Exclusive interview with former WCW and WWE Superstar Buff Bagwell

The hosts of Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – recently had the chance to speak with former WCW and WWE Superstar, Buff Bagwell. Over his long career, Bagwell played many parts and goes in depth in this interview on his time in and exit from WWE, the Monday Night Wars, his dream retirement match and more. 

This interview with Buff Bagwell can be heard on the YouTube video below or continue past the link to read the entire interview here.

Ring Rust Radio: There’s always been a lot of speculation and rumors out there regarding your brief stint with WWE, and you said recently on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s podcast that you believe Jim Ross was responsible for your release from the company. He responded and said he didn't make the decision. What do you make of his response, and what do you think JR or WWE’s motivation was to get rid of you so quickly?

Buff Bagwell: First of all, I actually did read his response. The way Jim responded, which I can respect, I think he didn’t want to watch what I had to say. Therefore he was responding to something that he really didn’t know what he was responding to. I wasn’t saying that Jim’s job didn’t require him to let people go. What I’m saying is I think he is strictly looking at it from WWE terms. Everyone knows that many years ago on the round table special, and I thought Jim and I were always great, but go back and watch that round table special which I encourage everyone to do. Everyone was talking about heat seekers in the business. During that time, Jim kept trying to get his story out. Someone else would always cut him off, though. It wasn’t to protect me, but they felt like they had something to get out. So at the very end of it, Jim sits down and proceeds to bury me and tells a story about how my mother called in and cancelled me on some house shows. I think first of all I was put out there because I had some heat from coming into the business from WCW. Zero heat with WWE, but the perception was I could be a pain in the ass. Remember, they are the one company now. So I’m shaking hands and kissing babies and walking on egg shells. Even though I knew I had a job, there were some things that happened with me and Shane Helms when I first got there, and I felt that I really had to watch my P’s and Q’s. I felt that me and Booker were kind of set up with Booker and the whole invasion angle and us main eventing with a kind of horrible match. I look back and realize it was not as bad as it felt that day. It just felt like there was going to be a setup and a fall guy. I never claimed that I was a big main event star, but Sting and I are the only two guys that did the entire run in WCW. Evidentially, I was worth using and added some value to the product, but came into WWE feeling like I had to re-earn my spot. In fact, I came in and gave Vince back money to show him I was a team player. Fast forward to Jim Ross, I’m gone and still trying to make a living on the scene. Let’s be honest here, if someone tells that your mama called you off of work, what’s that say about a man? That’s just burying somebody. Truth is it never happened. That’s not my opinion or Jim Ross’ opinion. Between Jim, myself and God, all know that didn’t happen. I even had my manager come to me and say what if she called and you didn’t know about it, what if that was the case? My mother was involved with WCW television, but she never made a dime from it. Everything you saw her do that everyone gives her crap about, she did it for free and to help the product. She did enjoy her time there and she was just having a good time.  Just like if your mother was asked to do the same thing, I’d imagine she would more than likely. My mama was out there taking Diamond Cutters at 50 something years old and not making a dime for it. Even if she had done something like that, she would have called me and said that she spoke to Jim and they didn’t need me for those house shows. She would have been working both ends of the spectrum if she did something like that. She was up in the stands the night they did fire me and she had no clue. I don’t know where Jim gets off saying my mother called me in, but those were prime shows for Buff Bagwell. I think they were Columbus, Georgia and Birmingham. Those were both prime shots for me, and I think we had Philips Arena coming up for Monday Night Raw at the time which was right in Ted Turner’s backyard. Booker and I felt we could have gone into there and blow it up. I think they wanted the reaction from the fans to be negative because they were still in that Monday Night War mentality. WCW was the bad guys, but here we are forced to play in their backyard. So you go to Philips Arena and that’s the home of WCW, I don’t care if it’s a Monday Night Raw crowd or not, those were WCW people. Booker and I would have gotten a pop, but it never got a chance to happen. Even the Tacoma show, I was walking out from the back with my music playing, and Shane McMahon comes up and tells me not to look at the cameras. You guys know, that’s 80 percent of my job! I go out there, look at the cameras, pose, boom boom boom, flex; that was my gimmick. When someone tells you don’t look at the camera, that’s like telling Austin not to kick, punch, or shoot birds. That’s why Booker and I felt like there was something strange about that Tacoma show. I still feel like Jim was trying to bury me while I was trying to make a living. Of course my story had never been told, so I never got a chance to answer that. So at the end of the show when Jim said my mama called me off, and that Missy Hyatt brought me into the business. They said, “Oh well that explains it all.” Well what does that explain? Missy helped out a lot of guys in the business and she was at a time the first lady of wrestling.

Ring Rust Radio: You have worked for WCW, WWE and even TNA, so you know the value in competition within the wrestling industry. Do you feel the business will ever reach the level it did during the Monday Night War?

Buff Bagwell: To be honest with you, I think that everyone can have their opinion, but if WWE would have kept that tight lipped and made it look like Shane was running it and kept it as two separate entities, I think wrestling would have stayed hot for a lot longer. Maybe Shane should have actually bought it. There is more wrestling and talent out there than there ever has been right now, but there are limited places to work. I think that it can be again and everything does have its peaks and valleys. Will it ever be that hot again? I really don’t know. It would have to be put at a real competitive level for that to happen. Competition creates business. In the back of Vince’s mind, he is so far ahead of TNA right now they aren’t even a thought to him. If the right people and minds get in there and get the right programming, we could see a lot of things change. With TV open to more of a free market and including the internet, people are going to have more selections and choices. That may saturate the business, but it could captivate the business at a cheaper rate. If you weren’t on a major station on a prime time night, you were kind of screwed. I do think the business itself can go back there again, but I don’t know if the right people are in place to make that happen right now.

Ring Rust Radio: I really enjoyed your run as a single competitor, but you were also part of several entertaining tag teams. Was there one partner you enjoyed tagging with the most and any story that comes to mind from your run with him?

Buff Bagwell: I really enjoyed with Two Cold when I broke in. It was fresh and new; we did a lot of cool things, WCW tag team of the year, and led to my first belt. Everyone I ever worked with added something to my career which helped me develop my character over time. Scott Norton, Vicious and Delicious, that was a lot of fun. That might be on the backburner in a lot of people’s minds, but I had a really good time working with Scott. Even working along with Dale Wilkes, the Patriot and all these guys I worked with I had a blast with. There were a lot of stories of Scott and I working over in Japan for example. I can tell you one time, I had a few beers in me, and Scott Norton was a pretty tough dude. We had our wives with us on a trip one night and Scott’s wife at the time, though I love her to death, there was an annoyance going on. For some reason, I was going to threaten to slap Scott’s wife. This was after drinking and having a good time, but at that moment I thought I was going to die. He made the hot tag with me and came in as my partner and defused the situation. I really did have a good time with everybody. Something that blew my mind, before we did the interview section for the “Good, the Bad, and the Buff,” my manager had found some footage of shoot interview with Too Cold Scorpio. Mind you, I just saw him a few weeks before this and we had tagged together as an anniversary, reemergence, reunion type thing together. I hugged him and everything was good, I even gave him a couple DVDs of our best matches together. After watching his shoot interview, I will say it blew my mind. He called me a cock sucker, every name in the book, and that he poked my wife in the face on an airplane over a seat I told him to get out of. Brother, one thing about me is I always try to treat people with respect. I never was a guy to push his chest around. He said we were all traveling together on some flight overseas, I told him to get out of the seat, and he told me who was I, poked my wife in the nose and told her if she wanted to fuck a real man he would show her why they called him Too Cold. I don’t give a shit if you are the biggest pussy in the world, but if a man is poking your wife in the face with a plane full of wrestlers on an international flight and some guy is standing up telling some guy’s wife he can fuck her better than you can? Don’t you think you would have heard about that story? We would have made a world press release because he and I would have gone out the fucking exit door on that plane. So when I heard this, I thought what the fuck is he talking about or what is he on? They literally show this to me live during filming, and then go right back live with my response. I never saw it before and I did know it was out there, but they waited to show me live to get my rebuttal. You want to see some real deal situations? It’s on the film. I promise you, you have never seen anything more real than this in your life.

Ring Rust Radio: If you could pick anyone to wrestle against for a retirement match, who would it be and why?

Buff Bagwell: So many people to pick from. Steve Austin. He would be the majority of the draw, but that’s not the reason why I would work with him. Steve and I had a lot of tag matches together with Brian Pillman and Too Cold Scorpio, and we worked a lot of matches with those guys. We were always friends and respected each other so of course it would be a good match and a good draw. Before the film, I never saw Vince in there with the thumb up, thumb down deal. I had never seen that because I was in Panama City Beach, Florida, when that happened. When he goes through that whole list of guys, Buff Bagwell got a pretty good pop. When he asked the crowd there about Bagwell, I was really proud of that. It meant that I meant something to those people and that pop made me feel really good. We’re all human and love to get over with the crowd.

Ring Rust Radio: A lot of fans look back and wonder how you would’ve fit in WWE and how they would’ve used you had your stay not been short. Were you ever given any indication of what storylines or feuds you might have been involved with, or is there anything you would’ve liked to have done in that respect?

Buff Bagwell: Well of course everybody wants to see how Buff Bagwell could have evolved in WWE. It was more of at the time, “Hey you guys are the invasion, play off the enemy thing, put you and Booker out there, and just roll with it.” As time changed, they were very good at connecting to an audience and be able to change. I think I was pretty good at it. If you look at Marcus Alexander Bagwell who broke into the business, to Mark Bagwell the tag team guy, to the evolution of Buff, I think I could have very well fit in there to make those changes as generations of fans change. I think I would have been perfect for that. I was always open-minded, not afraid to make an ass out of myself, wasn’t scared to be a jester and I didn’t need to be the man, I just wanted to be part of the team. It would be very hard today to go out and wrestle wearing a top hat to the ring. I got a top hat over brother. You know how many people would book me and then ask, “Do you have the top hat with you?” It’s got its own case and flies with me on Delta.

Ring Rust Radio: I enjoyed your run with Lex Luger as Totally Buffed. It made perfect sense given your physiques and you two were part of the reason I started to go to work out when I was a teenager. Is there one moment or match that stands out to you the most from you career?

Buff Bagwell: I was still working singles matches, and something that really gave me an opportunity for a major push was working a lot of singles matches with Chris Benoit. All of a sudden when I was working with Chris, who was a very technical wrestler, they got to see Mark Bagwell do the up-and-overs, fish out of water, the reversals, the pin and the boom boom boom. I go to the back and they never knew I could do any of that. Chris Benoit gave me the opportunity when I worked with him to show that I could go with someone like him. Vader was in the back and came up with the idea of putting me with Scorpio thinking it was a good idea. So a match that I did with Chris to show I could do the aerial moves, led to me and Scorpio doing tag team moves that people like the Hardy’s ended up doing after us. That gave me my break into my tag team run. Before then I was getting beat up by the Dangerous Alliance and then getting saved by Sting. The match that sticks out the most in my career would be the tag match when I broke my neck with Scott Steiner. It brought a lot of attention on me, but I felt WCW really dropped the ball with it. They really could have took it and made it a reality driven type of wrestling angle. I was telling them to follow me to surgery and film these things. It wasn’t about getting myself over, but WCW taking advantage of me breaking my neck on live TV. Take advantage of doing that even they want me to flip on the people afterwards, but put some investment into it. To break my neck on live TV then make a comeback and they really didn’t even focus on that as well as they could have. I would of said the same thing had it been anybody that broke their neck on TV, it just happened to be me that it happened to.

Exclusive Ring Rust Radio interview with Lucha Underground star Son of Havoc

Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network has taken the pro wrestling world by storm and recently, Ring Rust Radio was able to interview a star who has been with the promotion since day one, Son of Havoc. A wrestler with over 14 years of experience and has appeared on WWE’s Tough Enough as well as American Ninja Warrior, Son of Havoc is making waves in Lucha Underground. You can listen to the full interview below on YouTube or continue on and read the entire interview below.

Donald Wood: You are been one of the most popular stars in Lucha Underground, which airs every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on El Rey Network. You also have plenty of experience in many different promotions. How is the Lucha Underground locker room different from other companies and what is the general feeling about where the company stands now and where it’s going in the future?

Son of Havoc: I think everyone is really on the same page, which is quite rare.  The locker room is like a cohesive unit.  There’s no cliques, there’s no certain guys hanging out in certain areas, there’s not the ex-WWE guys.  It’s all people on the same page realizing what they are a part of and realizing we have the chance to create something new and different in the wrestling space which hasn’t been done in God knows how many years.  Everyone is really excited and motivated to work together.  Hopefully that cohesive unite we have become will continue on because the effects from it can be seen on the show.  Everything really is running so well and we are being treated so well. 

Mike Chiari: Lucha Underground has really taken the wrestling world by storm and emerged as a great alternative for wrestling fans who are looking for something unique. Above all else, what do you think truly sets Lucha Underground apart from the other top American promotions, and why do you think so many fans have gravitated toward it?

Son of Havoc: I think Lucha Underground is an evolution of our business.  It’s the difference between us as kids and or our parents watching the Brady Bunch Vs Breaking Bad.  The way things are shot, the angles used, the actors, and there is just more expected from today’s audience.  They are smarter than they have been treated in the past.  It’s not just here is something in front of you, now there is little hints and things you have to decipher.  Now we see as entertainment has evolved, audiences can keep up with this kind of thing.  Lucha Underground is that type of evolution in the wrestling business.  If you’re flipping through the channels and come across it on a cinematic vignettes, the in-ring action, costuming, you will see it’s so fresh and unique.  I am so happy to be a part of it because I have clamored for change as so many of us have been forever.  Now to be a part of that change, it’s just really so exciting and different.  I think a lot of times wrestling falls into that category of old boys club.  The mentality of this is how it’s been done and how it’s going to be done.  Now with a new fresh set of eyes, everything is being looked at as fresh and new and that’s coming across in the content. 

Brandon Galvin: During your match with Johnny Mundo, fans really started to support you and you've been having far more success recently than when Lucha Underground first started. As a performer, how important is to you that the fans are now supporting and appreciating your in-ring abilities?

Son of Havoc: It’s very nice to say the least.  I’ve been in the business for 14 years and always felt that with the right matching I had a lot to offer.  I feel like in Lucha Underground is the first time I have been given the ball.  It wasn’t necessarily being given the ball as much as me smelling that the ball was near me, seeking it down, grabbing it, and then running.  I think I have a lot to offer and Lucha Underground is the perfect platform to show that.  Lucha Underground really listens to the talent and the people behind the stage, the fans, they are a lot more interactive than people realize.  As the fans got behind me, they saw that I had so much to offer.  At first I was being offered as this powerful guy but then surprised them with my unique move set and moves that really took people aback.  I absolutely love having the fans at my back.  That’s the real beauty of this industry is that it’s an art that’s evolving right before your eyes.  If I go to a basketball game and yell for LeBron to shoot a 3 and he does, I want him to do it again so I chant for it again, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.  Where in wrestling, stuff like that can happen.  In Lucha Underground, I have been told specifically we love you, be you.  As a wrestler that’s all we can ask for you know?  I am being given all the opportunity I have ever wanted, in front of a rabid and involved crowd.  The fans aren’t just fans there.  There are intricately linked and involved with us.  We feed off their energy and they feed off of ours.  The Temple has become a cool place and awesome environment.

Donald Wood: While you have spent much of your career as an unmasked wrestler, the Son of Havoc gimmick is not your first time wrestling with a mask. Whose decision was it to have you wear a mask for Lucha Underground and what differences does it present to you as a performer?

Son of Havoc: They have their vision for people and characters, and with my background they felt I would be able to adapt to that style.  Wrestling with a mask is very difficult.  For the audience not clued in on exactly what it’s like, sight, hearing, and breathing is all an issue.  It is insanely hot when you are shooting a show with the lights involved as well.  I haven’t even worn tights before this gimmick.  I always thought that its 2015, there’s no reason to wear tights anymore.  Now with Lucha, I’m wearing tights and leather boots for the first time ever.  I know Prince Puma is in the same situation right now with wearing the mask and boots.  It’s definitely a different world and hopefully this helps to see how it really can be.

Mike Chiari: Your partnership with Ivelisse has been one of the most entertaining parts of Lucha Underground. The two of you are obviously very familiar with each other having both been a part of Tough Enough, but how have you enjoyed your time working side-by-side with Ivelisse, and why do you believe the two of you have been able to mesh so well together as a tandem?

Son of Havoc: I think we work so well together because we have known each other for years even before Tough Enough.  We had this weird trajectory of two people living in this weird circumstance of Tough Enough to now seeing each other again here it’s a weird story of how our careers intertwined.  We are both just really excited for this opportunity and showcase we have been given.  We both have this environment now that we can really show case what we do.  We both have an appreciation for lucha libre, the business, and respect for those who came before us.  We are two people at similar parts of our lives and careers and we are just excited to be on TV.  With Lucha Underground we have so much free reign.  We are included in the creative process, everything and everyone is taken seriously.  No ideas are shot down or laughed at.  Being on TV helps and gives us the opportunity to tell stories that you can’t do on the indie circuit where we do a show once a month.  It’s easier when you don’t have to follow on a website and you can watch it every week and it’s in your face.

Brandon Galvin: Yourself and the other wrestlers at Lucha Underground have really been pushing the limit it seems when it comes to the high-risk maneuvers. How much competition is there backstage to one up the next person and how do you when to draw the line?

Son of Havoc: As of now, the environment backstage is really unique.  There is a monitor in the back that everybody can watch and we all root for each other.  Us as the workers watching it makes us feel like reborn fans.  When I’m in the back watching Johnny, I can’t wait to see what he does next.  He is so motivated to push the envelope and do things that in the past we would have held back on doing.  Now he does this crazy stuff where I’m left saying, “What?! That was crazy”!  Everyone is pushing the envelope to help the show grow and then helps us to grow as individuals.  It’s fun to sit there and watch and wonder what’s going on or what’s going to happen next.  Being able to watch as a fan and not just a chore is fun to me.  We are just riding this wave right now and where we are all supporting each other.  I’ll come to the back and everyone is hugging and cheering and I’m doing that for them as well.  It’s a really neat time for the company as a whole.

Donald Wood: You had a brief stint with the WWE and were one of the biggest names on the show Tough Enough. I’m still not over your elimination. What did performing with the biggest company in the country do for your psyche and your drive in the wrestling industry?

Son of Havoc: All that can really be said at the end of the day was Tough Enough was a TV show.  Take that for what it is.  I don’t hold any ill will towards Stone Cold Steve Austin and I actually stay in touch with him to this day.  I did American Ninja Warrior last year and talked to him right before I went on.  We talked about wrestling, Cesaro, the Shield, I mean if you want to talk about someone who loves wrestling, it’s Cesaro.  It was a good experience overall.  I never thought coming out of it I would ever meet Stone Cold or if I did it would have just been in the back.  I’m sure part of his contract wasn’t to pick one of the talents or two and keep in touch with them indefinitely.  Ultimately I’m thankful for the people I have met along the ride and now that it’s come around again full circle.

Mike Chiari: One of the most intriguing aspects of Lucha Underground is that the male and female talent work together rather than being placed in different divisions, and it works really well with your match against Sexy Star being a great example of it. At the same time, there’s been some bad publicity regarding inter-gender wrestling outside Lucha Underground based on what happened at Beyond Wrestling recently, but with all that in mind, how you feel about the manner in which Lucha Underground?

Son of Havoc: I think it will continue to grow.  I didn’t realize how groundbreaking it was or could be.  I never thought that it was weird or different.  When the show aired I saw the people’s reaction to it and how they were blown away.  I always loved ECW and how crazy they were and I never thought of Miss Congeniality or Lita if they were to wrestle a guy.  When I saw a lot of the feedback about it I was honored to be a part of it.  Sexy Star is a bad ass.  She is in incredible shape so when she was in there I said let’s see what she has.  She has hitting me and she was beating the crap out of me.  Take this from a guy who has been in the gym since he was ten years old and prides himself on his physical ability, she is legitimately tough.  I believe the UFC at one time was on record as saying they were not interested in women’s fighting and that it won’t happen.  Now you look at them and that whole division is taking off. Then they thought about revisiting it, do we need them to just be eye candy, do we delegate them to fight one another, or can we see what they are really capable of and mix it up with the men?  I know for a fact Ivelisse sure does.  Why should they hold them back from doing that?  Moving forward, I think we have given a platform to that and we will see more of that. 

Brandon Galvin: As we're seeing, you're gaining a lot more success at Lucha Underground, but what do you feel you need to do to break through to the next level and contend for the Lucha Underground Championship?

Son of Havoc: That is something I would like to do definitely.  I started off against Sexy Star, Mascarita Sagrada, and Pimpinela.  At the time I was seen more and treated more as a joke.  Then Aztec Warfare happened, the 10-way match happened, and I was able to show what I was capable of.  All of a sudden, the channel started to open their eyes, backstage opened their eyes, and the fans opened their eyes and saw what I could do.  I wear that as a badge of pride opening their eyes like that and being with them since the first episode.  No matter what happens or where the show goes, I’ll forever have been part of the first show which only had six people on it.  Fans appreciate that stuff when you are one of the original guys and stuck your necks out for a company, believed in the concept, that’s the kind of stuff that resonates with people. I think Prince Puma and I have shown little pieces of what we are capable of doing together and what we could possible do in other types of matches.  I don’t think anyone would be opposed to a Prince Puma versus Son of Havoc match.  It would be spectacular and one of a kind type of match.  I would love an opportunity like that.  Since day one I have shown I can go from 0 to 60 in a short amount of time and I want to keep up that momentum.  I love to keep reinventing the business I love and want to be on top of the company same day.  They are bringing in world class talents like Alberto El Patron and I want to test myself against them.  I’m only in this to be the best I can be and you only get better working guys better than you.  This could open me up to a whole new style and set of guys.

  

Donald Wood: How did the name Son of Havoc come about?

Son of Havoc: That was given to me and I think it fits.  I like to bring the chaos and destruction to the ring.  I’m something different, I’m the aerial executioner, the crazy look, black attire, Ivelisse, I think were bad ass and it all works together.

The Stone Cold Podcast – The new kayfabe

 

One of the best features on the WWE Network right now are the live Stone Cold Steve Austin podcasts. The first one Austin did with Vince McMahon generated a lot of buzz because of McMahon’s comments about the business as a whole as well as the way new stars are created (the “brass ring” comments have taken on a life of their own). But the most recent interview Austin did with Triple H was equally compelling and interesting.

One of the first questions Austin asked Triple H was about kayfabe and if Triple H thought that it was dead. It was a very interesting way to start the interview and it got me thinking about how kayfabe is viewed or use in modern professional wrestling.

With the social media boom and the rise of the information age, people are savvier to the sport of professional wrestling than ever before. People no longer view pro wrestling as black and white, good guy versus bad guy because every wrestler has such a presence in social media that whether good or bad, they’re all more fully realized people now than they would have been in eras past.

One could argue that the old style of kayfabe is dead – that idea that everything presented was real. We no longer think that, outside of the confines of the ring, the good guys and bad guys never mix. Thanks to social media and the ease that everyone has access to information, wrestling fans today are more aware that wrestling is just a show.

But one could also argue that the interviews Austin has been doing with WWE figures is creating a new kind of kayfabe. Call it “kayfabe 2.0” or “reality era kayfabe” but whatever you want to call it, these interviews are helping blur the lines between reality and pro wrestling reality.

For example, these interviews have been presented as legitimate interviews. That this is off-work hours, not a part of the weekly Raw or Smackdown programming and are just two guys having a chat. But it’s presented within the realm of pro wrestling as a whole and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt.

“Smart” fans often feel like they know everything about what’s happening backstage. They feel like they know the reason behind storylines and the motivations the higher-ups have to put those stories in motion. But what these interviews are doing is allowing WWE to say, “Let’s put all this info out there on our own” – info that once was only presented by “insider” wrestling journalists. This way, WWE can play off the ideas and instances presented like they’re general knowledge while still being in control what fans see and hear.

The Stone Cold Podcast is helping to bridge the gap between “old school kayfabe” and “reality era” kayfabe. They’re talking about storylines, creating characters, guys coming from indy and foreign companies – topics that would never have been referenced on WWE programming until now. And it’s allowing WWE to basically perform sleight of hand – pulling back the curtain slightly to allow fans to think they know what is happening so that when they do put together a good, surprising storyline, it has that much more impact.

Now, this isn’t to say that I think these interviews are completely staged – that they are being put on for the implicit act of blurring the lines between reality and kayfabe. They talked about a lot of interesting topics (like Reign’s Rumble win, CM Punk and NXT) and it’s really cool to hear how the business works from people at the top. But at the same time, you can’t discount that these interviews are happening on the WWE Network and should be considered “canon” for lack of a better term – that these interviews could or are serving to further WWE storylines.

I also found it very interesting how Austin ended the interview. Triple H said he’d love to do another interview sometime and talk about how Austin used to “potato him,” i.e. actually hitting Triple H with punches that could have been pulled more. Austin responded by saying “Hey, I had to protect the business,” which I found to be a really interesting phrase for him to use in the context of the interview.

Austin wouldn’t pull his punches so as to make the in-ring action seem more real – “protecting the business” in other words. In the days when Austin first got into wrestling, I bet he would never have dreamed of talking about the inner workings of the professional wrestling business in an interview that could be seen or heard by millions. But today, that act is in essence accomplishing the same goal as his stiff punches were – working to make the business seem more legitimate and blurring the lines between reality and kayfabe.