WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was the featured guest on this week's "Talk is Jericho" with Chris Jericho on PodCastOne.com. The two talked about the creation of "Austin 3:16", working with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, the death of tag team wrestling, if Austin will ever wrestle another match, and more.

Chris Jericho: "I was working with the Hall of Famers. It was a handicap match – me versus Piper, Snuka and Steamboat. I actually lobbied to get Steamboat in the match; Vince wanted Greg Valentine. Steamboat hadn't worked in 7, 8 years or so. But Steamboat in his 50s, after not working in 7 or 8 years, was still 80-percent better than 80-percent better. That's just how naturally good he is … We worked four singles matches: one of them in Tokyo, one in Honolulu, one in Greensboro, South Carolina and all those matches got successively better. The last one we had was actually one of my favorite matches; a 'five star' match if you can call it that."

Jericho and Austin talked at length about the importance of tag team wrestler, and how it has died in the past few years, who is responsible, and why it's so important.

Chris Jericho: "They had Eddie Guerrero and I tag for awhile in WCW, but then they cut it off for no apparent reason, when I thought we could have been one of the biggest things in the company.

Steve Austin: "It doesn't make sense. There wasn't any lack of depth in the singles division, and we got over. A lot of people call the Hollywood Blondes one of the greatest tag teams of all time – I don't consider us that, but there are some people that consider us on that list. Had we stayed together two or three more years, we could definitely be on that list, but we didn't have enough matches underneath us. Tag team wrestling no longer exists. There are certain guys that are just designed to be tag team wrestlers, and that's when they're at their bests. Take for instance, the Midnight Express, the Rock'n'Roll Express, the Road Warriors and Killer Bees … It's O.K. for a team to last 10 or 15 years; that's awesome, because that's when you really get good tag team wrestling."

Chris Jericho: "I think Vince's attitude was that he could just take two guys and put them together, and it's the same thing. But it's not. There's certain psychology. A lot of times, even though one stands out more than the other – Bret Hart, out of the Hart Foundation, or Shawn from the Rockers - but Marty and Jim were never bigger than when he was a part of that tag team."

On the creation of "Austin 3:16" and who would have gotten the big push if it hadn't been "Stunning" Steve Austin:

Steve Austin: "We were in Madison Square Garden, and Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were fixin' to go down South to WCW. That's when the infamous Curtain Call happened, when all those guys from the Kliq went down there and hugged. Shawn Michaels and Triple H had been a part of that hug. In MSG that's hallowed ground; you don't break kayfabe back in the day in Madison Square Garden. Shawn Michaels was very temperamental back in the day. You could rub Shawn the wrong way and he'd have a real bad attitude. Vince couldn't put the screws to him, because he was his #1 guy and world champion. Triple H was going to win the King of the Ring in 1996, but because of that 'curtain call', Vince had to put the heels on somebody, and he put it on Triple H.' … I was Plan B. So we go to Milwaukee, and my first match is with Marc Mero, and he does a little movement and kicks me in the mouth. They take me to the hospital during the middle of the show, I get 14 stitches and come back … Before that [Jake Roberts] match happened, I come rolling back in the ambulance. If Michael Hayes hadn't come up to me and told me, 'hey man, while you were gone Jake Roberts cut a religious promo on ya.' Back in the day, any time somebody kicked a field goal or extra point, there would always be a John 3:16 sign in the football stadium. So I said, 'that's it. Austin 3:16.'"
One of the most infamous moments in Austin's career was when he "took his ball and went home", refusing to put over Brock Lesnar on his way up the company ladder.

Steve Austin: "I handled the situation like a total ass. Jim Ross calls me while I'm laying in a hotel, and he told me creative wanted Brock [Lesnar] to beat me. I'm drawing stupid money right now. WWF has spent a lot of money getting me in this position. I've busted my ass getting me in this position. Guys that draw stupid money don't just happen overnight. So all the sudden you want me to do a job? I love Brock Lesnar; he's a monster. As soon as he walked through the door, we all saw massive potential in the guy. But for me to do a job for him, without any kind of build up – it's a PPV match with two or three weeks of people talking about it. And I said, if that's going to be the case, I won't be there … I was drinking a lot of whiskey and beer. We were running hard back then, and I just said 'piss on these guys' and I got on a plane and headed back to San Antonio. I should have showed up like a man, come up with a different solution; just show up, talk to Vince face-to-face, solve the problem in some way, and get through it like a grown man. I took my ball and went home. I handled it about as badly as I could, and that's my biggest regret in my career as a pro wrestler."

And of course, Y2J dropped the question everyone wants answered. Will Steve Austin ever wrestle another match?

Chris Jericho: "Would you ever go back for one more match?"

Steve Austin: "That's the thing Chris. Why? To totally prepare for that – how long have you been out for now?

Chris Jericho: "I come and go, but I've been out for about five months, and every day people ask me when I'm going back."

Steve Austin: "To totally get ready for a high caliber match like WrestleMania 30 I would need a three month training window. For timing, getting back in the ring, taking bumps; to do it right. So you bump for three months. You get into storylines. You go to Monday Night Raw, you do the creative, you have the big blast-off match at WrestleMania, and then… there is is. There's the big match at WrestleMania. Then what? Then three months later you get your paycheck when all the PPV counts come back, and then you cash your check. Then what? Where do you go?

Chris Jericho: "Then the fans ask you, 'when are you coming back?'"

Steve Austin: "You can make some money. But you get all revved up, you have your 30 minute window, then what? Then you've got to recover, because you've got yourself back in the mode. Anything is possible. Being involved in some capacity would be fun. But being very candid, I like the way I operated back then. I like the creative liberties and freedoms I had back then. I don't know that walking back in there right now I would have those same freedoms, and I don't know that I could operate in that system … I love my fans first and foremost. I know they'd like to see me in a match. But you've just got to understand the shoes I'm in, and where I'm at now. I love wrestling fans, and I love the WWE."

At least he acknowledges he'd love to return if he could. There are people like Lesnar or Batista who have nothing better to do and would benefit greatly from pro-wrestling but they choose not to...

Been said time and time again that Lesnar is only in it for the money and doesnt like to travel, you have a hard time getting that apparently. If Lesnar REALLY loved being in pro wrestling, hed be there every single week and wouldnt command such high prices when negotiating his contract. Lesnar doesnt care about pro wrestling. Get over it already.

That was precisely my point. Wow.


The point

Your head.

No, your point was since they arent doing anything, they should come back to pro wrestling because they can benefit greatly from it, thats what you said.

My point was that while someone who loves the business like Stone Cold is physically unable to wrestle, someone that treats the business like shit like Lesnar is in perfectly good shape, he shouldn't be getting paid so much money for being a piece of shit.