WWE News: Stone Cold Steve Austin reveals which wrestlers he studied to improve
Former WWE wrestler and wrestling legend Sone Cold Steve Austin recently appeared on the ‘2 Chairs And A Microphone’ show where he talked about many things including Mankind’s 25-foot jump off the Hell In A Cell, which wrestlers he watched during his wrestling days and more. Thanks to Wrestling Inc, below are some of the highlights from the interview:
When Austin was asked what the wrestlers of today can do outside of the ring to improve their craft, Austin said that studying other legendary wrestlers such as Shawn Micheals has helped him. He said:
"Man, I watched everything I could get my eyes on. Oh yeah, you've got to see what everybody else is doing, like a cat like Shawn Michaels, such an innovator, and back in the day when you were jealous of him you said 'oh, he's just a high spot artist'. He did a lot of things off the ropes. Hey man, Shawn Michaels is probably the greatest in-ring performer I've ever seen in my life. You watch a cat like that, see how he operates, watch his in-ring movement, watch his psychology, the way he does things. Watch Bret Hart, watch Ric Flair, hell, even watch Hogan, who's a limited athletic performer, but he was so over, study why he's so over, the persona, the charisma, the interview, the whole package.”
Talking about his former travel partner Mick Foley, Steve praised him as a person and said that he the most gentle guy who is also the toughest human being:
"Mick Foley is a tremendous cat. Very, very smart guy. Oh man, yeah, the most gentle guy who could be probably one of the toughest human beings in the world from the standpoint of absorbing punishment that he has put his body through. The M.O. of his work style in the ring or his persona with barb wire, thumbtacks, bumps, 25, 30-foot bumps, and the tables, chairshots, barb wire, fire. Anything, you name it [and] Mick [has] done it. But as a human being, anytime I came to work, which was anywhere in the world and there was Mick, I'd say, 'hey Mick, I have a question to ask you' because if I had anything that would require some deep thinking, I'd always ask Mick.
On bringing the topic of Mick Foley, the Texas Rattle Snake was asked about his Iconic jump from the top of the Hell in a Cell in 1998 and if there is a possible way to train for a bump like that to which he replied:
"How do you train for a 25-foot bump off of a steel cage on top of an announcer's desk? You don't. You look at it, or you have this idea in your head, and you think you want to take this bump because it's the biggest pay-per-view of the year and you want to go out there and put it all on the line and you decide that's what you're going to do because at least you are trained in learning how to take a bump, learning how to fall. we know how to fall, but you don't know how to fall from 25 feet. But you know you're going to have to time that thing, so you're going to be on your back when you hit that desk and it's a calculated risk at best."
Along with this 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin also talked about how Shawn Micheals used to practice before Raw with a crash pad and more.