John Cena discussed Stone Cold Steve Austin returning to WWE for the first time during the PG era in a new Forbes interview, saying Austin was ‘befuddled’ without being able to use his TV 14 tricks.
Austin guest hosted Raw on March 15, 2010, and this could be the episode Cena was referring to. Austin had made a short appearance at WrestleMania 25 during his Hall of Fame induction weekend in 2009, but that was on PPV.
“I remember one of the first times Steve Austin came back during the height of the PG era, and he was just befuddled. Because Steve Austin goes out there and runs it. And if he gets stuck, he can curse, he can throw up some middle fingers, he can ask for a beer…but we took away three of the biggest clubs that he can hit with and told him to go out there and be himself. And he came back shaking his head and said ‘I don’t know how you do this!’ But if he had enough time, he’s a great performer, he could get used to it.”
Stone Cold criticized his WrestleMania match with The Rock a few days ago. Austin recently discussed hosting his interview series ‘Straight Up Steve Austin’ on WWE Network in a Fox News interview.
“I’m fascinated by success stories or stories of hardship and how people overcame things to become successful or get to the top,” he explained. “I’m just curious by nature [about their backgrounds]. I had a career of my own and I had my own obstacles. And now to be able to share common ground and do activities with my guests and learn more about them is really interesting for me.”
Austin said that interviewing and hosting is “completely new to me” because when he started his wrestling career “I had only one plan.”
“I didn’t have a Plan B, I must succeed [at wrestling]. And through a lot of struggle, I ended up succeeding. Then I retired because of an injury. I had no exit strategy either,” he said.
