Sam Roberts Part Two - SAS CLASSIC

Summary

The Steve Austin Show – Sam Roberts Part Two – SAS CLASSIC

Date: September 4, 2025
Podcast: PodcastOne
Host: Steve Austin
Guest: Sam Roberts (Sirius XM, Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast)

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

In this classic episode, Steve Austin sits down at his iconic “316 Gimmick Street” in Los Angeles with radio personality and wrestling superfan Sam Roberts. The conversation traverses Sam’s path to radio stardom, their shared love of pro wrestling, deep dives into classic wrestling eras, current wrestling product critiques, and the nuances of building a career in broadcasting. Expect lively banter, genuine behind-the-scenes insights, passionate wrestling talk, and trademark Stone Cold humor. This is a family-friendly, yet candid, exploration of wrestling fandom, media, and making it in a tough industry.

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MAIN THEMES

• Sam Roberts' journey in broadcasting and radio
• The evolution and current state of professional wrestling
• Influences, territory wrestling history, and legendary performers
• Media careers: paying dues, carving out your voice, and ‘making it’
• Candid thoughts on NXT, "too much wrestling content", and character presentation

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. Sam Roberts’ Start in Radio and Broadcasting

• Sam credits his early love of talking and entertaining as his motivation.
• He attended Syracuse but didn’t enter the prestigious Newhouse communications school, instead majoring in sociology.
• Quote:
  “All you have to do is have a 3.5 GPA and they'll let you transfer into Newhouse. I've never been able to concentrate on anything I wasn't into. So a 3.5 GPA was way out of the realm of possibility.” (39:43)
• Jumped into college radio, hustled for an Opie & Anthony internship, and methodically worked up the Sirius XM ladder for years.
• Paid his dues through menial internships, identifying and filling "holes" in the show, and chasing every opportunity.
• Quote:
  “My mission from day one was...when my internship is over, they're saying, we can't do this without you.” (52:15)
• Now, Sam is moving to a full-time, daily show—a culmination of nearly a decade of persistence.

Timestamps

• [39:43] – College and major choices
• [43:28] – Early passion for broadcast, human growth hormone story
• [45:04] – First steps with Opie & Anthony

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2. Wrestling Origins: From Childhood to Tape Trading

• Sam’s wrestling fandom began as an infant, with his siblings watching Hogan and Slaughter, cementing an early love.
• He became a Macho Man fan right away—attracted to the outfits, intensity, and personality.
• Became a dedicated tape trader in high school, digging up footage from World Class, USWA, and other territories to piece together wrestling history.
• Quote (on Macho Man):
  “He always had something entertaining to say. He always looked entertaining. And as a kid, I said, that's the guy.” (25:17)
• World Class Championship Wrestling stood out for its innovation and energy.
  “This was so far ahead of its time and I don't think it ever gets enough credit.” (27:51)

Timestamps

• [24:33] – Early wrestling memories
• [26:01] – Macho Man's influence
• [27:51] – World Class and the Von Erichs

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3. Old School Territory Talk & Wrestling Psychology

• Extensive discussion about legendary talents and territory systems—Von Erichs, Freebirds, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Superstar Billy Graham.
• Steve Austin’s first-hand recollections from the Sportatorium and respect for icons like Michael Hayes, Ric Flair, and Adrian Adonis.
• Quote (on Michael Hayes/Freebirds):
  “Michael P.S. hayes...Everything about him changed. He was a piece of trash, and that's what I really respected about what those guys were doing.” (31:12)

Timestamps

• [28:11] – Sportatorium atmosphere & Von Erichs
• [30:08] – Michael Hayes/Freebirds stories
• [33:22] – Ric Flair as the ultimate pro wrestler

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4. Media, Podcasts, and Carving a Voice

• Discussion about Sam’s approach to content: prepping for more material than he can use, trusting instincts, and finding entertaining "kernels."
• Steve reflects on running a free-form “show about nothing” and the importance of authenticity.
• Quote:
  “All I want to do is be myself and make a living doing it.” (43:28)
• On prepping for 3 hours:
  “If an idea pops up...my mind is just tuned to say that kernel becomes 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever it is.” (54:22)
• Reflections on the crowding of wrestling podcasts and importance of focusing on one’s passion—a wrestling podcast serves the dedicated base without alienating the general audience.

Timestamps

• [53:13] – Personality development and inspiration
• [54:03] – How Sam prepares shows
• [58:47] – Podcasting for wrestling fans vs. general radio

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5. Modern Wrestling Critique — WWE, NXT, and the Industry’s State

• The panel discusses the current WWE product: three-hour Raws, diluted storytelling focus, and missing intensity compared to the Attitude Era.
• Sam’s take: “I think they're doing better now with the moments that pop up...like Brock beating the Undertaker. But in terms of the week to week...I don't have that feeling.” (35:09)
• Steve agrees, citing a loss of “urgency” and spontaneity versus Monday Night Wars.
• NXT is praised as the most compelling wrestling product today, with creative freedom and storytelling akin to past eras.
• Quote (Sam on NXT):
  “Nothing as far as pro wrestling goes, has me more locked in than NXT right now.” (62:21)
• Both rave about the NXT women (Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Bayley) and their ability to main event and work real pro style matches.
• Discussion of Finn Balor’s presentation: Steve critiques overplaying the body paint gimmick and failing to connect through "the eyes".
• Roman Reigns' lack of emotional connection (blue contact lenses, rapid push) sparks a debate on babyface/heel dynamics.

Timestamps

• [37:53] – “Too much” wrestling content (3+ hours of Raw)
• [62:21] – Why NXT excels
• [64:12] – Praise for NXT women
• [67:23] – Finn Balor and character presentation critique
• [74:38] – Roman Reigns, character, and fan connection

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6. Sam Roberts vs. Kevin Pollock: The "Paying Dues" Debate

• Sam addresses the minor controversy with actor Kevin Pollock, who claims Sam hasn’t “paid his dues” in radio.
• Sam’s response: On-air experience, longevity, hustle, and sacrifice—as real as anybody’s grind.
• Stone Cold eggs Sam into (light-hearted) shots fired territory.
• Quote:
  “I've been here. Just because he just turned on his radio doesn't mean...it wasn't for me.” (49:11)
• Reflection on rejection and persistence in breaking into radio: Sam’s tenacity with sending resume tapes, and advice for aspiring broadcasters.

Timestamps

• [48:25] – Sam “paying dues” and career challenges
• [49:46] – Kevin Pollock controversy

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7. Wrestling Fandom: Glass Half Full vs. Half Empty

• Sam contrasts his positive, passionate “fan” perspective with other cynics, even name-dropping Peter Rosenberg as more negative.
• Debate: critical versus optimistic take on the wrestling product.
• Quote:
  “I still have that fan in me. I don't want to get to the point where I'm nitpicking what's wrong with it...” (61:12)

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8. New Japan, Strong Style, and Lucha Underground

• Quick look at New Japan’s strong style and how it’s evolved—story trumps “just smacking the hell out of each other.”
• Steve encourages Sam to check out Lucha Underground, finding it unique once you “immerse in the experience.”

Timestamps

• [69:44] – Lucha Underground, embracing new presentation
• [71:16] – Value of New Japan’s TV show vs. PPV

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NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Steve on Tape Trading:
  “I thought you would like a Casanova. No, that came much later.” [27:08]
• Sam on Professionalism:
  “If I can't do it at this point, like, if I go out there and stink, then this wasn't the right career path.” [47:09]
• Steve on Storytelling:
  “You want those stories to be executed with some precision and, and. And not too much rigidity…” [72:11]
• Sam on NXT Women:
  “They headlined, they main evented the Philly show with Charlotte and Sasha. And to headline with women, especially in Philadelphia…if they're not delivering, that's suicide.” [65:30]
• Steve on Wrestling’s Magic Moments:
  “When the heat turned and when it came time to really get dirty...everything about him changed. He was a piece of trash, and that's what I really respected…” [31:12]

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IMPORTANT SEGMENTS & TIMESTAMPS

• [13:34] – Show start / Family friendly episode
• [15:45] – Sam on interviewing X-Pac/Sean Waltman
• [24:33] – Sam discusses how he became a wrestling fan
• [33:22] – Ric Flair’s influence; Steve’s favorite wrestler
• [37:53] – Does WWE Raw run too long now?
• [45:04] – How Sam broke into radio and paid his dues
• [54:22] – Sam’s show prep process and philosophy
• [62:21] – NXT as the hottest product in wrestling
• [64:12] – Praise for NXT women
• [67:23] – Finn Balor paint critique; connecting with audience
• [74:38] – Reigns’ "blue eyes" and realness debate

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TONE & STYLE

• Playful, anecdotal, classic Stone Cold humor
• Knowledgeable, passionate, and nostalgic about wrestling
• Candid career advice and industry reality checks
• Inside baseball for wrestling and broadcast radio fans

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SUMMARY

A quintessential Steve Austin Show episode blending wrestling nostalgia with insider career wisdom, featuring Sam Roberts’ distinctive passion and perspective. From Von Erichs fever in Texas to NXT’s women main eventing in Philly; from paying radio dues to fending off criticism; from hardcore fandom to nuanced critique, the episode delivers laughs, stories, and genuine guidance for wrestling and media fans alike. Whether you’re chasing your dream or just love wrestling’s larger-than-life moments, this conversation is packed with substance and fun.

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For more Steve Austin Show, visit podcastone.com.

Transcript

[Sam Roberts]

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[Sam Roberts]

The following program is a podcast one.com.

[Steve Austin]

Production from Hollywood, California by way of.

[Sam Roberts]

The Broken Skull Ranch. This is the Steve Austin Show.

[Steve Austin]

Give me a Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

Now here's Steve Austin.

[Steve Austin]

All right everybody. Welcome to Steve Austin Show. I'm coming to you from the main streets of Los Angeles, California today, sitting here at 316 Gimmick street. Watching my famous Pearl Beer neon clock spin around like a rotisserie chicken. You guys that saw the picture I posted on my Twitter account. Steve Austin, bsr saw that clock in the picture sitting on the table between myself and Sam Roberts from Sirius XM Radio and the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast. He was my guest on last Thursday's Unleashed show. He is my guest on today's show. An entirely different conversation altogether. Family friendly, but a hell of a conversation with Sam the Man Roberts from New York City. You know what, gang? As I record this, I'm about to jump on an airplane to San Antonio, Texas tomorrow morning. I will be doing a live interview with Paul E. Heyman right after Monday Night raw. You can be able to see it live on the WWE Network. And I'll be playing the audio on an upcoming podcast. If you don't have the network now, here's the thing. By the time you hear this podcast on Tuesday, that interview will have already happened live. But you can go back on the network and watch it. So I'm looking forward to talking to Paul. Paul's been on the podcast several times and he came out and was doing some business over in North Hollywood and he had rented a house for about a damn month. Went over and talked to him on several different occasions. And every time I talk to Paul, it's always a damn good time. So I'm looking forward to talking to him on the network and it's going to be interesting to see what people's expectations are of this interview. People always want to say, oh, Steve, you got to ask the hard questions, man. I don't really have any hard questions. I always just like to shoot the breeze with people. So it's funny what the expectations are. We'll see how the interview turns out. And like I said, by the time you've heard this podcast, if you watch the WWE Network, you will have seen and heard the podcast. But if you if you don't have a network one last time, fret not, you'll be able to hear the audio [e-mail] and iTunes for free. It's always cool though, because I get so many requests. Steve, when are you going to take your podcast to video? Want to see what you guys are talking about. So anyway, this thing's live, it's on the network. If you ain't got the network, it's a damn good reason to subscribe. I'll be talking to some very interesting cats in the next few coming months and my schedule is busy as hell. We're about to go into production on the Broken Skull Challenge here in just a few days. The baddest, toughest, coolest show on television is on channel327 on DirecTV. And that's country Music Television. I've been looking at some of the casting reels that they've been sending me in the email. Some of the cats, some of the guys and gals that are coming out there, and man, we got some badass looking people over there. It just seems like the, the competition is escalating. It's getting better because of the word on the street, the awareness of the Broken Skull Challenge and it keeps growing and the athletes are getting better. So I'm looking forward to getting out there in the in the desert mountains and filming this thing. And I got a brand new badass bigger camper out there. And this son of a gun has some badass Internet speed in it. Last time we were filming, I had so much of headaches, hassles and horse manure trying to send my show that it was absolutely beyond calamity. I went into the town of Alguidoce, went to the hardware store, befriended the lady that owned the hardware store, logged onto their wifi and sent some of my shows. Sometimes I went down to the restaurant there in town, got on their system and downloaded the show. Took to Stacy over at Podcast One in Beverly Hills. Sometimes I went to a dude that was helping run the show. He had rented a house out there and I went over to his house to download the show. It was complete and utter Jerry rigging to the absolute highest standard. So hopefully they got my Internet lined out so that I never have to leave the broken skull compound the entire time we're filming. Except when I go home on Fridays. And Hershey the Wonder Dog is looking forward to getting out there. She goes out there with me every single year. And we do our same schedule every single day. Get up early in the morning, go on a little walk, drink our coffee, maybe get half of a workout in, look over my notes and then boom, we start working. Sunup, damn near to sundown. We do that over and over again. Go home on the weekends we and go back on Sunday evening so I ain't got to mess with Monday traffic. All that's coming on here within the next week. And while I'm out there, got to continue the podcast, probably go back to doing a lot of Q&As. If I can do some Skype interviews out there, whatever I've got to do to deliver two cans of audio, whoop ass, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Because come rain, sleet, snow, shine, this job, that job, any job, I, I got to be able to turn in my show, to podcast one, to be able to uphold my commitment, first of all to podcast1.com on a contract level. But to you, the people that I do this podcast for, to download two episodes each week for free for your entertainment as you drive to from at work, whatever you do, I appreciate the fact that you listen to the show. Yep, like I said folks, I got Sam Roberts coming up. Sam is a unique individual and I've been knowing Sam for a couple of years now. Done lots of interviews with him, seen him all over the WWE program. He's a really smart cat. I've always enjoyed talking to him. It was great of him to come out here. And I played the Unleashed podcast first, which was actually the second interview we did. We're going to play this family friendly podcast where Sam talks about getting his start in radio and a little bit of his story. And hell, man, Sam has kicked ass. He's doing his show five times a week now there SiriusXM right there in New York City and does his podcast once a week. And he came out here, tried to get some content and I tell you what, we did that first show and I said, hey man, you want to do another one? It's still kind of early and he didn't say anything about wanting to do his show. So, man, again, y' all heard that Cam, we opened up last Thursday, so we did this one first and then he hits me with, hey man, you want to do my show now? I was like, dude, I wish you'd have said that a long time ago because we wouldn't have wasted all this time talking about my show. So anyway, it's always good to help a brother out and I got a lot of respect for Sam and all the WWE Superstars when I get a chance to sit down with him. I always enjoy talking to him because he's a long time, real deal, holy Phil fan who really loves the business. So it was great to have him here at the house. And Sam ended up taking the stairs after his visit here. He walked down the stairs. I didn't throw his ass through the window, didn't throw his ass down the stairs. He walked under his own power. That's how merciful I was on Sam Roberts. He came up to 316 Gimmick street with his buddy, we opened up a couple of cans of audio whoop ass and the man walked out and probably promptly jumped in the car and hit a KFC or Popeyes or went down and got a Double cheeseburger at McDonalds. I don't know what they did, but they was here and it was a good time. And you guys are about to hear that conversation. I tell you what, I'm sitting here on this Sunday afternoon and I keep checking my email and I keep wondering, man, when are they going to send my itinerary for my flight tomorrow to San Antonio, Texas and, and I ain't got it yet. And it's about 3:30 as I record this. So I'd really like to know what time my flight is so I can get up in the morning, get all gussied up and get on the damn plane. If I miss my flight, that ain't going to be good news because people are going to be expecting to see me and Paul Heyman talking on the Stone Cold podcast on the WWE Network. So I hope somebody wakes up and smells a coffee and sends a brother itinerary so I know what flight I'm getting on and when I'm getting there. And here's the thing. I'm going to San Antonio, Texas. I used to live in San Antonio in the outlying area of Bernie, that whole area for about 15 years. And man, I love the hill country. I love the city of San Antonio. And the Broken Skull ranch is only 75 miles away. I'm within striking distance of the BSR and it's been raining so damn much. Old Ted Fowler, 361 went down there just a few days ago and checked on everything. So what I was going to do was try to get down there to the ranch and make a lap, look at everything, make sure the fences were still there, the houses didn't get washed away, see what was going on. But Ted Fowler was able to go down there and give me a complete report of everything that happened out there. No leaks on the houses, everything's cool, the water system is cool, all the fences are still up. The place is probably about halfway underwater. Every tank, every water pond on the place is fuller than it's ever been before. Parts of that ranch are holding water that have never held water before. So we were incredibly fortunate to get the amount of rainfall we got without encouraging any damage. This has been going on now for a few weeks, but I really feel for the people there in Houston, Texas, in Dallas, I mean, people up there in Oklahoma, a lot of people lost their livelihoods, their houses and their lives with all the flash floods that went on. So I was very fortunate. We really needed the rain, but it came down so fast, so hard that a lot of people met with devastation. So, man, my thoughts really go out to you because that rain really kicked a lot of ass and it was water that we needed with the drought that we've been in. But the fact that it came down so hard and heavy really messed a lot of people up. So for you guys out there that are still trying to recover from the Steve Austin show, please keep your head up and I wish you the best. Sorry for all the damage that the rains have caused. It was much needed rain, but again, it sure came down fast and it came down hard. There's a couple of guys sending out some, some messages on Twitter and kind of rubbed me the wrong way as it did a lot of other people and don't really understand the devastation until you get down there and look at how it really impacted people and killed people. So anyway, let me jump off all that before I jump off on a tangent and start cussing somebody out. I'm going to roll on with the show today. Like I said, I got Sam Roberts. It's a whole different conversation than you heard last Thursday. And we're going to be talking about nxt, a little bit about Finn Balor, some Japan style wrestling, how Sam became such a fan himself.

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[Steve Austin]

We're just dim lights here at the studios at 316 chemistry. I'm sitting with Sam Roberts, everybody. We're gonna do family friendly today. I know how you'd like to go off the rail and cuss Sam, but we're gonna try to keep it family friendly today. Is that you? Are you down with that?

[Sam Roberts]

I can't make any promises, but I'll try. Okay, I'll put in the sensor feature.

[Steve Austin]

In my brain as you hear in the studio, as you look out across the courtyard, see how peaceful and serene that is?

[Sam Roberts]

Thank you.

[Steve Austin]

That's complete BS because we're sitting in my office here at the house and that's actually my front yard. Go ahead and buy some time for me what you're doing here in la as I go let Hershey through the sliding doors from China. Right There you go. Find out, Sam, because you and I have talked before on many occasions, everywhere we've been, whether it's at WWE events or over at your studios in New York, you're no stranger to being able to fill some microphone time. So this is the least professional podcast you will ever do. And we're going to talk about your podcast in this conversation. And before I go, open the sliding doors from China and let Hershey the wonder Dog in. Dude, I just figured we'd just shoot the breeze interview, we'll talk about the business of pro wrestling You've been a fan for a long time, and the things you got going in New York. Fix to do some things with your radio gig and talk about the Sam Roberts podcast.

[Sam Roberts]

Let's do it.

[Steve Austin]

I'm intrigued.

[Sam Roberts]

I'll give in to your intrigueness. I don't know if Intrigue Nation is a word.

[Steve Austin]

It is. We just hashtag Intrigue Nation. I wish this was unleashed, but it ain't.

[Sam Roberts]

It is.

[Steve Austin]

So what are you doing here?

[Sam Roberts]

Well, I'm out in LA for, like, three days. Obviously, I live in New York, but I came out for three days number one, because I had to see where 316 Gimmick street was for the very first time. But I'm thinking about it. I think it's great. I got to see your amazing organic yard where all the Steve Austin. The organic line of Steve Austin food comes from.

[Steve Austin]

You saw those tomato plants out there. Pretty soon, that's gonna be salsa making money up in this mug, Sam.

[Sam Roberts]

That's it. You gotta do it.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. You gotta find the money wherever you can find it.

[Sam Roberts]

Once Whole Foods has Steve Austin salsa on the shelves, I'm gonna know exactly the Garden of Eden that it came from.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, you'll know the Garden of Eden that it came from. But I can't give up my secret recipe. Tricks of the trade. And we're gonna talk trade secrets. Could a lot of guys from the business of pro wrestling?

[Sam Roberts]

Absolutely.

[Steve Austin]

I was on your website, not sam.com.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Checking out some of the people that you've been talking to. One of them just popped up because he has a picture front and center. Was Sean Waltman. Xbox. Yes. Man, what a super nice cat that guy is. Did you have a good time talking to him? What'd y' all talk about?

[Sam Roberts]

I love him. I've known him for a few years now. He's one of the sweetest dudes of anybody in the business I've spoken to. He's one of the sweetest guys, but he's also one of these guys that I know. I don't need to think about it. I know Xbox coming in tomorrow. That literally that interview I was texting the night before, because he goes, hey, Sam, I'm in New York in the city. Why don't I come up to the studio? It's like, yep, come up. I don't have to prep. I don't have to do anything. All I have to do is sit down. And X Pac is. He's been through so much, and he's so honest about everything. He's been through. He's got no shame about any of it. He's like, yep, this is exactly what happened.

[Steve Austin]

And pretty much, you know, if he figures, I think, you know, if he can help somebody down the road or help somebody learn a life lesson, because he's traveled down that road, been there, done that, and come out on the other side. Yeah, he likes your story, and that was great.

[Sam Roberts]

That's what was great about all the YouTube comments, was most of them were like, you know, complimenting X Pac on his strength, telling the story. And also, it does help people to be like, yeah, I can get through what I'm getting through. Because he got through the craziest stuff that you could imagine.

[Steve Austin]

Did y' all ever talk anything about just in depth wrestling stuff, knowledge or booking strategies and anything like that? Because seemed like a lot of the guys from many Minnesota, just for some reason. Have you ever got a chance to spend any time with Scott hall and talk to him about the business A little bit? You ever get inside his head? I mean, dude is so bright with respect to the business and working. I used to travel with Rick Rude many, many miles up and down the road. And of course, once we got in that car, that's how we talk about the business. Henning was the same way, but Sean just has an interesting perspective on the business.

[Sam Roberts]

Well, it's interesting with him because he's so in tune with what's going on now. He still cares about the business. I get a text from him every now and then, just randomly commenting on something that he just saw on Raw. Here's what they should have done. Here's what they're doing. Right? Here's what they need to do. Do you think it's because of the way they came up in Minnesota or just geographically that just breeds wrestling brains?

[Steve Austin]

I don't know. I just think it was maybe a little bit of a coincidence. You know, obviously with Kurt Henning's background and the fact that, you know, Scott was in the business so long before, you know, he turned into Razor. I mean, he just. He'd been immersed in the business forever. But I don't know, for whatever reason is those guys just seem to have a hand on what's going on just as far as psychology, percentages of the match, just different ways to get over and just all kinds of different stuff just within the psychology of a match. You grew up in New York?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, in Westchester, New York.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. Now, dude, how old are you?

[Sam Roberts]

I'm 31.

[Steve Austin]

Okay, so in your illustrious 31 years of life, what is A predominant wrestling federation or organization territory that you really dug. I mean, I'm. I'm guessing you're going to save wwe.

[Sam Roberts]

It was. It was WWF wwe. You know, I checked out what was going on in WCW always just because it was one of those wrestling fan.

[Steve Austin]

I mean, did you catch a hotbed of the Monday night.

[Sam Roberts]

Oh, yeah, yeah. The Monday night wars.

[Steve Austin]

I was investing 18, 20.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, well, no, I was even younger than that. I mean, it was probably like 15. I was in high school. Is the perfect age for the Monday night wars to be going on.

[Steve Austin]

What do you think about that? You grew up watching, watching the business. Now of a sudden, these two. I mean, there's two gangs. Yeah, was going at it and everything. But the kitchen sink playing with knives and guns and everything. And so the wrestling fans were the real beneficiaries of that.

[Sam Roberts]

Especially because both shows, when it got to the point at first WCW was just throwing stuff out going, we're gonna make the coolest show on television. And WWF or WWE was going, we're just gonna do what we've always done. They weren't competing almost. And I'm sitting there as a WWE WWF fan going, like, how am I supposed to watch Aldo Montoya when the NWO is on? Once WWF WWE started going, okay, we're going balls to the wall. Like, wait till you see this. Then it was like, oh my God. People competing to put on the coolest show on television.

[Steve Austin]

And that's, with all due respect to Aldo Montoya, just incredible. I mean, great, great dude, but character wise. Character wise, yeah. Super guy. I love.

[Sam Roberts]

And once he got to ecw.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

And you watch, just incredible. That's a guy who always locked into. Because he got to be just incredible.

[Steve Austin]

And I've enjoyed his stuff on YouTube. He does some kind of, you know, tutorial type things. Some of his tips and dudes way, way wise beyond his years and a guy who, you know, got a couple of swings at it and didn't pan out so much in wwe. But it's a great hand in the ring. I really enjoyed working with him in my early days in the wwf. You know, I got a chance to work a real string of dates with PJ and had an absolute blessed. And we didn't mean to disrespect him by any stretch of the imagination.

[Sam Roberts]

How does the guy like that, like when you're working with him, how does a guy like that knowing what he's capable of? Because like I said, I was also a huge ECW fan.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

And so I was the biggest Justin Credible fan. How does a guy like that cope with being stuck into a character like Aldo Montoya?

[Steve Austin]

Man, I don't know. I think it's, you know, when you get stuck with that gig in the federation as it was back then, and you're still pretty young in the business, it's like, dude, this is it. This is what we got for you. You either do it or you don't, and you don't have any leverage. And so it is what it is. You know, the thing came about my situation. You know, I'd been studying Steve for six, seven years. All of a sudden, get that phone call, ringmaster. I did it for six months, and then I saw the writing on the wall was going to be nowhere. And so, because I had that seven and a half years behind me, I knew I had to make a change. And so I was able to. And it wasn't like it was a leverage play because it didn't really have any leverage. But the fact that the gimmick was going nowhere. Vince knew that the gimmick was going nowhere. There weren't any designs for me to be this big star. I came up with this name, and it was almost like, I'm sure Vince was thinking, kind of sounds goofy or crazy to me, but, you know, the ringmaster ain't really ringing it up for us. No pun intended, so go for it. And they gave me the blessings, trademarked the name, and we went off to the races.

[Sam Roberts]

But that's also a thing for you. You weren't a young guy in the business. You done a full run. Ecw. You stopped by, ecw. And by that time, you don't have anything to lose. You go, I have to change this or I'm done.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, you know, it's like I always tell people, you know, some people say, you know, hey, did you. Did you ever expect to return to this? I didn't really expect to turn anything. I mean, I just want to be a pro wrestler. Yeah, well, all of a sudden, you get in it for a while and you see, you know, what other guys are doing and what the top's like, you know, being a pro wrestler is not enough. You want to be that guy. And I just knew that being a ringmaster wasn't going to get me to that place.

[Sam Roberts]

You're not going to get that pretty got milk poster as the ringmaster.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, man, I tell you what, here's the thing. When you people out there were sitting in my office and there's no wrestling memorabilia around other than the milk picture that Sam pointed out, I want it to look like we've got Mark central over here, and this is a stone cold museum. Over there is a stack of wrestling books that I'm working on reading. But God dang, I forgot the point I was trying to make, what we're talking about. I was going to give you the backstory behind the milk poster, right? I was going through a bad divorce at the time. Sam hadn't touched a weight in a couple of weeks, and they want to do this milk campaign, you know, the Got Milk deal. And so Annie Leibowitz, the very famous photographer, she's wonderful. We're sitting there trying to do the gig, you know, I'm feeling like, you know, my mind's a million miles away. I look kind of like crap. We got the mustache, the milk mustache going, and I got the one thing of milk. Well, Annie was so smart. She says, give him two glasses of milk. Because I don't think prior to this picture anybody had used two glasses of milk. It was always a single, right? What she did, Sam, in that picture covered up my love handles. Look at the picture.

[Sam Roberts]

You're right. See, like, as a wrestling fan, I'm sitting there going, okay, the photographer must. He does two cans of beers. He smashes them together.

[Steve Austin]

She just did that. I mean, just, I think, really to cover my ass. And you see, I got a little bit of seashell over the six pack there, so I'm not in terrible shape. I got down, did a bunch of push ups. But it was her being so smart to bring those two glasses in rather than one and save me. That's the story. And that story has never been told, but that's the genius and a real simple form of the genius of Anna Leibowitz.

[Sam Roberts]

And that poster is not a piece of wrestling memorabilia. It's a memory of Annie Leibowitz going out of her way to stay, save.

[Steve Austin]

Try to save a future global icon and national treasure. Swig of vitamin D for the working men and women all over the world. Sam, you're a big wrestling fan. What got you entrenched in the business? Were you flipping channels? All of a sudden you say, holy smokes, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[Sam Roberts]

I don't even. It's one of those things where I don't remember a time in my life where I wasn't watching pro wrestling. The story goes, when I was an infant, my older sister, as a what, as a 4 year old or 5 year old, was watching wrestling. This would have been 85, 86. And as a baby, I was sitting there watching it, and then it just kind of like as a toddler, I'm watching it, and then it just was always on. And once I started developing conscious memories, wrestling was there.

[Steve Austin]

What are some of the strongest storylines or angles or some of the key players that jump out in your memory.

[Sam Roberts]

As like a kid? Like the.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. And up till now, just some of the. Some of the premier moments that you remember. Well, as highlights or things that I'll.

[Sam Roberts]

Never forget that I know that I think the storyline that really got me in. It's probably seven years old or so. Six. Seven years old. Was watching Hogan and slaughter of all gimmicks like that. Desert War was great feud as. Even as a kid, I'm going, wait, they're talking about that on the news and they're doing it in wrestling, too. I gotta see what goes on here. America can't lose. At WrestleMania, Macho Man, Randy Savage was my first favorite wrestler. He was a guy that I really glommed onto. I don't know if it was the. If it was the outfits. I don't know if it was. If I don't think at that age I could fully process how good he was in ring, but just. He always had something entertaining to say. He always looked entertaining. And as a kid, I said, that's the guy.

[Steve Austin]

Okay, stop you right there before you continue with the rest of the people and some of the angles that you really dug. But now that you're 31 and all these years are moved and, you know, Macho man attracted you to his Persona and everything he was doing. Did you ever go back and research the work that he did in the USWA when he was feuding with Lawler and some of those matches? Because, I mean, he was doing it back then, didn't take it to the level, but he was already the consummate worker. And that intensity. The thing about Macho was the intensity. And a lot of guys listen to this. If you listen to this and you're working in the ring, don't mistake intensity for speed and rushing things. It was just the intent, the way he presented himself. And that was one of the things that resonated with me. He was just like, he had that mean streak as a heel, he had that fire as a baby face, but it was always the intensity.

[Sam Roberts]

And you believed everything he was doing. You believed it. You believed it. Yeah. And you could see. See what he was doing. Yeah. I mean, I did get to go back and research. That was probably. I'm Gonna shock you. I think I didn't date a lot in high school. I wasn't the captain of the football team.

[Steve Austin]

I thought you would like a Casanova.

[Sam Roberts]

No, no, that came much later.

[Steve Austin]

Okay.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, but I was a tape trader. So it was high school when I started tape trading like crazy. And I still have quite literally thousands of in my parents house just stacked up in boxes. Because that's when I started, I fell in love with World Class. I started going through the USWA stuff because I just started getting fascinated in this story. For instance, Macho man, or whoever it was that's been told to us is not the whole story. Like, let me go back. Like look at all the hours of footage, matches on matches with Hogan and Macho and Andre. Some Steve Austin stuff that you just go back and you don't even realize it exists unless you really hunt for it.

[Steve Austin]

Back then what'd you think about the World Class stuff?

[Sam Roberts]

That was the territory. I started going back and really trying to figure out the territory system when I was in high school and get my head around it and watched all the TV shows and watched the Florida Championship and the Mid south and all this stuff. But World Class was the show that I go. This was so far ahead of its time and I don't think it ever gets enough credit.

[Steve Austin]

You got a chance to see the Texas Tornado. Carrie Von Erich, when he came to wwf, what you saw was a shell of what he was because. Because at that time he'd already had a motorcycle accident. He's working with the prosthetic foot. Tried to keep that on the down low for so many years and was successful doing it. And then things had kind of spiraled out of control for him and he just wasn't the same in the ring. But you got to understand, man, if you were in Texas and if you go back and you watch those tapes and man, I was in college and I was in North Texas State in 86 and 87. That was still good. Then it was even better maybe a year or two or three before that, you know, when I got in 88, 89, that's when things kind of started falling apart. And by then a couple of them already died. But man, those Von Erichs, when they were all around and they were in their prime, I mean they were the biggest rock stars in the state of Texas. And in saying that, I mean, if you didn't know them, I mean, they were so special. It was just an unbelievable time to see the Persona of those guys. And I'll tell you what, Being in that sportatorium, it smelled like beer and piss and popcorn and sweat and stanchion was the perfect atmosphere for wrestling. I don't know what seated three, 4,000, maybe five. And all of a sudden, man, they hit Stranglehold and here comes Kevin or they'd hit modern day Warrior. Here comes Kerry and the place just come unglued.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I mean going back on those tapes because I remember when Texas Tornado showed up, even as a kid I was thinking to myself, why is this guy such a big deal? Why is anybody making such a huge deal out of him? And I was like, he's alright. He kind of looks like a light ultimate warrior, you know what I mean? He's not quite. And so and forever I was like, okay, he's just some, some guy that they thought was going to be a big deal and wasn't. Then I go back and look at these world class tapes and when the Von Erichs walked into the sportatorium, it's the Beatles. I mean it's, it's, it's. And it's every week it's, it's the Von Ericsson, the Freebirds in some way shape or form. And for week after week after week after week it just works.

[Steve Austin]

They're going to have WrestleMania 32 in Dallas, Texas this coming year.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

And if Michael Hayes and the Freebirds don't go into the hall of Fame this year, I'm gonna throw a full fledged riot.

[Sam Roberts]

You're gonna be the guy.

[Steve Austin]

Are you a fan of the Freebirds? I mean, do you understand their impact on the business?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I mean you talk about ahead of their time. That was such a big part of why world class is so far ahead of its time. With the music and the character and the just larger than life everything.

[Steve Austin]

I can't even remember what a ticket used to call Sam. Cause I'd go down on Friday nights to watch the live show and then I'd go back on Saturday mornings and watch the TV tapes which came out on KTVT that night, on Saturday night. And man, I tell you what, Michael Hayes, you know, primping down to the damn ring with the music blaring. He'd have that rebel flag, red sequin robe and he got on that second turnbuckle and started doing all his Free Bird stuff. I mean, dude, that was worth the price, the ticket. Just watching him make an entrance. Heaven forbid, he ain't even work yet. And Michael wasn't the classical worker that's going to tell you a scientific story. You're Going to either love him as a baby face because he's talking that trash and backing it up, or you go hate him because he's talking that trash and getting heat.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah. And that's why he was so good as a heel, because I feel like he had the problem that a lot of the guys like in NXT have now that he's so cool that you want to cheer for him, so he's got to work extra hard.

[Steve Austin]

But the thing about it is, when he came time to get the heat, here's what I tell a lot of people when I'm trying to talk to them about getting heat in the ring, he had the ability to do it. Adrian Adonis had the ability to do it. Ric Flair did it. When the heat turned and when it came time to really get dirty and Flair turned into the dirtiest player in the game. But Adrian, his whole body language changed. Michael P.S. hayes come down to get the heat. Everything about him changed. He was a piece of trash, and that's what I really respected about what those guys were doing. And of course, you know, guy could talk a blue streak all day long.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, it's funny with Flair that you mentioned Flair, because I was talking about being such a wwe, WWF guy. I was living in England for a while when I was a kid, for four years. So we didn't have WCW TV. I didn't start watching WCW until 93. So all I knew was the wrestling magazines and WWF TV. That's all I knew. So 91, Bobby Heenan starts showing the, you know, the NWA title on TV. And he said, this belongs to the real world champion. And I'm going, I've never seen that belt before. I didn't know what it was, but I'm so excited. Who is the real world champion? I can't wait for the reveal. Ric Flair gets revealed. I must have been seven, eight years old. And I go, who the hell is that guy? I have no idea who Ric Flair was. I was seven or eight years old.

[Steve Austin]

Okay, okay, well, not a clue.

[Sam Roberts]

Not a clue.

[Steve Austin]

That's an okay question. I mean, that's an okay thing to say then, if you're saying seven or eight.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

So then I cut you off right in the middle. You talking about some of your WWE people. Let's go back to Ric Flair, because me and I've had Rick on the podcast many times. Many people know that Ric Flair is my favorite professional wrestler in the world. I just think when you put the dictionary on pro wrestler, there's a picture of Ric Flair and that's with all due respect to the Harley racers, the Terry Funks and, you know, Stan Hansen's and the Bruiser Brodies and all the guys that I really. Dusty Rhodes, that put up there, but he's just that guy. Did you catch any of his work in the nwa? Did you go back and watch all that cataloger stuff?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I absolutely went back. Especially all the Dusty stuff.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

I mean. Yeah. When. Yeah, you have to go back to really appreciate it. And that's the way I've always been. Like, I gotta. Okay. If there's enough people talking about this, let me figure out what I missed. And watching him going back, all the Dusty stuff, all the sort of really early Horseman stuff, just incredible. He's one of the guys. Flair Macho Man. There's only a real few people that I can play promos of for non wrestling fans. Like if I find a non wrestling fan. Dusty, you can't. Yeah, Dusty, you can't tell me this isn't entertainment, Right? I put on Flair. Dusty Macho Superstars.

[Steve Austin]

Another guy.

[Sam Roberts]

But the. Yeah, Superstar Billy Graham or Stone Cold. You play the old Stone Cold stuff and it still holds up.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, Superstar Billy Graham.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah. Yeah. But that's again, that's when I was to go back and sort of figure out what the big deal was. And then once you watch superstar Billy Graham, I start realizing all these people that I watched as a kid, we're just doing Superstar.

[Steve Austin]

Right? Well, I mean, Hogan was, Ventura was. Steiner was. Yeah, a couple of the guys that aren't coming to my mind right now. So. Okay, you grew up as fan.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

You watched World Class. You watched a lot of the territory stuff. Did you check out Mid south and Power Pro from Bill Watts?

[Sam Roberts]

I. Some of the Mid south stuff.

[Steve Austin]

Okay.

[Sam Roberts]

Not a ton of it. Yeah, some of it.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. And you have an appreciation for the old school. You were right there. Live in a living color, younger cat, but you know, 15, 16 and attitude era. Or the Monday Night Wars.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. And now, right now you're seeing a lot of wrestling. And we've got what we got going on today on tv. It's a three hour show. How do you assess today's product versus, you know, 15 years ago and to the stuff that you grew up on?

[Sam Roberts]

I think. I mean, as a fan.

[Steve Austin]

A total fan.

[Sam Roberts]

As a total fan, you know, I'm a loyal. I'm the type of guy, though, that gives the benefit of the doubt probably too much. I go, wait, let's see where they're going with this. Let's see where they're going with this. And more often than not, it goes. They didn't even know where they were going with that. They weren't going anywhere with this. But I think that there is still moments of there it was there. I think they're doing better now with the moments that pop up like that, like Brock beating the Undertaker. You go, whoa. Like there's this moment that just captures everybody. I think they're doing better now with that than they ever were. But in terms of the week to week when I would sit there and turn on Raw, that feeling of I don't know what's gonna happen, but I guarantee I'm gonna be glued to the tv. I don't have that feeling.

[Steve Austin]

Right?

[Sam Roberts]

It's not. It's not.

[Steve Austin]

Don't you, don't you think. I mean, you can't go back and try to change the business. You really don't have to change. It's not about changing the business. It's not about going back to the attitude. Aaron. It's not like taking the filter off, the language, but it's just the spontaneity. You just felt that urge, that sense of urgency. I mean, man, back in the day, if you go back to that Raw, open coal, open, whatever they call it, all the pyro going off. They said pyro, but I mean, it was like, it was like warfare and it was always war and it was presented like that. It was fast paced. It felt the adrenaline and the testosterone behind it. And it was a two hour show, but there was a sense of urgency. And like you said, you didn't know what the hell was going to happen.

[Sam Roberts]

And the audience is on top of the ring. There's signs everywhere, People just piled in. I also think that, however, you know, I'm not backstage guy, I don't know what's going on. But I think that when you watch the attitude era stuff, you see this sort of thing where guys were going out and just. It felt like they had figured something out and they were putting everything into it. Not everybody but the top guys were. It didn't feel like somebody had created a character for them and they were going out and doing this. It felt like, okay, I know what I'm doing here. I'm gonna go make this work because nobody is going to do it for me. I'm going to make this work. And I don't feel, when I'm watching now, with a very minor exception of maybe a few instances or guys, I don't feel like people are going out there and saying, forget what they gave me. I'm going to make good TV tonight. I'm going to make this work. I'm going to get this over or, you know, I've got. This is the idea, this is what I'm going out there to do.

[Steve Austin]

You being such a hardcore wrestling fan and myself as well, well. And you're busy as hell with all the stuff that you're doing and we'll talk about that here in just a second. But it's three hours. Just biting off a little too much on a week in, week out basis. Three hours plus spade a spade, Sam.

[Sam Roberts]

Five hours of tv. I think it is too much and I think it gets to the point where especially when you're. I don't feel like they're creating a ton of different stories that they're telling. They're still kind of concentrating on one main event story and the rest is kind of filler at points. I don't watch it in the full three hours now. I have to wake up early and do morning radio, but I watch an hour and a half, maybe two next morning, next afternoon, come back and sometimes I'll start the show at 8:30, start it recording. That way I can fast forward through the commercials, I can fast forward through a couple of moments, whatever, but I rarely sit down and watch the full three hours live.

[Steve Austin]

So you dvr, dvr, fast forward and go through the stuff.

[Sam Roberts]

And then, you know, I'm not staying up until 11, 11:30 because I can't because I got be up at 4 o' clock in the morning.

[Steve Austin]

But, but you try to. But do you at least try to watch the entire program?

[Sam Roberts]

I always watch.

[Steve Austin]

You talk to a lot of guys in the business. Yeah. Podcasts are centered around.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I always watch the entire show. I think I like to know what's going on and I don't like to. I don't like it when people say it's too long. I don't watch it. Well, if you don't watch it, how you know it's too long? Right. What if you're missing something?

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

So.

[Steve Austin]

Well, I watch it. It's too long. There you go. I understand. You know, USA won the third hour. You know, there's, there's money in it and so they're taking the money and I get all the business dynamics. So I don't want to sit there and beat a dead horse.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

But let's talk about your podcast because it's, it's a Sam Roberts wrestling podcast.

[Sam Roberts]

Right.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. So dude, you, you're, you're. I like your website. Professional broadcaster.

[Sam Roberts]

That's right.

[Steve Austin]

Did you go to broadcast school?

[Sam Roberts]

I went to Syracuse and they have a broadcasting school. I didn't go to it, but people assume that I did. I have a sociology major, of all things.

[Steve Austin]

What in the hell are you going.

[Sam Roberts]

To do with that, with a sociology major? Get out of school as quick as possible so I can work in radio.

[Steve Austin]

I was, well, why not do, why not take the radio class or communications or whatever?

[Sam Roberts]

Syracuse has Newhouse and it's like the top communication school in the country. All you have to do to get into Newhouse. When you're in Syracuse, if you're in like the College of Arts and Science, which is the sort of catch all school, all you have to do Is have a 3.5 GPA and they'll let you transfer into Newhouse. I've never been able to concentrate on anything I wasn't into. So a 3.5 GPA was way out of the realm of possibility. So it wasn't happening. So I didn't want, I didn't want to sit there and study a whole bunch of stuff that I didn't want and I didn't care about just to get this 3.5 just to get into the school. So I figured out what major I could get and then just spent all my time in the college radio station. Figured it out?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, you know, saying, listen to you talk. I just figured, man, you like a rocket scientist. You probably rocking that four zero. So not, not so much.

[Sam Roberts]

Not even close, really. Yeah, I'm a solid C student.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

Unless I was into the class. Well, like in high school, we had an entrepreneurship class and I just found out about it. Somebody said, you know, there's a class in this high school that'll give you $50 and you go and you use it to start a business. And then whoever has the best business gets like $200 at the end of the semester. And I go, they give you $50. And they go, yeah. And I go, you don't have to pay it back. No signing up for that.

[Steve Austin]

You're like one of the boys.

[Sam Roberts]

I figure at the worst case scenario, I'm getting 50 bucks, right. Which nobody don't have to pay back.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

And so that class, like, you know, it wasn't rocket science. I just went, I got the 50 bucks. I bought a whole bunch of candy with it at the Price Club, then sold the candy in school and ended up making, you know, a few hundred bucks a week selling candy that class I got an A in because my business was better than anybody else's because I could make some money. But you know, all the sciences and the maths and the. I. It just wasn't. It never clicked.

[Steve Austin]

So you end up getting a degree?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I got a sociology degree. And that was because.

[Steve Austin]

What about physical education? We could have been anything. I mean.

[Sam Roberts]

But what happened was you were just.

[Steve Austin]

Gonna take the degree. Did you need a piece of paper to get in radio? Why didn't you jump in ready off the get go?

[Sam Roberts]

Because my dad said I couldn't live at home for free if I didn't graduate college.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, I can dig that.

[Sam Roberts]

That's a business.

[Steve Austin]

And that being said, I mean, I stopped college at 17 hours before I got my degree and was a business major. Math and accounting killed me. So I transferred to PE and I could apply myself to anatomy, physiology and kinesiology because you can see it, touch it and understand it. I don't have a math brain, don't get me wrong. I can add, subtract, multiply and divide. But you know, I've done too many research papers. And I just figured, man, you know, I ain't going to use this degree. So I got out. But I always stress to the younger generation, if you're in high school right now, you need your diploma. Once you get out, you go to trade school, some vocational deal, learn how to weld, turn into a mechanic, go to one of those institutes or go to college, get your damn degree. That piece of paper will open a lot of damn doors for you.

[Sam Roberts]

And that's what I figured. Just saying I graduated from Syracuse is something. So that's what I did. It was literally just right before my senior year, looking through that course book. What have I taken, what can I pull off here? What major can I put together, like. And I had the most sociology credits of anything.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

Sociology wins. Yeah, that's what I could throw together at the last year. And I did it.

[Steve Austin]

So what kind of kid were you in high school? Popular kid.

[Sam Roberts]

I mean. Yeah, I was popular enough. Like, you know, I mean, you talk a lot.

[Steve Austin]

You're on the radio. Turn it to a broadcast or something. You probably just talk like run your.

[Sam Roberts]

Mouth jokes a lot, Ray. In my mouth, we're the class clown. Or somewhat. Yeah. Friends with all the big kids so I wouldn't get beaten up.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. Smart.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah. And that was it. Yeah, I just. I just kind of.

[Steve Austin]

I got bored a lot now, so. You knew you want to be on radio?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I knew I wanted to Broadcast.

[Steve Austin]

I mean, when you say broadcast on television or on radio, whatever works.

[Sam Roberts]

Okay, I'll figure it out when I get there.

[Steve Austin]

Gotcha. Now, why did you want to do this? What was spurring you to. I gotta be a broadcaster.

[Sam Roberts]

Well, I probably like 14, 15 years old. And I said, I got to figure out how I can just be myself and make a living doing it. And pro wrestling isn't gonna work for me. So, you know, I don't have, I don't have the anatomy to be a professional wrestler.

[Steve Austin]

So what could have got you all gassed up back in another era, we could have a future.

[Sam Roberts]

That's true.

[Steve Austin]

Go ahead.

[Sam Roberts]

And I said, okay. All I want to do is be.

[Steve Austin]

Just for the records, I want to say Sam Roberts took a urine test and passed the flying guy. He is not on any performance enhancing drugs as we do this podcast. If something happens afterwards, that's on Sam.

[Sam Roberts]

You want to talk about performance enhancing drugs? This is legit. I spent three years on human growth hormone growing up.

[Steve Austin]

Did you?

[Sam Roberts]

I was a scrawny kid. I was not five feet tall. And you know, we went to a doctor, tried to figure like, why is he so small? The doctor said, look, we have human growth hormone. We can put him on.

[Steve Austin]

Yep.

[Sam Roberts]

If we don't, he's may not past 5 foot tall. And I said, mom, no brainer. You got to do this. And so, yeah, I spent, I spent three, four years like as a 13, 14 year old.

[Steve Austin]

So how tall did you end up being?

[Sam Roberts]

I'm five, almost five ten.

[Steve Austin]

I call him five, five ten. He's six, six Fourth of fro.

[Sam Roberts]

That's right.

[Steve Austin]

You let that thing get out of control, right? Yeah, but for medical uses, I dig that. Yeah. So that was a reason you wasn't doing, to get all yoked up, you know, how's your drop kick ever since you got 270, not so much. So tell me about the. The radio gig with Obie and Anthony turning your own show.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, well, I started with hours.

[Steve Austin]

I got it all written down here, but I didn't turn my computer on.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I started with Obie and Anthony. It's a morning show. It's ungodly hour. I'm up at 4 o' clock every morning heading into the city, producing the morning.

[Steve Austin]

How far you got driving to the city?

[Sam Roberts]

It's about a half hour.

[Steve Austin]

It's not bad.

[Sam Roberts]

Especially, you know, at that hour there's no traffic. But I'm on the air with. I was on the air with them. Anthony got fired about a year Ago. Right. Tweeting too much. But at that point, we had to kind of relaunch the show.

[Steve Austin]

Re.

[Sam Roberts]

Figure it out with just Opie. We did. And it's, you know, it's still doing its thing, but I've been there for almost 10 years, from the time I entered to now as, you know, executive producer on air guy. There's. And I'm finally getting a shot to take my weekly show that I do for their channel on Friday afternoons as we speak. Hope. I don't know when the podcast is going out, but possibly by the time the podcast goes out, I'll be on every day.

[Steve Austin]

So you look forward to going every day?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah. This is what the whole thing.

[Steve Austin]

Obviously now it's gonna be a jump up in pay grade, right?

[Sam Roberts]

It better be.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. I mean.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, we're negotiating. Yeah, yeah. And it's. But this is what the whole thing has been leaning towards. Like, you know, I've been doing shows the whole time I've been there. But I started the first shift I had was Saturday. Every other one Saturday a month from midnight to 3:00am Right. Then they would give me 9:00pm Then they would give me two Saturdays a month, and they would give me every Saturday. Then they give me Sunday afternoon. And you keep working and plugging and plugging and plugging, going through co host after co host till finally. All right, let's try you on Friday afternoons drive time, which is. And then, you know, a year later.

[Steve Austin]

All right, let's tell them about that jump to drive time and the pressure. Right?

[Sam Roberts]

A lot of pressure. I'm feeling a lot of pressure now, knowing that I'm going to be.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, this is podcast, brother. No. Yeah. On your radio gig, obviously. I mean, going every day is gonna be cool.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

But, dude, you're natural. So, you know, I mean, are you gonna overthink this thing? You just gonna let it happen? Yeah. You know, it's like Zach Wild told me a long time ago, and every day I'll still do it. If you're thinking you're stinking, you're bright enough and you're good enough, you've been doing this long enough and you got your chop set up. You're gonna be fine.

[Sam Roberts]

And if I can't do it at this point, like, if I go out there and stink, then this wasn't the right career path.

[Steve Austin]

Sam, I'm not a guy that prays a lot today. Tonight, before I turn out the lights and go to sleep, I'm gonna hit the knees and say a little bit of prayer.

[Sam Roberts]

For you. Is that right?

[Steve Austin]

Yep. I'm gonna pray for Sam.

[Sam Roberts]

Robert. Is that because you think I need it or because I deserve it?

[Steve Austin]

Yes, I need something to say.

[Jessi Pere / Andy Cassette]

Hi, I'm Jesse Bray. And I'm Andy Cassette. Welcome to Love Murder, where we unravel the darkest tales of romance turned deadly. Our episodes are long form, narrative driven and deeply researched. Perfect for the true crime aficionados seeking stories beyond the headlines. Like the chilling case of Blanche Taylor Moore, the so called black widow who left a trail of poisoned lovers. Or the shocking murders of Chad Shelton and Dwayne Johnson where family ties masked a sinister plot. Subscribe to Love Murder on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

[Sam Roberts]

The Steve Austin Show. Steve Austin Show.

[Steve Austin]

All right, here we go. Sam Roberts, part two of this illustrious podcast. Sam, Paying dues. You mentioned a little bit of it right before we went to the break. Yeah, but what's the story? I mean, how did you tie in with the station? You tied in 10 years is pretty good run.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Now all of a sudden you can go to every, you know, five days a week versus two. Right?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. That's awesome.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Took a long time to get there.

[Sam Roberts]

Long time.

[Steve Austin]

Gotta eat a lot of dirt sandwiches. What's the story?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, I mean, and it's kind of hard because there's some people like, you know. Have you ever heard of an actor named Kevin Pollock?

[Steve Austin]

Yes.

[Sam Roberts]

He's got a big problem with me. He's made it very public that he's got a problem.

[Steve Austin]

Why?

[Sam Roberts]

Because I don't. He doesn't, like anybody have a problem with you. That's what I've always said.

[Steve Austin]

You get along with everybody.

[Sam Roberts]

I do. I thought I did. But Kevin Pollock has gone out and he's. And he said it on his radio show and he's got on Reddit and he said all kinds of stuff.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

Because we're on the PG version of the podcast. All kinds of stuff about me and being on the air and this and that. Because. And he called up, you know, Opie show one time because he doesn't think I paid my dues enough. He couldn't be.

[Steve Austin]

How many dudes you got to pay, Sam?

[Sam Roberts]

That's what I'm saying.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

I've been here. Just because he just turned on his radio.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

Doesn't mean. And let's be honest, it's Kevin Pollock, like most of the movies he's been in is because somebody more famous is in the movie.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

It's not like anybody goes to A Few Good Men and said Kevin, I don't know.

[Steve Austin]

I don't know, but it wasn't for me. You got. Yeah, hold on. You got. You got to get a visual. Sam's got his GoPro over across the damn room. But you're hearing the audio version us. I. I said, is that a shot? And Sam goes, I don't know. And he puts his hand out to the side. So shots fired here at 316 gimmick street. Helicopters. Ambulance is on the way. There was an airplane. There was a crop duster taking off a while ago. All the. The noise and the BS which goes with this show. So anyway, why does Guy have a beef with you, Sam? You're such an amiable, happy guy.

[Sam Roberts]

I thought so.

[Steve Austin]

Are you a miserable wretch, you know, when you're not on the air? What is it?

[Sam Roberts]

He only knows me from on the air, right? I think he's jealous.

[Steve Austin]

Right?

[Sam Roberts]

I think he's jealous. That's what I think he is. I think he's. So he kind of wishes that at 31 maybe, right? He had. Had the opportunities that I had.

[Steve Austin]

Maybe 50 years old, ain't he?

[Sam Roberts]

I mean, he's older than 50. He's got to be. At this point. He doesn't look 50, looks much older, but.

[Steve Austin]

Shots fire. Sam just broke out of ak.

[Sam Roberts]

But in terms of paying dues, yeah, it was. It was just a matter of, okay, I got an internship with Opie and Anthony. And that was, you know, right out of college.

[Steve Austin]

So what do you do? You send in your college resume, say, hey, Opie, Anthony, I want to intern with you.

[Sam Roberts]

I was in college, my junior year of college, and I put together a CD of my favorite stuff that I'd done on my college radio show. Obviously, God awful, but it was something. And then resume and all this stuff, and I sent it to a ton of different radio stations, Opie and Anthony being one of them, and Opie. Anthony being the one that I really wanted, because that's the one I'd been listening to when I was in high school and blah, blah, blah. And I did that, sent those resume packages out every, like, every month or two. I would just resend them out to the same people just to keep my name in the mix. Finally, one, I got one phone call back, and it was from the Opie and Anthony show, which was. That was the only phone call I wanted or needed. So they called me up and they said, you know, we want you to interview for this internship. And I drove back to New York City from Syracuse in between two finals. So I took a final, drove back to the city, spent a day there, did my interview, drove back to Syracuse to take my final, but I ended up getting the internship.

[Steve Austin]

So, man, when they're trying to grill you for an intern job at a radio show, I mean, like, how intensive are they grilling you here? What are they looking for?

[Sam Roberts]

This is what people. This is what I didn't understand, and I wish I had. It's not that tough to get an internship at a radio show, you know, I mean, once you're there, it's. The tough part is taking advantage of the opportunity and making yourself somebody, because that's where I think paying your dues comes in. Like, my mission from day one was, okay, I got this internship. I need to make it so that when my internship is over, they're saying, we can't do this without you. We don't want you to leave.

[Steve Austin]

What are the daily duties of an intern?

[Sam Roberts]

Well, the daily duties are just fetching coffee, grabbing breakfast, you know, going through the show, audio, whatever. Just the menial stuff.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

The part that separates people is when you can start looking at the show as quickly as you can, because you got three months to make an impression, figure out, okay, what's this show lacking that I can fill in? Only me. Like, where? Not like, who am I going to emulate. It's, where are the holes and how do I fill them so that once I leave, the holes pop up again and they go, we need Sam back here. And. And. And that's kind of what I. That's kind of what I did as an intern.

[Steve Austin]

I might have to get you to look at the Steve Austin show podcast. What in the flying hell I'm doing wrong over here? So.

[Sam Roberts]

So a lot of holes to fill.

[Steve Austin]

Let me ask you something. So you're in college, you listen to nobody. Anthony, right?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

So how did you develop your kind of on air personality, your style? Well, I mean, were you emulating those guys Inspire you?

[Sam Roberts]

They inspired me. I wasn't emulating them, but I was inspired by them because I saw what they were doing and how they did it and how did that apply to me? They were being themselves. They weren't doing radio tricks. They weren't trying to figure out how to format something and do this. They weren't overthinking anything. They went in there, they talked about what was going on either in the news or in their lives, and they talked the way they talked off the air, and they gave their opinions, and they were funny, and they were just naturally funny people. And they let that come out on the air.

[Steve Austin]

So you're going to be on five days a week, starting every day, coming in this coming week, June 1st.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Okay, so you got three hours to flap your gums. What kind of material we talking about for three hours?

[Sam Roberts]

Well, I'm going to take. I'm feeling good because every time I do a show on a Friday, I prep myself for a three hour show and end up doing half of that prep, if not less.

[Steve Austin]

You know, that's the belt to fill out a lot of gaps. That's like working Ricky Steamboat not using all your material because you're good.

[Sam Roberts]

Right.

[Steve Austin]

Well, what do you do for three hour prep?

[Sam Roberts]

Well, it's. I try to figure out. Okay, what are the things that I want to talk about.

[Steve Austin]

Hang on, I'm taking notes. Okay, go ahead. I'm over here. Shorthand. Go ahead.

[Sam Roberts]

You figure out what you want to talk about. So, like as the. At any point during the day, I'm making notes to myself. Like, if an idea pops up, if I'm talking to you about something and there's a kernel in something that we said, my mind is just tuned to say that kernel becomes 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever it is.

[Steve Austin]

Now, would you jump on that kernel right then? Or you say, oh, let's come back.

[Sam Roberts]

To that and flesh it out if we're doing something that works. Right now, I'm just gonna take note of that. Colonel.

[Steve Austin]

Right. Because you're gonna have that storage system up there to go back to.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

And I hit the head for steel chairs. 15 years, not so much. I'm making a good excuse for myself. Keep going.

[Sam Roberts]

Concussion free.

[Steve Austin]

He's concussion free. He's almost drug free.

[Sam Roberts]

But yeah, because it's a matter of figuring out how do you fill the time and how you do it creatively and how do you do it in a way that compelling.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

And whenever anything's working, the last thing you want to do is stop it. If it's working, you push it until right before it's not going to work. You have to figure out. And that's, you know, sometimes I might push things.

[Steve Austin]

Wwe, are you listening? Keep going.

[Sam Roberts]

You just pull, you push and you push and you push. And then right before it's going to get stale, pull the brakes and start the next thing go to break whatever you have to do, like, figure it out. And, you know, I can see that you're doing that as we do this. Like you're, as we're talking, you're figuring out, okay, I've Tapped into this conversation right before the well runs dry. Let me move on to another topic.

[Steve Austin]

No, you're completely wrong. That's what I should be doing. Right? I'm just here nodding my head, looking and enjoying the conversation. And like I said, this thing wasn't agenda driven about talking about any kind of stuff. So here's the thing about my podcast. I go to Steve Austin show. Really? And it's kind of like a show about nothing. Sometimes it's a microcosm of my life. Sometimes I talk to guys from wrestling or sometimes just read Q&As on the show. And that gives me the creative freedom to basically do anything because I'm not stuck to a format. I don't have to do anything.

[Sam Roberts]

But there's a big difference in what you do is you tap into the entertaining part of your personality. Like, you know when something's entertaining, like you've made. I had a texture the other day because I was listening to you and your wife and you were arguing about like, hair treatments. And she said, like, I was getting a keratin treatment. You're like, we got keratin the house. And I was like, just. Just making that entertaining.

[Steve Austin]

And we did.

[Sam Roberts]

Making that entertaining is not an easy thing. Like, I'll turn on, you know, the radio and I'll hear two dudes. They're like, hey, what do you do when your. Your girlfriend eats your sandwich that you left in the fridge? Call up now, is it your sandwich or after you leave it in the fridge, does it public domain? I'm like, this is God awful. Yeah, we're not talking about anything. You haven't made it entertaining.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, but see, you made it good. The guys that did the material messed it up, right? So three hours, they made a sale. Here's one of the things that I don't cover. I like to talk about politics or religion. Yeah, about that on your show, I will.

[Sam Roberts]

I'll always try to spin in a way, because I don't consider myself a hugely intelligent person.

[Steve Austin]

And I don't like to be so hard on yourself.

[Sam Roberts]

Well, I don't like to do a lot of reading.

[Steve Austin]

It's not like you're dumber in the.

[Sam Roberts]

Rock, but I don't like to do all the reading.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

So I'll try to be like, okay, what's the story here? Why is everybody. And how do I spin this into something that's entertaining and just try to find like one little angle and just expand on it? You know, when. When the Ebola thing was happening and everybody was worried about Ebola. I said, yeah, I'm worried about Ebola because everybody else is. But I'm not going to read a whole bunch of doctor's reports. I'm not going to go into news stories. But I was just thinking to myself, okay, if Ebola hits, the human race may be in trouble.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

What's the, what species would take over after the human race? And I said, bears, Bears. And then I ended up doing 40 minutes about how we need to watch out for the bears now and the bears are trouble.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

But you could figure out a way, the same thing. You, you know, we're wrestling a fly for an hour. Like, you just figure out a way to do it and, and shout the.

[Steve Austin]

Whole thing, the, the bola thing wrong, because I don't hear so well. And so my wife said, did you hear about Ebola? I said, yeah, I'll take a bowl of Captain Crunch, but. Oh, shh. See what I did there? Complete nut. I'm gonna break a kayfabe on a family friendly show. But it worked.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Where do we go from here? The podcast, you could have talked about anything in the world. But is it from your love of pro wrestling that you wanted to do a pro wrestling podcast, or is it because you got the three hour window of radio? Did you cover pretty much everything that you decided to dedicate the podcast to one of your passions?

[Sam Roberts]

Well, the pro wrestling thing I found because I've tried to incorporate it and I've done shows like I did a couple Fridays ago. I went down to Philly and did my whole Sirius show, SiriusXM show, from the NXT show in Philly. And it's a very wrestling heavy show, which is not normal for the SiriusXM show. But every now and then I think it's okay to throw in. But I find with wrestling fans, either they love wrestling and it's all they want to hear about, or a person doesn't want to hear about wrestling and they never, ever want to hear about it. It's one side or the other. There's no sort of. Sometimes it's okay. So I try to limit the amount of wrestling coverage I do on the SiriusXM show. But I still want to talk to the wrestling audience and I still like talking about wrestling. I still want to talk to all the boys. So I figure, okay, I'll start this wrestling podcast. I can talk directly to my wrestling audience. If you like wrestling, here's the wrestling podcast. You know, and sometimes I put those interviews on the serious show too, but it's just a way to communicate with the wrestling fans and to be able to talk about wrestling once a week, which is easy for me. It's no extra work.

[Steve Austin]

You're in New York City. So is Peter Rosenberg. You guys buddies? We are. Are you arch rivals? The story. The Crips and the Bloods?

[Sam Roberts]

No, no, no, we're buddies and we've done stuff.

[Steve Austin]

Banditos and Hell's Angels. That's current. What's happening.

[Sam Roberts]

The jets and the Sharks. Yeah, we're. No, we're buddies. We've been buddies for a long time. I think there's always been a competitive nature between us, but not. We've also helped each other out throughout several things. I've done his podcast a whole bunch of times. You know, we've been the two. We've kind of grown at pretty similar rates. We met each other probably seven years ago and we were both kind of lower on the totem pole. Now we've both kind of risen around the same time, and I think we're kind of jockeying for that position of New York mainstream media guy who's covering pro wrestling being number one there.

[Steve Austin]

So then if you two guys who have been watching the business for a long ass time are together, I mean, is it. Y' all pretty much on the same page or is it like a Republican talking to a Democrat with respect to the business of wrestling and you agree on nothing.

[Sam Roberts]

We don't generally agree.

[Steve Austin]

Really.

[Sam Roberts]

Way harder on it than I am. He's way more negative about stuff than I am. Rosenberg's the guy who's gonna come out of a show and start listing what was wrong. And I'm the guy that's gonna come out of a show and start going.

[Steve Austin]

Oh, my God, I can't believe that. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Sam Roberts]

I still have that fan in me. I don't.

[Steve Austin]

Your glass half full is glass half empty. Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

I don't want to get to the point where I'm, you know, kind of nitpicking what's wrong with it? Number one, I'm not in the wrestling business. You know, I'm close. I'm, you know, I'm on the line.

[Steve Austin]

Okay.

[Sam Roberts]

But I don't.

[Steve Austin]

You gotta form an opinion on something based on what you've seen and what you like.

[Sam Roberts]

But if I wasn't enjoying what was on TV on some level, I wouldn't be watching it.

[Steve Austin]

Yes.

[Sam Roberts]

And so.

[Steve Austin]

But you have. But you have a healthy, profound respect for the business of professional wrestling.

[Sam Roberts]

Right, right, right. And I don't want to, you Know, go out of my way to. I'm just not an overly critical person of pro wrestling. And I've been calling out on it, you know, people, you know, some people prefer the critical thing because it's more honest or real or whatever it is. But I know that for me, it wouldn't. If I started being critical, critical of what was on TV regularly, if I started really being harsh on it. Here's what they need to do. They're so stupid over there. Vince doesn't know what he's doing, but I'd just be doing that to pacify a portion of the audience. That's not how I feel. I don't sit there watching, pretending to know Vince's job. And I wouldn't want Vince telling me what I should be doing on my radio show.

[Steve Austin]

Right. You know, so what should they be doing?

[Sam Roberts]

Well, I'll tell you this. Nothing as far as pro wrestling goes, has me more locked in than NXT right now. Stuff that's going on down at NXT is like next level. And that's, that's NXT feels more like what they should be doing on the main roster. NXT feels like they're giving guys freedom.

[Steve Austin]

That I've heard from many people.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, they're giving guys the freedom to work. They're trying things. They're, they're, they're, you know, creating characters to. They weren't doing on TV for a while. And I'm sure it's easier because they have one hour of TV a week instead of five, but that's part of it.

[Steve Austin]

But then again. Did you watch Payback?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Pretty good. A pretty good show, I thought.

[Sam Roberts]

What I liked about it was, is predictable. Like all the results were very predictable.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

But the matches, a guy that's been.

[Steve Austin]

Watching business as long as you and me, it's gonna be predictable, right? I mean, I mean, you can look at it, you can watch. I can watch a football game. It's going to be predictable, Right. For the most part.

[Sam Roberts]

Right.

[Steve Austin]

So anything is really. Yeah, continue.

[Sam Roberts]

But the matches were all good. Usually when I kind of know, okay, there's no, like, there is no direction to go in other than.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

This win, this win, all the titles are being retained, blah, blah, blah. The fact that I was compelled by the matches that were going on, I think was the strong part about that show.

[Steve Austin]

So go the NXT thing. Because they just. Did they just have an event?

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, they did tell me to watch.

[Steve Austin]

It on my Twitter account. I'm Steve Austin, bsr. You're Otsam On Twitter. So what was the event that they had? Because I heard the girls knocked out the park.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah, it's a Takeover show. They do like, I mean, I would call it a pay per view. Not that it's on pay per view, but it's the special. They do a two hour pay per view thing every like three months or so and it's a two hour block instead of one hour. And I can't remember what this one was called, but they did Sasha Banks and Becky.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, Becky Lynch.

[Sam Roberts]

Becky lynch and that, I mean that the women's match tore the roof off the place.

[Steve Austin]

Dude, I was saying, I was talking about the women's over in NXT a few episodes back and it was a Charlotte vs Sasha Banks match and there was also, I think it was a Charlotte versus Bailey match. Bailey, she's one like to hug, right? Yeah, that's her deal, right? Yeah, she's trying to get my things right. But I mean, awesome pro style matches.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

I mean these girls went, man, I didn't have my watch. I was a 12 minute match, 15 minute match. I mean, but the thing is they were wrestling, it was pro wrestling and it wasn't out there. Grunting, groaning, the loud sound effects and they weren't telegraphing things, which is a big part of the business today because everything is the way, the way it's set up. People are telegraphing things and it just doesn't look good. They're out there and it looks like pro wrestling and they're giving them time and they're working holes. And that good little announce team over there, they're sticking to the task at hand. They're calling what's going on in a squared circle and I really dig it.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah. I mean, and they're putting them to the test because they're out in Philly doing live shows and they headlined, they main evented the Philly show with Charlotte and Sasha.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

And to headline with women, especially in Philadelphia. Yeah, I mean if those, if they're not delivering, that's suicide.

[Steve Austin]

Boy, I tell you what, I'm so impressed with those two girls. And the other two girls, we just Becky lynch and Bailey. Yeah, but man, that Charlotte, the way she walks around the ring so composed. I mean, you know, second generation, she really obviously gets a lot of it from her dad. But I mean, take Rick out of the equation in and of it herself. Just the way she carries herself. She commands your attention and your respect. And the same with Sasha Banks, that gimmick of hers. You know, the thing about the boss Doing like a boss. I mean, she's just a package of charisma. And all four of those girls, I really like them and they can work their ass off. And meant it to be on the main event. Like you said over in Philly, much less anywhere but the women getting a chance to main event, pretty big time deal.

[Sam Roberts]

Huge time deal. And everybody stuck around. Everybody loved the match. It was. Yeah, it was great.

[Steve Austin]

What do you think about the, the Finn Balor thing with all the body paint and the face paint and all this stuff? Because, man, I watched a guy, a lot of his stuff over New Japan, watched stuff with the Bullet Club guy who's been around a horn who's paid his dues. Reminds me a little bit of Fit Finley. Have you ever watched Fit Finley's older stuff? You talk about a badass. Yeah. Anybody's trying to learn the business. I mean, that guy had such a mean streak when he's working heel. Just everything he does has just his intent to hurt somebody and just his ring generalship is awesome. So he reminds me a little bit of him. There's nothing that Finn Balor cannot do. But the one pay per view that I saw, and I'm going back about six months ago and I guess at this time, this is with nxt when they started doing the paint. I know he'd been doing the paint for quite some time. He kept looking up into the sky, into the arena, so he could see the teeth on his throat.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

I'm like, why is this guy looking up at the friggin lights? The guy's right across from him. He needs to look at him, you know, so he could show the people the damn teeth. I was like, think about stuff. You got to let that. Tell him to repaint the paint. You, you don't need to have to work to make the paint work for you. The paint needs to work for you. You don't need to work for the paint. And then he was doing his spread arm thing, kind of like Jeff Hardy. I was talking about this on the last podcast. It's a repeat. I'm talking about not Sam on Twitter right now. But my point is it's okay to have this paint on every here and there or it's okay to have this gimmick character, whatever. But don't play the character. You're Finn Balor, used to be Fergal Devitt, Prince Fergal, whatever the name. Used to be a hell of a damn hand.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah. And half the time on the show you're not wearing the paint you are right.

[Steve Austin]

I mean, here's the thing. He's a good looking kid, great body, hell of a technician. Everything he does looks like a million bucks. And you use to me, Sam, believe it or not, I know a little bit about selling tickets. These things that you got to buy to get in to see the event, huh? You've got to be able.

[Sam Roberts]

They don't just let everybody in.

[Steve Austin]

No, no. Believe it or not. So you got to be able to identify with that crowd. Yeah, and some people. Have you been watching Lucha Underground?

[Sam Roberts]

I haven't yet. Everybody's telling me that this is the show to watch.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. Now, I tried to watch an episode of it a while back and I was like, man, what in the flying hell is this? It just ain't working for me. But then they had a block of them on about four and I sat down. I didn't sit down. I'm always standing up in the kitchen over. And I watched about three episodes back to back to back. And finally, because of the way they filmed that, I was able to just immerse myself in the experience. And it's kind of like a fantasy type comic book, supernatural, superhero type setting. And the Spanish guy who's like the Authority, Coelho, whatever his name is, first I had heat with him because just didn't dig his character right then. He's an actor basically. But, you know, then I started getting into what he was doing and seeing the vibe of the show. And they were presenting themselves as Lucha Underground. And that episode I'd seen a while back, there's so many American guys on the show that they weren't working. Lucha. I wanted to see Lucha wrestling because you never get a chance to see it, right? Unless I'm down in Mexico filming Redneck Island. I get AAA or EMLL or whatever. But you want to see some good.

[Sam Roberts]

Stuff, an American version of aaa, you.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, I want to see Lucha. So anyway, these back to back episodes I saw, I bought into the storylines. I see what they're trying to do and I like what they're doing. It's really a neat experience. So if you haven't got a chance to check it out, I mean, they did season one. I guess you can go back and watch the old episodes. I hope they get season two. First of all, I want anybody in the business of pro wrestling to have success so all the guys and girls can have a place. We just heard news that TNA got booted off Destination America. We're going to come back to this Colonel, as Sam would say it, but you Got to check out the Lucha Underground stuff and just watch it for what it is. And I want to file a report with you, and we'll do your show or mine, and we'll do it over the phone, but we'll talk about it, because I want you to check it out and give me your 411 on it.

[Sam Roberts]

I love it. Homework from the Stone Cold podcast. That's the way it should be.

[Steve Austin]

Josh Barnett, former UFC heavyweight champion, was sitting right in the chair you were at. Just the other day, we were talking about New Japan Pro Wrestling on Axis tv. It's on every Friday night now. Season two, he's doing the color along with Mauro Ranallo. It was awesome. So if you got a chance to see that.

[Sam Roberts]

I haven't seen the Access TV show. I saw the pay per view that JR called.

[Steve Austin]

That was the average pay per view. I don't think you can base the television experience on that. They actually him, Marinallo and Josh called The Wrestle Kingdom 8 match between Tanahashi and Nakamura. It was a badass match. It was better than the Wrestle Kingdom 9 match that JR called.

[Sam Roberts]

Wow.

[Steve Austin]

But it's just a good show. I mean, it's hardcore pro wrestling. I love the production value. And, you know, obviously with the Americans doing the sound, you can understand what the guys are trying to do. And so that is another good show, which you got to check out.

[Sam Roberts]

I will.

[Steve Austin]

Do you like the Japanese style wrestling?

[Sam Roberts]

I do.

[Steve Austin]

It's kind of evolved back a little bit. They call it strong style, or Nakamura calls himself the king of strong style. It's not as stiff or strong style as it used to be. To me, it's a little bit more watchable when guys in there clubbing themselves too hard. It takes away the art form for me. That being said, it's got to look right. And when I say look right, when you think flair or think Bobby Eaton or Ricky Morton, some of those guys, I mean, the work was crisp and premier, and it just presented well from a pro style standpoint.

[Sam Roberts]

I think it's always been about storytelling. That's always. For me, I need to feel like there's a story being told.

[Steve Austin]

But you also. You want those stories to be executed with some precision and, and. And not too much rigidity, but just. Or take another Shawn Michaels, take a breath of Hitman Hart. These guys watch the way they work, and you don't have to model your work after those guys who are two of the best ever, but just with that impact and the tightness with which they worked.

[Sam Roberts]

Right, right, right. Yeah, I think it's. I don't need to believe that these two guys are locked in legitimate combat. No, I need to believe.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

That there's a reason that I'm watching the story. The story just needs to be compelling to me. And I think you're right. I think when you're overly strong style, it's like, okay, we're just watching a bar fight now, Right. Like, we're just watching two guys pound on each other as opposed to what they're doing in Japan now. Like, what Nakamura is doing is. It is strong style, but there's a story.

[Steve Austin]

He's working. He's working.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah. There's a reason.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Sam Roberts]

Why we're in the place that we're at, and there's not like. Yeah, it feels more like pro wrestling, which is what I tuned in for.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, man, I jumped all over the place. But going back to Finn Balor, man, I want that guy to elements, to see him get in that main roster. I've been real impressed with Neville.

[Sam Roberts]

Well, I was actually going to ask you before we move on completely from Finn Ballard, because it didn't even occur to me that he's looking up at the ceiling instead of his opponent. And I think that's one of those things that is important because all those. Like in radio, I see when people are doing little things that the audience may not notice each thing, but they add up into the bigger picture, and it's these little things, and that's why it's not working. What do you think is missing as far as psychology goes? And why is nobody saying, hey, Finn, this is what you need? Do you need more veterans in the locker room? Do you need.

[Steve Austin]

No, I think he's doing exactly what they're telling him. I think you just think it's bad.

[Sam Roberts]

Advice for that one specific.

[Steve Austin]

I think it's the higher ups telling him what to do, you know, in his presentation. But, man, like I said, I've seen the kid work over in New Japan. I know what he can do when he's just being a guy without any paint on, working in the ring. He's as good as there is out there right now in the game. So all of a sudden, man, you're staring off into space. You're not connecting with me.

[Sam Roberts]

Right.

[Steve Austin]

And those eyes are everything.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

You know, so that's important.

[Sam Roberts]

That's my thing.

[Steve Austin]

Here's the thing. Here's the thing, Sam. When someone's not connecting, you think, well, why not? He looks cool. He's got a good body. He can Work his ass off. What's not working here?

[Sam Roberts]

And I may be reaching with this one, but I went on my podcast and I said that you're right that you need to connect with the audience and you connect with the audience through the eyes. And my theory is that one of the reasons why Roman Reigns cannot connect with the audience is those blue color contacts that are blocking his eyes. I'm watching him and I'm seeing he's got color contacts in. He's got something over his eyes. I'm not connecting with this guy. I don't feel like it's the real guy talking to me. And I think there is something to that.

[Steve Austin]

So you're not digging the contacts?

[Sam Roberts]

I'm not taking the context. I know that guy doesn't have blue eyes. I know there's now a shield between me.

[Steve Austin]

No pun intended.

[Sam Roberts]

That's right. That's right. Yeah. There's something between us now that I'm not getting the full. Dude.

[Steve Austin]

Here's the thing, and this is. I'm glad you brought that up because the contact thing is he's a good looking guy, physical guy.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

And a tough guy. Former football player, Georgia Tech, and I heard he was a pretty damn good player. So no one's going to question how tough this guy is and his lineage with who he's related to. Tough guy. So then all of a sudden, he's good looking enough. You got to throw these contacts on him. So he got blue eyes. Now what's the deal with that? He don't need blue eyes. I'm okay to get brown eyes, right?

[Sam Roberts]

You were blessed.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. I'm not like an albino, though. But the thing about Roman is a lot of people had heat with the fact that he got pushed so hard so fast. And I'm not going to go through the whole way that happened because I've Talked about it 20 times on the podcast. But I still stand by the fact that I think that no matter what they do with him, he's going to have to be a heel first, you know, whether organically or what. He just by default. And they're trying to keep him baby because I think Vince's goal is just he's going to work as a baby or he ain't going to work at all. And so he's going to flop bigger as a baby, you know, and he gets cheered a lot of times when he goes out, but in there with the wrong quote unquote, wrong guy who's going to out baby him like Orton did a couple weeks ago, Orton blew him out of water. And so it was uncomfortable. And Orton cut a better promo than he's ever cut in damn near his whole career. I like him being more amped up, but just there's a way that that guy talks and it's a cockiness or confidence or self assuredness that comes across as almost Lex Luger arrogance. Ish. And no disrespect to Lex, and I'm certainly not crapping on Roman. I see money in the kid if he stays the course, if he continues to develop, if he continues to get better. But he's going to be hated before. He's going to be universally loved and embraced by the audience. And when they do, it will be big time for a long time.

[Sam Roberts]

And it's interesting that you say all that because, I mean, I'm a fan of Roman Reigns, I think, but I think you're right. I think he needs to be a heel. I think he's not right now. He's not.

[Steve Austin]

He's got to walk through the fire.

[Sam Roberts]

He's got to get them a chance to boo him, get out of your.

[Steve Austin]

System, and then let's have a monster baby run.

[Sam Roberts]

But he. He did my podcast right before the Rumble.

[Steve Austin]

How was he?

[Sam Roberts]

He was. I enjoyed him because he was very honest. I felt like I was getting the real Roman Reigns. But it was my most downloaded episode because the Internet, their minds blown. It went crazy. It went everywhere. People were convinced I was getting tweets from people that said, you know, I think. I think Vince sent Roman Reigns to Sam Roberts podcast to turn him heel because people were so pissed that he went on the podcast and he was saying stuff like he said, I don't care whether the fans boo me or cheer me. I'm the one who's getting rich at the end of the day and I'm buying a house or something. You know, I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but that was I comment.

[Steve Austin]

I didn't hear the podcast, but I heard that comment. How did you take that as you were sitting there across the table from him listening?

[Sam Roberts]

Well, I took it as I was kind of happy that I have. All right. I'm getting a real moment with this real guy. I'm not getting a character. I'm not getting sort of. I always like honesty. And, you know, I'm of the mindset that it is a job. And when you're in the middle of it, you know, there probably are feelings that you have probably had plenty of nights where you were thinking to yourself, I'm Going to go out there and get my paycheck. You know what I mean? Maybe that's not the overall arcing thing in your career, but I'm sure, you know, there were some moments maybe when the fans weren't reacting to you the way you wanted them to, maybe when things weren't working out the way you wanted them to, where you were like, I'm gonna go get my paycheck and then go home. And I kind of enjoyed the fact that we kind of had that moment with Roman. The listeners didn't enjoy it.

[Steve Austin]

They didn't like Roman. Well, I mean, because the business is so out in the open now and people are so privy to everything. Back in the day, before everybody got smartened up, it was, you know, you only judge or had an opinion on what you saw on the screen. Right now with the Internet and just the overall knowledge, I mean, they're watching and then they're knowing all the backstage stuff that's going on, all the jockeying for position and all the politics, and that gets clouded in the way of a lot of just what they're presenting. So the fact that people have so much knowledge and therefore I just think they're even more strongly opinionated than they would be.

[Sam Roberts]

And it's interesting too. I can't remember who I was talking to about it. It seems like it's the only show on TV where a huge portion of the audience after the show is talking about the writers and the agents. And they're not actually talking about the show. They're talking about the behind the scenes.

[Steve Austin]

See? And the heat's going to the riders instead of the guys doing what the riders are writing for them.

[Sam Roberts]

Right.

[Steve Austin]

So the heat gets transferred and so that the boys get the channel changing. Heat damn near because you're mad at them for having to do it. But the heat really goes to the riders. These guys are almost just playing the part, but it's almost like, I don't know, it's two dimensional or even three dimensional, but the only dimension that needs to be judged is what you're actually seeing.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

On the screen.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, I'm sitting there talking to not Sam on Twitter. He's got a radio show in the Big Apple. Sam, tell him about the radio show you fishing go to. Five days a week, big shot.

[Sam Roberts]

That's right. It's called Sam Roberts show. It's on Sirius XM. Opie radio is the channel. XM103, Sirius 206. It's. It's not wrestling centric, but there is Nothing I do is without some, you know, element of pro wrestling in it.

[Steve Austin]

Right.

[Sam Roberts]

But it's a very. It's a. It's a ridiculous show. It's a fun show. It's. It's probably going to have a few more dirty words in it than this show has, but it's something. I think it's going to be a big deal.

[Steve Austin]

Boy Sam and I go family friendly. Boy Sam, when I go family friendly, I tell you what I mean. Katie, bar the door. We're going family friendly. Sam. I'm going to make a statement here. And you see the courtyard out here, which is actually my front yard.

[Sam Roberts]

Beautiful.

[Steve Austin]

Seeing the garden.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

You're looking through this window.

[Sam Roberts]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

As they said. And I'm gonna get you, sucka. Did you ever see that movie?

[Sam Roberts]

I did.

[Steve Austin]

You can take the window or you can take the stairs. I would advise you to take the stairs because I don't want to replace this window. You're gonna get all cut up. Sam. It's good talking to you. For not Sam. I'm Steve Austin, bsr. We are out. Thank you for joining us for another classic episode of the Steve Austin Show. Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcast podcasts and tell your friends. For more Steve Austin show go to podcast1.com that's podcast o n e dot com.

[Sam Roberts]

This September, CBS Hits are streaming free on Pluto TV.

[Steve Austin]

I'm coming in for this month only.

[Sam Roberts]

Stream full episodes of Matlock.

[Steve Austin]

I'm a lawyer.

[Sam Roberts]

Like the old TV show Fire Country Els Beth.

[Jessi Pere / Andy Cassette]

I do love a mystery.

[Sam Roberts]

NCIS origins, Watson and ghosts. What the hell? This is the most amazing sight I've never seen. All for free.

[Steve Austin]

The CBS shows you love this month only on Pluto tv.

[Sam Roberts]

Stream now.

[Steve Austin]

Pain never.