Austin/McMahon Podcast Thread

It was incredible to see. It felt wrong. I felt dirty. I felt like a kid who stumbled upon his parents' hiding spot for the Christmas presents. I loved it and I want more.

Was nothing really special. The CM Punk stuff is the only thing really worth mentioning.

I enjoyed it - and THIS is the type of programming that the WWE Network should be doing more of! If they keep doing fresh, different things like this - subscriptions will pick up..... Imagine if they did Austin podcasts with Sting, Triple H, Undertaker? The possibilities are endless....

My only gripe: Do they need to air this great, first-run programming so LATE? Some of us "working class people" that McMahon claims to identify with so well have to - you know, actually WORK the next morning..... I realize we can watch it "On Demand" anytime, but I love watching stuff like this Live....

For the most part, McMahon spoke pretty openly, while still keeping the interview on a leash - not going TOO FAR into the topics that he didn't want to discuss - I found it fascinating how little he wanted to say about "Macho Man" Randy Savage! While he acknowledged that Savage would be going into the Hall of Fame at some point "soon" - he wouldn't put a timetable on it - and really wouldn't say anything else at all about the relationship between WWE and Macho Man...... very interesting....

He discussed the Punk situation much more than I expected him to - but he took the high road (as I thought he would) and didn't delve into the mud-slinging..... interesting that McMahon feels that "better communication" could have avoided a lot of the issues between Punk & WWE....

Overall - a great program - 1 hour & 10 minutes didn't seem long enough! I think Austin/Vince could have chatted for 3+ hours and it would have been entertaining all the way....

I sincerely hope they continue to provide THIS type of programming on the WWE Network!

Is this available as a replay or was it only shown live?

Seemed genuine to me. I think some of you just like to bitch.



How any true fan can walk away from that interview and feel that way is beyond me.

I disagree with him whole heartedly in his belief that guys like Lesnar and Sting should be "special attractions" and that using them too often would make them seem less special. I think it does the opposite. Instead of making THEM seem special, it makes the shows WITHOUT THEM get exposed for how weak those shows really are.

And for him to sit there and justify not having the WWE Champion on regular WWE programming is deplorable. He actually sat there and said "it's not about the title".....so he completely devalued the WWE Title by trying to insinuate that WWE programming was just as meaningful WITH or WITHOUT the WWE Title.

Like Austin said, in his day, whoever had the power had the belt and whoever had the belt had the power, it was as simple as that. If you had that belt, it meant you were the top guy, the top draw, and you lead the charge and set the tone as the face of the company.

Now, Vince McMahon expects people to pay top dollar for events, PPV's, Network subscriptions, and to sit through hours and hours of television without a WWE Champion? What exactly are these guys fighting for? Like has always been said by guys like Austin, if you aren't here to be WWE Champion, you should quit and go do something else. They've got Rollins running around with this briefcase that he can't cash in....it's so pointless.

I'll never talk sh*t about a John Cena title run again....at least that man is there every week, wrestling every week, and he's a work horse. Punk was a work horse. Randy Orton was a work horse. Brock Lesnar just isn't even there. And it's not Brock's fault. WWE knew damn well what his contract situation was and they put the belt on him anyway.

And now with this "you can cancel WWE Network at anytime!" situation....people are just going to subscribe for PPV's that have title matches or part timers wrestling, and then they will cancel until another show peaks their interest. They need a WWE Champion who is going to be on the show every week and on every PPV to get people to subscribe to see PPV's like TLC.

Vince seems not to think so, but one man being there really CAN make a difference. Besides Sting and Dolph Ziggler's incredible performance...how BAD would Survivor Series have been? But Ziggler and Sting made that a PPV that at the end of the day, was actually worth watching. If not for Sting and Ziggler, before that main event, people were calling it once of the worst booked and most sloppy PPV's of all time.

But Vince McMahon apparently thinks if he gives us good TV too often that we will get spoiled and it will become less special. Tell that to guys like Austin, Rock, Undertaker, Foley, and Triple H who busted their ass wrestling at every show, house shows, bleeding every week and having Title matches on free TV for years. It's what won him the Monday Night War.

Vince McMahon actually claims that he has MORE competition NOW than he did when WCW and ECW were around because now he competes with EVERYTHING on TV and EVERYTHING on the internet. So wouldn't that mean he should do his very best to put on the best possible shows?

To me, WWE PPV's without WWE Title matches is the most idiotic thing EVER. The Title is as unimportant now than at any point it has ever been in the history of WWE. The Title meant more when Miz was Champion. At least MIz was there, Miz was wrestling, he defended it on RAW, he defended on every PPV. This whole idea to have Brock Lesnar be a special attraction in an attempt to drum up ratings and subscriptions is useless if he's not there. But like I said, WWE knew exactly what was going to happen when they signed him to this contract.

I can't wait until Brock Lesnar is no longer WWE Champion. Nothing against Brock, I think he's a great wrestler, but I as a paying fan and a WWE Network subscriber deserve to see the WWE Champion more than once every 4 months. Simple as that. I was more than happy to have guys like Brock, Taker, Triple H, Rock, Jericho, and others come and go as they please....because in a way it does keep them fresh....but not when the WWE Title is concerned. If you are the Champ, you need to be there. Vince saying that it would not be special and that it's "not about the Title" is just foolish and he's trying to justify the bad situation that he created.

But Cesaro doesn't have mic skills. I do think Vince was wrong when he said that Cesaro doesn't connect with the audience. WrestleMania and the following weeks proved that people gave a damn and wanted to see him at the top, but Vince wasn't wrong about Cesaro's charisma or lack thereof.

The stuff about Cesaro was infuriating. The stuff about Punk was enlightening. It was easily the most captivating thing they've done on the WWE Network though.

Pretty damn interesting. I didn't want it to end and I want more things like this on the Network.