Credit: Sean Ross Sapp
– Vince McMahon says subscriptions are good for the Network, and the satisfaction rate is 96 percent. He hopes to have the Network running in England by January, but nothing is set in stone.
– Austin and McMahon argue over what is sports entertainment and what is professional wrestling. Vince says they tell stories, what his dad promoted were pro wrestling. He says some of the match don’t hit. He said he liked the show tonight.
– McMahon seems to be giving really corporate, politically correct answers. Austin says that there aren’t any other options out there for wrestlers, and mentions TNA, but says they aren’t in the same league. Austin says that there’s no room to piss anyone off, and McMahon says “well then just don’t piss anyone off.”
– McMahon points to Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt as guys who are looking to grab the brass ring. He says today’s locker room isn’t as ambitious as in Austin’s heyday because everyone is afraid to fail. Austin challenges the roster to step up.
– Austin says McMahon doesn’t have a magic wand to get someone over. Austin asks what Cesaro is lacking and McMahon says he hasn’t connected yet and is lacking in charisma, and lacking “it.” Austin disagrees and says he organically started to like him and thought that the Heyman pairing slowed him down after the Real Americans split. Austin asks what he can do to fix that as a promoter, and McMahon says he doesn’t have the answer to everything but something is missing. He can’t pinpoint it, but something is missing.
– McMahon says no one man has the answer to booking organizations and he can’t do it all. He says that it’s a mammoth organization. He then changes the subject to pushing Nick Bockwinkel & Dusty Rhodes into a pool.
– Austin asks where Shane McMahon is and Vince says he’s working in Japan, and has his finger in a lot of pots and is living a family life. He says a family business is difficult, and being a dad in a family business and having your wife work with you can be rough.
Vince says he didn’t want Shane & Stephanie to get into the business necessarily, but wanted them to do what they wanted for themselves. He talks about his early days in the business and working for his father.
– Austin asks if Vince wants to talk to CM Punk. Vince apologizes to CM Punk for firing him on his wedding day, and said legal and talent relations aren’t always on the same page, and it was a coincidence. He doesn’t want to air dirty laundry on TV, but hopes that one day they can work together again.
– During the broadcast, CM Punk played off the situation by tweeting the following: “This Habs/Avs game is bonkers. St. Patrick!!!!”
– Austin talks about how he walked out in 2002, and McMahon said he was so hard headed that he was impossible to deal with. They talk about the storyline that forced Austin out, and Austin said leaving was the worst professional decision he ever made. He said that while he was gone Vince left three voicemails trying to reach out, but wouldn’t talk to him. Finally after Jim Ross sent him a card, he spoke to JR and finally arranged a meeting with Vince.
Austin asks if there’s anyone around to bridge the gap between WWE and CM Punk. McMahon says he wishes there was, apparently forgetting Punk’s wife works for him.
– Austin says when he came back in 2003, Vince wanted to fine him $650,000 but was talked down to $250,000. Austin jokingly asks if he could have got it down to $125,000. McMahon said that Austin deserved it for what happened.
– McMahon is asked when the decision was made to end the Undertaker’s streak. Vince says nobody wants to give back to the business more than the Undertaker. McMahon says it was about timing, and there was nobody on the roster that would have fit in that role, and Undertaker agreed. Austin called out McMahon saying there’s no way that was Undertaker’s call. Vince says that’s true, and he ultimately made the decision and thinks he made the right call at the right time.
Austin asks why Brock isn’t on TV, and Vince says he’s a special attraction. He compares Brock being on TV to Jake Roberts bringing a big python in the ring. If you see it each week, you become numb to it. He feels the story draws fans in, not the title.
– Austin asks about Randy Savage in the Hall of Fame. McMahon says yes without hesitation, but doesn’t have a timetable.
– McMahon is asked what took so long to get Sting there. He said times are different and you have to roll with the punches.
– McMahon says Ted Turner’s business motive was to hurt the other guy, and his business motive was to make a good show. He said it was just a matter of time before they toppled WCW because they had the better show. He said both shows were going so hard, it came down to who would burn out the quickest.
– McMahon says the AWA put themselves out of business. He tried to buy the company from Verne Gagne, but was shot down. Vince said he kept re-investing in his product, and others wanted to hold on to their money instead. He says Bill Watts is the only person who actually invested his money back into his territory.
McMahon says he only competed with Bill Watts once and learned his lesson until Watts sold to Crockett. He said Crockett wasn’t the brightest branch in the tree and decided to move into his territory after that.
– Austin asks Vince McMahon if there’s any heat between Vince and Jim Ross. Vince says there’s no heat on his half, but the incident in Los Angeles was really unprofessional. McMahon doesn’t rule out working with Jim Ross in the future. Austin puts over Ross’ creativity, and thinks its a mistake to not have him around.
McMahon said Ross wanted to leave Connecticut for Oklahoma, and worked hard and paid his dues like no other. Ross wanted to help some, but didn’t want to commit 24/7 and McMahon said that you couldn’t work half-assed in this job.
– McMahon says he understood the psychology of the Stone Cold/Mr. McMahon feud because he’s no better than anyone else, but nobody else is better than him. He said he could relate to both sides of the feud because he felt like he truly was Stone Cold’s character.
– Austin says they’re counting him down to end the show, and Vince said “I happen to own the Network, so we’re going for 15 more minutes.”
– McMahon says his father didn’t want him to be a wrestler, because he couldn’t be a businessman and a wrestler. Vince said wrestling was one of the greatest thrills in his life.
– Austin talks about how he was pitched the Ringmaster gimmick, and how McMahon didn’t see a superstar in him, so he had to take initiative.
– Austin asks McMahon about the table spot at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. McMahon says he was bruised and had a lot of internal bleeding to create the large bruise.
– Austin talks about the double turn at WrestleMania 13, and said that when they were going over the match, he, Bret and Vince were the only three in the room going over it. Austin says he heard that it would be a Submissions match on TV, and thought it would stink because he wasn’t a submission wrestler. Austin had to stroke at the time so Bret Hart aided him in getting color. Vince admits he was likely pissed at the time while watching because they broke a rule, but it got over with the fans.
– Austin asks if Vince McMahon is truly giving fans what they want, and if WWE is listening. McMahon says he thinks the future is good, despite ratings not being what they were in the 90’s.
– Austin asks how fans can send in their voice. McMahon says he listens to the crowd, to the audience, social media.
– Austin asks McMahon when he’s going to retire. McMahon says he’s enjoying it now more than ever, he’s healthy, he’s working as many hours as ever before. He says physically he isn’t losing a step, and doesn’t think he is mentally. He said some people think he’s out of touch, but those people are just critics.
– The two close the interview.
