Steve Austin Shares His Picks For Biggest Up-And-Coming Stars In WWE

In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Steve Austin discussed WWE bringing fans back at WrestleMania 37, his picks for the biggest up-and-coming stars in the company, and much more. Here are some of the highlights:

Steve Austin on WWE bringing fans back at WrestleMania 37: “Man, they’re gonna be so excited to have people back in there. When I broke in, I’d wrestle in Chevrolet dealership parking lots in front of 15, 20 people, getting suplexed on the parking lot. So, I’ve been in front of almost no fans, but that was by design because the card wasn’t any good, so no one wanted to come see us. When you’re in WWE, you’re looking for full stadiums. And when you’re in the ring, you’re relying on the sound that those people make to make your decisions as far as how you proceed in your match, so they need that feedback, they need that instant gratification to help them make decisions in the ring. Now that they’re piping the noise in on TV, it’s easier to watch, but it’s hard to perform without a crowd. I think the men and women have adapted and adjusted accordingly in a magnificent fashion. They’ve excelled because they’re professionals, but man, there’s nothing like being in front of a crowd, and I know these kids that are still doing it are gonna be super stoked to have people that are responding.”

On who he thinks are the biggest up-and-coming stars in WWE: “I haven’t been tuning in a whole lot because I have a whole lot going on in my personal life, but just from watching the Royal Rumble, I think those last two women—Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair—I think those two are destined for greatness. They still need reps, they still need to learn, but those two have the size, presence, looks, ability to be major, major stars, so we’ll see what the future holds for them.”