came to WWF as The Ringmaster which was a nothing gimmick and how he stepped up, came up with his own gimmick and became a top guy. He didn't mention how hard it was to convince Vince McMahon, nor that the only reason he got his big push at the King of the Ring was because HHH, who was promised the push, did the MSG curtain call and Vince felt pressure from the agents to do something about it and put Austin in the spot instead.

 

He also talked about making a bullshit measly $200,000 in his first year in the company. He said this in a room full of guys who are making $50,000 to $75,000 (the ECW guys, Raw & Smackdown guys are making significantly more). One wrestler noted that they felt Austin was out of touch with what the current wrestlers are making and what the current conditions are, and were shocked Austin had become a puppet for Vince McMahon. The word among the guys was they felt Austin was dealing with the guilt of his movie flopping, whether that's valid or not, that was the conclusion being drawn. He also said, according to one source, "Quit dying. It makes the company look bad." Somehow I don't think that's an exact quote.

[kjh]

It sounds just like the sort of pep talks Triple H used to give that also went down like lead balloons.

[Jingus]

He also said, according to one source, "Quit dying. It makes the company look bad."

Aw c'mon, if Piper ever taught us anything it's that the correct quote is "If you're gonna die, do it in the ring, it's good for business."

 

50K per year for a member of the regular TV roster? Damn. Guess it must really suck working on the show where if you're not in the championship feud you're guaranteed to never get on PPV, plus low ratings probably have some sort of corollary in low merch sales. "If you perform in front of a million people on live television every week but still get paid less than a union truck driver, gimme a hell yeah!"

[Loss]

There is some degree of truth here, but I'm pretty sure most of these guys are wearing suits all the time these days, as per the dress code requirements.

 

Also, Steve Austin is a sleazebag and if he was still in wrestling, I'd probably have him in a death pool. He has a lot more in common with the Benoit/Guerrero/Pillman types than he would probably care to admit.

[Guest STAN]

Bix I trust you becasue you're always on the ball with the news etc, but did you read this yourself?

 

It is a bit startling, and I'm not even a big SCSA fan.

[Bix]

No, I don't have my WON yet, but the person who posted it doesn't make items up.

[Guest KCook]

Steve Austin is a sleazebag and if he was still in wrestling, I'd probably have him in a death pool. He has a lot more in common with the Benoit/Guerrero/Pillman types than he would probably care to admit.

Just because a vicious wife beater massively abuses steroids and puts himself at risk of death by wrestling for years with a broken neck despite having more money than God doesn't make him a sleazebag.