Steve Austin Reflects On His Earliest Reactions To Mr. Socko, Michael Cole

During a recent edition of his Steve Austin Show podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin talked about his initial reactions to Mick Foley explaining the idea for Mr. Socko. Below are some highlights from the podcast.

Austin on how Mick Foley got the Mr. Socko idea over: “Nobody, I mean nobody, but Mick Foley, could get a thing like a sock over to the degree that he did. I’ll never forget when I was about to hit Mr. McMahon in the head with that bedpan, me and Mick Foley were in a bathroom about the size of a shower in the hospital and he was telling me about the sock and he was going to start using it as a finish and we were laughing our asses off in that little, bitty bathroom. They had to knock on the door and say, ‘hey, you guys need to keep it quiet – we’re trying to film Vince’s part of the skit!’ So anyway, swig of beer and big respect for Mick Foley. Getting the Mandible Claw over was easy. I mean, that was a great finish. But, then, using the sock [and] calling it Mr. Socko, that’s entertainment! That’s something that’s just credible, and then you throw the showmanship, or the entertainment factor in it by using the sock, and then the sock turns into a character, dude, that’s just good stuff. I don’t care who you are. That’s good stuff!”

Austin on how Michael Cole did some of his best work in 1999: “Big shout out [to] Michael Cole. Probably some of the best work of his career [was in 1999]. He’s dispersing so much information now. I understand it’s a different ballgame and it really is when you look at from 1999 into 2016, and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way. I’m just saying with the [WWE] app and so much business to talk about, the dude is awesome at his job! Take a listen these days and realize how much information he’s putting out along with being totally into all the storylines, which are going on at the time [and] which points he has to get over. The dude is like [Harry] Houdini – he’s working magic out there. And sometimes, surely, you miss the singular focus and passion of Jim Ross becoming so embroiled or enraged at the heel for doing despicable things or the backhanded complements that he used to give ‘Stone Cold’”. Austin continued, “but Michael Cole is doing a totally different thing these days. It’s dispersing a lot of information. The product has changed. But, here, in 1999, I thought he was on fire. He captured the emotion, he captured the action, and Jerry Lawler was on fire too.”

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