10 Things We Learned From Stone Cold Steve Austin On Talk Is Jericho
4. He Was Never Meant To Do Comedy
There was a cool bit about Austin's 2001 heel turn on the pod too.
Get this: WWE wanted 'Stone Cold' to be ruthless when he aligned with Vince at 'Mania X-Seven. Again, Austin's doubts kicked in and he openly questioned why he'd be the same character he was in 1996-1997. After all, that's the heel persona that people fell in love with - he had to try something offbeat this time.
The comedy direction he landed on wasn't perfect, by his own admission, but it was at least different to what fans had latched onto in the first place. Plus, he enjoyed working with Kurt Angle; Austin put Kurt over as an incredible worker, then added that his own comedic timing made the shift from viciousness to goof a little easier.
Lord only knows what company creative were thinking here. It would've backfired on them spectacularly had they tried to present an ass-kicking Austin as a straight up villain. He needed some cowardice, and they needed a reason to boo him for never giving them the character of old.