"Steve's punches hurt like hell; the Rock's don't hurt at all" - What Triple H told a WWE legend during their backstage chat
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Steve Austin had some iconic WWE showdowns with Triple H; however, it has been revealed by Mick Foley that The Game found The Texas Rattlesnake to be a more physical in-ring opponent.
The topic of stiff workers was brought up on Foley is Pod this week. Out of all the legends from the past, Stone Cold Steve Austin had a reputation for being a little snug with his strikes. Mick Foley personally didn't have a problem with hard punches as long as there was no malice involved, which was never the case with Steve Austin.
To explain his point, Foley recalled a conversation with Triple H about the biggest difference he felt when wrestling The Rock and Austin in WWE. Mick revealed the WWE CCO's answer, as you can view below:
"When I went to Triple H one day, I went, 'Hunter (because no one uses real names in the world of wrestling), you worked with both Steve and Rock, right? He goes, 'Yeah!' I go, 'What's the major difference?' 'Uh, Steve's punches hurt like hell; the Rock's don't hurt at all.' I said, 'Exactly!' But they both looked tremendous. They both were masters of their art." [19:00 - 19:30]
Mick Foley on not confronting Stone Cold Steve Austin about working stiff in WWE
Foley has often been asked why he didn't have a word with Austin about his wrestling style despite the risk of suffering an actual injury.
The WWE Hall of Famer shot down the claim and noted that he got great crowd reactions during his match with Steve Austin due to the latter's realistic-looking offense.
Foley continued:
"If he was snug, why didn't you say anything in the dressing room? What? Why didn't you bring it up?" Foley replied "Because he is Steve Austin, and literally everything he has just done that I've done with him has yielded a bigger response than I'd dreamt of getting, honestly." [19:31 - 20:00]
Mick Foley clarified that he never got hurt while working with Steve Austin, which is proof that the legendary star was indeed quite safe inside the squared circle. Foley felt Austin and Bret Hart were similar in that vein:
"I never dreamed I could get those kinds of reactions, let alone 20 of them in one match. I'm going to go in and tell the guy responsible he needs to lighten up. Because he never hit me in the mouth, he never broke my nose, but he was really solid, as was Bret Hart." [20:01 - 20:18]
Thumbtacks or barbed wire? Mick Foley revealed which is more dangerous for a pro wrestler right here.
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