Ex-WCW star explains why he no-sold against Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin is widely viewed as one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business. In a recent interview, Ice Train gave his take on why he refused to sell Austin's offense when they faced each other in WCW.
On July 9, 1993, Ice Train teamed up with Ron Simmons to defeat Austin and Brian Pillman at a WCW Worldwide taping. Before the match, WCW booker Ole Anderson told the inexperienced Ice Train to act like his opponents' moves did not hurt.
Speaking on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, Ice Train recalled how Austin and Pillman reacted to his performance that day:
"Ole told me, 'Don't sell anything. You're not supposed to sell. You don't know how to sell yet, so you just go out there and you just clobber everybody.' And Austin and Pillman were p****d, but they were professional about it, but they were p****d. If you ever watch the match, I didn't sell anything." [14:46 – 15:06]
Ice Train, real name Harold Hogue, wrestled for WCW over two different spells between 1993 and 2001. He retired from in-ring competition shortly after WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon purchased WCW.
Brian Pillman and Steve Austin were allegedly "really mad"
Before joining WWE in 1995, Steve Austin was part of the Hollywood Blonds tag team with Brian Pillman. They held the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championships during their alliance in 1993.
According to Ice Train, Austin and Pillman disliked the way that Ole Anderson booked the match against himself and Ron Simmons:
"They were really mad because they felt like Ole had kinda treated them bad by putting them out there with this green [inexperienced] guy who wouldn't sell or anything. But Ole's philosophy was, 'Hey, brother, I don't even need you in wrestling tights. I need you in some jeans and some boots. I just need people to love your [character].'" [15:13 – 15:36]
In the same interview, Ice Train explained why he never trusted wrestling legend Hulk Hogan whenever they interacted in WCW.
Do you have any favorite memories of Steve Austin in WCW? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.