When I got into professional wrestling, I started, and I starved for two years, and I finally got some breaks. And then I got the biggest break, and I made the most of it and took wresting to its highest level ever.
As much as I love the business and I love my fans, I don't want to be at every WrestleMania.
I don't live as 'Stone Cold.' I live as Steve Austin. I was 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin back in 2003, then I rode off into the sunset.
I'm glad about 'The Curtain Call' now, but I remember being very confused watching it all go down because I was right there behind the curtain watching it all, and I couldn't believe these guys were breaking kayfabe.
If it's the morning, and I had a late night, the worst thing in the world is a bright light.
I think they've got to give Kevin Owens a run with the belt. He's a veteran, and he's really clicking on the mic, and the kid is super talented.
I love the business of pro wrestling, and it is something I know better than anything else I know about.
On 'Redneck Island,' a show I love, there was a lot of drama and storylines going on because someone's always voted off the island through process of elimination.
I got out of the business when I got out. The hunger was out of my system.
A great gimmick is a great gimmick, but on a dud, it just doesn't work. It comes down to talent.
I have so many great memories of the wrestling business. I've worked real hard to get to the top, and how many flukes and breaks to have happened that had allowed me to have the success that I did.
Diamond Dallas Page is one of my best friends.
I think if I'd never had found pro wrestling, I'd be a blue collar guy, working a 9-to-5 job.
The Rock is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. So give the guy his due.
I'm pro-WWE, but also I maintain my independence and speak my true thoughts, never bashing the product. But yes, I can be critical. I've earned the right to be critical.
I've got a chance to host a show called 'Redneck Island' on CMT. I love doing that show.
I'm not wrestling anymore. I'm out of that part of my career.
I would consider doing something along the lines of 'Tough Enough' because that was my first endeavor into reality television, and that is a world I know and love, and that's why I was on that show.
I didn't do choreographed fighting for a living. I was a professional wrestler for 15 years; there's a big difference.
People go into that arena, and they know the fix is in. They know what pro wrestling or sports entertainment is. That being said, they want it executed to the highest level so that they can suspend their disbelief and buy in, and so, in a world of make believe, you make people believe in you. It's as real as it can be.
I really value my days down there in ECW in Philly.
I got pile drived in '96 or '97 and was a quadriplegic for about a minute and a half. I couldn't move anything. It was in the Meadowlands at a pay per view with a million or two people watching, and I couldn't move. That cost me a surgery, but I healed pretty quickly, so that was probably my worst day at the office.
Probably the greatest match in my career, and really put me on the match as a main event guy and paved the way for what I was to become, was Wrestlemania 13, with the one and only, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart.
When Savage died, that was hard on me. I didn't even hardly know Randy, but I just turned 51 this past December, and he was 58 when he died. I'm like, 'Hey man, just because I'm in that line of work, do I have an expiration date? Am I supposed to go?' I always wonder, but I don't harbor it.
The thing about the 'Broken Skull Challenge' is that there's really nothing else like it on television.
My exit strategy from pro wrestling wasn't carved in stone. I retired because of a few neck issues, some neurological issues.
When you look back on anything in life, hindsight being 20/20, some things you'd like to have done a little differently.
WWE dropped the ball with 'Tough Enough.'
Driving a forklift is kind of like riding a bicycle. You've either got forklift skills or you don't, and I can remove somebody's molars with a forklift.
My favoirte wrestler is 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair.
It's like I tell everybody, if you get a chance to win the Royal Rumble or the King of the Ring back when they had it, that means you're gonna get a push. You getting an opportunity at something big, and it can really set up your future for you. So if you're that guy, boy, it's pressure.
John Cena has done well for himself.
My run cannot be touched. If you want to talk about longevity, you can speak the name Hogan. If you want to talk about white-hot, selling tickets, and taking the business to a height it's never been - and, with a hell of a supporting cast, I might add - you're talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin.
I don't look to save the world with any of the movies that I make. I'm not trying to make any political statement with the movies I make. I'm trying to have a good time. I'm trying to entertain people.
Vince McMahon is a workaholic; he sleeps 4 hours a night. The last thing that you want to tell the old man is that you are burned out - you need a break.
When I see things through my eyes, I don't want to ever just be really negative towards someone's performance. There are many ways to skin a cat. Sometimes I watch the guys, and they're doing different things than I would have done, but I don't ever want to be too critical.
Everyone can have a rough day at the office, as they say. I've had those myself many times when the bell rings.
I want to be careful when I'm breaking down matches because I don't want to offend anybody or knock anybody's work. It took me a long time to get where I was at, so I know how it feels when someone knocks on you.
I'll tell you what, the chemistry that I had with Bret 'Hitman' Hart in the ring, and the respect and the trust we had for each other, was unbelievable.
Any time you go live with Vince McMahon it's going to be a very interesting experience.
I found out in pro wrestling that it works better if you just try and be yourself versus working on something you're not, so I'm me, and maybe it's magnified a bit, but it's easier just being me.
The thing that's so tough about 'Broken Skull Challenge' is you're going head-to-head with another human being who may or may not be stronger than you and may or may not want it more than you.
Earl Hebner should definitely be in the WWE Hall of Fame.
I don't know if a pro wrestling career prepares you for Hollywood. When you get out there, and you're in an arena for 20,000 people or 90,000 people, it's a lot different than being on a quiet set with 100 people, so I think you get used to dealing with cameras.
I enjoy reality television.
It goes - for me - WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam. The big three.
I am not a coward.
I go back to the old school days of that Attitude Era stuff. Everybody knows when I speak of the Attitude Era, my favorite stuff is of the mid-'80s, all that NWA stuff, the World Class stuff, the stuff that Bill Watts was doing.
I don't have the talent of Daniel Day-Lewis. I'm Steve Austin, so when I get to hang out and be who I am, and I live on set, it's like a paid vacation, man.
