Goldberg PART ONE - SAS CLASSIC

Summary

The Steve Austin Show: Goldberg PART ONE - SAS CLASSIC (Jan 20, 2026)

Episode Overview

Theme/Purpose:
Steve Austin sits down at Bill Goldberg’s San Diego compound for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about wrestling, training, personal values, career transitions, and life beyond the ring. Both legends share insights into physical and mental tolls of wrestling, lessons learned from fame, and their outlook on life, with plenty of humor, wisdom, and the authentic, blue-collar tone that defines Austin’s show. This is part one of their discussion, with part two focusing on Goldberg’s famed car collection.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Life at the Goldberg Compound & Personal Privacy

• Goldberg describes his self-sufficient home: Private gym on top of his garage, filled with memorabilia and classic cars (15:16).
  • “Just call it the Goldberg Garage, man, with a little bit of a weight room on top of it.” – Goldberg [15:16]
• Enjoys solitude, values privacy, and prefers to relax at home with family.
• Avoids L.A. scene: “I’ve owned this house for 20 years. I go buy it when I go to the airport, but other than that, I’d rather just chill. Man, I got my cars here, man. I got my 10-year-old boy, and I got the wife that I wanted my entire life.” – Goldberg [26:25]

2. Training, Aging, and Staying Fit

• Goldberg’s daily routine: Trains most nights, focuses on circuit training and Muay Thai (16:22, 18:14).
  • “When I’m in town and I have time, I’m kickboxing four days a week.” – Goldberg [18:14]
• He discusses how injuries and age changed his approach: battles with torn muscles, broken toes, and connective tissue damage.
• Discovery of cardio: “I never even knew it in football. And let’s be honest, what kind of cardio did I have to do to go out and, you know, squash guys?” [19:32]
• Comparison to Austin’s evolving training as both approach their 50s.

3. Origins, Football Background, and Entering Wrestling

• Goldberg’s first love was football; wrestling provided a new outlet after injuries ended his NFL dream (22:30).
  • “I went into depression for like two years ... part of the depression is not being able to find an outlet.” – Goldberg [22:30]
• Wrestling filled the gap for physical expression and adrenaline; not initially a lifelong goal.

4. The Demands of Fame and the Importance of Being “On”

• The stress of public life, responsibility to fans, and need to be a role model for kids (24:59).
• “Every time I walk out the door to be on, to be a hero for a kid. Because that one day that I’m a dick, the one day that I don’t feel like doing something is the day that that kid needs me.” – Goldberg [25:00]

5. WCW, WWE, and the Business Side of Wrestling

• The transition from football to wrestling, negotiating contracts, and knowing one's worth (29:38).
• Goldberg’s agent background from the NFL informed smarter contract decisions (40:46, 41:00).
  • “I picked up the phone before I signed with WCW. I called Jim Ross. Jim Ross gets me an appointment with Vince … but the only reason why I didn’t have my lawyer is because he’s football … but the secretary said, ‘Oh, Vince doesn’t like lawyers’. And I went, ding. I’m never doing anything in this entire business without that right guy.” – Goldberg [41:00]
• Discussion about contract structures, leveraging media commercials for better deals, and protecting locker room peers.
• Austin explains his own early pay scale: “I was making fifteen and twenty dollars a night.” [42:10]
• Goldberg’s fast rise caused locker room controversy and some resentment.

6. Locker Room Dynamics, Resentment, and Learning Experiences

• Goldberg’s meteoric rise led to tensions, notably the “Steven Regal match” as an example of internal locker room resentment (45:22).
  • “There’s always the resentment. There’s always the Steven Regal match … the office didn’t tell him to go out there and try to take advantage of me and beat up a guy who had no idea what the fuck was going on.” – Goldberg [45:24]
• Learning not to blindly trust colleagues in the ring (46:31).
  • “I told my son … you have to take negatives and turn them into positives … I didn’t trust every single past that point … I questioned it from that point, so in a way, it was good for me, in a way, it was the downfall of my attitude towards the business.” – Goldberg [46:35]

7. Highs and Lows: The Come-Down After the Show

• Both discuss the adrenaline after matches and struggle to “come down”.
  • For Austin: “All I did was turn the volume up because I was almost Stone Cold all the time back then. I just turned the volume up a couple levels.” [50:14]
  • For Goldberg: “It was just like after a football game … I just tried to get as quiet as possible.” [51:00]
• Mentions his travel crews: Hennig, Steiners, Nash, and Rick Rude (51:14).

8. Memories of Wrestling and MMA Legends

• Stories about Don Frye, Rick Rude, and Kimbo Slice – mixing MMA and wrestling circles (52:11, 53:30).
• Sadness and reflections on Kimbo’s death and impact on athletic commissions (53:50).

9. Concussions, the Toll of Sports, and Pain Management

• Both discuss dealing with concussions and chronic pain (56:00, 57:44).
  • “My short-term memory is brutal … but if you don’t think that there’s going to be some type of trauma at a sport like that, then, you know, you’re not the smartest motherfucker in the world.” – Goldberg [56:19]
• Goldberg’s ongoing pain tolerance and approach: “I tape them together and I live through the pain because at the end of the day, the good thing that I get out of it is much better than the bad things.” [57:44]
• Humorous comparison to “North Dallas Forty” as a metaphor for waking up battered each morning (58:48).

10. Disenchantment and the End of Goldberg’s Wrestling Career

• Goldberg reflects on losing the passion for pro wrestling, feeling opposition at WWE, and ultimately deciding to step away (64:46).
  • “It wasn’t fun for me anymore … I always felt like there was something fighting against me … the only thing that I enjoyed was every once in a while going out there and pressing some dude and dropping him, spearing a guy and walking out of the ring, and grabbing a kid and handing him the belt.” – Goldberg [65:04]
  • Tells story about “Rosie, Super Hero In Training” shirt breaking the spell on being a superhero for kids [66:04]
  • “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.” [66:34]
• Ends WWE contract and “kicking his books on the way out” [66:38].

---

Notable Quotes

• “I’m a separatist. I don’t like human beings too much. And so when I don’t have to work, I kind of hang out on my little island here.” – Goldberg [15:16]
• “You provide other guys … cool opportunities that they can’t get, but for you, it’s easy.” – Goldberg on helping CT Fletcher [17:12]
• “I could possibly have it just as easily been the other guy, but I was that guy. … I looked at it in the middle, more towards the business opportunity because I had a dream taken away from me.” – Goldberg on motivation for wrestling [31:00]
• “You gotta have somebody representing you, man.” – Goldberg on never negotiating without a lawyer again [42:10]
• “If you don’t have money at the end of the day, you did it wrong—whether you loved it or you didn’t.” – Austin [30:34]
• “There are lockers and doors all around the country where there wasn’t a match that I had that I didn’t headbutt something full force, just to get in the mood to go out there and go from 0 to 100 miles an hour for the people that enjoyed the violence of what I did.” – Goldberg [49:13]
• “You have to take negatives and turn them into positives.” – Goldberg [46:35]
• “I wouldn’t change anything for the world.” – Goldberg, on pain and concussions [56:56]
• “I’m moving to Canada … we’re in a really sorry-ass state, man. I just, I don’t know … it’s the word—the lesser of two evils.” – Goldberg on election/politics [60:57]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 15:16 Goldberg describes his “garage gym” and why he values privacy.
• 18:14 Goldberg details training regimen, kickboxing, and age-related adaptations.
• 22:30 Goldberg discusses the transition from NFL to wrestling and depression.
• 24:59 On the burdens of fame and always being "on" for kids.
• 29:38 "Why am I going to go to work for 50% of the money?" — Discussion on WCW contracts.
• 31:00 The duality of being a businessman and accidental wrestling star.
• 40:46, 41:00 Goldberg on having agents, lawyers, and advice for new wrestlers.
• 45:22 Locker room resentment and the Steven Regal match incident.
• 49:13 Goldberg recalling his intense pre-match rituals.
• 53:50 Memories of Kimbo Slice and discussion on MMA/commissions.
• 56:00 Talking head injuries and the “North Dallas Forty” analogy.
• 64:46 Goldberg on why he left wrestling.

---

Memorable Moments

• Austin and Goldberg’s mutual appreciation of privacy, family, and the peaceful life away from the camera.
• Goldberg joyfully recounts helping CT Fletcher get a spot in a movie just for fun (17:12).
• The story of how Goldberg leveraged a Little Caesars commercial for contract negotiations with WCW (32:41, 39:01).
• Goldberg’s explanation of the infamous Steven Regal match—“I’d love to scrap with him right now” (45:52).
• Austin and Goldberg poking fun at their aches and pains, likening themselves to Nick Nolte from North Dallas Forty (58:48).
• Honest, nonpartisan view of 2026’s political landscape and the “lesser of two evils” dilemma (60:57).

---

Final Notes

Tone & Style:
Authentic, blue-collar, no-nonsense, but also introspective and at times self-deprecating. Both legends are unfiltered, honest, and open about their struggles and successes, delivering the conversation in the trademark style fans expect.

Cliffhanger:
Stay tuned for Part Two—Goldberg’s epic car collection and more stories from two industry icons.

---

For listeners who’ve missed the episode:
This conversation is a revealing look not only at the world of pro wrestling but at two men figuring out life’s transitions, fatherhood, health, and what truly matters after the hype dies down. Austin and Goldberg provide laughs, lessons, and a refreshingly real glimpse behind the curtain.

Transcript

[A]

The following program is a podcast ONE.com production he started in a small town in Texas, worked his ass off to become one of the most famous wrestlers of all time.

[B]

We're gonna take care of business tonight. And that's the bottom line.

[A]

And now he's dominating the world of On Demand audio. And he's doing it for the working man.

[B]

This is a damn good outlet for me to spew the off my brain.

[A]

This is the Steve Austin Show. Unleash.

[B]

All right everybody. Welcome to Steve Austin Show. I'm coming to you from the mean streets of Los Angeles, California. Today I am sitting here at my office in 316 Gimmick street and I am looking at a picture of a bicycle on my iPhone. I posted this picture on my Twitter account. SteveAustin BSR. A moment of silence for this young bicycle. That's enough silence. By God, this bicycle had a family, damn it. What happened was some poor human being had been riding this bicycle as their means of transportation. I don't know if they had a car, I don't know if they had a motorcycle as well, or just this bike to depend on to make their way and try to make a living here in Los Angeles, California. And so what they did was park it outside of a place that I frequent very often. They put a nice lock on a signpost, allegedly. Supposedly you would think the bicycle would be safe from harm, but no, no. Some sorry ass low life motherfucking thief came over to this bicycle which was locked up. And you can see in the picture, they stole both wheels, they stole the handlebars, they stole the seat, they stole the bicycle chain. I'm surprised they left the goddamn pedals on this Humbus, to be quite honest with you. If there's one thing in life that I cannot stand, it's a motherfucking thief. Now I don't know who own this bicycle, but they probably using this thing to run their errands, go back and forth to work, try to pay their bills and then some low life thief who wants to do nothing but shum off of a motherfucker that works hard and they steal all this shit off their bike. I've walked by this location several days in a row. Now the bicycle is still changing the signpost. I don't know if the owner came back and was so goddamn broken hearted they just said fuck it, they just left the bicycle there. Or will you know the traffic tickets, person that drives around in that little Prius giving tickets to all the cars that are parked in the wrong places, are they Gonna put a parking ticket on this bicycle for being here so damn long. Or what's left of this bicycle. Folks, when I tell you when I'm coming to folks, every time I tell you I'm coming to you from the main streets of Los Angeles, California. I'm talking about the main streets of Los Angeles, California. You know, back in the day when you grew up in Edna, Texas, hell, even when we was living in Victoria, Texas, you could go to a damn store, you go to a playground, you could just pull your bike up, put it in a bike rack and it would be there when you got back. Just because that's the way it was back then. Now, shit, I'm 51 years old. Maybe I'm completely out of touch. And maybe that's just the fact that this is Los Angeles, California, and then the whole population and in the whole area of Los Angeles, I guess there's about 14 million people in and around this city. Maybe if you went back down to Edna and you just parked a bicycle on side the damn road or at a playground, it might get stolen. But if it did get stolen, it might take a week or two to get stolen, if it got stolen at all. But here in Los Angeles, when my wife used to ride her bike around, she always locked that thing up. And I remember when I first came down here to Los Angeles and I got a bike out in my storage unit over there, I built me a mountain bike and it's all badass and tricked out and man, we would go riding every now and then. I didn't ride no mountains on it, we just rode around the neighborhood. And every time, man, my wife, the chain she had wrapped around the frame of her bike for when we parked the son bitches was heavier than both bikes combined. Because my wife was special education teacher for 20 years, she had two or three of her bicycles stolen. So she knew that when you lock a bike up, you put the biggest, baddest lock or chain on that some bitch that you can have. One time. You know how it is when you see your bike or something that you own and you know is yours. Or one time she saw this person, her bike has just got jacked and she saw her bike going right down the street and it had all the markings, it was just, it was her bike, she goes up to the purchase, she says, where did you get that bike? And the person said, oh, I bought it so and so, because no, no, no, that's my bike. And I said, oh no. A big argument ensued. Anyway, my wife didn't get her bike back. But she learned a cold, hard lesson after getting two bikes jacked. You got to chain your shit up in Los Angeles. So anyway, hell, I started podcast. I was just gonna sit there and shoot the breeze sending that little picture out on Twitter. Got off on a bicycle ramp. But if, like I said, one thing I can't stand is a low ass, low end, sorry ass thief. I've had a couple of things stolen from me. Last thing happened to me, somebody keyed one of my cars out there in front of my damn house. Now, why would you walk by someone's vehicle and scratch up their goddamn vehicle with a key? It just don't make sense to me. Why would you do that? What kind of satisfaction can you get from just defacing and scratching the fuck out of someone else's ride? I don't get it. Because I've never been possessed to grab key and start scratching up someone's vehicle. Even if I didn't like them, I wouldn't do that to their vehicle. Go punch them in the face. But you ain't got to go scratch a goddamn vehicle. God damn, shit's going crazy. Hey, man, before I get into today's podcast and a bunch of other bullshit, I had a question. A couple of questions come in on the email here, and it said, hey, Steve, when you say on a podcast, there ain't no way, no way, he says, is that a Beaufort justice reference? Yep, that's straight from Jackie Gleason. That's where I got that from. Second question from Tim in West Virginia says, why don't you and Ted Valor361 use kerosene to light fires instead of gas? It's a bit safer. Well, Tim, to your point, kerosene is safer. Diesel, probably along the same lines as kerosene, I guess. But out there where we're at, we just, like in West Virginia. I'm sure y' all use a lot of kerosene for maybe fires and stuff, but we use diesel because that's what our tractors take and gasoline because that's what my Broncos and my Kawasaki mules take. So we really don't deal. I don't know a whole lot of people in Texas that use kerosene. I. I could be wrong. There's some, maybe some rural areas that I don't know about. But everybody out there in South Texas that I know, we just use diesel fuel and we use gas, and that's how we do it. That's how we roll. But I'll tell you what, you got to be Careful of that shit if you're trying to light a fire. I had one other person write into the [e-mail] and they said, hey, Steve, this is not a question. I wanted to thank you for, of all things, helping me to quit swearing. What? You're probably scratching your ball noggin, wondering, what in a flying flip is this some buck talking about me Stone cold Steve Austin have helped your ass quit swearing? Well, yes, indeed you have, sir, because I downloaded two cans of audio whoop ass every week, and I make that noise out loud every time you say it too. I've gotten familiar with the creative and very funny expressions you came up with to avoid swearing. It's like swearing, but without the swearing part. I tell you, I've been wanting to quit swearing as a personal choice for years, but it's a difficult thing to do. Thanks to all the great replacements for swear words. I hear you say all the time, like some buck fly and flip up in this mug and all that other great stuff. I now enable to not swear. Thanks again for helping a big fan in the unlikeliest of ways possible. Catch your ass down the road, Steve. And he writes, ass is not a swear word. They say it on tv, damn it.

[A]

Ha ha.

[B]

Christian, I'm glad. Of all the things you can listen to, the family friendly version or the explicit content version of the Steve Austin show, and I can help you quit swearing because I just used about 30 swear words in my bicycle story. So props to you, brother. I talk to a lot of people that don't cuss very much or don't cuss at all. And when I'm talking with a person that doesn't cuss, I just don't cuss. I have a G filter, a PG filter. I got an R filter, and I've got every goddamn thing in the world filter where everything flies. So I just always adjust myself accordingly to who I'm talking, too. I'm glad my show could help you quit swearing. Hey, man, got a little bit of news for you. I think you'll dig this. I just got finished talking to a cat. He's gonna come by the house tomorrow. Prince Puma from Lucha Underground is coming here to 316 Gimmick Street. Lucha Underground is doing some television tapings. So they coming into the area, and Prince Puma will stop by my house and we'll have a conversation and shoot the breeze. I'm looking forward to talking to Prince Puma about everything Lucha Underground there on the El Rey network. I'm looking forward to this also because Prince Puma also wrestles. As many of you people know, Ricochet in New Japan Pro Wrestling. His match with Will Osprey from England caught the Internet by storm and everybody had an opinion of it. Whether you loved it, hated it, respected it, whatever. We'll break down that match. We'll talk about the process, we'll talk about working as Ricochet, working as Prince Puma, everything involved. And we're also going to talk about Lucha Underground and Ultima Lucha 2, which is a three week, four hour event starting July 6th and continuing July 13th and concluding with a two hour finale July 20th. Lucha Underground, Prince Puma coming here to the crib. I'm looking forward to talking to this young cat. Hey, speaking of talking to some young cats, I talked to an old cat. He's a little bit younger than I am. I went down to San Diego, California a couple of weeks ago and talked to the one and only Goldberg. I talked to Bill Goldberg, my friend down there in San Diego, California, spent a night at his house, barbecued some steaks, met a couple of friends of his and had a hellacious time. The conversation you're going to hear today is part one of my talk with Bill Goldberg. We're just going to shoot the breeze and just two guys talking about the business. And then part two will come up. We'll be talking a little bit about his car collection, some other things he's involved in. But I had a good time in San Diego and I drank a couple of beers after the show and we had a good time and I went down and talked to Jocko Willinkt, the Navy SEAL that y' all heard a couple weeks ago. I highly recommend Jocko's podcast. It's the Jocko Podcast. You can find that online somewhere. Real motivational guy. Help kick my ass in gear and get me training a lot harder than I've been training. I think you'll enjoy my conversation with Bill Goldberg. It's just two guys shooting the breeze. But anyway, enough about all that. Let's get into the business of the show before we get in with Bill Goldberg and take care of a little bit of business before we go any further. Hey, folks, the resurrection of Jake the Snake documentary is now out on DVD and Blu Ray. And man, I can't say it enough times. You've got to see this documentary. This is one of the most inspirational stories I've ever seen. And believe me, you ain't got to be a wrestling fan to watch this documentary, because it's not a wrestling story. It's the story of how Diamond Dallas Page literally saved Jake's life. Dallas and director Steve Yu spent three years working with Jake to help him get his family, his health and his career back. And we all know Jake was in a real bad place and in my opinion, probably most certainly headed towards death. And it's just remarkable to see the transformation he undergoes through this movie. And everyone who's seen this documentary says the same thing. You're going to laugh, you're going to cry, and you're going to leave feeling inspired. And even if you have already seen it, you're definitely going to want to pick up a copy of the collector's edition DVD. Dallas went all out for the DVD release. It has 20 bonus features, including commentary by Dallas, Jake Roberts and director Steve Yu. Right now you can get the Collector's edition of the Resurrection of Jake the [e-mail] Austin and get 10% off anything you buy for a limited time. So get the documentary and then get yourself on the DDP yoga program and do all that for 10% off by going to ddpyoga.comaustin as Dallas always says, all you got to do is commit. And when you see what that commitment did for Jake the Snake, you'll want to commit to start living a healthy life today. So go to ddpyoga.com austin and for a limited time, get 10% off anything you buy.

[C]

Hey, this is Adam Carolla from the Adam Carolla Show. The NFL playoffs are here and Betonline gives you more ways to play. With Betonline, you get the latest odds, breaking news and live scores. With Betonline's in game betting, you'll never miss a moment of the college football playoffs and the road to the super bowl as well. When it's time to switch gears, dive into Betonline's casino, packed with hundreds of the hottest slots, classic table games, live dealers and massive jackpots just waiting for you. And if you love the NBA or the ufc, NHL, it's all there. You can place a little bet on the action. Get in on the action. Please don't Forget the BETOnline VIP program with exclusive level up bonuses, weekly cash boosts and rewards designed for serious players. Head to Betonline today because at Betonline, the game starts here.

[A]

Steve Austin unleashed. Unleashed.

[B]

We're rolling sound right now. This is Steve Austin. I drove down to the outskirts of San Diego, California. I'm not giving my exact location. I'm hanging out with Bill Goldberg at the Goldberg compound. It's fucking Amazing. Right now we're going to sit outside and shoot the breeze and tell a few stories. I'm right now in the top of, man, what is this compound? Because the house is over there, Bill. You've got like 18 or 20 badass or 25 badass cars. Wearing your personal gym right now. So tell me about the structure we're in.

[A]

Just call it the Goldberg Garage, man, with a little bit of a weight room on top of it. That's how I like to describe. Dude, I'm gonna, You know, man, I just, at the end of the day, man, I, I'm a separatist. I, I don't like human beings too much. And so when I don't have to work, I kind of hang out on my little island here. And I don't, I don't want to have to go to a gym. And so I get on my four wheeler and I come up here every night when the family goes to sleep. And I don't want my cars at a museum, so I can't touch them and drive them and stuff. And so the fuckers are downstairs, you know.

[B]

So, dude, I tell you what, it's funny. When I talk to Brock Lesnar, he goes, you know, I just goes, quite frankly, Steve, I just don't like people too much. And it's not that I don't like people. Brock is just a very private person, man. I'm a private. Probably just about like you are. But, man, I live right down there in Marina Del Rey. I don't have the compound or the space. You've got a great buffer out here, man. It's extremely private. This gym is exact, perfect size for one, man. You got all your, you got a couple of hammer strength things. How often are you in here? I mean, like, what is your training? Okay, what?

[A]

It may not look like it, but I'm here, I mean, every, when I'm in town, I'm here every night. I mean, I, if I was here every night, if I was here for a week, then I'd be here six nights out of that week.

[B]

Okay, what are you doing with your training anymore? Because back in the day, dude, when you were running rough shot in wcw, I thought you were one of the biggest, most powerful, explosive guys. I think it's blown smoke some of the shit you were doing down there with your athletic ability and that's ever been in the business. So due to the beatings you sustained.

[A]

I take offense to that because you say that in a negative way and that it was. Has and I'm still not that guy. But, hey, man, the reality is that basically what I'm asking me, you're 51, and I'm. I'll be 50 this year. And we've been through a bunch of. And my training schedule is completely different. I mean, if you look on Twitter in the past week, I. Ct Fletcher is a very good friend of mine, and CT reached out to you because he's such a huge friend, huge fan of yours, that when he and I started becoming friends and, you know, obviously I'm trying to help him fulfill his dream and touch as many celebrities that he deems, you know, on a pedestal as possible. So. He loves you. He loved being in this movie, being in the background in this movie that I got him in. It's just, you know, you provide other guys that are cool opportunities that they can't get, but for you, it's easy. He says, hey, man, can I be in the background of this movie we shot in Compton? Well, I got him and I asked the director, and he turns out to be Mr. T in the freaking movie. It's one of the funniest things. Me and Don Fry had the first fight scene in a. In a working car wash, you know, but stuff like. That's. That's. That's cool, man. You know? So.

[B]

So what are you doing with your training?

[A]

My training? I. I see that bag right there, man. When I'm. When I'm in town and I have time, I'm kickboxing four days a week. The only problem with that is that it's taxing on your toes because you break them a lot. And it hurts, you know, Torn bicep. It hurts throwing punches. You got to. I got to think about a punch for a second before I throw it because I got to tense up, you know, because all the connective tissue, it don't work like it used to.

[B]

Yeah, but you're throwing. You're throwing hard punches. Won't you just back off the horsepower and just.

[A]

I do. I do. Absolutely. I back off. There's no question. Because I don't want to spar with guys and try to. Try to blow their heads off, you know, I. Conversely, I don't want them to do that to me, too. But just even going through the most. The problem with backing off of it and delivering it with control is that you want to be precise with it, right? And so with being precise, you got to be quick. And so to get that fast muscle, twitch, fiber firing, you gotta. You gotta throw that thing right. When you think of it, but my connective tissue and you know, it's tough to throw stuff immediately without preparing for it first, setting up for it and then throwing it with power. It's kind of like putting a buffer around it. That's my training now. But what about all these, but what.

[B]

About all these weights?

[A]

But I mean, I train here too. I mean when I, when I do Muay Thai, I train, I still train here every night, but I train completely different, man. I train by myself. I don't train three hours, I train for 45 minutes. I do a circuit deal that I've been doing for 15 freaking years. I probably, I don't go nearly as heavy as I need to. But the reality is doing that four days a week, man, you melt. Frickin I could. I got cardio now. I go 10 rounds, 103 minute rounds with 30 seconds rest in between, you know, with guy with, with a light heavyweight southpaw. That's a bad motherfucker, dude, and he's not trying to kill me. But we're trying to make each other work. And I mean I, I got this thing called cardio now. I never knew it, I never even knew it in football. And I mean, let's be honest, what kind of cardio did I have to do to go out and, you know, squash guys? You know, I mean, that was one of my downfalls is that, you know, not only could I not chain wrestle for a long period of time, I didn't have the cardio, I'd blow up like a fish. But when I do that now, being as old as I am, I'm still, I still want to fucking headbutt dudes. And so, so that I don't end up in jail. And then, so I don't hurt myself trying to hurt other people, I go to the gym, the, you know, Muay Thai gym that I've been a part of for, you know, 20 years, I'm part owner of it. I don't derive anything from it except for it's a place that to go for the rest of my life. And it's a great place for my son to go. It's like 70% military. Reuben is the, the only 6 degree Black Tiger Muay Thai instructor in North America. He's an ex gunny. Like I said, like 75% of the people are ex military in there, man. It's a great place for my kid to learn about life and about respect and about honor and about really truly who the heroes are in the world. It's not the people you see On TV it's the guys who, the blue collar guys, so. And it gives me the ability to hit people and kick people in the head and neum without going to jail. And I, I still can beat Goldberg in a way that, you know, you know, it satiates me. It's fun for me. But the drawback with that, bro, one time, I mean, I'm not going to tell everybody what I weighed, but one time, I mean, I reached a weight that was like frickin freshman college days. Because man, I've just. Weight just melts off you when you do this thing called cardio. I just, I never knew what it was.

[B]

But dude, with your. Let's walk over here and look at some memorabilia I want to talk to you about. But now that you been out of the rings for so long and you go to the, and you've been doing the kickboxing stuff 15, 20 years, when you got away from the business, was there, I'm sure you getting away from the business, you got your privacy back. But did you need a place to take your angst out? Was a ring or being in front of a crowd some type of therapy for you?

[A]

Because absolutely no question, when I got out of playing football, dude, are you kidding me? I mean, only thing I ever want to do is play football. It's not, you know, when everybody knocks me because I'm not the guy who's, you know, forever a wrestling fan, man. I used to watch the, you know, Texas championship wrestling, the Von Erich's Bruiser, Brody, Ernie Ladd, all that with my, from the auditorium, you know, with my grandmother, you know, back when I was a little tiny kid, man. But I had two older brothers who, who weren't wrestlers, they were football players. All I ever wanted to do is play football, you know, so when I got the ability to play in major college, when I was fairly successful and I went on and played a short period of time in the NFL and I got that dream cut short. I didn't know what the fuck to do. I had no clue, no direction. I didn't finish college. And even if I did and had a degree, I didn't want to do anything. All I ever wanted to do is be that meathead. I wanted to be an intelligent meathead that was world traveled and that knew what he was doing and that was an entrepreneur. But you know, when it's taken away from you, I went into depression for like two years. I've said it. Yeah, and I've said it. It was in my book and I've said it to people, but, you know, part of that, part of the depression is not being able to find an outlet to squeeze an outlet to hit an outlet. You know, I'm just that guy. That's just me. I mean, I've always been the meathead that likes physical confrontation, whether it's competitive or whether it's just to get stress out, whatever. It's just me, man. And I, I, you know, I've apologized for it a couple times, but I, I have no regrets, man. I mean, I enjoy being me. That part of me, man.

[B]

Out here at your compound, you're on what, 30 plus acres?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's so peaceful out here.

[A]

I mean, it's, you know, when you go work, you have to go from a hundred you, you have to be on. It's our duty to the public. It's our duty to every freaking king kid that walks the planet that looks at Steve Austin and says, man, I want to be like him. When you're out in public, you have to be on key, on point. Right. If you care about being that guy. I always cared about being that guy. I wanted to be that guy in football, but I wasn't that guy. Nobody knew who the Goldberg was playing football, except for he was the dude with the mullet hanging out, the guy fighting everybody, you know, but where was I, man?

[B]

I just talking about how relaxing it is. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, okay, my point was that, you know, when you're on the road, when you're out in public, when you're working, you have to be on and that. And whether people realize it or not, whether that's you completely 100 of the time, or whether it's you 50% of the time and you put that act on the other 50 of the time, it's taxing, it's tiring. Shaking hands, smiling when you don't feel good, when you don't have sleep, when you haven't trained, when you haven't eaten, there's so many excuses we can come up with. But to me, it's very important to every time I walk out the door to be on, to be a hero for a kid. Because that one day that I'm a dick, the one day that I don't feel like doing something is the day that that kid needs me, you know? And I don't want to place any more stock in who I am or what I do to kids than there is. But if there's one kid that I pass by and I overlook and he needed me, then I fail. So my point Is when I go out and I got to be that guy, it's. It's tough. So when I get. When I don't have to be that guy, I mean, I want my heartbeat.

[B]

To freaking go to zero out here on the compound. As peaceful as it is, you have your wife and your son, so it's very peaceful.

[A]

There's nothing we need that we don't have here.

[B]

I know, but my point is. So you like being reclusive and you like being. I mean, you don't need to the thrills of Los Angeles or the San Diego nightlife or restaurant after restaurant. You're cool just being here, brother.

[A]

There's a place called the Belly Up Tavern. It's down south in Solana Beach. There's a place called the Pacific Coast Grill. The Belly Up Tavern is probably the coolest live music place you're ever gonna see in Southern California. It's been there 50 years. My brother bought it like 25 years ago. I don't know. I've been there 10 times. His. His restaurant is two miles down the road. It's on the water in Del Mar. It's spectacular. I've probably been there 15 times. I've owned this house for 20 years. I go buy it when I go to the airport, but other than that, I'd rather just chill. Man, I got my cars here, man. I got my 10 year old boy and I got the white. The wife that I wanted my entire life to spend the rest of my life with. What else do I need except for to go out and, you know, be able to earn money to put shoes on my boy.

[B]

I was cussing you a while ago because as we're sitting here looking around the top of your gym, or you have a couple of cars and we're fixing to go downstairs and talk about some of your cars, but, man, you collected a lot of great memorabilia of your career. Some of your old football helmets and stuff like that. And, man, I'm looking on your wall and I'm seeing an autographed jersey from Mr. Earl Campbell, number 34 from the Houston Oilers, and that guy along with Barry Sanders. But the way Earl ran, one of my favorite running backs of all time. Did you get a chance to meet Earl or did you just get that signed?

[A]

I met Earl once. I told you a couple days ago when I got back from Jim Kelly's golf tournament that I do these golf things. And fortunately, I learned how to play golf when I was playing with the Falcons. But to be able to rub shoulders with guys that you revere the guys that have done stuff that you could only dream of, man. Guys who are the top, you know, 0.0%, whatever the it is.

[B]

Hey, dude, are you mad?

[A]

I'll never, I'll never. I'll never rest that we didn't go at it, man. Never. Not because I don't.

[B]

But it was, it was just. It was interesting.

[A]

I know it's timing.

[B]

When you came into into wwe, I think I was. Man, my head was in a completely different place. I was already.

[A]

Oh, and mine wasn't.

[B]

But what year was that?

[A]

I don't even remember. I repress all those bad memories because I got out in 03, 2000 and 2000. I don't remember 2004.

[B]

Well, I mean I got out in 2003, so it hadn't been before that. So I mean I was already. I think I was already kind of having, you know, ideas that I was about to get ready to go out because after WrestleMania 19, when I had that meltdown right before the match and that was going to be my swan song. We didn't tell anybody but you. You came into the company, but they had different plans for you and just our windows never crossed it, you know, you. When WCW folded, you got the guaranteed money for a little bit and I was smart.

[A]

Dude, why am I going to go to work for 50% of the money? You're kidding, right?

[B]

No, no, I'm just saying I think it's a smart idea.

[A]

Catch hell for that. Why didn't you go back?

[B]

No, no, no.

[A]

Okay, let's get.

[B]

Let.

[A]

Let's. Let's give you half to half of the money that I could, you know, take for sitting at home. And by the way, I had a broken arm by the way, at the time. I think the statue of limitations is done. So.

[B]

Yeah, but, but to, to your point, Dallas decided to go ahead and make the jump to wwe and it didn't really know. It didn't pan out for him. And Dallas is one of my best friends. But no, I'm not knocking you for that. I'm just saying that was it. That was, that was the businessman move. Here's the thing. You made this statement a while ago, like, yeah, I was a football player who didn't really watch professional wrestling or wasn't a hardcore fan. And some people, some people think that that's a knock to me. If you get in the business of professional wrestling, I happen to grow up loving it. That doesn't mean anything as a businessman. If you get in and all you do is maximize your time that you're trying to make money as a businessman. It don't matter at the end of the day if you loved it since you were a kid or you just got at it from a businessman standpoint, at the end of the day, I tell all of these guys that I talked to on the phone from wwe, some of these guys that have been on the independent circuit for 10, 15 years, I said, brother, I said, go in there and you get paid. You've been paying your dues forever. You paid your dues playing football, you got noticed and you got a damn break. And then you got the win streak. But my point is, at the end of the day, I don't give a shit if you love the business or not. It's cool if you do. But at the end of the day, if you don't end up with a bank account full of money because you tried your hardest to save money and not blow it all. If you don't have money, at the end of the day, you did it wrong. Whether you loved it or you didn't.

[A]

Here'S the way that I kind of quantified my success in that I was part of a match consistently that helped put people in seats so the other guys on the card could feed their family. I just so happened to be in that spot. I could possibly have it just as easily been the other guy, but I was that guy. So whether I looked upon it as a lifelong dream, whether I looked upon it as a complete business opportunity, I looked at it in the middle, more towards the business opportunity because I had a dream taken away from me and I had to find something to satiate that void that I from football is missing. Yeah, the way you overviewed it was absolutely correct, I believe. But I think that I've given some more ammunition to people throughout the years saying that, you know, I didn't like the business because of things that I've said about people in the business and some of my dealings with them. And, you know, the, the emotional way that I kind of react to things. And, you know, I think the, I.

[B]

Don'T know, how did the, the politics of WCW bode with you? Because, well, it was different. It was different. But then you, you learned your worth. And then all of a sudden, you know.

[A]

But I never, I never took advantage of my worth at WCW when I knew it. Because. Except for at the end. I remember one time, that jersey, I was sitting in the stands that game.

[B]

And you're pointing out a Dallas Stars. Dallas jersey.

[A]

I was sitting in the stands. I was Brett Hull's guest with my brother Steve, and we were sitting with Brett Hull's wife. They're playing the New Jersey Devils, okay? And I had a commercial with Little Caesars that we were negotiating and I was. And we were trying to get WCW to the table at the same time to renegotiate my contract. This was the big one, you know, this was the one when Goldberg was Goldberg and we knew what was going on. And. And so I'll never forget, I get the phone call from Barry Bloom that says you have to be in Atlanta, Georgia to film the Little Caesars commercial by 6am tomorrow morning. I'm sitting in the frickin stands at Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. And for me, I mean, football is awesome, but you know, Stanley Cup. But what these guys go through to get that Cubs, unbelievable. So I'm sitting there and so whatever I get charter playing, I don't give a. Whatever it is, I'm staying at this game. So I said, Barry, I'll be there, six o', clock, whatever. So that's a completely different story about how I got that jersey and how I ended up drinking out of the cup that night with the people that were competing against the guy who I had tickets with or for. I was drinking with New Jersey at the end of the night and I was there with Dallas. So I mean, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. But anyway, needless to say, we flew to Atlanta and I filmed the Little Caesars commercial. So to answer your question in a very long winded way, that was one time when they want me to sign the whatever it was and I get a phone call from Henry Holmes and Barry Bloom. Don't sign it. Whatever you do, don't sign it. If the commercial implies that you're eating this pizza without you signing it, you got them. I don't sign it. Ming and I are going through the commercial. We're wrestling, we look over, there's pizza, we sit down, we don't eat it. But the camera cuts away and it cuts back and the pizza's half gone. Fast forward to my comeback. Megadeth's playing and I'm in with, with John Taylor, my lawyer. And all of a sudden I don't go out. We haven't gone to the table to do the contract. All of a sudden we're sitting up in the monitor in the back room and the commercial plays and it shows me and it shows the pizza. And he looks at me, he says, we got him. That was it. That that's the only time that I ever kind of understood that I had a little bit of power contractually and used it. I never used it. You ask originally about politics. I had a lot of power quote unquote in WCW at one point. But I always, and I'm not K, I'm not Baby Face. And you know me by now. I always felt bad about guys who had been in the business for 20 years and they're jumping off a building for 20 bucks. And here comes Goldberg. Six months into the business and I got the belt and I'm making whatever, okay? So as a businessman, if I had no heart, then I wouldn't have given a. And I would have just said, you know what? My bank account's getting huge. These other schmucks put them in the back seat, you know, and, and who cares about him? But I cared. Bobby Eaton. I wanted to put Bobby Eaton over at his hometown on his birthday in a dark match during my streak. They wouldn't let me do it. Nobody tells you about that story, but it's always Goldberg. You know, he was selfish and he was this and that, and he was a fucking bloke. Fuck you. You know, So I, I always, I'll never forget, I think it was within my first five matches or 10 matches. I'm wrestling Barb. Barb and Ming were my, my mentors in a lot of ways, like the Steiners. And in a way, Kevin, I go to the top rope with, with, with Barb. He belly to bellies me from the top rope, whatever. I'm gonna do whatever these guys want me to do. Because this is Barb, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm in the business for a very short period of time, but I know who he is. And, and as a man, as a human being, you gotta respect this guy. This guy's a big teddy bear, but he's a family man. He cares about people and he can crush you with one hand. Yeah. So I'm doing. I, I think that everybody's got my best interest in heart at heart, right? So I do anything that anybody asks. So after the match, we're walking to the back. Bischoff runs up to me, he goes, don't you ever do that again. I said, what? He goes, don't you ever go to the top rope and let anybody ever do that to you again. I said, why? I mean, you know, it's Barb, he, he'll take care of me. I mean it.

[B]

So, I mean, I, well, it's logical. He's not only a big Bad. I mean, he's Barb.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

So. But Bischoff was trying to protect you.

[A]

Exactly. Which I completely understood from that promoter's standpoint. But at the end of the day, I had. I had power at times. I never used it maliciously. I saw that was going on with Rodman coming in with Hogan and with Kevin and what all those guys were doing. And you know, hey, man, at the end of the day, just let me deal. Let Barry and Henry deal with the money, and I'll come in, I'll do my job, I'll shut up. Because I ain't a booker. I'm not. I'm not a booker either. I don't have any idea. That's better than who am I to give an idea about who should beat me and who should. Except for the. On logic. I based everything on logic. You know, if you hit me with a. If you shot me with a Howitzer and put Ray Mysterio on top of me and counted 1, 2, 3, I'm all good with that. But if you did something illogical, then I. Then. Then that's when I'd say something, right? Then that's when I put my foot down. Because I believed that if you're building this monster, then logic. I don't know the wrestling business, but logic's kind of going to tell me that if you put chinks in his armor along the way in a goofy, satirical way, then it demeans the product and you might as well have not built it in the first place.

[B]

When you said that you guys had them, meaning WCW when the pizza commercial aired, how do you mean you had them at that point? From a leverage standpoint of negotiating? Because you were on the absolutely gimmick pizza commercial.

[A]

We're standing in the house that Little Caesar's built, right? Or, no, we're looking at it. It's over there through the window. So, yeah, leverage, you know, that brought them to the negotiating table.

[B]

Here's the thing that you were smart enough to do at a very early age in the business, although you weren't so young on a chronological level. How old were you when you got into the wrestling business?

[A]

I can't remember, but I'd been in the league. I've been in the league for five years. I was older than that.

[B]

Okay, but you. My point is, a lot of guys, you know, myself included, when you come into the business, all of a sudden you're sitting in a room and this is just the way it happens. You're in a room, we're over in the corner of Bill's man cave right here. His gym is right over to my right. But let's just say we're in a dressing room. In the dressing room might be 8 by 8ft. And you're in there maybe with Vince, with Jim, somebody else, maybe Bruce Pitcher, you might be, whoever it is, that's who you're there with. And there's a contract right there laying on the table. And well, here's all the reasons you used to sign it. And I'm like, well, yeah, it looks all right, you know, and you're intimidated and you're too stupid because you come from Edna, Texas, and you always heard, always heard when I was growing up, Bill, someone would say, yeah, well, I'm gonna talk to my lawyer about this. Or I got a call from my lawyer the other day and as a kid, I would think, well, who in the fuck would ever need a lawyer? Because unless you got sued or you got in some trouble. But I wasn't in trouble making kind of guy, so I'll never need a lawyer. So a lot of guys were hesitant and they got bullied or just pushed into a contract. It was the old starving rock and roll contract. Bill, you just signed the paper. You want to fucking wrestle? There's the amount of money you're going to make and you ain't got no leverage. So I signed a couple of those. You were smart enough. Hogan was smart enough to have a lawyer way before anybody.

[A]

I didn't reinvent the wheel. The reality is, is that.

[B]

Did anybody give you a heads up or what? You're brothers and your father was super smart.

[A]

Came from the NFL, Right, right. You're right. Came from a profession.

[B]

You came from agents.

[A]

I had an agent. And you know, okay, I picked up the phone before I signed with wcw. I picked up the phone, I called Jim Ross. Jim Ross gets me an appointment with Vince. I fly up to Vince and I'm sitting in the office and all of a sudden an epiphany hits me. And then I didn't call my lawyer. I didn't have my. But the only reason why I didn't have my lawyer is because he's football. It's the NFL, right? What the hell is he going to do with wrestling? And I say it out loud. And the secretary, God bless her soul, I hope you're still not there, because if you are, you're probably going to get fired right now. She said, oh, Vince doesn't like lawyers. And I went, ding. I'm never doing anything in this entire Business without that right guy. And then, you know. But I'm in the shower somewhere, I think in Atlanta with Nash and all the guys after the match. And you know, he looks over to me and he goes, man, you know, I'm my guy, you know, he might be good for you. And I'm like, okay, this is the start of me getting somebody, right, that knows that, that has wrestling in their wheelhouse and that can represent me well and what I'm doing. Because a football guy is not going to know what's up. So, yeah, I had the luxury of having two older brothers who went through being businessmen before me. And I knew that, you know, once you enter the circus, you got to have somebody representing you, man.

[B]

Hey, go back to your. I'll never talk dollar figures with you on the back end, but let's talk on the front end. Because when I got into the business in wcw, well, first of all, when I got in Dallas, I was making fifteen and twenty dollars a night. And then when I worked for Jarrett and Uswa, I was making 15, $20 a night. And dude, those were some brutal car trips. And it was the funnest time of my life. I was starving to death. But I was learning a shit pile of information about the business of pro wrestling and working with some extremely talented guys. All of a sudden I'm starting to get a little traction due to my high profile feud with Chris Adams. I get a call from Tom Pritchard. He goes, hey man. Because Tom was hooked in, he was connected. He goes, hey, Dusty wants to talk to you down there in wcw. This is when Dusty had the book, flew down to Atlanta. I visited with Dusty. I said, yeah man, I'm working heel. I'm working a stunning Steve. He goes, yeah baby, I've been seeing you on the television. I like what you do. And he brought me in. Okay, here's the deal. When you first signed with WCW, your first contract was $75,000. This was back in the day. Then your contract rolled over and went to a buck 56. Sometimes it went to 105, but most time it went to buck 56. After that second year, then it was a free for all. You were up for negotiation. So dude, when you go from making 15, 20 bucks a night to 75 GS, that is a shitload of money. Now in the big scheme now, not so much what's all relative, but first year, not anything after the first year. When you came in first year, what kind of dough were you making?

[A]

I can't remember to Be perfectly honest with you, man, I. I don't remember, but I know that I never made more than the minimum in the NFL, so I. Which was, I can't. Him. I'm 151, something like that in my life.

[B]

It wasn't a shitload.

[A]

So it wasn't a shitload by any stretch.

[B]

The big money was to become, once you got the agent, the. The lawyer place, and you had.

[A]

Within six months or eight months, when I went from wrestling dark matches with Manny Fernandez at Universal Studios to, you know, wrestling Scott hall and Hogan at the Georgia Dome, I was making more in six months than I did play in the NFL in a year. Exponentially.

[B]

How did you fit into the locker room when you first came in? All of a sudden there's this big fucking jacked up dude. And you had a look and a presence, and all of a sudden you're getting in the ring, you get a mega push. I mean, people started responding to you, dude. You got over. You had a presence, you had a gimmick, you had a look, you had the explosion to get over. You establish a relationship with the crowd, and that crowd has expectations from you from then on in your career. Like you said, the chinks in the armor if you're building something. But you have to identify with that crowd, whether it's love or hate. They bought into the Goldberg thing. So all of a sudden, you get hotter than. I mean, you probably got hotter than anybody in a short run than I've ever seen in the history of the business. How did that impact the locker room and people's perception of you? Now, you said earlier, I mean, like, you're trying to help everybody out, but all of a sudden you're turning into a megastar. How did. How did the temperature change?

[A]

It was. I mean, they were. There were.

[B]

You know, there had been a lot of guys resent you.

[A]

They were hot and cold. I mean, there's. There's always the resentment. There's always the Steven Regal match, you know, I mean, how can you paint anything other than resentment on that match? Other than that? I mean, the office didn't tell him to go out there and try to take advantage of me and beat. Beat up a guy who had no idea what the fuck was going on, you know?

[B]

So what was that match?

[A]

I. Dude asked Steve. I have no idea. Idea. I just know he tried to kick my face in a couple times, and I was just giving him my face. And hey, at the end of the day, man, if I still don't know, it's all good, man. I mean, he's a shooter. He and the other, you know, dude who was there at the time, Dave Taylor, it's all good. If that made him feel better than fine. But, you know, I. I don't get it. I'd love to scrap with him right now. It'd be beautiful. I'd love to at the time of knowing what he was going to do, but at the end of the day, it was resentment. It was.

[B]

But was that a learning example? Was that a learning experience for you? I mean, because obviously didn't know what's going on.

[A]

Everything you do is a learning experience.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Everything you do, both good and bad. I told my son last night after they get the beat out of him in a baseball game. I said, you know what? You can't look at it in a negative tone because you got a hit. You. You did great behind the plate. You threw a guy out at second base. You have to take negatives and turn them into positive positives. Okay? And, you know, hey, I. I didn't trust every single past that point. You know, when guys wanted to set stuff up, I questioned it from that point, you know, so in a. In a way, it was good for me. In a way, it was the downfall of my attitude towards the business.

[B]

So did you become disenchanted with the business?

[A]

Yeah, because at the end, there's going to be people. No, but there's always going to be people that take advantage of other people, no matter what circumstance it is. Then I work my ass off at the power plant. Ask anybody who went with me. Anybody. Dude, I still. I had video cameras set up. I'd study hours of the ufc when the UFC had the instructional tapes out. Wipe. Shamrock had one, Severin had one. Good. You know, everybody had one. I studied every single thing. I watched tapes. I watched freaking hours of uwf. I watched Japanese pancreas. I watched everything. And I try to emulate the moves there. Robbie. Rage. High out, high, high voltage. Those guys. Kenny. Chaos, man. And then I own that big MMA gym. At the time, man, I was a. I was a student of the craft. I wasn't. That was Paige by any stretch of the imagination. You know, I couldn't sit there and give you a 14 page, you know, outline of a match. I couldn't look at it from that analytical standpoint. But if you give me. If you give me a scenario where you want violence, I can give you violence. Like anybody that's ever stepped in the ring or anywhere else, it's like, it's like doing, you know, some of these movies and, and watching a stunt coordinator go through a fight scene and you're like, really? You get paid to do that? If you would ask me, I could have given you some a lot cooler in a very shorter period of time.

[B]

Before I want to get to another question, but I got. You brought up Diamond Dallas Page's name. I've watched that match that you had with Dallas four or five times.

[A]

Hell, it's the only good one I had.

[B]

No, it was an outstanding match. How was working with Dallas? Because y' all rocked the house on that. But. And again, I think when Dallas was telling me the, the, the story, I think when you hit the turnbuckle, you got lit up and pretty much out on.

[A]

I speared him. I knocked myself out.

[B]

So what happened?

[A]

I was out. I don't remember.

[B]

Because he had to kick out of something or you were.

[A]

I had him up and I had to. I had him in the jackhammer and I dropped him behind me and he. Diamond cut of me and I was out. I couldn't pick him up for the jackhammer and I don't. I got him up some. I don't know. I mean, I. Hey, man, I took, I took it to a different level. That's why. I think. I'd like to think that why. That's why people appreciated what I did. You know, looking back on it and doing Jim Kelly's golf tournament this last weekend and teeing off at 8 o' clock in the morning with Ted Hendricks and a bottle of Crown Royal, you know, a guy whose jersey should be on that wall, who's an idol of mine, who, you know, one of these days may succumb to, you know, this concussion thing in the NFL, you know, I wouldn't change it for the world, but there are lockers and doors all around the country where there wasn't a match that I had that, that I didn't headbutt something full force, you know, just to get in the mood to go out there and go from 0 to 100 miles an hour for the people that enjoyed the violence of what I did, you know, so.

[B]

So you had to put yourself in a state of high animation, no question.

[A]

And that was in the worst part about it. That's the good part. The bad part is coming down from that.

[B]

And you know that, man, it was, it was really interesting. The highs and lows of the business, the come down and a lot of guys meet harm's way just because they resort to a lot of bad shit. And have been a lot of guys that have been ring at real young age, from 20s, 30s, generally the 40s, and they're kicking a bucket. What was the deal for you coming down after a big match? To me, it was just riding down the road and I'd start drinking beer or I might be in some crown or whatever, was no big deal. But for me, all I did was turn the volume up because I was almost stone cold all the time back then. I just turned the volume up a couple levels.

[A]

It was just like after a football game. Just. It was no different for me. I just tried to get as quiet as possible. I mean, I was smart enough at that point. I mean, I went out and I did some things and, you know, had a lot of fun.

[B]

But who are you traveling with?

[A]

Well, when I tell you that, you're gonna know why they're, why I have just a little bit of coolness at me, you know, I mean, I traveled with Hennig. I traveled with the Steiners, man. I, you know, I traveled with Nash. Hennig was Henning Broad, rest his soul, was one of the coolest human beings. Rick Rude. A travel Rude.

[B]

So now you know. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I mean, these guys, they didn't give a. About taking advantage of me, dad. They just, they. The Steiners knew I was a hard ass football player. I was a jock, okay? Hannig appreciated me because I was that jock, but had a huge sense of humor and appreciated the business and would help people out and, and inherently am a nice guy because at the end of the day, because I care about the kids, you know, Rude, he was just a man's man, dude.

[B]

He was, that's the way I always described.

[A]

He was a.

[B]

If there was something on his mind, he would tell you exactly what was on his mind.

[A]

Like Fry. Yeah, he's exact. He looks, talks, acts exactly like Fry.

[B]

And I think Fry is going into the MMA hall of Fame.

[A]

I got a funny story about, about that. I'm watching.

[B]

I haven't seen don fried in 10 years. Tell me a fry story.

[A]

I'm watching 199 and it was a, it was one of the best fight cards I've seen.

[B]

God damn, it was good.

[A]

And, and, and finally Fry gets inducted, right? And so immediately I pick up the phone and I call him and I hear in the background, he's like, hey, how you doing? I said, dude, congratulations. He goes, what'd they do? I said, man, they're inducted you in the USC hall of Fame. He goes, no, really? Are you gonna be there? I said, yeah, man, I'll be there. You know, but I mean, and I text Dana and. And you know what? Dana doesn't give a. What Goldberg says, but at the end of the day, we were all fans. We wouldn't be a part of the business if we weren't even Dana. So to see a guy at this point in his life slash career, a guy who was part of the building blocks for this multi billion dollar business we call MMA right now, finally getting his due when during my bachelor party, they didn't have an extra ticket for Don Fry to the ufc.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's an awesome.

[B]

It's a cool day talking about MMA. I was watching an old video on YouTube not too long ago. Well, it's been a while, but it's when Kimbo Slice came up here to do some sparring with you, and all of a sudden, Kimbo ain't with us. What'd you think about that? Because that caught me out of the blue, dude.

[A]

You know, if you go to my Instagram, there's a picture of me of Kimbo and I and Conan. Conan's a friend of mine from back in the Pride days, man, when I worked for Hustle one and they co promoted with Pride, and I met him over there when they put it on the map. But Kimbo didn't look great then, man. He didn't look like the Kimbo that I met the first time at Elite XC over at Showtime. And you can never forecast anything like that, you know, because we're all getting up at age and me weighing 265 right now, people look. Look at me and probably think I look sick. So all I can say is, at the end of the day, I think shit's gonna hit the fan with the commissions that. That's the big thing that's gonna come out of this, which I hope so, because, you know, commissions everywhere need to be, you know, curtailed. But in what regard?

[B]

Why would he spark some of the. From a commission, man?

[A]

I mean, between he and his opponent in that last fight, whether it's going to a. A certain state that has a more lenient commission or whether it's. I'm not accusatory by any stretch. Whether it's, you know, doctor and documents or, or making it easier for some guy who shouldn't be fighting. Okay, that's what I'm talking about. I. I don't know. I mean, I. I personally believe that. Hey, man, I. I was considering a fight with. With Gory Kickboxing a year ago, and, you know, I'm, I would have been 49 years old at the time. And me to pass a physical as a 49 year old, though, I can guarantee you I'm in absolutely smoking shape for a 49 year old. Still, there are red flags, you know. So at the end of the day, the one thing that I can tell you that if you didn't meet Kimbo were, were not blessed with his presence. He's one of the sweetest freaking guys you ever meet, dude. He's, he's one of, he's the antithesis of what people thought of him. He really was a, was a great, kind and family guy and he was a funny guy, man. And, you know, it's sad you brought.

[B]

Up the, the CT thing, the concussion word. In your football career, in your wrestling career. How many concussions do you think you suffered from? A shit pile.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's no question.

[B]

Are you feeling the effects? I mean, have you ever thought about, you know, either donating your brain, getting a scan?

[A]

I've never doing anything in the world, man. And my short term memory is brutal. And we always laugh it off, you know, and we have for years. I mean, the reality is, you know, you know, the, the whole concussion thing in the NFL and the lawsuit, I mean, that's a whole different podcast. That's, you know, but if you don't think that there's going to be some type of trauma at a sport like that, then, you know, you're not smartest motherfucker in the world. But there's, you know, the deals coming out with Ali about they don't think that, they're not 100% sure that the blows of the head were the, the cause of Parkinson's.

[B]

Right?

[A]

But I mean, logic's gonna tell you, man, that, you know, if you consistently bang your head against a hard object, then there's going to be some detrimental effect. So have I felt it? I don't know. I'm getting older and things are going to slow down. But I mean, I wouldn't change anything for the world. The state that I'm in right now, I mean, the effects, the negative effects that I feel, whether it be an ache or a pain or whether my vision not being like it was, or me not being as strong and whatever.

[B]

Well, you're not going to be as strong just because of age. But on a one to ten, one being real, let's say one being real shitty and ten being a million bucks on a just an average basis, pain wise or just general health wise, where would you Put your level right now. Ten is great. One is talking about, you know, when.

[A]

We, we, we touched on cardio a minute ago. If cardio is the determining factor of a health fitness level, I'm in the best shape of my life, okay? If a, if it's predicated upon aches and pains, I'm 145 years old. But you know, my, my mentality is such that, you know, I got, you know, I don't know. Last year, these four toes right here, I smashed every one of them in the ring. Then I did an endo on my four wheeler and smashed them again. But it doesn't prohibit me from going in because I tape them together and I live through the pain because at the end of the day, the good thing that I get out of it is much better than the bad things. So the problem with me and guys like me and you is that our pain tolerance is such at a level that we'll deal with it and accept it and know that the rest of our lives we're going to be in pain. So to answer your question, man, I don't know. I'm in a lot of pain.

[B]

Okay, here's a question.

[A]

But it doesn't stop me from doing anything I want to do.

[B]

Alarm clock goes off or you just wake up, you just jump out of bed.

[A]

I'm Nick Nolte from North Dallas Fort.

[B]

There you go. Go. Okay. If anybody, if no one has seen North Dallas 40, Nick Nolte getting out of bed is one of the greatest scenes in the world.

[A]

And nobody's seen North Dallas 40. They don't know what football was like in the NFL during the 70s and.

[B]

80S or wrestler's life after Ben down the wrestler.

[A]

It's the same exact. I told a guy in the NFL had been there 13 years at this, at Jared Allen's golf tournament, which you have to go to next year because it's, it's called night ops. It's military. It's hero homes for heroes. It's a great charity, man. The guys that absolutely fucking love you because they like me and they just think I'm you and that's why they like me. So at the end of the day, I can't remember why I got into that story, but.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you jump out of bed? No. North Dallas for North Dallas.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. So there was a guy.

[B]

This is two guys getting hit with steel chairs and concussion. Please continue.

[A]

Exactly. There was a guy.

[B]

Please continue.

[A]

John Steve. No, that is your name. I was, I thought you were My brother. So there's a guy that had been in the league like 14 years, he played for Carolina, but he'd never heard of North Dallas 40. And so I was giving him an analogy what the league was like. And I said, dude, if you want to know, don't listen to what I say. Just rent this movie. So, man, it's, it's just absolutely the one. It's the top. It's above the longest yard in my book.

[B]

Let me ask you real quickly. I don't want to go into politics. I don't want to discuss who's Republican, who's Democrat, but I voted the other day and I went to the little ballot box and I punched that name and it's like, you know, I hope I'm doing the right thing because, man, I'm scared to death about what's going to happen come the end of this election. On one side, I can't believe that that person's on the ballot. On the other hand, I can't believe that this person's on the other end of the ballot. I know which one I'd rather have running the country, and I'll leave it at that. Are you gonna vote? And what do you think about candidates in this year's election?

[A]

I was on the Celebrity Apprentice, remember?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Because of Vince's relationship with Donald, I felt as though I had enough marks against me. Therefore, I exclaimed that I wouldn't be on the show if someone from the WWE was there because then I'd have Vince and Donald against me. Yes, I'm gonna vote. Am I gonna vote like I'm blindfolded? I'm throwing a dart at a, at a dart board, man. I, I think I'm, I'm gonna just follow in Brock's footsteps. I'm moving to Canada. My wife's down here, you know, on me. I'm going up there on her. I don't, I don't. Man, we're, we're in a really sorry ass state, man. We really are. I just, I don't know, I mean, the irresponsibility on one side and the corporate politician on the other and the lack of trust, and at the end of the day, it's the word. The lesser of two evils. Exactly. But as a, and you know, as a responsible American who was voting for the leader of our country, are you kidding me? That's our choice. My brother's like besties with Bill and I mean, I know a lot of things that a lot of people probably don't know. And I'M comfortable in that the experience on that side will maybe even everything out. But, man, I think we're in kind of dire straits looking at the options. Man, it's a sad day. It really is. I mean, it sucks. It's a sad day because. Not necessary, you know, let me cut you off. It's a sad day because the President of the United States is going to be chosen based upon personality, based upon outrageousness, based upon other factors like that, as opposed to real policy.

[B]

Policy, things that matter. One thing and last thing I wanted to and it's on a wrestling note. But to me, it's like when I watch a lot of the stuff leading up to election, a lot of the newscasts or listening to people being interviewed, man, people these days or the younger generation. I don't want to say millennials. I'm not going to put all the blame on the millennials. Vince McMahon said the word millennials on my podcast when I did the Stone Cold podcast about a year ago. I never heard the fucking word millennial in my life till he said it. Whatever. I'll just say younger generation or people that just don't know and they just voting on a figure that they've seen forever on TV or because someone was married to a president that served two terms, Bill Clinton. I think people are not just misinformed, they're uninformed. Nobody knows what the fuck is really going on. Nobody really knows what policy either one has. They're just voting on, hey, I like this person because this. And there's no valid reason people do.

[A]

Things to be part of the masses, not because there's a reason for behind it. Unfortunately, that's the way that it is because therefore they can be out in public, they can take pictures of themselves, they can document it and oh, God forbid they be involved with something that's earth shattering to where they can make a liberal stand on it.

[B]

Last wrestling question and then if you got another hour to give me, I'd like to go through your cars and just talk about them. If you don't, I'll write off in the sunset. My question is, what ultimately led to you saying, hey man, you know what? I've been here, I've done that. It's time to ride off in the sunset. As far as my wrestling career goes.

[A]

There were, there were a lot of factors to it, man. I mean, it's just, it wasn't fun for me anymore. I felt like, you know, up with the wwe, I always felt like there was something fighting against me. I mean, whether it Was whether I was being paranoid, which, whatever. It's just. It's just the feeling that I had.

[B]

Paranoia exists in the business with everybody.

[A]

And, you know, it turned out to not be very much fun for me. I felt as though the work that I put forward, the monetary regain that I got, was great. But life's not about just money, man. I mean, wasn't having fun anymore. The only thing that I enjoyed was every once in a while going out there and pressing some dude and dropping him, spearing a guy and walking out of the ring and. And grabbing a kid and handing him the belt and, you know, picking him up over my head and making him smile and forget about every single thing that's going on in his life and just being in the moment, you know, that's what I miss about it. But when Rosie. Okay, I had a match, and it's a document, and I've said this before, for when I. I left the match, I. I won the match. You know, I'm the hero. I come out, I grab a kid, five years old, I pick him up, he's awesome. I walk to the back, I pass Rosie, and I got. I love Rosie to death, man. He's one of the best dudes ever. But he was the superhero in training, and it said shit on his shirt. And here I am, you know, trying to be the eternal good guy and the superhero for kids and speaking on Capitol Hill about fighting. And I know it's a work. I get it. There's got to be good and bad and this side and that side, but I just, I just. I mean, I. It was this. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, man.

[B]

Your. Your contract ended with WWE and you just never renewed.

[A]

Yeah. After a year. Yeah. And I was pissed off at the end and, you know, like a little kid kicking his books on the. On the way out and, you know, being a little dick and, you know, hey, I don't know, man. It's just, it. It didn't turn out the way I envisioned it, you know, I think that's a great cliffhanger.

[B]

Listen it now, let's pick it up if you want to. It's Bill Goldberg. I'm hanging out the Goldberg compound, and if he wants to, we're talking cars. Thank you, Bill.

[A]

Anytime, dude. Well, the reality is that you ain't going to be able to get out of here, because I'm gonna kidnap you. And I'm gonna make sure that that one time that we had that beer bash, that you actually drink the beers this Fucking time.

[B]

Oh, you cocksucker. I'm hanging out with Bill Goldberg signing off. We'll be right back next week. All right, everybody, give me to go home. Q is time to wrap up his podcast and ride off in the sunset. But before I do, I want to thank my guest, Bill Goldberg for having me over at his compound. Had a good time hanging with you, man. Bill Goldberg Part 2. We're going to talk muscle cars and all kinds of bullshit on the next episode of the unleashed podcast. I'm going to give you guys a match to watch, which features Mr. Bill Goldberg. I've given you this match before, but I'm going to give it to you again. And it's Bill Goldberg versus Diamond Dallas Page. This is a hell of a bust ass professional wrestling match. I've given it to you before, but now that the paywall is in effect at podcast1.com, a lot of you new listeners haven't been able to archive those old episodes without paying 7.99 or whatever it is. So I'm recommending it again. That's a hell of a damn pro wrestling match. Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg put on a hell of a damn show with smash mouth wrestling at its finest. Anyway, hey folks, here's a quick announcement. I told you that Prince Puma Ricochet is coming by the house tomorrow. I'm going to interview him, have a good conversation with him. But the podcast that you're going to hear this coming Tuesday is going to be with WWE's AJ Styles from the Stone Cold podcast on the WWE Network, which just aired this past Monday. And the reason we're doing that is because Stacy just sent me a text and she has just received this match. So Prince Puma will be on right after that. Looking forward to talking to this young man talking about the Ricochet versus Will Osprey match. If you haven't seen that match yet, which I surely everybody in the world has, but if you haven't seen that match, go back and watch it because we're going to be talking about that during the podcast. So with that being said, I want to say thank you guys for all the support you've been showing. If you want some of the Broken Skull Ranch T shirts, Broken Skull IPA beer or Broken Skull Steve Austin Pocket Knife, you can find all that shit at. When I say shit, I'm talking about some good shit at broken skull ranch.com. the bottom line is I want to say thank you guys for supporting the podcast and for supporting my sponsors. If it wasn't for the sponsors. I wouldn't be able to do this for you twice a week for free, but I got these sponsors and y' all keep supporting them. So let me give them a big shout out. Thanks to ddpyoga.com go to ddpyoga.com Austin to get 10% off anything you purchase for a limited time, including the new collector's edition of the Resurrection of Jake the snake documentary to TrueCar. And of course I want to thank the folks over on Amazon. They've been supporting this podcast since day one. Just use my Amazon links whenever you're doing any online shopping and Amazon will kick back a couple of bucks to the podcast. Doesn't cost you nothing extra. There ain't no hidden fees or charges and you can buy whatever you planning on buying and help out the podcast and the process. And you can find my Amazon links by going to podcast1.com, clicking on the killer Deals button on the top right corner of the page, and then hitting the Steve Austin show button. I got Amazon links for usa, UK and Canada, folks. God damn those blowers. If you bookmark that damn thing, you can hit it in one click and do all your shopping. Hey, you can get a set of earplugs from Amazon.com too. I'm in order 16 pairs of the motherfuckers. Hey folks, keep listening. The 62nd AP news headlines are coming up next. Until then, my name is Steve Austin. I'm going to get on Amazon.com and order me some earplugs. And until next time, I will catch your ass down the road. Download new episodes of Steve Austin Unleashed every [e-mail] that's podcastone.com. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows.

[A]

This is the mindset. Free.

[B]

This is the mantra.

[A]

Free.

[B]

This is the with movies like Joe.

[A]

Dirt, pixels and 51st days, this is awesome. And TV shows like Survivor, SpongeBob SquarePants.

[B]

The Fairly Odd Parents and Ghosts. Pluto TV is always free. Huzzah. Pluto TV stream now pay.

[A]

Never.

[B]

You're welcome.