Steve Austin Thinks A Match Against CM Punk Would Have “Sold a lot of Tickets”, Regrets at Injuries Ending Career Prematurely

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Steve Austin recently appeared on Jim Ross’ podcast (transcript creditwrestlinginc.com), here are the highlights…

On How Long He Wanted to Wrestle Prior to His Injury: “I never thought about moving on and I look back and think if 2003 was my last match, I guess I retired [at] about 38 [years old]. Man, you talk about leaving a lot on the table or leaving a lot in the ring, I, probably, Jim, would have liked to at least get to 42 and maybe 45. But I never really had an exit strategy, but that being said, had I remained completely healthy, had I maybe lived a little bit slower, and that wasn’t really an issue, but just the fact [that] my neck was the bottom line, that happened, so I got out when I did. But it would have been nice to last until about 42 and then went from there.”

On Current Work Style Impacting Injuries: “Man, I think it’s a direct correlation with how the talent works in the ring today.” Austin continued, “the WWE guys, they’re doing more high risk stuff, they’re working at a faster pace, and it just lends itself to injury. And that’s not me saying, ‘hey, you’re working wrong’. I’m just saying I believe the product is sped up so much that the guys and gals are just working at a very frenetic pace and without any offseason, it takes a toll on the body.”

On The ‘What If’ of Working With CM Punk: “I think me and CM Punk would have sold a lot of tickets together. And again, he gets it, I get it. It would be one entertaining program.” Austin added, “he’s smart. His psychology is great. He’s easy in the ring, meaning his physicality, everything looks good [and] nothing hurts. Again, I would think me and him would be right on the same page psychologically and we’d be able to weave a hell of a tale. And also, depending on how you played this, whether he’s heel and I’m baby [or] he’s baby and I’m heel or it’s just two guys out there, you see both guys whether it’s him on the dark side, he [has] got a tremendous mean streak, as does ‘Stone Cold’. On the fire side, he had tremendous fire, as did ‘Stone Cold’, so both guys are bringing everything to the table that you need. And also great storytellers and talkers, so all of the elements would be there.”

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs