8 Things We Learned From Steve Austin On Stephanie McMahon's WWE Show

Steve wasn't quite as chuffed when he was brought into the WWF big time and lumbered with The Ringmaster character in 1995. The promotion was in the toilet (creatively and financially) at the time, but Austin was still delighted to sign on the dotted line. Then, he found out that he'd be a nuts n' bolts wrestler, which was almost certainly something Vince McMahon was never going to go all in on in '95.

This is nothing particularly new, but Austin was frustrated when the then-WWF brought him in and proceeded to bury him beneath a chiefly mute character who didn't cut his own promos or really have much sizzle at all. He thought The Ringmaster sucked overall, but admits he “couldn’t pull it off” either. Maybe somebody else would've been a better fit for it, who knows?

One clip in particular stands out from Stephanie's Places. It shows Steve tossing an opponent to the outside then turning to the hard cam. His ticked off facial expression really says it all. Austin was confused, and he wasn’t certain things were going to work out for him now he'd finally made it to the WWF.

A few years later, he was on top of the industry earning millions and selling more t-shirts than the company could print. That was some turnaround. The goofy expression Steve flashed at the hard cam as The Ringmaster summed how he was feeling at the time up nicely. He was sinking rather than thriving, and he seemed totally at odds with what McMahon thought was best for him.

Imagine telling Steve Austin he couldn't cut promos?!