Vampiro Returns! - SAS CLASSIC

Summary

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The Steve Austin Show: Vampiro Returns! – SAS Classic

Release Date: February 12, 2026
Host: Steve Austin
Guest: Ian Hodgkinson (Vampiro)
Location: Steve’s home, Los Angeles (317 Gimmick Street)

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Episode Overview

In this classic reunion, Steve Austin welcomes Ian “Vampiro” Hodgkinson—Hall of Fame pro wrestler, Lucha Underground commentator, and revered figure in international wrestling. The conversation covers the state of Lucha Underground, the wild evolution of wrestling style, challenges inside the locker room, Vampiro’s music projects, the grind of wrestling in Mexico, and the importance of health, including a deep dive into the plant-based lifestyle. The tone is irreverent, candid, and at times deeply personal as both men reflect on the wrestling industry’s past and its rapidly-changing present.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. Catching Up & The State of the Business

• Lucha Underground Update

  • Lucha Underground is in the midst of a new season with a refreshed, more positive atmosphere.
  • “The attitude in the dressing room last time was just a little bit too intense... Too many cliques... We kind of weeded that out.” (Vampiro, 04:48)

• Challenges with Cliques in Wrestling

  • Comparing past WCW cliques to modern locker room politics; impact on morale.
  • “There’s cliques in the WWE dressing room, but they were cool... not a lot of animosity.” (Austin, 06:01)
  • “Once you have the cliques that are power hungry... that ruins you as a person. That’s what really soured me in WCW.” (Vampiro, 06:10)

• The Evolution of Wrestling Styles

  • Discussion on the risk escalation in modern wrestling, especially in Lucha and AAA.
  • “I see you guys jumping off the highest stuff... Action on steroids... how much further can you go?” (Austin, 08:49)
  • “It’s the culture of the fans... Fans are expecting everybody to step it up every single time in the ring... It’s only a matter of time before somebody... lands wrong.” (Vampiro, 09:41)

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2. Lucha Legends & Mexican Wrestling Culture

• Spotlight on Pentagon Jr. & La Parka

  • Pentagon Jr. is well-liked but working so much he's “getting a little pudgy.”
  • La Parka: “He will fight you in church if you say the wrong word... very Bruiser Brody-ish.” (Vampiro, 13:28)
  • Original La Parka is “old school tough,” driven by resentment from years of struggle.

• Adjustment to Life in Mexico

  • Vampiro has relocated to Guadalajara, credits love as the reason.
  • “She's the love of my life...changed my whole outlook on things.” (Vampiro, 18:39)

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3. Producing and Evolving Modern Lucha

• Vampiro’s Expanded Role in AAA & Lucha Underground

  • Now executive producer for live shows, deeply involved in training, writing, and editing.
  • AAA’s explosive growth: From 200 to ~600 live shows per year; expansion through Latin American streaming platforms. (22:05 onward)

• Training the Next Generation

  • Comprehensive development: “We help with nutrition, coaching, education... teach them how to work for the camera before they even get in the ring.” (Vampiro, 26:38)
  • Contrast between the old “pills and alcohol” era and today’s focus on mental health and professionalism.

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4. Working TV vs. Live Performance

• Working Toward TV

  • Austin wrestles with “working the hard camera” versus organic crowd work.
  • Vampiro: "We don’t do the generic thing where everybody looks the same... But we do give them a heads up because we're live and global." (29:07)

• Production Philosophy

  • Lucha Underground only reshoots in rare cases, prefers “ECW style realism.”
  • “If you fall on your face, that's what's going on TV.” (Vampiro, 32:53)

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5. Industry Incidents & the Promo Scene

• Sexy Star Incident & Locker Room Fallout

  • Vampiro defends Sexy Star: “Do I think she shot on the girl? No. Do I think she lost her temper? Yes... There was major heat going in.” (33:52)
  • Intense locker room reaction, rare in modern times.

• Opportunities for Women

  • Contrasting WWE’s women’s evolution to Mexico’s macho culture, Vampiro laments the lack of opportunity for female wrestlers.

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6. Reflections on Past Promotions, Character Work

• Wrestling Society X Memories

  • Show ahead of its time: “Crazy matches—piranhas in a fish tank, exploding cages... My fondest memory is meeting Zach Wylde.” (Vampiro, 38:59)

• Branding, Writing, and Roles

  • “We’re pro wrestling, 100%. Is it sports entertainment? To an extent...” (Vampiro, 50:39)

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7. Life Beyond the Ring

• Music & Creative Pursuits

  • Vampiro’s music: fronts punk and rockabilly bands, involved in Trackster (global music collaboration platform).
  • “I’m just a dude playing guitar. That’s my release.” (Vampiro, 56:47)
  • Details styles, gear, and inspirations: “I’m a Ramones guy... Johnny Ramone... New York Dolls, Sex Pistols.” (Vampiro, 53:12)

• Personal Life

  • Now a vegan, martial artist, Krav Maga instructor, mental health advocate.
  • “Plant-based diet... It saves lives... It helps people with mental health issues. I’m living proof.” (Vampiro, 88:17)

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8. Wrestling Training, Health, and Recovery

• Home Gyms & “Old School” Lifting

  • Both Steve and Vampiro compare their garage gyms to “pumping iron era” Gold’s Gym setups.
  • Mutual admiration for old-school methodology. (77:07)

• Training Adjustments After Injury

  • Extensive discussion on arthritis, injuries, and the healing effects of veganism and bodyweight training.
  • “With martial arts... my arthritis doesn’t hurt at all.” (Vampiro, 79:43)

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9. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “He’s the last of the hardcore old school indie guys... Bruiser Brody-ish. He’ll fight you in church if you say the wrong word.”
  —Vampiro re: La Parka (13:28)

• “God dang, I was thinking, man, I’m going to suplex Ric Flair, this is going to be the easiest thing in the world... He’s the heaviest 235 pounder ever.”
  —Steve Austin (42:41)

• “If you can’t get big on a squat rack, crowbar, and a bench, you got no business being in the gym.”
  —Vampiro, describing home gyms (77:07)

• “The more you misbehave, the more accepting people are... Everything is forgiven as long as you put butts in the seats.”
  —Vampiro on wrestling’s cyclical nature (44:02)

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Highlighted Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------|-----------| | Lucha Underground’s new vibe, cliques | 04:28–08:49 | | Modern high-flying style evolution | 09:41 | | Pentagon Jr., La Parka, and tough old timers | 11:34–15:40 | | Vampiro’s life in Guadalajara | 18:29–18:39 | | AAA live shows & training programs | 22:05–28:12 | | TV versus live work, hard camera debate | 28:12–32:00 | | Sexy Star controversy & fallout | 33:20–36:07 | | Women’s wrestling differences (US vs. Mexico) | 36:37–37:59 | | Wrestling Society X memories | 38:52–40:14 | | Physical toll, injuries, and vegan health | 78:28–84:44 | | Music, gear, creative outlets | 51:11–57:12 | | Final advocacy for plant-based lifestyle | 88:16–88:53 |

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Final Thoughts

The episode offers a raw insider’s look at both the gritty realities and creative joys of professional wrestling, especially around Lucha Underground and Mexican lucha libre. Vampiro’s journey from tough guy to creative producer, musician, and advocate for healthier living is woven into tales of locker room politics, physical wear and tear, and enduring punk spirit. Sprinkled with practical wisdom, jokes, and wrestling geekery, it’s a must-listen for fans seeking the real human stories behind the squared circle.

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“I beg you to everybody who’s worried about their health, their future, their kids or whatever it is, give [the plant-based diet] a try because it really will make a difference. On my website at the end of April...I have an online pro wrestling school...I will give you what I think are the keys you need to take to the table.”
—Vampiro, 88:17

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Transcript

[Steve Austin]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

[Vampiro]

Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game?

[Steve Austin]

Well, with a name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail], progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Pricing coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Vampiro]

The following Program is a podcast ONE.com.

[Steve Austin]

Production from Hollywood, California, by way of.

[Vampiro]

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

[Steve Austin]

Give me a Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Now here's Steve Austin. All right, everybody. Welcome to Steve Austin Show. I'm coming to you from the mean streets of Los Angeles, California today. Sitting over here at 317 Gimmick street and my 4x4 podcast table with two microphones and a laptop computer and a Zoom H4N recorder catching everything I laid down. Hey, man, welcome to the Shizzo. I got a good one for you today in Hodgkinson, AKA Vampiro. One of the voices of Lucha Underground came by the crib today. We shot the breeze for about an hour and a half and caught up on old times, good times and new times. Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network is doing their television tapings right now in Los Angeles. So that's why he's in town. Came by the crib and we're shooting a breeze. We're talking about wrestling, we're talking about life, we're talking about bullshit, we're talking about all kinds of things. It was good to see Ian again. Ain't seen him in a while. Looks good. He's in good shape. I was watching some highlights from YouTube about some of the holy shit moments on Lucha Underground. So check those out on the end of the podcast. And they got a real interesting product. Got a lot of great athletes over there and they got a lot of real seasoned workers. So nonetheless, we break it down, we shoot the shit and have a good time. You can enjoy the podcast with Vampiro today. But before we get to the podcast with Vampiro, I'm going to keep this open kind of short because we're going to talk for about an hour and a half. Just want to make a quick announcement that I will be making a personal appearance. WrestleMania weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday, April 8, 2018, from 9am to 3pM Central Standard Time. I think that's what it is. 9 to 3 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130. With high spots. If you need some information on this, go to highspots.com and they'll be able to get you all lined up on what it takes to get in there. And I'll be in there live and in living color, signing pictures and smiling and having a good time. I'm looking forward to getting down to New Orleans. I'm looking forward to eating some Cajun food. Crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, some raw oysters and some more crawfish etouffee. That's my favorite dish down there. And also some vignettes, those white looking donut things and a couple of Bloody Marys and a couple of beers and maybe a shot or two of whiskey. And I'm just kidding you. I am going to do all that. I absolutely am. I love New Orleans. Looking forward to getting down there. And again, check out highspots.com to get some more information. That Sunday before WrestleMania 34, I'm looking forward to getting down there. I think WWE is going to put on a hell of a card. It's going to be a hell of a show. The road to WrestleMania kind of, you know, been started with the Royal Rumble elimination chamber cleared up some answers as far as the main event down there. And so they're stacking up the card. We still go see what John Cena is going to do there. But I digress. Back to the task at hand. I'll be in New Orleans that day before WrestleMania, signing autographs and taking pictures.

[Vampiro]

This is the Steve Austin Show.

[Steve Austin]

All right. I'm sitting here at 317 gimmick street. I got van Burro sitting across from me from Lucha Underground in Hodgkinson by way of Canada. Now you're down in Mexico. Well, right now you're on the mean streets of Los Angeles. You're in my territory. How you been?

[Vampiro]

Good to see you, brother. I've been doing really good and I really appreciate you making the time to invite me over.

[Steve Austin]

Well, I'm glad you thought about me when you came into town because we were always trying to hook up back in the day. We always in Thunder Bay trying to talk on the phone and we made that one podcast happen in person. Yeah, that was well. And a lot of water under the bridge since then.

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

You guys right in the middle of filming another season?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, we started two weeks ago and we're back at it and new building, new faces, tons of problems in a good way and it's rocking. People are really responding. It's fun. It's fun this time.

[Steve Austin]

What do you mean it's fun this time? Was it not fun Last time, it wasn't.

[Vampiro]

It wasn't. It's tough to speak about the industry and not give away things that you're not supposed to give away. The attitude in the dressing room last time was just a little bit too intense. You know, there's too many cliques, too many. Too many people with their own agendas, that kind of shit. We kind of weeded that out and we're in the process this season where we got to re establish people, get rid of some people and introduce new characters. So that's always fun when you, when you see somebody's eyes light up because it's their moment and they're so grateful. They haven't been injected with the venom of the bad things of this business yet. Right. The innocence is still there. So that's fun. It's really cool to see that.

[Steve Austin]

So tell me about these cliques, man. Because when I first went down to WWF back in the day, it was 95, 96 and there was a BSK man. I remember the Backstreet Clique and I can't remember the names of one or two other cliques. I was a loner too. I was always been a lone wolf McQuaid. But what about these cliques? Guys just congregating together. Is there any animosity? It's us against them because, dude, everybody's working together.

[Vampiro]

There was one. There was cliques in the WWE dressing room.

[Steve Austin]

But they were cool. It wasn't like it would. To me, there wasn't like any animosity. It was just. But, but people were clicked up. Hanging out in little groups.

[Vampiro]

I mean, I think having. When you say clicks, that's a word that it's a big umbrella, right? People can understand what it is. You can't. For people to understand. You kind of ride with your friends and you, you eat with your friends, you go to the gym with your friends. That kind of click is healthy because you're, you know, that's your road family. But once you have the cliques that are power hungry and they have their own agenda and they go out of their way to stop you, that ruins you as a person. That's what really soured me in wcw, you know, more than me. When I first got there, I'll never forget it. It was just, I think I said it to you before when I first came in the dressing room and I went to say hi to Sting and to Lex Luger and I stuck up. It's in my head like it happened this morning when I went to shake their hands and they Just literally turned their back on me. That was kind of something that just took me aback. I wasn't expecting it. Then one day when I worked with Ric Flair, I was the first newer generation guy to work with Flair in Reno, Nevada. And Arn Anderson pulled me aside. He said, you know, you're the first one to break down this door. This is going to change things. He said, they've never been able to do this, bring a new guy into the clique in over 10, 15 years. And I didn't get it then either. But then when you see the guys manipulating. There was two tall guys that came from Vince's company and they went to wcw. One looked like Magnum PI and the other guy had long hair and he just had a knee operation. Those guys, when they were in control, I'm cool with them. They were always friendly to me. But, boy, did they make life hard for some people. And seeing that breaks your spirit in the business. Does that make sense?

[Steve Austin]

I guess it does.

[Vampiro]

Not saying any names.

[Steve Austin]

No. Yeah.

[Vampiro]

What?

[Steve Austin]

The description was pretty telly, man. When I wrote that to wcw, to me, well, for me it was more about the booking. You know, the guys who had to book that just didn't see anything for me. I got a couple of pushes, no doubt, because, you know, they dropped the World Television title on me as soon as I rolled in. But then, you know, from then on, it was kind of a hard process, but nobody was really clicked up back in the days. And when I rolled in wwf, it was kind of like a friendly type thing. But, yeah, you get your guys on the road, but I think you have that stuff anywhere. But anyway, skip the clicks. Talk about, what are you guys trying to accomplish this year with Lucha Underground? Because before you came over, I was just trying to, like, you know, if we talk about some of the shit we talked about last time, then we do. Because I've been hitting the head with so many steel chairs, I don't remember yesterday. I'm exaggerating, please. But I'm not. I'm watching. I'm Ribbon on a square. How's that?

[Vampiro]

There you go.

[Steve Austin]

I got Lucha Underground. I'm watching Holy Shit Moments Part one, two and three, and I just see, man, just bunch of awesome athleticism, some really great characters and just great. Just great athletes. But, man, you guys are. I don't see. I guess I could say you guys because, you know, I was a big fan. We used to shoot Redneck island over in Mexico. And, man, I guess I was watching EMLL or aaa. Okay, but it was Just, man, those dudes. And I think Mel merchants are probably working down there. Back in the day, those guys were salty in the ring. Very aggressive and very, very technical. We got a lot of those elements going on here. But now it's like the action is on steroids because, dude, the businesses, I mean, y' all are jumping off the highest stuff in the world, doing all these spectacular bumps. I mean, like, where are y' all trying to take the business to now? From that standpoint, it's phenomenal. But how much further can you go?

[Vampiro]

See, I keep asking. I say that when we talk, we have the production cooldown meeting after to kind of go over what happened so we know what we're going to do the next day. And I thought, who's guilty or who's responsible for this insanity? And I think it's not the boys. I don't think it's the people in Creative. I really think it's the culture of the fans. Now that Everybody's on streaming, YouTube, different platforms, Netflix or whatever it is that you can get, Twitch Network, all these kind of things, all these independent companies, you can see them now. So what's happening in Australia? You can watch it live. So I think the fans are expecting everybody to step it up every single time in the ring. And it's healthy, but it's only a matter of time. When somebody who's £245 does a moonsault off the ceiling, lands wrong, and somebody's knees get blown out, it's going to happen, knock on wood. It doesn't happen to anybody. Right? But I mean, things. I think the way the culture of social media and everything is expanding so quickly, you gotta go. And believe me, when we're putting together the matches and I'm agenting things and I'm watching and they're like, well, we're gonna going to do a moonsault that. He's going to catch me into a powerbomb on the floor through the glass. I'm going to get up and super kick him. Duck that. And I'm like, well, where's the schoolboy? And what happened to can you. Can you sell for a second? And they're like, what do you mean? Yeah, yeah, if you registered, less is more. And it's. And it's. And it's fun because they're like, well, no, wait, but there's a roof and I can jump. And it's only 40ft to the ring. I can make it. And then I'll land on my feet and duck that. It's like, go ahead, brother. Go ahead. And they're doing it. It's insane. I don't even have an answer. It's just crazy.

[Steve Austin]

What's going on, How Pentagon junior Done? Because I was watching all these clips, and he's a big part of them, and. And I just love that gimmick.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, he's awesome. He's getting a little pudgy. He's getting a little pudgy.

[Steve Austin]

Wow.

[Vampiro]

Getting a little pudgy.

[Steve Austin]

Jesus Christ. Little stiff here.

[Vampiro]

Little pudgy. And I will attribute it to. And as you well know, if you fall into that habit of working indie shows every day and you're flying here and there, the last thing you want to do is eat right and go to the gym, but that's your business. So it's such a hard. You know, you're sleeping on the plane, you're waiting four or five hours for your connection. You get home, you got to slam something down, because tomorrow you go back to work. I think that he's become so popular and it's. He's working so much that he's getting fat. Does that make sense? But he's in shape. He's solid and he's strong. Don't get me wrong. Now, I'm not jobbing out the guy, but I do notice he's a little bit more pudgier.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's all covered up. He's not a body guy.

[Vampiro]

Definitely not. And he better stay covered up.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, but it's a great gimmick.

[Vampiro]

He's awesome. He's modified the gimmick. It's more like he. Like, it looks like a motocross suit on him now. Yeah, so it's kind of like. Like a. Like a bulletproof vest type thing.

[Steve Austin]

How old is that guy?

[Vampiro]

He's 33.

[Steve Austin]

Man. Whatever happened to. When talking about motocross guy, what happened to Skeletor? What's the guy's name? The. The guy that wore the skeleton outfit. You know what I'm talking about?

[Vampiro]

Where? In Mexico?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Vampiro]

La Parka.

[Steve Austin]

La Parka? What the f. Happened to him?

[Vampiro]

Okay. What do you mean, good or bad?

[Steve Austin]

He just disappeared. No, I know he's been around for a long time, but I don't. I don't see him. Because he was down in wcw. Yeah, that dude could go. He's a hell of a worker.

[Vampiro]

There's two La Parkas, okay? The one in WCW was the original copyright fights. Fighting with the office. He's La Park. He's off on his own.

[Steve Austin]

He's I'm talking about the original Duke at work.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, he's. He will fight you in church if you say the wrong word or you look at him wrong or you breathe the same air as him. He's got a temper and he'll slug it out. Man, woman or child, he doesn't care. But he, he is the last of. He's very bruiser Brody Ish. How's that? He's the last of the hardcore old school indie guys who won't give in because he doesn't have to give in. He's still rocking. He's doing very well in Mexico. And then of course in aaa, we have the second version of La Parka. And he's an old school guy. He's been in the ring, Good God, about 33 years. Beaten, broken, scarred up, but he's still main eventing. So the both parkas are out there.

[Steve Austin]

So how old is the original La Parka?

[Vampiro]

He's got to be our age, maybe even a little old. It's probably early. He's probably about early 50s. More your age than mine, I'm about to say.

[Steve Austin]

Tell me about the salty streak in there with that guy. Was he that tough, that mean?

[Vampiro]

He's that mean. And he's bitter. He's bitter because before he became La Parka, like, you hear the horror stories that he used to work and they would give him a sandwich as a payoff. That's a shoot. And you know, he would bleed, bleed, bleed for the, for the business. He would die. He's a tough guy from a tough neighborhood in Mexico. And when he got his break, he never forgot the people who gave him a hard time on the way up. And I've been in the ring with him many a times and I man, he will, if you try to out wrestle him or do something more, he reminds me so much of Bruiser Brody. He will take you down and he will, he, he'll fight you in the ring whether you like it or not. You come in the dressing room and you don't like it, he'll tell you, we can be friends and we can fight. It's up to you. And he'll stand in front of you until you do something. He's, he's, he's, he's a, you know, he's a real tough guy. He likes that.

[Steve Austin]

What does that guy, what's his body type? Underneath all the, you know, the skeletons and the outfit, what's his body type? He's like, like a Jake and Snake Roberts, guys. He's a workout fanatic.

[Vampiro]

I'd say he's like a Jake kind.

[Steve Austin]

Of guy, but just tough. He don't give a shit.

[Vampiro]

Just, just don't give a shit. You know, he doesn't drink, nothing like that. He just, he's just a tough guy who will throw down and he likes that. I just don't, you know, there are people in the world who are like that and when he's wrong, he'll admit it. He straight out has no ego like that. But when, when he's in a bad mood, you'll fight anybody. Just, just, just because. Hey, this is Adam Carolla from the Adam Carolla Show. If you care about predictions, you care about props. And nobody does bet online. For years we've been the home of legitimate sports betting with deep markets, sharp odds and players, props that reward real insight from kickoff to final whistle. BetOnline gives you live betting, instant updates and in game predictions that move as the action unfolds. Plus, elevate your play with betonline casino and VIP rewards built for serious players. Prediction markets. Follow the Conversation BETOnline defines it BETOnline the game starts here.

[Steve Austin]

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[Vampiro]

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[Steve Austin]

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[Vampiro]

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[Steve Austin]

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[Vampiro]

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[Steve Austin]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

[Vampiro]

Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game?

[Steve Austin]

Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states. Ready to buy a car, a home, or just want to take control of your money?

[Vampiro]

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[Steve Austin]

Talking about. You're just talking about from the guys that I watched back in the day. What, what are the. The. Because here's the thing. You don't live in Thunder Bay, Canada anymore.

[Vampiro]

No, sir.

[Steve Austin]

You moved back or you moved to Mexico?

[Vampiro]

Guadalajara, Mexico. Cartel heartland right there.

[Steve Austin]

How'd that come about?

[Vampiro]

Well, I fell in love, got whipped, and she's the love of my life, my soulmate. She changed my whole outlook on things. And. And I just don't want to be anywhere else except beside her and move back. That's the macho side of Ampiro.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, man, what's the population of Guadalajara?

[Vampiro]

Six million.

[Steve Austin]

Oh, Jesus Christ.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, it's growing.

[Steve Austin]

Whatever. Had that guy, Mark Jendrak, I turned to somewhat of a movie star down in Mexico.

[Vampiro]

If you ask him, he will tell you the same thing.

[Steve Austin]

What's going on?

[Vampiro]

He's done well. Yeah, he's done well. He does the odd soap opera every now and then. I think he's gotten remarried down there. I think he's got another. I think he's got a baby girl. I think, I think. But I think he wants out. I read an interview that he just did and I think he's ready to pack it in and go back to the States and do something else. He did very well. Is. Is he a Brad Pitt movie star? No, no, no, no, not at all. But is he working in tv? Yeah, yeah, he's doing very well. He's still.

[Steve Austin]

He was one of those guys that kind of came in with the body as good looking kid, you know, back with Sean o'. Hare, man, Sean o' Hare was such a talented guy, you know, to me, he was one of the biggest, most talented guys that missed the business. He didn't make it and then he ended up committing suicide. Sadly. Jindrak kind of in that same mold. But then he went down to Mexico and found more success than I think he could have found in the States as far as wrestling.

[Vampiro]

He's still got the same body. Like, he's great, he's phenomenally in shape. But Mexico, it's so easy. It's so easy. And a guy like that who looks like him, you know, before he got married, you know, he was. He was basically a male model. You know, he had everything. In Mexico, you work on Friday night and you go home, you go right back home. And you know, there's tons of access to excess and it's very easy to become lazy down there and be comfortable. Yeah. So that's Kind of what happened?

[Steve Austin]

So you're down and you're thriving. You said you're producing content?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, I'm. I'm hoping, because I've been talking. I went back to school and I got a bunch of degrees and all that kind of stuff, and getting into corporate wellness coaching and all that. And I'm trying to tell the younger generation, I said this to you before. You've got to find other streams of income. You can't rely on the business like you did back 20 in our day. You can't. You just can't. So, you know, I love this. I've been doing it for 39, 38 years now, and I'm very fortunate and grateful. But I am. I'm a creative person. My first love is music. That's where I come from, getting into producing, television, writing and all that kind of stuff. And I'm just kind of slowly but surely stepping away from wrestling and going in other directions. There's tons of work for that in Mexico. All the big movies and TV shows are shot there. There's tons of productions. Now I'm back on my paranormal show down there. I got a huge music project where we're helping kids get off the streets and out of gangs and realize their dreams. I'm still with the Guardian Angels. All that stuff is down there. I got my Krav Maga school down there. It's just busy. So if you're either in the mix 100% or you're not, and I'm very fortunate that Vampiro is able to work it, as we say, and continue on.

[Steve Austin]

Well, then I want to ask you about how you're doing here. I mean, the streets of Los Angeles. But with respect to the wrestling industry in Mexico, is it EMLL and Triple A, Are they still up and running? What are the major wrestling?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, there's. There's this emml, emll, which is CMLL now. And then AAA is. Has. Has in the last eight months quadrupled in size. If we were doing 200 shows this year, we're doing close to 600, where now we do live TV. We used to tape it and edit it and put it on the air. Not anymore. Now we, because of the Twitch Network and there's a couple other Latin American streaming platforms aside from Televisa. So we're live, weekly live, straight up, live, worldwide now. And then we're also live. The feed is live for Mexico. So we do two shows at once for two different audiences. I get to produce that, write it, I help edit it, and I Organize the whole thing. I do the live events. So we're so busy with wrestling down there in the houses. Average TV probably between 9 to 14,000 every night.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, that's Triple A.

[Vampiro]

That's Triple A.

[Steve Austin]

And you're doing the same thing with Lucia Underground?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Austin]

So how are you able to take a break from that to come down here and spend the time to do this?

[Vampiro]

For example, like this weekend we have a pay per view down there. So we changed the, the shoot dates here. So we'll do Thursday, Friday, Saturday, catch the red eye, do the pay per view, come right back and just eek it out. So we kind of. Because this season.

[Steve Austin]

So how long you been involved with triple A now?

[Vampiro]

26 years, on and off.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, but now in this role.

[Vampiro]

In this role. This is my third year and this year I've been promoted to pretty much the executive producer of the live show. So. Yeah, I've been doing that for. Well, a year now, actually. A year in March. So when we're in March now, aren't we?

[Steve Austin]

No, yeah. Today is March 1st, is it?

[Vampiro]

No, tomorrow is. So yeah, it's been officially one year that I've been in this position and it's awesome.

[Steve Austin]

Is there one, do you like one over the other? They both same different things to you.

[Vampiro]

What's that? Creating and producing.

[Steve Austin]

Just as far as your role in Triple A versus your role in Lucha Underground.

[Vampiro]

I, they, they overfold, right. They flow. It's, it's, it's, it's being that Lucha Underground is very Latino based, Latino oriented, Lucha Libre style. The only difference is is it's in English. It's the exact same thing, right?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, yeah. But the guys in Triple A ain't doing all the crazy stuff. The guys in Lucha Underground and I'm not talking about crazy, I'm just talking about all this. They're not jumping off all the high stuff that I'm watching on holy shit moments.

[Vampiro]

Oh yeah, they are.

[Steve Austin]

These days they are.

[Vampiro]

They're 80% of the, of the guys in Lucha Underground are from aaa.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, but, but I know they can be from the same place, but I just didn't know they were doing the same stuff as far as, you know, the, the high risk things. I thought they were keeping it more ring based.

[Vampiro]

No, they're actually calmer here in Lucha Underground. Come on. You know that big, the lighting scaffold that goes up on top of the ring. We got guys every night that moonsault off of that, jump off of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, Mexico is way crazier way more hardcore than up here, for sure.

[Steve Austin]

Really?

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Well, you would know because you're there and I'm not.

[Vampiro]

Well, that's why I can't walk. But yes. And the difference is in the. In the way. The. Why I say it's harder there is because here we're in a building, we're in a set. It's. It's a weekend shoot. Everybody goes back to the hotel. Nice. They don't really understand, you know, get out there and you live off donuts and Coca Cola and get back on the bus and you're beaten up. You don't get to bathe and all that kind of stuff down there. It's. It's eight days a week, man. Non stop, non stop. Hardcore.

[Steve Austin]

Guys down there making endo.

[Vampiro]

Yes and no. If you were an American and you went down there and you said, I have to live off this, you would be there all of a day. But the equivalent of the. Of the lifestyle you can live with the money they're making down there. Yeah, there's guys that are living very well, for sure.

[Steve Austin]

What is the training ground down there? Because, you know, these days with the territory system dried up, you got a couple wrestling schools here, there. You've got the performance center down in Orlando run by WWE to come up. If you want to be a wrestler in Mexico, and you're our lucha libra, where's the training ground?

[Vampiro]

I mean, there's a ton of wrestling schools throughout the country, but now that our product is rolling, we have professional coaches to teach you how to deal with stress, teach you how to deal with connecting with your family when you come off the road, all that kind of stuff.

[Steve Austin]

Dude, that was called pills and alcohol when I was in the business.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, me too. Y' all got coaches, but yeah, that's step one, so.

[Steve Austin]

Oh, Jesus Christ, that's great, isn't it?

[Vampiro]

But. But before we even let you go in the ring, we give you that to prepare you for what's coming. Then we have a national talent search. So every tv, we have local matches and they get judged. And if they make it, then we bring them to. We have a gym now, and we have professional trainers there. And once a week, I go with the trainers and I tell them what we need for our TV work on this, understand the camera, we bring in a production company and we teach them how to understand the movements and the timing. So that is a huge step for Mexico that never happened. So not only from the coaching, we help with nutrition, we help with education. The younger guys we're making them save money, and then we teach them how to work for the camera before they even become in the ring. So they're coming in, they want to jump around and do flips, and we're like, this is what it's going to take for you to understand and handle the fame that's about to come. So we prepare them so that they don't get hooked on pills and alcohol and start messing around and getting themselves into trouble. So we're trying to take nipping it in the bud before it even starts. It's. I'm not used to that. I wish I had that when I was coming in, but at least now we're kind of guiding them to what we need for tv. So that's. That's a big, big difference.

[Steve Austin]

God dang. Y' all are coaching these guys to work for dv?

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

You know, I know that they're very leery or wary of that down there at the performance center, because I see, every time I see a cover, it's towards a hard camera, which to me, irks my ass because I never worked for a hard camera in my life. I figured they got eight camera guys out there, somebody's going to catch what the hell I'm doing. So I never work towards a hard camera. And so just, man, part of me, I understand that the landscape of the business has changed. The television part of it is the television part of it. But, man, just working for a camera is very foreign to me because I had enough things on my mind that I needed to worry about with where I was going in that match. Reading that crowd, listening to that crowd, making a split decision right there and working that crowd rather than just going through a set of moves to try to do something. I was working that crowd. I didn't give a flying shit where the camera was. So now these guys and these gals haven't taken all that stuff into consideration.

[Vampiro]

They are. But let me, okay? I'm like you. It's all about spontaneity. I mean, if you don't have that, you're not going to make it. I don't care what you know. And it irks me beyond belief. The WWE system. I don't know it. I've never been there, but I can see it. And people tell me, I think it is so wrong that some agent or some dude who probably never really made it, but was on the cusp, but is a bitter mother, you know, and he tells you what to do with your character. I'm against that. I hate It. And that's probably why I never went to wwe. Too rebellious when I. What we teach these guys to do? Say, listen when you go in the ring, the hard camera's there. Stand there for four seconds. That's it. Don't move, don't jitter, don't shake your hair. We need that shot because the commentator is going to talk about you during your match. We map it out, you're gonna fly. Don't fly to the hard camera. Tell me where you're going and I will put a camera there. So we kind of have a roadmap. We don't really tell them, you know, we don't do the ABC generic thing where everybody looks the same and everybody has to do the same moves and pin the same way. We're not that bad, but we kind of give them a heads up because we're live. And. And there are people in Japan who don't speak Spanish and there's people who in Australia who don't understand what the hell is going on. We need to explain to them. So even though our show is broadcast live in Spanish, I'm in front of the board, as you can imagine, I'm with my headphones, screaming, swearing, throwing things, yelling at the cameras. And then all of a sudden, there's a little box that comes on the TV and it's me live. And I turn around and I say, this is what's going on. This is what. And it's got to move. And it's fun because I get to give the middle finger to everything and everybody my own way, but I also get to explain things in English. So it's just. It's just such a fucking mess. But it's so different because it's. It's organized chaos. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it's working. At Pluto tv, we're celebrating Black History Month with our free curated collection of black entertainment. No ifs, ands or buts about Catch Award winning films like Dreamgirls, Monsters Ball and Selma.

[Steve Austin]

We must make a massive demonstration.

[Vampiro]

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[Steve Austin]

And it's all free.

[Vampiro]

It's getting good this month and always on Pluto tv. Stream now. Pain never. This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace.

[Steve Austin]

Last year, I went through many different life changes.

[Vampiro]

I needed to take a pause and examine how I was feeling in the inside to better show up for the ones who need me to be my.

[Steve Austin]

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[Vampiro]

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[Steve Austin]

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[Vampiro]

Living a busy life, navigating a long distance relationship, becoming a first stepfather, Talkspace made all of those journeys possible. I could speak with my therapist in the office.

[Steve Austin]

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[Vampiro]

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[Steve Austin]

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[Vampiro]

No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code.

[Steve Austin]

[e-mail] well, what about the how you guys are shooting Lucha Underground? Because, I mean, like, that is going into post.

[Vampiro]

Yes.

[Steve Austin]

Guy botches just a redo without making it look like a redo.

[Vampiro]

No, we've had, we've had, I think in the four Seasons, there's been twice where we've had to redo things just because it had to happen. But I. Our philosophy is the old ecw, man, if you fall on your face, that's what's going on tv. And I love that. So it's like, okay, you want to do a triple moonsault? All right, dude, if you fall on your head, that's on you. And it's pretty exciting because sometimes, man, you see things, you're like, oh, man. But they keep going. They keep going.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, here's the thing. I sent out on my Twitter account, teveaustinbsr. And on Twitter, you are.

[Vampiro]

Vampiro.

[Steve Austin]

And one of the questions that came in was to get your thoughts on the Sexy Star incident. This happened about almost a year ago now, nine months ago at least. So anyway, dude, I saw a clip of it. What happened? What are your thoughts on it? Because half the people just blackballed this Sexy Star chick.

[Vampiro]

Do I think she shot on the girl? No. Do I think that she lost her temper? Yes. They beat her up. They beat Sexy Star up on purpose. You watch the match. If anybody knows anything about this business, you can tell there was a lot of heat going in. There's major heat going in. And if you can see, they really put it to sexy. And she's arrogant just like anybody else in this business. And she lost her cool. And I mean, if you beat her and slap her around between the three of you for 15 minutes and you can see her trying to fight back and they shut her down. You know very well, sooner or later, the first chance that you get, you're gonna swing. And I watched it, I rewatched it. I was there. I think she just lost her temper. Do I think she popped the elbow? No. Do I think she had it on very snug and didn't let go and she was supposed to. And I think the other girl loosened up just a bit too much and was too naive. Yes. Is it an unfortunate circumstance? Of course it is. If it was the boys, there'd be a fight, right? And there almost was in the dressing room. It got. It got. I haven't seen that. I don't know. I haven't seen that probably in about 15 years where the whole dressing room was ready to go. Yeah, it got intense back there.

[Steve Austin]

So whatever happened to her?

[Vampiro]

She's still working anymore because of that. You know, she. Her husband's a world champion pro boxer.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, Yeah, I was reading about him.

[Vampiro]

And then she wanted to get into the ring and start fighting, so she started. She's. She's done some fights. I don't know how well she's done, but she's got it in her mind that she's going to become a woman's champion boxer. And it's kind of like, listen, you're in your 30s, you got a baby, you've never been beaten up, you're taken care of. You come from a, you know, economically well off family. You're going to go in there with some girl from the south of Detroit and she needs to eat. She's going to hurt you. She's going to hurt you bad. Don't do it. And that's the last I heard of her.

[Steve Austin]

So what's Rosemary doing?

[Vampiro]

I don't know. But every time she works, she gets hurt. So I hope that she's not really hurt and I hope she takes care of herself because Rosemary is a great girl. Very kind, very humble. She was really cool, you know, But I heard she got hurt again. Somebody did something to her. I mean, poor girl. I wish that she can get better and do her career. She stayed in tna, but I just read, I guess it was last week she got hurt in some indie show. So she's not having a lot of luck, I think.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, man, here's a question for you. With the. With the wwe, man, the women have been going crazy with respect to higher profile matches. Their Main event in RAWs, their main event in Smackdowns are main events, pay per views. There's more on the roster and they got some quality women that can go. So is there going to be more of that?

[Vampiro]

Or.

[Steve Austin]

With respect to the women, how many women are in Triple A? Or, like, I know Ivelisse in Lucha Underground. Is she still there?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, she's there.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. But I mean, is there going to be more women wrestling in Mexico or is there the same movement, or can there be over there or what?

[Vampiro]

I'd love there to be. There's just not a lot of opportunity. I mean, Mexico is such a closed, macho mindset. We've got three new girls coming up through our system, and they're great. They're great, but it's not like the wwe, where we can put them on contract, put them in an apartment, feed them and train them. We don't have that luxury. It's unfortunate because there are a lot of young girls out there who want to be professional wrestlers. We see it, but they're not afforded the opportunity. And the promoters don't ask for them, so they can't make a living. So if they're married and they have kids, it's very tough. Very, very tough. I'm hoping that there's a solution, but I just don't see it. I really don't. Not yet.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, man, I told people to send in some questions, and then here's a random question. Well, it's random because we're talking about something else. Vampiro, do you by chance have the Wrestling Society X Championship in your possession? Do you have any fond memories of performing for wsx? Lucha Underground reminds me of Wrestling Society X and venue appearance, so just thought I'd be the first champ. Love your podcast, Steve. Stop by the taco capital of the world when you get a chance over in Fresno, California, Pedro. I will. Mexican food is my favorite food in the world. Vampiro, where is the Wrestling Society X Championship?

[Vampiro]

I got no idea, dude. If I would. If I. If I uk.

[Steve Austin]

Fabian.

[Vampiro]

No, I want. I wanted to steal it myself.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Vampiro]

But I think one of the guys in the office got it before me. I have no clue where it is. I wish I knew because I would be on my wall. I would have stole that if they would have let me have it for more than five seconds.

[Steve Austin]

Dude, tell me about Wrestling Society X.

[Vampiro]

Sure.

[Steve Austin]

Nothing about it. Because they said, do you have any fond memories of it? How long were you there? What is it?

[Vampiro]

I mean, it was. It was something that MTV did and very. When I say similar to Lucha Underground, I mean they did it in a warehouse. They. They. It was. It was Extremely post produced crazy matches. Piranhas in a fish tank and you know, the slam. A guy in there, things like that. And I was like, God damn. But go, you guys. Go ahead, man. I'll take my. Give me a hip toss and I'm good. You know, it was hardcore oriented. There was a lot of things like exploding cages. And that was the memories I had. That's where I met Zach Wilde. That's probably my best memory because that we used to have live bands, but famous people like Zach, like Good Charlotte was there. I think Tech9 was there, a rapper. Bands like that, people like that. And then they would go and sit in the announce booth and call the matches with the announcers. I thought that was awesome. Because you know, Zach, he don't care. And he was fun and he was so cool. And I learned so much just listening to him talk. That's probably my fondest memory. The fans were cool. I think that that product was ahead of itself time. MTV was going to push it. But then they switched management and they started going with the Jersey Shore type things. And we just got put in the shelf and that was it. We did the whole season in a week, man.

[Steve Austin]

Here's a question you might have already answered came in from Mike Tackett. He said, will Lucha Underground ever have a developmental program? You were speaking about aaa, but now we're talking about Lucha Underground. Do you see maybe something like that happen for those guys? Because, man, it's a wrestling show on El Rey Network.

[Vampiro]

I don't think we will have a development system. But there is definitely. We do have tryouts. And even this year I saw like when we were setting up the cameras and all that kind of stuff, there was about 20 guys and girls there doing like tryouts. So I don't think an actual development thing. I think it's like, even if I think in Lucha Underground, what people need to know is you got to be in the right place at the right time. It's not your talent, it's your desire. And if you're willing to have fun and understand that this isn't a full time gig and you come in there, you're probably going to get a shot. Yeah, because we're always looking for, you know.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, but I got to have some talent, man. I mean, because you could want it as bad as you could want it more than anything than anybody in the world. But if you ain't got no talent, you ain't got no talent.

[Vampiro]

But I think charisma more than talent.

[Steve Austin]

Today's I'll Go with you on charisma, right? Yeah. Yeah. But if somebody has zero ability and is, you know, and I'm taking to the extreme, got two left feet, then you can.

[Vampiro]

That would be me. That would be. Brother.

[Steve Austin]

I couldn't give you a pretty good move set. Bull. I'm calling.

[Vampiro]

Listen, if I. If you told me to give you an arms rack, I wouldn't know what the hell to do.

[Steve Austin]

Well, I wouldn't know how to take one.

[Vampiro]

There you go.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. So toss me.

[Vampiro]

Yeah. It's like, go.

[Steve Austin]

I'll feed you for. I'll pull a double rib. I'll feed you for an overhead press.

[Vampiro]

Oh, dude, I just.

[Steve Austin]

I didn't get a sandbag yet. Jesus Christ. You know, here's the. I think I'm a heavy guy to pick up in my wrestling prime. I was at 252, 255. I'll never forget working with Rick Flair. I was just talking to Flair on the phone yesterday, wishing him happy birthday. Happy birthday, Rick.

[Vampiro]

Hey, Rick.

[Steve Austin]

But I'll never forget the time I suplexed Rick and Rick probably, you know, after he had his plane crash and he broke his back, because he used to be a real big, burly guy.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Austin]

And so. But when he. When he settled down and he was in that 235 range, which was the perfect height and weight. I think that's why he was so successful. Obviously, he's one of the. It was the best worker in the world, but he had the perfect body type. God dang. I was thinking, man, I'm going to suplex Ric Flair. This is going to be the easiest thing in the world. God damn. I thought it was going to blow up my back trying to suplex flare, you know. He wasn't saying back at me. He just. He's the heaviest 235 pounder ever. Suplex.

[Vampiro]

Wow.

[Steve Austin]

And it was great. And I tell that story with a big smile on my face because I just thought he was going to go up and over for me. But I was like, God damn, I got to work for this, son.

[Vampiro]

Yeah. Something similar. I'm not a big guy, but, you know, when you're on the gas or whatever it is, you get that feel and you get that look, you know, you're hard. And I. And I had a singles match with. With Lex Luger back when he was Lex Luger. And I was like, oh, man, that's. He just. He just lacks. He couldn't pick me up to body slam me if I paid him $10 million. He dropped me. And he yelled at me. And I'm like. I looked at Elizabeth and I was like, what did I do? And she goes, I don't know. And he was just so mad because, you know, he's. He's all jacked up and he couldn't. He couldn't pick up a 220 pound guy.

[Steve Austin]

Couldn't do it. And you were sandbagging him.

[Vampiro]

No, I didn't know what the hell that meant back then.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Vampiro]

I was like, dude, just tell me what to do and I'll jump. And he couldn't do it.

[Steve Austin]

He dropped me.

[Vampiro]

Unbelievable.

[Steve Austin]

Here's a question. Greetings. Some of the most popular with the fans, participants in Lucha Underground have left AAA on not so great terms in the past year. How does this affect the working relationships during the taping? And the future of these luchadors in terms of the ship show? Can't wait for season four to air. That's coming from Crystal.

[Vampiro]

Crystal. It's like any other business. It was kind of like the kids became teenagers, so they fought with the parents. But then once they finished college, everybody loves each other again. So wrestling goes in cycles. I've always said it. And whatever happened three years ago, wrestling is the only business that will forgive the sinners in a heartbeat. The, the more you misbehave, the more accepting people are. They want to have their enemies close. So even if you left on bad terms at that time, the reason you leave on bad terms is because you don't have anything to judge it or go up against. Like, as an example, and I just think that these guys were tired in Mexico. They were very hungry, they wanted to grow. Mexico was moving slow. As an example, they went out on their own. And things are coming, coming full circle. People are talking and it's going to work out. It always does. Did you ever think you were going to see Jeff Jarrett in the WWE hall of Fame? I was like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And I mean, that's a classic example in wrestling. Everything is forgiven as long as you put butts in the seat.

[Steve Austin]

All right, I'm going to take a quick pause for the calls of my conversation with Vampiro and give big ups to true car. Here's some useful car tips you might not be aware of. A coffee filter and a little bit of olive oil can clean your interior. Removing excess weight from your car will improve gas mileage. Placing your key fob to your chin will increase its range. Might sound strange, but it's true. Are you ready for one more tip? You might not know about TrueCar also helps people get used cars. That's right, TrueCar is not just for buying new cars. With their certified dealer network and nationwide inventory, nearly 1 million used car cars, you'll enjoy real pricing on actual inventory and a simpler buying experience whether you buy new or used. And with TrueCar, users can see what others paid so they know if they're getting a good deal before buying. They're also more likely to enjoy a faster buying experience by connecting with TrueCar certified dealers. When you're ready to buy a new or used Car, check out TrueCar and enjoy a more confident car buying experience. Some features not available in all states. You're also going to need car insurance for that new vehicle. So go to geico.com and in 15 minutes you could be saving 15% or more on car insurance. That's right, save hundreds of dollars on car [e-mail] extra money in your pocket. It may just be the most rewarding thing you do today.

[Vampiro]

Hi, this is Lillian Garcia, host of Chasing Glory here on Podcast one. Every week I'm talking to the best biggest athletes and entertainers about their journey to success. Did you hear this week's episode? Stephanie McMahon is on Chasing Glory.

[Steve Austin]

Thanks for having me Lillian. That was quite an introduction.

[Vampiro]

The highs.

[Steve Austin]

Let me just say that announcing the first ever Women's Royal Rumble was one of my most memorable moments.

[Vampiro]

And the lows.

[Steve Austin]

I've almost been fired numerous times. It hasn't always been pretty.

[Vampiro]

This week I keep it real raw and inspiring with WWE's Stephanie McMahon. Everything you want to know and didn't know. What do you feel like having three daughters for Triple H has meant to him? Make sure to subscribe and download new episodes every Monday of Chasing Glory with me, Lillian Garcia. You can get it exclusively on Apple Podcasts podcast1.com or on the all new Podcast1 app.

[Steve Austin]

All right, before we get to the rest of my interview with Man Pirro of Lucha Underground, let me give a quick shout out to DDP Yoga. DDP Yoga is a kick ass cardio workout and will dramatically increase your flexibility and strengthen your core, all with minimal joint impact. Just go to ddpyoga.com Austin and take advantage of the free seven day trial on the DDPY app to get started.

[Vampiro]

This is the Steve Austin Show.

[Steve Austin]

How did you like work like was staying in WCW for coming from Jared Collins.

[Vampiro]

I as a person I was really disappointed after when he spoke bad about me but I have nothing but good things to say about him.

[Steve Austin]

He what say about you?

[Vampiro]

He Said that he didn't like the gimmick. The gimmick wasn't getting over my work rate was bad. Things like that. And we all know why those things get said, right? You know? But to be honest with you, he took the time to talk to me, to explain things to me, American wise, business wise. He smartened me up to a lot of things. I thought it was an amazing education. And even though we're not the best of friends, I'm so grateful to him that he took that time to teach me.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, man, I had a guy come out of tough enough. We did tough enough, I guess in 2011. I cleared the memory banks there. Steel chairs to the head. 2011, tough enough. We called him Donny Osmond. He's down there working for you guys as the Bee. The Bee. He's the Marty McFly. Marty.

[Vampiro]

Marty the Moth.

[Steve Austin]

Marty the Moth. Pardon me, Marty. Marty the Moth. He's still around. Yeah, yeah, he looks like he's coming around. He looks like he's picking up the game.

[Vampiro]

We got him in Mexico. I told him when he came to Lucha Underground, he didn't know where to go with this character. And I said, go watch the movie, the cable guy. You're Jim Carrey. Be. Be that guy, that insane guy who's too intelligent for his own good. And he's had about three years to work on it, and boy, is he on fire. He gets it. Yeah. And he's a big boy. He's a good kid. He doesn't got any bad habits. I think he is going to do something in this business. For sure. He could. He could be in the. In New York, easy.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. You know, he smoked his ankle when we were filming. Tough enough. I felt bad for the kid because I had to take his belt from him, which meant that that ended his little run. Didn't have a chance to be the finalist, but I figured the kid, you know, had a good look to him. He's not the biggest guy in the world, but he did have some talent.

[Vampiro]

Yeah. And there's no doubt.

[Steve Austin]

And he had a passion.

[Vampiro]

He's a big boy. He's easy to 50 something right now. He's big.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. He's been in the gym and he's been getting his nutrition. I think he's got his own nutrition company as well now.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, that's doing well. I told him, I said, look, you're a stockbroker. Don't quit that job. Don't be stupid. Wrestling is fun. Enjoy it. Make your money. You're great at it. But don't let. You got two houses and a wife, you're happy. Don't make the mistake that all of us made and give that up. Dude, we wish we had that to fall back on. Just be. Go slow. And he looked at me and he just didn't get it.

[Steve Austin]

He didn't want to be a stockbroker, though. He wanted to be a pro wrestler.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, go figure.

[Steve Austin]

Okay, so let me ask you something. So with Lucha Underground or aaa, are you guys pro wrestling? You guys sports entertainment? What are you guys these days? What are you branding yourself as? Because, you know, I'm old School. I'm 53. I was a pro wrestler. These guys these days are sports entertainers. What's AAA and what's Lucha Underground?

[Vampiro]

It depends what you got to explain to the law officer when he pulls you over. Pro wrestling, 100%. I'm old school too. I'm a pro wrestler. I'm in the pro wrestling industry. Is it sports entertainment? To an extent. I think now with all the music and the women and the costumes and the guys and the presentations and the social media, is it entertaining? Of course. But we're pro wrestlers and that's just that.

[Steve Austin]

I mean, you talking about music and you brought up my good buddy Zach Wild from Black Label Society and he also played for Ozzy for many years. Bls.bls tattooed on the hand.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, dude.

[Steve Austin]

Jesus Christ. So you're serious about the Black Label?

[Vampiro]

Little bit.

[Steve Austin]

So these days, music wise, what are you into? Because I know you're doing some music stuff down there, but what are you trying to play or what are you listening to? What are you digging?

[Vampiro]

Well, I've always been a musician, a guitar player and I got a few bands. One's a punk band, the other one's a rockabilly band. That's my always been my passion. But I'm part of this project called trackster. Trackster.com, if you look it up, it's basically, We've got over 2,800 studios worldwide with professional musicians, famous rock star people. We got the drummer from the who. For example, if you hum notes into a microphone and say, I need. This is my song, give it to us. We will Send you back 5 versions professionally produced radio ready songs that you can upload to itunes and sell your music. We. So basically what it is is anybody who has a dream, who wants to be in a band or be a writer or a singer, whatever, send us your strum a few chords on a guitar. We will send it to the guitar player. He used to be in Guns N Roses. We will send it to a guitar player, used to be in Motorhead, and they will come back with versions of your song. You pick the song you want, we get a small percentage of it, and you start making money. It's awesome. It's amazing because now we're cutting out the record companies, we're cutting out, you know, people kissing ass. To get a good producer, you just come to us, it's free. You just send us your stuff. And once you start making money, we make money.

[Steve Austin]

Dude, how'd you get involved in that?

[Vampiro]

It was a childhood friend of mine who, we were in a band together when we started out, when we were young and he became a top executive in the financial industry. He's a music fanatic. He invested in an amplifier company and this just progressed from that because there was nowhere for kids who didn't have money to go and make a great sounding album. And it was just a brainchild. It's been about 25 years of work, but now it's rocking.

[Steve Austin]

So you play guitar?

[Vampiro]

Yes, I do.

[Steve Austin]

So, like, who are your inspirations?

[Vampiro]

You know, I'm a Ramones guy. Like, Johnny Ramone was my, you know, I grew up with that. Any, any, any pre psychedelic rock band like the who, the Sonics, all that kind of garage punk from the 60s. I love that stuff. Chuck Berry. Then it became Johnny Ramon, the New York Dolls, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Misfits, all that kind of Social Distortion, all that kind of semi rockabilly punk mix. That, that's my thing. No doubt.

[Steve Austin]

What would you define rockabilly as? Because I hear that term a lot, but I just don't know. Rockabilly is rockabilly.

[Vampiro]

If you looked it up, it would be, you know, that was kind of like the. The Fats Domino, Little Richard being stolen by Elvis. That period of mix being that it was hillbilly music, it was rhythm and blues that kind of did that mix. So that rockabilly sound, a modern version would be the Blasters or the Stray Cats, something like that. But rockabilly rock would be, you know, Bill Haley in the comments, that kind of stuff.

[Steve Austin]

Gotcha.

[Vampiro]

That they just, you know, Greasers, American Graffiti, that kind of thing. 50s music.

[Steve Austin]

So these days, down in Mexico, what are you listening to?

[Vampiro]

I listened to what I grew up on. Right. All that stuff I just mentioned, the Dolls, Ramones, Sex Pistols are real big. Was a big part of my life. Anything that's. It's that, that era, the early who, this band, the Sonics is. Is One of my favorite bands, but I'm in a rock.

[Steve Austin]

I gotta check him out. Are the Deftones in your mix?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, a little bit. You know, they were a little bit, you know, new. New metal. Ish. But. Yeah, of course they are. But, you know, the. The Sonics, they had that, you know that song, have Love, Will Travel. As soon as you hear it, you're gonna know it. Great band. Great band. You know, guys are in their 70s and they're still playing, and they scare you how powerful they are. But I'm in a rockabilly band now, and it's fun. I don't tell anybody it's my band because I don't want anybody to come and see Vampiro the wrestler playing with these dudes. And it's fun, man.

[Steve Austin]

So do what you're set up. Another thing. Okay, you got your Stratocast, your telecast, what are you playing?

[Vampiro]

Congrats, man.

[Steve Austin]

Gretch.

[Vampiro]

You got a big ass, Gretch.

[Steve Austin]

Hollow body.

[Vampiro]

Yep.

[Steve Austin]

Really?

[Vampiro]

Yep.

[Steve Austin]

I guess I can see why you want to get to use that for the sound.

[Vampiro]

Well, yes. And the look, because a Les Paul. I'm too tall. I'm too big. It looks small on me. Yeah, you got to look cool. You're playing the guitar, man. So you know Billy Duffy, and when he was. He had the White Falcon. I got a White Falcon, my friend, and ran to Tim Armstrong. He had a signature Gretch. It has a big body. I got that. It's. It's jet black. And those are my babies, man.

[Steve Austin]

So what's the amp you're playing out of?

[Vampiro]

Marshall? Yeah, Marshall Stack. Yeah. I can't get away from that.

[Steve Austin]

So how often are you doing the music thing? Because, man, I've been. You know, my buddy Chris Jericho, he'll go in the hall of fame here whenever they decide to put him in. Had a great run. One of the best pro wrestling runs probably in the history of the business. And now he's out doing his thing with Fozzie, so. And they're traveling all over the place. So how often do you do the music thing with all the things that you're doing with AAA and Lucha Underground?

[Vampiro]

I mean, if you're. If you're. A musician, you can sit in your bedroom and play and you're happy, right? I do that every day with the band. We got an album coming out, probably come out in May and give me some touring going on, so we'll see how it goes there. The other band that I'm in, in Mexico, we've been around for 26 years. We've been touring. We got eight albums out. You know, I play. We play almost every weekend.

[Steve Austin]

What's the name of the band?

[Vampiro]

Gary Goles. Gargoyles. Right. But it's, it's a Ramones type band. Very, very, you know, simple three chord punk rock.

[Steve Austin]

Who's the leader of the band, who's singing, who's writing all the stuff?

[Vampiro]

They are. They're the guys. Mexican guys. Nobody would know them. And I'm just like, don't tell anybody I'm in the band. I'll stand in the back. Turn me up. And it's my. It's my release. It's where nobody says Vampiro. I don't have to talk to people. I'm just a dude playing guitar. And it's the best time ever. Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

So what are you wearing on stage?

[Vampiro]

Black leather jacket, ripped T shirt, Converse, black jeans. Couple beers and. Yeah, that's it, baby. Turn it up loud.

[Steve Austin]

Lucha Underground, you guys, you're down here, you send me a text message, you're down here, what, a couple weeks now?

[Vampiro]

Yeah. This is going into our third week.

[Steve Austin]

We got how much more you got?

[Vampiro]

Three more to go. Three more to go.

[Steve Austin]

Weeks.

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

And so that will be how many episodes?

[Vampiro]

26. Doing? We're doing three days a week, three shows a night.

[Steve Austin]

How tough is that to. To work with? I mean, the writers coming up with this. Is it still the same guys writing?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, same guys.

[Steve Austin]

Is Eric Van Wagenen still part of.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, Eric Van Wagenen is there. Chris de Joseph, Christopher Roach. I got my fingerprints on stuff. I'm kind of like the go to guy for everything. I fill the holes, right? Producing, editing, helping edit. Excuse me, Writing and agenting, that's my thing. And then commentating. And of course, the Vampiro character, he'll be back. So I'm told. New look, new time, new place, new aggression, ready to go. But it's tough for them because they're not full time wrestling people. It's easy for me because it's like three hours. That's it. Let's do it.

[Steve Austin]

You said something about editing or helping with editing. Will you go in there and say, hey, man, the guys, I like this, or what do you.

[Vampiro]

In Mexico? I'm 100% hands on in Mexico. Here I'm, I'm. I'm invited to the editing sessions more than anything, to learn. And of course, if I have a. I pick things out that the other guys don't. And I'm being brought into the fold, learning that craft because it is a craft. God, I always thought that to make it in pro wrestling, you had to be the guy in the ring. I'm telling you now, if you're not edited right, if they don't shoot you right, if the commentators don't have the right verbiage and the storyline ain't right, I don't care how talented you are, you ain't going to make it. You better show respect to that side because those are the ones who are the pulse of the show, period. To me, Matt Stryker is the guy who sets the bar. His attitude, his tone is stuff he says and he gives me something to bounce off of. That to me is the. You can do all the crazy flying you want, but if you don't have that, this show ain't going anywhere. That's what I think.

[Steve Austin]

How has the guys that you mentioned while ago, three or four guys writing the show, evolved with this now being the fourth season from season one with respect to storylines, wrestling, making it all cohesive or better than it was because you said it's a new look and there's some different things about it. You get some new characters coming out. But has there been a changing or maturation in the writing?

[Vampiro]

For sure, you have to, right? It's a two sided coin. You get into a groove because you know what our fans expect. You go to your restaurant, you see the menu, you want your favorite dish, but what's new on the dessert menu? So you got to always come up with something new to give them that little hook. I think that it's so intense and it's shot in such a short period of time. You don't have that luxury to get comfortable. You got to come in and you got to hit it and you got to be like, oh my God, I've got to shock the people. Because now things have changed so much. You have no choice because the attention span of Today's fan is two minutes. If you don't hook them in 30 seconds, you're done. So, okay, well, jump out of the building, but this time, light your head on fire. And then when you land bleed, you've got to go extreme. There's no other way. So these guys, they've got their work cut out for them, but they're doing it.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, man, I saw on the holy shit moments, I saw Ivelisse. Is she working as Ivelisse down there?

[Vampiro]

Yep.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. Is she still around?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, she. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Well, yeah, because, man, she was talented and tough enough. I think she had an injury as well and so she she dropped out. But I told her, I told her there on tv, I said, you belong in a ring. And she's still around.

[Vampiro]

She's great. She's a pain in the butt, but in a good way. Because the reason that she is so awesome is because she doesn't back down. She has something that she believes in. Her conviction is so strong, like if she, you know, she works with the guys a lot, and some of the guys just don't want to deal with her because she's a girl, and I'm against that. I think if she wants to get in there, she's just. She's a brother or a sister and she's willing to bleed just like you are, so you better give her that respect. She won't back down. And she will get mad and get in your face. She's Puerto Rican, she's hot blooded, she's very beautiful and she's talented. But boy, oh, boy, does she fight you tooth and nail for the last ounce of whatever it is. If it's a headlock, well, why am I giving the headlock three hours later? Well, why am I giving the headlock? It's like, Evie, no, she won't stop. And I love that about her. Everybody hates it. Everybody hates about anybody who's rebellious in this business. But she's doing it for a reason. And I love that about her, that she just doesn't care what you think. She will tell you what she thinks. And I really love that about her.

[Steve Austin]

Well, it was interesting because, you know, when we were doing Tough Enough, man, I absolutely loved her. Loved her spirit, loved her competitive attitude. And, you know, she's tough.

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

And so she could work. And this was in the formative years. It's back in 11. But then I heard, you know, down there in the camp, she's got attitude problems. I'm like, man, I didn't catch no attitude problem for my chick. She was cool with me. She was cool on the show.

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

And so then I'm hearing attitude. I mean, yeah, so, yeah, maybe she was stubborn, but I don't know. I agree with you. I like somebody who's going to stand up and fight for something.

[Vampiro]

Yeah. I think what one of the best lessons, and I share it with the young talent, and I used it this weekend. I remember Mick Foley said that when he wasn't Mick Foley yet and he had to do a job for Sting back before the big boom, Sting just wanted to kill him. And Mick said, well, let me do something so that you're beating somebody a Lot of people don't understand that, but I got it right away. And I think it was. It was probably one of the more important lessons in my life. And I was already 20 years in when that happened. And I use it all the time. You need to construct the logic behind the violence. If not, it's just. It doesn't make any sense. And she's the kind of person who will do whatever, but if she's convinced that it has to be this way for that reason, she won't back down. And I just think it's the most important asset for a new talent is to believe in themselves so much that they can convince me, because you got to convince the fans. And I think that she's way ahead of the game on that.

[Steve Austin]

Right. I just saw your black van pull up. You on time schedule? No, I did figured.

[Vampiro]

Not at all, man.

[Steve Austin]

You got a posse in there with you?

[Vampiro]

Nope. Nope.

[Steve Austin]

Traveling solo?

[Vampiro]

Yes, sir.

[Steve Austin]

Where are you staying out here?

[Vampiro]

Downtown la, about a block from the new studio.

[Steve Austin]

You hitting any clubs, are you?

[Vampiro]

No. God, no. I'm. I'm getting married, man. I ain't going nowhere. I'm in my room answering the phone. Where are you? I'm right here. Playing my guitar and writing TV for AAA and just kind of chilling.

[Steve Austin]

What do you think about being here in LA versus Guadalajara versus Thunder Bay?

[Vampiro]

I mean, Thunder Bay. I grew up there. I left for a reason. I went back because my daughter finished high school there. She's going to college now, so there was a reason I went back. Guadalajara, you know, it's. I see it with different eyes now because now I'm in love, right? So I go to the restaurants, go to the movies, so it's a whole different thing. But I'm. I'm as LA is Vampiro's, born and bred in the streets of la. This is, you know, rock and roll heaven for me. Everybody says don't go to LA because everybody wants to be an actor. No kidding. That's why it's called Hollywood. I love it here. I like going into the used guitar shops, the used clothing stores. I like hanging around Hollywood Boulevard while the other vampires are. I mean, this is just my thing, man. I love LA a lot, but, you know, now I'm housebroken and I gotta stay home and. Yeah, watch Netflix and babysit nephews and nieces and play Barbies and be a vampire.

[Steve Austin]

What does being a vampire actually mean?

[Vampiro]

Dude? I don't know, man. It's easier for me than saying I'm anti social. I don't I don't like you. Go away from me because I got nothing to say to you. And don't try to get into my head. And please don't ask me about my career, because I want to take this chair and bury it in your brain. I'd rather say I'm a vampire, and I just have a hard time talking to people.

[Steve Austin]

I can dig. Here's a question for you, since you have a hard time talking to people. Dude, y' all filmed the craziest trailer or whatever it was, but you were in the mental institute. It was phenomenal. Then Striker picked you up, the whole movie, White Car. I mean, dude, it was awesome. And I remember I sent you a text message. I said, hey, man, are you doing, like, a series or something? It was that good. So what was that all about? Because it was. It was amazing. And y' all gonna do another one like that, or is that a spoiler or what?

[Vampiro]

Oh, no. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, yeah, there's gonna be more stuff like that. Eric Van Wagenen actually wrote that.

[Steve Austin]

Oh.

[Vampiro]

And it was just, you know, the Vampiro character, the schizophrenic guy, the bipolar, whatever you want to call it, who has all these voices in his head. I just. I had so much fun doing that, and it certainly put me back on the map. Yeah. So, I mean, is there more coming? Oh, yeah. Darker and deeper and dirtier? Sure, for sure. Yeah. More. More occultists. No doubt about it. Yeah, I love that.

[Steve Austin]

What's Matt Stryker doing in his spare time? Because, I mean, I think he's a great. Doing a great job as, you know, one of the voices of Lucha Underground as well, so. But what does he do when you guys aren't filming?

[Vampiro]

I think he just sits on the beach in New York and watches the stock market and kayfabes, everybody. That's kind of what he does. He's. He's the best worker in the business. He's always doing something, but he's doing nothing. And he's always everywhere, but he doesn't know anything. It's like, Matt, come on. No, I don't know. You know, he's the ultimate Kay Fabe artist. He's probably the world champion.

[Steve Austin]

Really?

[Vampiro]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But he's at home, dude.

[Steve Austin]

He.

[Vampiro]

He's his. His passion is calling baseball. That's his thing, announcing baseball. I tell you, like, I'm looking at you in the face. I'm telling you the truth. He is so knowledgeable, and he is so good. He will set up baseball cards and he'll call a game, you wouldn't know what the hell is going on. But he'll just. I think that his, his, his destiny. He should be a baseball announcer. He's too good for wrestling. That's what I think. He's too knowledgeable, he's too talented. He's wasting his time sitting behind. I mean, it's a beautiful thing. Believe me, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have a job. He's the guy. I just think that he's got a bigger future being an announcer for a professional team. No doubt about it. He's that talented.

[Steve Austin]

Is he trying to pursue that?

[Vampiro]

I don't know. Because he's so. He's such a pain in the ass when he kayfabes everything. But it's like, it's like I don't care. I mean, I'm not going to tell anybody. And I'm. We're like brothers. I mean, but he just kay faves, right? But I mean, I think if somebody called him, he asked me, what should I do? I said, what, are you crazy? You go, that's what you do. Don't look back, brother. Swing for the fences, right? He's just too much though. He's great. And he constantly, constantly, constantly is thinking about finishes and angles and high spots. He's 24, seven on, but you can't find him. And he's always kfaving. So he's just a weird dude, man. He's one of us. What am I going to tell you?

[Steve Austin]

Hey, what are you doing with your workouts? Last time I called you on the phone, you were benching 500. You're straining heavy again. You was in powerlifting mode. Right now you still look pretty stacked benching 500.

[Vampiro]

So if you take 10 pounds and you bench press that 5,000 times, you get to 500. Let's. If I bench 500 pounds, you'd know about it. I'd be telling you because of all the injuries, the arthritis is so bad, it's so hard to lift weights. Basically just body weight stuff now. Like I deadlift every now and then. I get excited and I can still pull over 500 and all that kind of stuff. But body weight, there's no need for it. And with the martial arts and all that kind of stuff and my age and, you know, you don't want to be on stage playing a guitar and you're muscle bound, right? So trying to. I'm trying.

[Steve Austin]

Well, it worked for Kane and Alison Chains, but other than that, I mean, you don't see too many jacked up guys playing guitar in a rock and roll band other than the Dude Misfits who events.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, yeah, those dudes are. They're. They're MMA fans and they're doing all that. But Doyle from the, you know, he. He's just. I don't even know. He's just a. He does a push up and he's like. He's one of those guys, right? Because Jerry's his brother. Jerry looks like a hot dog, you know, with the skin that broke. And then you got Doyo, who looks like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. And Doyle's like 56, 57.

[Steve Austin]

Jesus Christ. He's that old? Yeah, he's in phenomenal shape.

[Vampiro]

I mean, they've been around since, you know. I know, mid-70s.

[Steve Austin]

Dude. I met those guys at a. It was one of the toy conventions in New York City, right, 20 some odd years ago. And they come. Two or three of them was jacked up, obviously. Dole was one of them. And I had on the platform shoes. So, I mean, I was. I'm looking up at these dudes, I'm like, man, these are some big son bitches for being rock stars.

[Vampiro]

Yeah. They don't wear platforms. They're that tall.

[Steve Austin]

Well, I know, but they had some gimmick shoes on because it was a little bit tall.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, Doyle. Doyle wears the Frankenstein boots.

[Steve Austin]

Okay. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Because I was looking at this dude, I'm like, man, the dude ain't six foot seven, you know, but he was that day.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, no doubt. And he's jacked up.

[Steve Austin]

But I'm thinking, man, we need to switch roles here. I'm the dude that looks kind of stringy. I need to. I need to guitar. You need to be out there taking bumps.

[Vampiro]

He. He's intimidating. He's intimidating and he. He doesn't care, you think? He doesn't talk. He doesn't give a. He doesn't care. He does not care about anything except hitting that guitar until his fingers bleed. And he breaks it on stage. He gets stone. He breaks it and he grabs another one. He makes his own stuff out of graphite. I mean, a guitar out of graphite. It's like you're picking up a tombstone. But he's a beast. He just beats it and it's just like, he's too much.

[Steve Austin]

They want to deal with the misfits because, okay, they're around and you, like, you're the authority on this, and I just know that, you know, hell, 15 years ago, I was in LA. 14, maybe. I went and saw Glenn Danzig and Super Joint Ritual was on the bill, and Hank3 was playing with him at the time. And there was one other band, and I can't remember what that band was. Anyway, Glenn was super cool to me, man. We shot the breeze for about two hours before the show. We hung out after the show. Someone's coming in the back door. There's my black laugh. Callie. Callie. Welcome to the show. This is Vampiro. Hey, Cali. Get your ass down. Hey. So. So Glenn was cool as shit. He had a great. We had a great time. And this was when Phil was kind of really strung out at the time.

[Vampiro]

Okay.

[Steve Austin]

So he didn't sound that great.

[Vampiro]

Okay.

[Steve Austin]

And then. Anyway, he's coming out of Pantera. Cali, God damn it. I'm trying to cut an award winning podcast. We're talking about Lucha Underground and all kinds of cool stuff. So what's the rip between the Misfits and Glenn Danzig?

[Vampiro]

I just think Glenn's a huge wrestling mark.

[Steve Austin]

I know. Like, I've been wanting to have him on the podcast. I don't know how to get hold of him.

[Vampiro]

He's just. He's. He's like, huge wrestling mark. I mean, you hear every version, but it was basically just an Eagle thing between him and Jerry, who was the leader of the band, who gets more T shirt money, stupid stuff like that. That's. That's all it is. That's all it was. There was nothing else.

[Steve Austin]

So what's behind a reunion tour? What got him back on the same page? Because this was like one of those deals where it's kind of like the Eagles Hell Freezes Over. You got all the guys flying on. On different Learjets because they can't stand each other, but they get back together so they can make a bunch of money.

[Vampiro]

Well, I think there's a few things right. One is, at this stage in the game, they're not spring chickens, right? And the demand is there. It's the right time. The fans, they can still go. They're the last of that generation who are still rocking. I think they saw the New York Dolls on tour, and the New York Dolls are older than them, and they were selling out and making astronomical amounts of money. I think that the amount of money that they're offered for this reunion tour, you know, we're talking four to five million dollars a show. You'd be a fool to turn that down. I think that that number is a lot bigger than anybody's ego. You would think, right?

[Steve Austin]

Man, that sounded like a lot of money per night.

[Vampiro]

Look at how much.

[Steve Austin]

Nonetheless, whatever they're making, they're making a shit pile of money.

[Vampiro]

Okay.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, but who they turn with? What's this tour you speak of?

[Vampiro]

They're headlining.

[Steve Austin]

I know because they were gonna come by here and do the podcast, but I was in Reno, so I couldn't have them on. I was Madder and Hornet.

[Vampiro]

I mean, I don't know who they're gonna tour with. I mean, there's a million and one bands that are gonna kill to be on that bill. I wouldn't be surprised if Metallica is going back out. I wouldn't be surprised if the Misfits were opening up some of those shows. Because Metallica plays the Misfit songs. I don't think that. But at this stage, the Misfits, they did those two reunion. Three reunion shows. Four. And they don't need anybody. They're strong enough. They got. They got enough songs. They can do a two and a half hour show easy. And they're going to do world tour. It's good stuff, right? That's some big money. They're making some big money.

[Steve Austin]

Well, I'm glad they are.

[Vampiro]

Yeah. God bless them. You know, they put it. Well, how many. You know, when you're around for 40 years, you deserve it.

[Steve Austin]

Do. We were. My wife and I were driving down Lincoln Boulevard. Shit. About six months ago, and there was a girl, she just got out of school, probably junior high, might have been high school. Misfit shirt. That's one of the most iconic skulls in the history of the skull business. It just. It won't die. So they're making. They're still making great merch money. Not even touring.

[Vampiro]

You know, that. That came from. I think it was a Marilyn. Marilyn Monroe movie, Right? Was it that the Misfits. That skull, yeah. Was from a ghoul in the movie. And I think they finally, finally, finally got the. The rights to that skull. Officially.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah.

[Vampiro]

And it's because you can see sometimes on stage, somebody comes up with the hood and the whole thing. They couldn't use that. But the facial features, which is the skull you're talking about. They could. But I think it was just a couple years ago that they finally got the rights from the movie people to use that skull and the name and all kind of stuff.

[Steve Austin]

All right, what else you got going on?

[Vampiro]

Don't be backhanded and chopping.

[Steve Austin]

No, no, no, I'm not back in it.

[Vampiro]

I saw you.

[Steve Austin]

I'm trying. No, I'M trying to pull this tennis ball ball out of her mouth. And she got such a strong set of jaws. She's biting the shit out of my finger. And since I'm stone cold Steve Austin, I can't sell any pain. So it's me jerking my hand out of her mouth. Kylie, you son of a bitch. No, it's my baby right here, man.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, she's great.

[Steve Austin]

I lost my chocolate lab about, oh, about six months ago. It was the first day we were filming Broken Skull Challenge. And I had to put that dog down that evening, and that was so hard. And then finally we got Callie. She's now a year old. So she is kind of like Hershey was my shadow, that dog. If I picked up a set of keys, if I picked up my deer rifle at the ranch, I mean, she knew we were going on a ride in that bronco or in my mule, and she was with me. So now at a year of age now, Callie's kind of turning into my buddy. So now she'll never take Hershey's place, but she's my new shadow.

[Vampiro]

There you go.

[Steve Austin]

So, no, no, man. That dog never gets a backhand. She's so damn spoiled. Pick up your microphone. Let's. Let's take a little walk here. I'll show you something where I work out every night. I'll show you the setup to show you how small these dogs are.

[Vampiro]

But you're. You're in way bigger shape. Better shape than a lot. Like, you're. They're thick.

[Steve Austin]

Look at that. That's a single car. Garage Vampiro. Yep. There's a piano on its side taking up all my space. Okay, you see the weight holders over there on that side? I couldn't even put them on this side because I ain't got enough room.

[Vampiro]

Got it.

[Steve Austin]

I've got a. Basically, I've got a power rack, one Olympic bar, a curl bar, a preacher bench, and a multi adjust bench. That is where I come and get my swell on. And I leave this door open right here. And we got a silver lab as well. So I'll throw the ball in here to Cali, and then I throw the other ball in there to Moolah. Dude, describe. Here's the thing. You're one of the voices of Lucha Underground. You're a very articulate, eloquent young man. Describe my setup so that a Lucha Underground fan could understand what the hell I'm dealing with and what I'm training in.

[Vampiro]

Okay.

[Steve Austin]

The barbaric atmosphere here, it's so.

[Vampiro]

Well, first I'M gonna say it is a carbon copy, pretty much, except for the color scheme. To my own garage. I have the exact same rack. You have more weights than I do because you're stronger. And if you would go on Google right now or even looked on Netflix, the original Pumping Iron. What you're looking at, what I'm looking at is pretty much the original Gold's Gym setup right there. That's all you need. If you can't get big on a squat rack, crowbar in a bench, you got no business being in the gym. But dude, you are old, old school. That is dope as hell. This is, this is. That's the original Gold's Gym right there. Venice Beach. We're close.

[Steve Austin]

See? Y' all know that little gimmick speaker on the table? I'm charging that up, so I put that on my Bluetooth. So I got my jams going in there. I put it on Pandora. I can deadlift in there. I can squat, bench, do my military. I was working shoulders last night, do my shrugs. And then I got 30, 50 and 70 pound dumbbells. And dude, that's all I got.

[Vampiro]

That's all you need, brother. You don't. You know, I'm surprised. You seem like the kind of guy who would like the power blocks. You ever trained with those?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, I've seen those.

[Vampiro]

I mean, you just put the gimmick in and you go up and down.

[Steve Austin]

I thought about the hour blocks, but man, it seemed like that's the deal.

[Vampiro]

That's what I got.

[Steve Austin]

You got them?

[Vampiro]

Oh, hell.

[Steve Austin]

You dig them? Yeah.

[Vampiro]

You get £5 to £90. It's awesome. Doesn't take up any space. I couldn't lift £90 if you paid me, but man.

[Steve Austin]

Dude, have you got any shoulder problems? Oh, because I just had, you know, I did the, I got the, the left rotator right cuff done a few years ago. I got the right rotator cuff done two years ago.

[Vampiro]

How long did that take to recoup?

[Steve Austin]

Dude, a year. I mean, totally. Really? To try to get it back when you're starting. Because when they repaired everything and they were both major tears and everything got shredded. You're lifting a two and a half pound dumbbell for a dumbbell side lateral. It was pink. Pink 2 1/2 pound dumbbell doing dumbbell side laterals. Yeah, that's what you're coming back from. So. Yeah, I ain't pressing nothing heavy anymore.

[Vampiro]

I can't. I can't even bench. I can't bench press. I got. My arthritis are so bad. My shoulders. They said, you know, even if we did your shoulders, you couldn't do anything anyway.

[Steve Austin]

So there's, dude, tell me about that arthritis. Because I was talking to someone the other day, man, he's got bad arthritis. And I just thought, you know, like, maybe your joints hurt a little bit or something like that. But it's way more debilitating than that.

[Vampiro]

It's brutal. I have arthritis in my neck, lower back, my knees, my shoulders. I can't, I can't lift weights, can't bench press. I couldn't. I just can't do is so painful. But if you, they, you know, I go to a chiropractor. I got a team, man, a pain management team.

[Steve Austin]

I.

[Vampiro]

Before the amount of Percocets and Vicodins I had to take just to get out of bed was going to kill me. I turned on to, I became a vegan, 100% vegan and medicinal marijuana. And I'm in control. I can train, I can fight. I do the, you know, the Krav Maga. I do Thai boxing, punch hard, push ups to like there's no tomorrow. Deadlift strong. My arthritis doesn't hurt at all.

[Steve Austin]

Dude, you're 100 vegan.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, 100.

[Steve Austin]

Man, I've been flirting with that so long, but I just, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it because I just had a dude over here a few times. He's been on my podcast a few times. He was a raging alcoholic, he was a drug addict. His name is David Clark and he wrote a book called Out There the Story of Ultra Recovery. Now he's an ultra marathoner. Really, really smart guy. And really, he kicked all his bad habits and now it's amazing. So he's talking about this vegan lifestyle that he does, but as an athlete, first of all, he's a long distance runner and it takes some nutrition to do that. But they're drinking Cokes or eating candy while they're running. That's the energy source there. But dude, as sustaining life for a guy who's, you're not really lifting heavy weights anymore, you're doing bodyweight exercises, but you're still doing your mixed martial arts. So you're training from that regard. You're still an athlete.

[Vampiro]

I'm still in the gym. I wrestle in Mexico.

[Steve Austin]

What in the f are you doing or eating to like say, I mean, get 3,000 calories a day or. You don't count that yet?

[Vampiro]

I mean, you do and you don't. I mean, when you go to the Plant based lifestyle. Things change. Your mentality, your focus, your sleep habits, your pain is gone. Your body composition, it's so miraculous, the changes. I drink these drinks with spices in it every day with a mixture of spices for the pain, the inflammation. It's unbelievable the energy I have. I'm wrestling four days a week in Mexico. Aside from all this crazy stuff, I'm in the ring, moonsault and everything. Me at 50 years old with this shitty body still in there. Just everything is. There's so much food out there. You know, if you mix the right beans and the cauliflower and the nuts and there's just so many options. And I would say about 60% of my diet's liquid diet. Just the juicing and the right protein powders and all that. Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. It's totally awesome. Can't go back, can't go back in front of me when it's been two years. Two years.

[Steve Austin]

So what we, what made you decide to start? You read about the anti inflammatory qualities of the vegan lifestyle?

[Vampiro]

Well, John Joseph, who's the singer of the CRO Mags, I don't know if you heard of them. CRO Mags is a hardcore band, man.

[Steve Austin]

The CRO Mags have been around forever.

[Vampiro]

Get it?

[Steve Austin]

No pun intended.

[Vampiro]

There you go. Yeah, you did. And I'm not going to sell it.

[Steve Austin]

Go ahead, but I'll put it over.

[Vampiro]

Yeah, yeah, but they're, you know, New York City hardcore guys from the 80s. He would, you know, he lived on the street, a crackhead, thief, criminal, all that kind of stuff, you know, he became a Hare Krishna and he got into the vegan lifestyle. He's 56 years old, he's touring worldwide, does eight triathlon world triathlons a year. And when the student is ready, the teacher will come. And I heard him on a podcast here from la and he was just like every, every second word was like the most foul, cuss word. New York City street kid. He was. But he's a vegan, he's a chef. And it just, just clicked the light on and I was like, damn. And I went home, I threw out. After I heard him on the radio, I threw out everything I had in my kitchen.

[Steve Austin]

Everything. Come on, man.

[Vampiro]

I swear to God. Yeah. And I was like, because he's my, one of my heroes. And I was like. And I went to the health food store, I bought everything that he talked about and I haven't turned back. Haven't turned back. Haven't turned back, man. There's this product called Gardein. And it's meatballs, patties, burgers, chicken, but it's all soy based. You can't tell. You just can't tell, man. And that's it. I'm just on the. On, on the kick. And even at Lucha Underground and catering, they got all, you know, it's la, dude. They got fish and lobster and I'm like, no, where's the beans and lettuce and spinach and that's it. And everybody's like, really?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, man.

[Vampiro]

Now I'm gonna be 51 and I'm running circles around these guys.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, but I was tearing from the guy. Just talking about David Clark and another guy who started that plant based stuff. And everybody talks about the energy surge and all this other stuff, man. Come on, man. Is there a surge in energy?

[Vampiro]

I'm telling you straight up. I'm telling you, man, I wake up, I have my little vegan shake, you know, my organic stuff and I. And the detoxification. And I'm a fan of Death Wish coffee. Have you heard of that?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, yeah, dude, forget about it.

[Vampiro]

I go in the gym and I'm. And it's like, everybody's like, are you on drugs? I'm like, no, man, just off. Off 4 hour workouts. Yesterday I did 3 hours of Krav Maga just with my eyes closed, like it was nothing. Heavy bag, elbow strikes, kicks punches. Went to Gold's Gym, got on the bike, did all that. Went to Lucha Underground, did all the vignettes.

[Steve Austin]

Dude, you went to Gold's Gym? The one here in Venice?

[Vampiro]

No, no, no, the one up in downtown la.

[Steve Austin]

Okay, man, I was gonna ask you about the. Is there a scene that at the one downtown la?

[Vampiro]

I mean, yeah, there is. I mean, it's all these office people, right? I'm in there, they don't know what's going on, but, you know. And they got a boxing ring. So I was in the boxing ring doing my boss root and workout, you know, up, down, burpees, back bums, somersaults. I'm like, what the hell is wrong with you? I'm like, pro wrestling, baby. All over the place. And they're like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm working out kettlebell in it. And you know all these crazy things and I love it, man.

[Steve Austin]

What's the kettlebell? What's your go to kettlebell movement?

[Vampiro]

Depends on what I'm training. But that, strangely enough, I can do over my head. That's the only one that I can swing up over my head. And press, right? Because whatever. But there are Krav maga movements where we get, you know, someone's choking you, so we use the kettlebell as if you were pushing off the body. And you get up with that. So they're just reinfor giving resistance on the striking movements. You know, it depends. Every day is different, right?

[Steve Austin]

Dude, I'm so old school. I was watching these guys do these kettlebells. I'm thinking, man, all they're doing is basically the kettlebell swing in between the legs, two handed, right? And I'm thinking to myself, come on, man, what is this all about? These guys swinging these weights? That's bullshit. And so for years I said, it ain't my gimmick, man.

[Vampiro]

Right.

[Steve Austin]

I'm a barbell and dumbbell guy, okay? I got a kettlebell right there in my, in my garage gym. It's a 40 pounder, dude. I got in, I call it the hike position, right. I got in the hike position, I started swinging that submit. I was like, holy. After about 20 swings, I was blowed up. Yeah. So I'm a believer now. That's just one movement.

[Vampiro]

No doubt. That's, you know, that, you know, because you swing it and you're pushing with your hips. We in Krav Maga for us. That's, you know, that's the, the first initial end is that. I mean, it'll kick your ass. There's no, don't, don't play around. I mean, there's a reason that the Soviet military lives off that stage stuff, right?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Vampiro]

And it ain't because it's pretty.

[Steve Austin]

No. And there's a one guy on YouTube, he's actually a Russian guy, he does all these.

[Vampiro]

Paul something, the military. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. He's always got the green cargo pants on.

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

I was watching that guy, like. Yeah. And all of a sudden I started doing that. I was like, man, shit's hard.

[Vampiro]

There's no doubt, brother. There's.

[Steve Austin]

I'm a believer now. Yeah.

[Vampiro]

I mean, I didn't. Everybody was like, vegan. I was like, get the. You know, I mean, give me my pizza and I want those ribs and go away. But man, even my tacos, they're lentils. Lentils and sweet potato beans and mango. No cheese. I make my own cheese. Out of nuts. Yep. Vegan cheese. It's easy to do.

[Steve Austin]

So what is your.

[Vampiro]

I actually went to school to become a vegan chef. I'm three months in. I got three more months to go.

[Steve Austin]

Where's that at?

[Vampiro]

In Mexico?

[Steve Austin]

Really?

[Vampiro]

Yep, yep.

[Steve Austin]

See, here's the thing. My wife is vegetarian. She's the first vegetarian I ever met in my life.

[Vampiro]

Wow.

[Steve Austin]

So, you know, and so she, I mean, she'll eat egg whites, but that's the only thing that from an animal she would eat. Okay, that's it. And she'll eat cheese. I mean, so, I mean, what, over oval, lacto, all the different things, dude. So I don't know. I just know my wife's straight up vegetarian, right. And like you said, man, she'll make some stuff when we're doing tacos and I'll say, man, you know, I don't want to ground beef. I'll eat that stuff that you're having, dude. It's just. It tastes just like beef.

[Vampiro]

Yeah.

[Steve Austin]

Just as filling.

[Vampiro]

You can use walnuts.

[Steve Austin]

Really?

[Vampiro]

Yeah, wake them up because once you spice them, you can't tell the texture is the same as ground beef. It's. That's the big thing. Lentils and walnuts.

[Steve Austin]

Well, I'm gonna give it a try.

[Vampiro]

Sweet potato, black beans and mango. There you go. That's it right there.

[Steve Austin]

Well, before we sign off, anything else you want to promote, Talk about.

[Vampiro]

Yes.

[Steve Austin]

Share some wisdom about.

[Vampiro]

Please, the plant based diet. It saves lives. It'll save your life. It helps so many people who have mental health issues. I went, like I said, I went back to school, I got a mental. A degree in mental health and I'm using the martial arts to help kids who have learning disabilities, hand, eye coordination, all that kind of stuff. And I am beyond convinced because I'm living proof that a healthy plant based eating system will save your life. And I beg you to everybody who's worried about their health, their future, their kids or whatever it is, give it a try because it really will make a difference. On my website at the end of April, vampiro tv.com I have an online pro wrestling school where you send me your stuff and I will speak with you. I will give you a program that will help you refine your game so that when you do go, get an opportunity to be in front of a bigger company, a better promoter, or really want to go for it. I will give you what I think are the keys that you need to take to the table. And one of the things I stress is eating. And the other thing is getting an education and having an alternative stream of income. So vampirotv.com at the end of April, that will be up. And it's only to try to help the younger generation because doing seminars, I think is bullshit. I think it's older guys who are hanging on to their name, taking your money and telling you to hit the ropes and telling you how shitty you are. I will actually, you know, help you get educated. So that's kind of what all I wanted to talk about and say and promote and hopefully people dig it.

[Steve Austin]

All right, on Twitter, you are at Vampiro. Underscore Vampiro.

[Vampiro]

Yep.

[Steve Austin]

Ms. Steve Austin, bsr. Man, it's good catching up with you.

[Vampiro]

It's good to see you, man. It's good to see you, brother.

[Steve Austin]

Like a million bucks. Yeah. Minus $999,000. That would be me.

[Vampiro]

Hi, this is Eric Bigger from the Bachelorette, here to tell you about my new show, Bigger Than Talks, exclusively on Podcast One. Every week I will be here with my guests taking a deeper look into subcultures of American life, from relationships to race to gender to sexuality. We're highlighting the strength of diversity. So please join me every Wednesday for bigger talks with me, Eric Bigger, right here on podcast one. Download and listen to new episodes [e-mail] the new podcast one app, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

[Steve Austin]

All right, everybody gives me to go home. Q. It's time to wrap up his podcast and ride off in the sunset. But before I do that, I want to thank my guest, Ian Hodgkinson, Vampiro of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network. One of the voices, him and Matt Stryker calling that action coming by the crib today and shooting a breeze. One of my favorite subjects to talk about on this podcast is pro wrestling. We got that covered today. Good seeing you in. Best of luck with this season of Lucha Underground. I'm looking forward to seeing this season. Give you guys something to watch. If you get on YouTube, just type in Lucha Underground holy shit moments and you'll find all three volumes. I watched them all and you can watch all the badass action those guys and gals are doing over there. And it's some good shit. So check it out and get yourself primed up for season four of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network. Amen. Like I was saying before, I will be in New Orleans, Louisiana, Sunday, April 8, 2018 from 9:00am to 3:00pm at Central Time right there at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130. Go to highspots.com and they'll have more information about this appearance. I don't do appearances very often. I haven't made one in many years. I wanted to go down to New Orleans. Looking forward to getting down there. Louisiana is one of my favorite states to wrestle in, travel in, be in, and I love that Cajun food. I'm looking forward to eating some crawfish etouffee, some jambalaya, some raw oysters, some vignettes. I'm looking forward to drinking some Bloody Marys, some whiskey, some margaritas and a couple of beers. I'm going to have one of everything. I think it's Wrestlemania time. It's time to celebrate and I know WWE is going to put on a hell of a show. Looking forward to getting down there. Go to highspots.com to find out more about my personal appearance along with everybody else that will be appearing. Hey man, if you're looking for some Broken Skull Ranch shirts, we got some. They'[e-mail] SteveAustin if you're thirsty and you want a damn good IPA, I got a good one. It's called Steve Austin's Broken Skull IPA from El Segundo Brewing Company and you can get it at Whole Foods and Total Wines. If you live in Cali. If you don't live here, check out insidetheseller.com and see if they ship to your state. And I highly suggest that everybody has a pocket knife and if you need a good one, I got two of them. It's the Cold Steel Broken Skull knife and the Cold Steel Working Man's knife and you can get them at my new Amazon store. Amazon has the best price on both knives. Just go to Amazon.com shop steveaustin and I want to say thank you one more time to the finest sponsors of the Steve Austin Show. That's how I'm able to do this podcast for you twice a week for free. And you can find all my [e-mail] just click on the Killer Deals button at the top of the page and then click on the Steve Austin show banner. Speaking of Podcast 1, the new Podcast 1 app is now available for download at the App Store or Google Play. There ain't another single podcast app like this one anywhere. And that's because the new Podcast one app is loaded with some cool ass features that let you do a lot more than just list your favorite shows. You can access behind the scenes photos, articles and connect with other fans of the the shows you like watch over a thousand 360 virtual reality videos. You can actually watch some of your favorite shows in virtual reality. It's like you sit right in the same room with them. So get to the App Store, Google Play and download the new Podcast One app Now, folks, until next time, my name is Steve Austin, and I will catch your ass down the road. This has been a Podcast one production.

[Vampiro]

Download new episodes of the Steve Austin.

[Steve Austin]

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