17 Things We Learned From Eric Bischoff On Legends With JBL (Part 1)

5. Firing Steve Austin

After the discussion of Foley and Triple H, JBL changes tact and talks more specifically about Steve Austin. He says that he listened to Austin's podcast with Bischoff and noted that Bischoff often gets 'credit' for firing Steve and saying that 'the guy in black trunks will never draw' but that the reality of the situation is very different. Bischoff notes Austin's injury history and says he was frequently on the bench in WCW and 'not a very happy guy, generally, in life'. He said that between the injuries and resentment that it was just a matter of time (and that the Hogan signing made things worse). Bischoff does say that he tried to keep Austin on television by having him do an interview. Austin only lived about fifteen miles away, so he wouldn't have to fly in and could be done in no time but when WCW management tried to call him, Austin's wife said he was out. That would have been fine, but they could hear Austin in the background yelling 'tell that son of a bitch I ain't coming in!'. When Bischoff heard about that, he knew Austin's time in the company was up. Austin doesn't remember the incident, but says that is probably how it went down and sounded like him.