Steve Austin Is Thankful For The Curtain Call & The Opportunity It Gave Him

– During a Q&A edition of his to Podcast (transcript via to wrestlinginc.com), Steve Austin spoke about Brian Pillman, the Curtain Call and more. Here are the highlights…

On Being Glad The Curtain Call Happened: “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. 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.”

On Brian Pillman Kayfabing Everyone With The Loose Cannon Gimmick: “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.”

On Brian Pillman Being Ahead of His Time: “That guy was way ahead of his time. It really took a lot of guts to do what he was pulling off and it was just absolutely incredible. I really wish Brian would have lived to see, first of all, how the business would unfold, but also, to see how his career could have unfolded, maybe had he gotten that foot or that ankle healthy. But he was a dynamic person, a dynamic personality, hellacious professional wrestler. He was born for the business.”