WWE News: Steve Austin talks about getting over with crowds at MSG
Tonight's episode of Raw isn't just coming to us from New York City. It's being held in Madison Square Garden for the first time in years. And WWE is marking the occasion with an appearance by WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Austin has recently been making the rounds to promote both Raw and his new USA talk show Straight Up Steve Austin, and spoke with Sports Illustrated regarding his upcoming return to the "World's Most Famous Arena." (h/t to Fightful)
Tough Crowd
The audience at MSG isn't like most crowds, Austin warns.
"That crowd is a tough crowd, and if you win them over, you’ve really done something," Austin told the magazine, "It’s a crowd that you’ve got to work really hard for to earn their respect, and I love that about that building."
In fact, calling it a "tough crowd" probably isn't doing the phrase justice. Austin recalls the lengths he would have to go to in order just to leave the building during the Attitude Era - and the damage the rentals cars of the Superstars would endure while arriving.
"When you would drive your rental car into the Garden, the fans would line up and wait for you on the way out," Austin remembers, "Depending on how over you were...or how much heat you had...[people] would tear off your side-view mirrors and rip off your antennas."
“They’d stick me in the back of an ambulance [in order to leave the arena] and someone would drive my car 10 blocks down the road,” continued Austin. “The ambulance would pull over, I’d jump out, jump in my rental car, and haul ass."
Trying to impress more than the crowd
It wasn't just the tough New York crowd that got performers to amp up their game at MSG, though. When WWE came to the arena you could be sure that a certain somebody was backstage there, as well.
"[WWE Chairman] Vince [McMahon] would always show up at the Garden, even for the house shows," Austin explained, "and when the old man rolled into the building, we made sure we worked our asses off even more than we already were because Vince was watching."
Austin returns to MSG tonight to officiate the contract signing of the Universal Championship match between Braun Strowman and champion Seth Rollins at the Clash of Champions PPV.