From the Bowery: Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time (Blu-Ray Disc III)

From the Bowery: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time (Blu-Ray Disc III)

-This Disc is all about the promos and classic Austin moments so let’s get to it.

A Flare for the Old
WCW Saturday Night: June 5, 1993

-Hilarious segment with the Hollywood Blondes mocking Ric Flair and his “Flair for the Gold” interview segment he had each week. Pillman hobbles out with a cane and wearing a bad wig doing his best Flair impression. He then interviews Austin and the crowd does one of two things: 1) chants for Flair or 2) laugh at what they are seeing. Arn shows up rather pissed and starts to beat the hell out of Austin in the ring, but Pillman uses the cane to make the save as we are out of time.

”A Bunch of Violent Crap
ECW Hardcore TV: Oct 10, 1995

-Austin promo that covers his firing from WCW and all the problems he had with management there. He does a pretty dead on Dusty impression as he goes through all the ideas he pitched WCW. His Hogan impression isn’t as good here as it would be later, but still pretty funny. He bitches that he became complacent in WCW and then the injury in Japan led to him being fired. He was hottest free agent and then came to ECW because they had the right figure. The second half has him tearing ECW apart and calling it violent crap. Jerry Lawler basically made the same claims 2 years later against ECW. Great interview here and it only gets better. They include what happens after the interview when the camera pans to several ECW wrestlers watching who mark out for the promo. Can’t blame them!

Monday Nyquil
ECW Hardcore TV: Oct 31, 1995

-This is actual an interview segment called “Beulah’s Box” and I must add that Beulah looks absolutely smoking hot. Dreamer is one lucky bastard! Anyway she tosses it to Austin who is sitting at a table dressed as Eric Bischoff and welcomes us to Monday Nyquil: Where the Big Boys Play with Each Other. AWESOME! Even more awesome is that he has a bongo next to him to represent Bongo McMichaels. Shit is just too awesome as he crushes WCW for their older roster and crushes Bischoff for firing people over the phone.

”Flat Out Disgusted”
ECW Hardcore TV: Dec 19, 1995

-Now getting closer to Ringmaster look as Austin has a shaved head with a little peach fuzz. I think this is the best interview of the lot as he makes every excuse possible for losing to Whipwreck and The Sandman in ECW Title Matches. There’s just too much to this promo to recap and really I can’t find the words to do it justice other than a word for word transcribe and even then just better to find it on youtube (or buy the DVD). Just brilliant stuff!

”My Exact Opinion of Bret Hart
In Your House: Mind Games: Sept 22, 1996

-They were building up Austin to be the challenger for Bret when he made his return at Survivor Series. The idea here is that Austin called out Bret, but obviously he didn’t show up at this PPV. Pillman does the interview and Owen is there to rub it in as well. Austin unloads on Bret by comparing him to chicken shit and promises to whip his ass when they do meet. Pillman makes sure to get last word by noting Philadelphia sucks because he said so. As a Penguin fan I agree!

Stone Cold on Livewire
WWF Livewire: Oct 19, 1996

-This disc just keeps getting better as we get 1996 hot as all hell Sunny! Dear Lord she was just too gorgeous for words to express. Livewire was WWF’s Saturday Morning show that had fans call in or send in AOL messages. It was a cool idea, but soon WWF got tired of smark fans bringing up ECW/WCW or whatever Vince didn’t want on his television show. Austin basically scares the shit out of Sunny and Pettengill for segments on end and rages against the WWF system, Bret Hart, Savio Vega, and Brian Pillman. Dude was working out the kinks of his kick ass character and this was fun to watch. I will also notice Austin calls Pettengill a jabroni long before The Rock started using it the next year.

Home Invasion
RAW: Nov 4, 1996

-The infamous angle where Austin breaks into the home of an injured Brian Pillman (who has a gun in hand). They were nearly thrown off of USA for this, but personally I thought it was a great angle. Sure Pillman pointing the gun at Austin and throwing out curse words seems a little over the edge, but that’s what made it so great. The brawl with Austin and Pillman’s friends before he gets into the house is pretty brutal as well, and I can’t forget to mention my favorite part. That being Brian Pillman’s classic line: “When Austin 3:16 meets Pillman 9 MM Glock I’m going to blast his sorry ass straight to hell!” That cracks me up every time!

New Sensation Award
Slammy Awards: March 21, 1997

-Ahmed Johnson teases presenting the award to Austin, but instead it goes to Rocky Maivia. He gives your basic milk toast, baby face acceptance speech. Pettengill informs Austin that he came in second place so he decides to head to the podium because he never finishes second. He threatens whoever counted the votes and accuses Maivia of burning up the phone lines to get the votes he needed. He also says he will take IC Title from Rocky whenever he wants, but he has bigger fish to fry and turns his attention to Bret and special ref, Ken Shamrock. The UFC actually gets name dropped by Austin as he threatens to make Shamrock suffer so hard times. The live crowd was just eating Austin up here!

Freedom of Speech Award
Slammy Awards: March 21, 1997

-Austin wins the Freedom of Speech Slammy and it’s just a way of symbolically ushering in a new era for WWF as the more reality based Austin beats the piss out of Doink the Clown after he promises Bret it will never be over between the two of them.

Ambulance Attack
RAW: April 21, 1997

-A famous segment of RAW where Bret gets stretchered out following an attack on his knee from Austin. They load him in an ambulance where Austin is waiting and he pounds away on a helpless Bret. Bulldog and Owen do their best to save, but Bret just gets mauled. Great moment!

The World’s Most Famous Stunner
RAW: Sept 22, 1997

-The 1st ever Stunning of Vince McMahon and it happens at Madison Square Garden. The set-up sees Vince trying to reason with Austin and letting him know that the WWF is trying to protect him from himself. The crowd erupts when the Stunner is hit and you see a lot of fans shaking their heads in disbelief over the idea that Vince was assaulted. Austin lets the cops arrest him and that only makes the crowd cheer him even more. Obviously Vince would eat about a million more Stunners and he generally sucked at taking them.

Tyson and Austin!
RAW: Jan 19, 1998

-Vince brings out Mike Tyson to make a special announcement, but Austin interrupts before we can hear what the announcement is. He gets face to face with Tyson, talks trash, and then flips him off which starts a pull a part brawl between the two. Vince tries to kick at Austin and screams at him for ruining everything. Biggest celebrity involvement possibly ever for the WWF as it hit all the media outlets that night and morning and Austin was the emerging face of the WWF. For his part Tyson was more than game and seemed to have a blast during his various runs with the WWE. That’s why I have no problem with him being put into the Celebrity Wing of the Hall of Fame this year.

The Easy Way or the Hard Way
RAW: March 30, 1998

-The night after WrestleMania and McMahon heads to the ring with the newly designed WWF Title (The Winged Eagle retired the night before when Austin beat Michaels) to present it to Austin. He heads down to the ring with the Winged Eagle title which looks so out of place on him for whatever reason. He tosses the belt at Vince’s feet and takes the new belt. Vince tries to bury the hatchet with Austin since he is now the face of his company. Austin sees through his bullshit and lets Vince know that he can’t mold him or break him. In a funny moment Vince lets it slip that he loves Austin, but it was only a figure of speech. The whole point of this to make clear that Austin won’t be Vince’s corporate champion or his puppet and will continue to do whatever he pleases. Vince tells him they can do things the easy way or hard way and naturally Austin chooses the hard way by Stunning Vince.

Zamboni 3:16
RAW: Sept 28, 1998

-Vince is prepared to present the WWF Title (The previously retired Winged Eagle version) to either the Undertaker or Kane (they pinned Austin the previous night at the same time), but Austin breaks up the party by driving a zamboni to the ring. He jumps off the zamboni and delivers a flying clothesline to Vince as the crowd goes bat shit crazy. Another great moment!

Paging Dr. Austin
RAW: Oct 5, 1998

-YES! This is the final segment that saw the birth of Mr. Socko earlier and Mankind just generally annoy the piss out of a bed ridden Vince. Why Vince needed a heart monitor, oxygen, and IV fluids for a bruised ankle is not known, but only makes things funnier. Austin, posing as a doctor, attacks Vince and hits a hilarious bed pan shot to the head as Vince falls off his bed in a hospital gown. Things end with Austin performing a colonoscopy on Vince because he is full of shit! Classic!

McMahon’s Cement Corvette
RAW: Oct 12, 1998

-McMahon drives one of his corvettes to the arena as an act of defiance so Austin borrows a cement truck and loads the car with said cement. The windshield shattering makes this all the more glorious.

Bang 3:16
RAW: Oct 19, 1998

-Vince fired Austin, so he did what any ex-employee would do: namely kidnap his former boss and terrorize him in front of millions of people. The end game occurs in the ring where Austin teases shooting McMahon with a bow and arrow and a gun. Before doing so he puts a letter in Vince’s pocket (Shane giving Austin a new contract), and then pulls the trigger to reveal a fake gun unloading a “Bang 3:16” flag. The payoff is Vince pissing his pants and thus we get “McMahon 3:16 says I just pissed my pants.” No way in hell do they ever attempt anything like this again!

Stone Cold Beer Truck
RAW: March 22, 1999

-This has been covered thousands of times it seems, but why not go over it one more time. This is the go home show to WrestleMania XV and Austin breaks up a Shane, Vince, Rock promo by driving a Coors Light truck to the ring. He hoses down all three men and everyone at ringside with a shit load of beer (as we learned in the documentary it eventually turns into water) and Vince sells it tremendously by doing the breast stroke! This is quite possibly the most famous Austin moment outside an actual match.

The Funeral of Stone Cold Steve Austin
RAW: April 19, 1999

-The Rock hosts a funeral for Austin, and yeah, it’s pretty awesome. The eulogy given by The Rock is hilarious and you can see that the crowd is slowly starting to get behind him at this point. The Rock had teases throwing Austin’s Smoking Skull Title in the river earlier, but he has it with him and plans to bury it. It was a nice throwback to their IC Title feud with added effect of Austin getting tossed into the river. Austin shows up outside with a Stone Cold monster truck and he runs over Rock’s Lincoln Continental. Things end with Austin driving to ringside and a brawl erupts between the two. The Rock eats a belt shot and gets tossed into an open grave.

Austin’s Revenge
Survivor Series: Nov 19, 2000

-Austin gets revenge on HHH (who put Rikishi up to the hit and run) by trapping him in a car, lifting it 30 feet in the air, and dropping it presumably killing HHH. Don’t worry though as he was back in a few weeks with just a few minor cuts and bruises. Not the payoff any of us were hoping for or expected.

JR Interviews Stone Cold and The Rock
SmackDown: March 22, 2001

-The famous sit down interview with both men that tossed the stupid “Debra managing Rock” angle out the window and provided us with Austin’s chilling “I need to beat you Rock. I need it more than you’ll ever know.” Great stuff!

Gift Giving Mood
SmackDown: July 5, 2001

-We are in the middle of the Invasion Angle and the paranoid, heel, angle for Austin. I love this time period and all this stuff is genius. Austin tries to cheer up Vince (who was busted on RAW making out with Torrie Wilson while his bare ass was showing) by giving him a cowboy hat. Austin has one for himself as well. Not to be left out Austin presents one to Kurt and it’s a toy cowboy hat, but doesn’t matter to Angle. Too damn funny!

Mr. McMahon’s Alliance Woes
SmackDown: July 12, 2001

-This is just after Steph was revealed as owner of ECW and Vince needs cheered up. There was a lot of Austin trying to cheer up Vince during this time. Austin breaks out a guitar and sings kumbaya and it’s amazing nobody cracked up from laughing. Vince doesn’t seem thrilled so Austin goes into singing a modified version of “We are the Champions.” We come back later with Austin still singing and Kurt shows up. He and Austin compete for Vince’s attention and Kurt gets his chance to sing. He does a modified version of “Jimmy Crack Corn,” and Vince leaves. The fact I still crack up every time I see this just proves how hilarious this was. I applaud everyone involved in these segments.

– Vince gives a pep talk to Team WWF (Austin, Angle, Jericho, Kane, and Taker) and Austin keeps repeating Vince’s thoughts. As mentioned on the documentary he was trying to make Taker laugh and break character. To his credit Taker doesn’t break character, but you can clearly see that he was getting close.

The Old Stone Cold
SmackDown: July 19, 2001

– On the previous RAW the WWF burned through the Sting/WCW 18 month saga in one night with Austin fighting an inner conflict and eventually choosing Team WWF by kicking the asses of most of the Alliance. This a collection of the segments where Vince celebrates having the old Stone Cold back by singing and playing the guitar. Austin gets sick of the singing and blasts Vince with the guitar.

Whataburger
RAW: Jan 14, 2002

-Austin cuts a promo on the final RAW before the Royal Rumble and what gets said about a thousand times. This was around the peak of the “what” craze and Austin had a ball with the running gag. This started out funny, but I started to get burned out with all the “what” by the end. Even the crowd started to cool off towards the middle, but it goes so long that they get back into it again. The funny part is Austin getting so caught up he drops the f bomb and nearly loses it from laughing.

The Highlight Reel
Insurrextion: June 7, 2003

-This was a UK PPV with Jericho hosting Bischoff on the High Light Reel and they insult the fans until Austin interrupts. The lack of a Jeritron 2000 disappoints me! Austin goes crazy listing off all the pints he drank and while Bischoff stays in character you can see Jericho losing it at times. Austin changes a match with Nash and HHH to a Street Fight. Jericho gets annoyed and starts firing off names of various bands from England so the crowd can chant what at the appropriate time. They end up having a beer bash and Jericho eats the Stunner first. He tells Bischoff he is off the hook, but then gives him a Stunner as well.

SPECIAL FEATURES

-Stone Cold Answers Your Twitter Questions:

1) How did he come up with the name of his ranch? It’s the Broken Skull Ranch because he nearly broke his skull earning money to buy it.
2) Would he ever consider opening a wrestling school? No at this time because has too much going on at this time, but he will continue to pass on his knowledge to other guys via other methods.
3) What does Austin do in his spare time? He loves to work out and collect neon signs and antique watches. In a few months he will hunt white tail deer.
4) What is defining moment in his career? He knew the night after he came up with Austin 3:16 at King of the Ring and saw all the signs on RAW that he was had something.
5) What his favorite moment was in his career? Post WrestleMania 13 after the match knowing they had pulled off the double turn and turned in a hell of a performance.
6) What it was like to create the Smoking Skull Belt? He gives credit to Animal of the LOD for coming up with the idea.
7) What is his favorite place to travel to? His favorite country to work in was Germany because of the culture and he just loved the place.
8) What were his thoughts on 1st Day at Tough Enough? He wasn’t nervous because he knew so much about the business and just did what came naturally.
9) What is his favorite animal to hunt and favorite movie he filmed? The white tail deer is his favorite animal to hunt and he still loves The Condemned.
10) What is favorite match that he wasn’t part of? He puts over Savage/Steamboat at WrestleMania III, Hart/Michaels at WM XII, and Flair/Savage at WrestleMania VIII. Can’t argue with any of those choices actually, but then adds a final match: The Rock N Roll Express against The Andersons in a cage at Greensboro Coliseum.
11) What did you say to people after giving them the stunner and flipping them off? A bunch of 4 letter curse words
12) What does he think of “What” chant still being around? He calls it flattering and fun to watch and says you can avoid the chant if you speed up your cadence and don’t leave the pause.
13) What are his memories about being in the Dangerous Alliance? He puts over every single person in the group and says the best part was learning from everyone in the group. The rub and learning experience was best part
14) Did Heyman see Austin’s potential in WCW? He mentions that Heyman is a damn good friend and that he has always believed in him.
15) Is there anything he wanted to accomplish that he didn’t get to? He never worries about what he didn’t and doesn’t focus on what he did as he just takes each day one day at a time.
16) Would Stone Cold work in today’s PG environment? He knows Stone Cold would be top guy in any generation just because of the hard work he put into the business and if you take away the cursing and middle fingers he was still a Main Event guy. I can agree with that.
17) What his dream match would be? He doesn’t know but if someone pissed him off he would back in the ring against whoever would dare run him down. They showed various WWF Superstars with Punk being the first.

-The Sportatorium: Austin gives his thoughts on the Sportatorium in Dallas and he is rather pissed that they tore down the building. He puts over the Free Bird/Von Erich feud and says nothing will touch the atmosphere of that building during that time period.

-The T-Shirt: Foley tells us that in 1996 he meet with marketing department about a shirt for Mankind and saw a list of what office had in store for each superstar as far as merchandise. The office tells Austin he isn’t seen as marketable so they don’t have anything for him. See, WCW wasn’t the only one! Finally they ask Austin if he has an idea and he jumps all over that and pitches the famous Austin 3:16 shirt with the skull on the back. Vince tells him the skull is too close to Taker’s gimmick and asks him to get the ok from The Undertaker. Austin tells Taker about his idea and he has no problem with it and tells him to run with it. A shit load of money soon followed! I am proud to say I am one of the billion people to buy that shirt and still have it in my closet.

-The Broken Skull Ranch: Austin gives us a tour of his ranch in Texas. About what you would expect if you have ever seen any episodes of MTV Cribs. We get a photo of Austin and his wife as he relates story of proposing to her at one of the deer stands on the ranch. After seeing that I have to say that Austin owns a shit load of land and nice to see that he didn’t burn through all his money like a lot of wrestlers that made it big.

BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE MOMENTS

A Flair for the Gold
WCW Saturday Night: May 15, 1993

-Flair has The Blondes as his guests on A Flair for the Gold. The Blondes rip on Ric and Arn in hilarious fashion. Pillman asks Flair for an autograph for his great grandmother. Ha! They focus on Slamboree and the Blondes mention they are flying in all the old timers so they can get a hot meal. Anderson gets pissed and things get heated between all four men. Great stuff!

The Biggest Draw in the World
Superstars: Nov 17, 1996

-Survivor Series was that night and Pettengill interviews Austin hours before the show. Austin says Bret was trying to butter him up with compliments before the match and takes umbrage to fact that Bret called Austin a stepping stone to Shawn Michaels and the WWF Title. Austin calls himself the biggest draw in the world which seemed ludicrous at the time, but apparently Austin could see the future. They mention Austin injuring Pillman, and he claims he carried Pillman for five years until he didn’t need him anymore. I wish those two would have gotten a proper blow-off, but WCW fucked up and Pillman’s tragic death kept that from happening.

The Foundation of the WWF
Superstars: March 23, 1997

-Once again we head to Superstars and Austin does an interview at ringside the morning of WrestleMania 13. The seeds for the double turn were planted here as well as Austin puts over that he has never quit in his life while Bret quits every time something doesn’t go his way. For some reason I love this segment and I think would be cool if they did more stuff like this.

You Want a Pear? You Want an Apple?
RAW: Aug 18, 1997

-JR interviews Austin in a hotel after his freak accident at SummerSlam 1997. Austin is pissed and tosses fruit at JR because nobody cares about him. He mentions he is the IC Champion, and is sick of seeing the botched tombstone. Owen Hart has hell to pay and Austin says pissed about 50 times in 10 second span. He mentions doctors told him to do something else, but the decision is his and no matter what he says Owen will get the shit kicked out of him. Good interview here as it kind of blended between a shoot and a work. Austin was clearly in character, but at same time you can tell he was legit pissed about what happened.

Post-RAW: Stone Cold Has Words with The Rock
RAW: March 17,2003

-Austin and The Rock entertain the fans after RAW goes off the air. Both men are in fine form as they have a blast entertaining without the restraints of TV time holding them back. The Rock ignores Austin at first because he is pissed at a fan holding up a sign saying The Scorpion King sucked. Awesome! Rock cracks me up as he dances each time the crowd chants “what.” They shake hands and Austin goes for the Stunner, but Rock is too smart for that and bails. Austin charges up the ramp and Rock sees him behind him on the Titan Tron in a funny spot. They start brawling back towards the ring where The Rock takes control. Heel Rock was some awesome during this run. Austin eventually hits the Stunner and Rock bounces back up on his feet, so Austin hits him with a second one that Rock sells only like he can. I know there are better options, but I would so love to see Rock/Austin IV at WrestleMania XXIX.

McMahon Inducts Austin into The Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: April 4, 2009

-Woo! I was there in the crowd for this, and was pissed to see that they actually had a clock on each guy’s speech. For the first and only time Vince actually shows up on camera at the Hall of Fame and it’s to induct Austin. Really who else was there? Vince relates story of how stiff Austin was in the ring and how they have had a unique relationship. He calls Austin the Greatest WWE Superstar of All Time, and I can already hear the Hogan fans (myself included) bitching about that one. The video package for Austin is quite epic and some of the current stars put him over as they should. Funny story as the video package includes CM Punk’s current theme (Cult of Personality) and when the music hit the night Punk returned this was first thing I thought of and for a brief second expected to see Austin for whatever reason. Austin comes out to a massive reaction from the crowd as I keep looking for myself on camera, but no luck. Austin doesn’t soak in the applause for long as he gets on with his speech. The crowd chants for one more match and he just plays it off, but three years later I think there is a chance we do get one more match from him. In a nice moment that shows what kind of guy Austin is, he takes the time to apologize to the fans in Atlanta who showed up to the RAW that he no showed in 2002. Just think about that for a second! Arguably the biggest draw in the wrestling world took time out of his Hall of Fame speech to apologize to fans for something that happened 7 years earlier and most had forgotten about. Good speech from Austin overall as he does come off as a down to Earth guy.

Stone Cold Salutes Texas
WrestleMania XXV: April 5, 2009

-The entire class of the Hall of Fame is introduced to the crowd. After a small delay, the glass shatters, and Austin takes a victory lap around the ring on his quad. He salutes the crowd one last time and it’s a pretty special moment and one that I am happy to say I attended.

The 411: This is certainly a definitive look at the career of Steve Austin. I am a little bummed about the lack of ECW and WCW stuff, but overall this is a tremendous set. The documentary is fantastic as Austin has no problem shooting straight with the fans. The matches feature some classics that haven't been released previously and some that have but you will have that when you consider man has had like 5 DVD releases. The Blu Ray version is reccomended with the bonus matches and moments if you are prepared to pay a little more. Great stuff all around!

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]