WWE: Steve Austin on Not Interested in Full-Time WWE Work, John Cena on Passing Torch Goal, More News

Steve Austin Comments on Not Being Interested Anymore in Full-Time WWE Work

A recent episode of the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast featured WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Austin’s thoughts on not being interested in working as a full-time manager or announcer for WWE in the future.

“Right now, off the top of my head, I say no, because I don’t want to put the time into living my life back on the road again. I rode that road hard. I loved that lifestyle, I worked my ass off, I put my body on the line, and I ran hard. Now, I’m at a place where I’m still living life. I started racing due to the fact that I met some people on the show and started racing. I work with Kawasaki Motorsports, that’s about as much traveling as I want to do is going to races on weekends and stuff like that. I’m happy where I’m at. I will always entertain any kind of business offer, but I spent enough time on the road and I’m just picking and choosing. I still want to work and I still want to be productive. I’m in the beer business. I have three beers with El Segundo Brewing Company, I work with Kawasaki, and I’ve got some other private ventures that I’m into. I don’t want to get out on the road again. I’ve been there and I’ve done it, and I ran hard.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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John Cena Comments on His Current Passing of the Torch Career Goal

A recent episode of the Notsam Wrestling podcast featured John Cena as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cena’s thoughts on wanting to always make fans care about what he is doing in wrestling and his goal of passing the torch to the next generation.

“You can track back, and I’ve missed a bunch of times. I’ve tried to care and been too quirky, tried to be funny, and failed, but I’m trying. I’m always trying to make you care. That’s been the way since I was doing raps. People would want to hear the lines. Then people wouldn’t want to hear the lines. ‘You can do your rap thing. I’m just going to kick the crap out of you in the ring.’ Fine, that doesn’t matter. What matters is me making them connect and believe,” said John. “If they believe and maybe they laugh, then they feel sad when people kick the crap out of me. Then I can get away with something like, my ethos is persistence, because years from now, people will be like, ‘Yeah, that actually kind of is what he does. He just keeps showing up. He’s here a lot.’ That’s the thing when authenticity. You can’t shake hands with someone for the first time, and they know you’re sold. I’m blessed enough to be able to, for now, people to reflect and see, ‘he is authentically that. He authentically has passion for the company.’ My goal is to authentically leave it better than I found it. That’s my goal, to pass the torch up.

I don’t ever want to be talked about generations from now. They should be talking about Roman, and whoever follows him, and whoever follows him, because that’s how it should be,” he continued. “They should be in stadiums instead of arenas every night. That’s how it should be. That’s the burden Roman has on his shoulders. That’s the way it’s supposed to go. Too many people caught up in, ‘I’m this, I’m that.’ I’m a pawn on the chess board, and someone tells me, ‘we’re going to move you with this guy,’ it’s the same with movies. I don’t call the shots.

It’s even more restricted in movies because, on set, I can call the shots, but I’m not following the director into the edit. At least in live entertainment, if I want to drop a pipe bomb, I can do it, and deal with the consequences after. I have to be accountable, but I got my five minutes to throw two middle fingers up to the world. You don’t have that in a movie. If you do every take, they’ll cut around you to get what they want. Why not embrace the process, work with everyone instead of against everyone, don’t think the world is against you, The wrestling business is a business, and their business is to make money. If you’re of value to them and you’re of value to the movie system, if you don’t cost them a tremendous amount of money, if you show up on time, if you’re passionate about the work, if you know the context of the story, if you know why we’re fighting; they might ask you back. You don’t need to be the last match.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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WWE News & Notes

Sami Zayn recently reflected on Twitter about getting to travel to Saudi Arabia for WWE’s upcoming Night of Champions 2023 and being able to complete a Umrah, which is a pilgrimage to Islam’s holy city of Mecca.

Bianca Belair and The Street Profits made a guest appearance on Thursday’s episode of Wild ‘N Out on VH1.

As noted before, WWE has been in talks with gambling regulators from several states to have legalized gambling approved in their states for WWE matches. Fightful Select reported that several talent spoken to stated that they were not told by WWE officials of the company’s plans in regards for legalized gambling on their matches and found out about it after the news became public. Several of those spoken to reportedly were concerned over not being informed of the results for their matches until a few hours ahead mainly due to how it could affect long-term input into their stories. It was reported that those spoken to stated that they have not heard much about WWE’s idea for legalized gambling over the past couple of months and don’t expect much to come from it in the end.

As noted before, Seth Rollins was recently involved in the filming of Marvel’s upcoming Captain America: New World Order film in Atlanta, Georgia. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that the recent rumors of WWE officials being hesitant on having Rollins win the new World Heavyweight title due to his recent filming commitments are not true. Those same sources reportedly stated that WWE officials currently view mainstream gig projects like the new Captain America film as being a positive thing for their talent, especially now that Endeavor is involved. One high level WWE official reportedly stated “I’m not saying who is going to win this weekend, but the idea that this is anything but a positive is an unrealistic way of thinking. I can’t speak to how those in charge a year ago would have felt, but now it’s seen as a positive, especially with Endeavor aboard. It also wasn’t a surprise. Colby (Lopez, Seth Rollins) is an exceptional talent and we expect these opportunities to come his way. We were made aware that the situation was happening, and he’s already done filming. We had planned out the sit-down interviews to make up for his absence and it’s full speed ahead.“

As noted before, Eric Young signed a contract with WWE this past November following the expiration of his contract with Imapct Wrestling. Despite his signing, Young has yet to make his official return to WWE programming. Young recently announced on Twitter that his fans will be able to see him again real soon and hinted at a big change being in store for him. Young stated “Time to work!!!! When the world hands you lemons…… we’ll you know the rest! See you all again real soon! BIG CHANGE COMING!!!“

In a recent interview with the Under The Ring podcast, NXT talent Tiffany Stratton stated that her character in NXT is inspired by Sharpay Evans and Paris Hilton. Stratton stated “I definitely have some inspiration from movie characters like Sharpay Evans from High School Musical, I love Paris Hilton, I love her style. But for the most part, I’ve kind of created my own little sayings. It’s all kind of been me coming up with things. All of my outfits, my gear, it’s all me coming up with the concepts and trying to figure out how do I get my character across when someone just looks at me.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)