Steve Austin: WWE Has Become A Three-Ring Circus
WWE.com
In his time away from WWE, Steve Austin has become popular voice in the Podcast Industry. Austin’s following in the WWE will always be considered among the best and that following has followed Austin to his podcast. Austin’s podcasts have a wide-range of topics, but in his latest, Austin was critical of the current WWE product.
Steve Austin has never shied away from the opportunity to share his thoughts on a particular topic. In fact, that is the reason why Austin’s podcast has become popular. Austin does not talk exclusively about wrestling on his podcast, but when he does, the results are gold.
In his latest podcast, Austin was critical of the current WWE product.
Austin had this to say after responding to a caller that suggested WWE go back to professional wrestling instead of sports entertainment.
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“I think you’re barking up the right tree because that’s the same type thing that I preach. I’m all about, ‘Okay, we know it’s a work but we’re presenting it like this in a serious fashion.’ I did a thing for the NFL Network the other day — it’s right down the street from where I’m at right now — I walked in the NFL Network. It felt, smelt, and breathed — I knew I was in a football factory. That’s what they talked about. That’s what their passion was. That’s what it was about. ”
To further his point, Austin said that WWE has become a three-ring circus.
“You can you put it under the umbrella of ‘sports entertainment’ but when two guys or two gals get in a 20-by-20 squared circle and start wrestling, it is professional wrestling and that is the end of the story. Yes, it would be great to see… I’m all about yeah, we know it’s a work, but we all want to believe. In a world that’s a work, all you can do when the storylines aren’t so great, make the people believe in you. But that being said, here’s the thing: WWE is its own world. They say ‘WWE Universe,’ so whatever they create and put out there is what they create and put out there. So create and put out something that people can buy in to on a serious note, and don’t make it the three-ring circus that it’s become, and let it be wrestling.”
Austin believes WWE can acheive a serious note without going back to Attitude Era.
“I’m not saying that you’ve got to go back to the Attitude Era. I ain’t saying that. I’m not saying you have to say one cuss word. It’s about believability and telling the story in the ring. Intriguing storylines. And all you got to do is re-educate your fan base. In my opinion, they’re [the fans] gonna want to go along for the ride. Okay, all the sudden we’re taking it serious. Here’s what it is. Here’s your top 10 rankings. Here’s who’s in line for the title shot, and why. And oh, by the way, your mother’s an ugly dog. Oh, you just made it personal!”
Austin is correct in his assessment of the current WWE product. WWE has indeed become too gimmicky. Gimmicky in the sense that the attention has been taken away from what happens in the ring and placed on what happens outside of the ring. The reason why wrestling was successful during the Attitude Era is because the professional wrestlers–not entertainers–told the story with their matches and not with their microphone work. That is where WWE needs to work their way back to.
Is it possible?
It certainly is possible and WWE could be working on it. The two characters that are an example of this are Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose. There is no question that both Ambrose and Wyatt tell their story outside of the ring with their microphone work, but the pair also do an incredible job of telling their story during a match.
For Wyatt, look at Wrestlemania 30 match against John Cena. In the match, Wyatt kept the story alive by taunting John Cena for not being able to play dirty, or in a sense, be the “bad guy”.
For Ambrose, his match against Seth Rollins at Hell in the Cell was perfect. Ambrose didn’t care about winning the match, he simply cared about taking vengeance out on Rollins. Ambrose accomplished that in that match.
In a sense, WWE needs to go back to basics. The basics being accepting the professional wrestling label and not watering it down with the sports entertainment label.