Join us in this exclusive behind-the-scenes journey as Vince Russo shares the captivating story of how he wrote and produced the iconic character, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Discover the creative process, unexpected challenges, and the inspiration behind one of professional wrestling's most legendary figures. Whether you're a wrestling fan or just curious about the world of entertainment, this video provides a unique glimpse into the making of a wrestling icon. Don't miss out on the untold tales and insider insights that shaped the unforgettable persona of Stone Cold Steve Austin!
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#StoneCold #StoneColdSteveAustin #WWE #Wrestling #Sportskeeda
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Steve Austin, I say this all the time, literally became a millionaire, a multi-millionaire
00:07 in two minutes.
00:10 Hello everybody, my name is Vince Russo and I was a head writer in the wrestling business
00:22 from the years 1994 to 2012, WWE, WCW, TNA, I worked with the greatest, but a lot of times
00:33 you have to help create superstars and today we are going to start with the creation of
00:40 one Stone Cold Steve Austin.
00:47 I was a fan of Stunning Steve Austin in WCW, I was well aware of Stunning Steve Austin,
00:53 so when he came over to the WWE and I was the head writer, I knew the talents of Austin,
01:00 but I really don't think Vince McMahon did, because when I had my first creative meeting
01:06 with Vince McMahon pertaining to Steve Austin, my directions directly from Vince was, don't
01:14 let him speak.
01:16 I don't want Austin to say a word, we are going to put Ted DiBiase with him as a manager,
01:23 he is going to be known as the ringmaster.
01:26 I looked at Vince and I said, really Vince, is that what you want?
01:30 I knew Vince had no idea what Austin was capable of, but that's what the boss wanted.
01:38 I had a friend in the office, his name was Rich Baker, and he was also friends with Steve.
01:46 Vince would keep coming to me telling me that Steve wanted to do this character, Stone Cold
01:53 Steve Austin, and he would tell me all about Steve's ideas for this Stone Cold character.
01:59 Now the character did come from Steve, and I thought it was absolutely tremendous, but
02:05 how do I change Vince's mind?
02:09 Remember Vince did not want Austin to speak at all, so what I had to do was, I had to
02:13 create an opportunity for Steve Austin to show Vince McMahon what he was capable of,
02:21 and that is exactly what I did.
02:23 I picked a spot in one of the matches on Raw, and I put Steve Austin on headsets.
02:32 And literally those two minutes, given that opportunity, Stone Cold Steve Austin came
02:39 to life.
02:40 Steve Austin, I say this all the time, literally became a millionaire, a multi-millionaire
02:47 in two minutes.
02:49 He absolutely took control of this opportunity, made everything he could out of it, thus the
02:58 birth of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
03:07 So as we move to the next step of this process, we now have Stone Cold Steve Austin.
03:16 But it needs to be bigger than that, bro.
03:18 It needs to be a brand.
03:21 And how do we brand Stone Cold Steve Austin?
03:24 Well that came directly from Steve.
03:27 And I'll never forget it, man.
03:28 We were at King of the Ring, Steve was ready to go into a match with Jake "The Snake"
03:35 Roberts, and he pulled me to the side and he said, "Vince, I want to bounce this promo
03:40 off of you."
03:41 And Austin bounced off the promo, and he ended his promo with Austin 316.
03:51 As soon as Austin said that to me, I knew that was it.
03:57 I knew that was the line.
03:58 I knew that was the brand.
04:00 I knew that was a million dollar.
04:03 And Austin went out at King of the Ring and he delivered that great, great promo, ending
04:08 it with Austin 316.
04:10 I was so excited.
04:11 I ran back to Titan Towers, man, where I was still the editor of the magazine.
04:16 I got the magazine cover ready from King of the Ring.
04:19 It was a beautiful black and white shot of Austin, but the blood was in red, and the
04:25 headline read, "Austin 316."
04:29 So now with every magazine cover, man, I had to bring it over to Vince McMahon, and he
04:33 had to approve the cover.
04:36 And I'll never forget, man, he looked at me and he said, "Vince, what is Austin 316?"
04:43 And I was a bit taken back because I was thinking, "Vince, did you not watch your own show?"
04:48 So I had to explain to Vince, I said, "Vince, this was Austin's promo directed at Jake.
04:55 This is going to be huge, Vince."
04:59 And Vince looked at me and said, "I don't understand it.
05:04 Take it off."
05:05 So I literally changed the headline on the magazine.
05:10 However, myself and Steve really, really believed in Austin 316.
05:16 So what did we do, bro?
05:18 I kept writing it.
05:19 He kept saying it.
05:20 I kept writing it.
05:21 He kept saying it.
05:22 And the fans started chanting it, and now Vince McMahon clearly understood what Austin
05:31 316 meant.
05:32 Man, when I look back and I think about all of the t-shirts that Steve Austin and the
05:41 WWF sold with Austin 316, millions and millions and millions of t-shirts, and the reality
05:49 of the situation is that almost didn't happen.
05:54 Okay, so now we move to the next step in the process.
06:02 We've got a star, man.
06:03 We got Stone Cold Steve Austin.
06:05 He's got a brand, Austin 316.
06:08 Okay, now what?
06:10 Well now what was we needed to find a nemesis, but it couldn't be any nemesis.
06:17 It had to be perhaps the greatest nemesis of all time.
06:21 It had to be somebody at Steve Austin's level, because if it wasn't, you would have pulled
06:28 that character down.
06:30 So here's where we had to be very, very careful.
06:35 Who could go toe to toe with the great Stone Cold Steve Austin?
06:39 And there was only one man, and he was sitting right in front of me, and his name was Mr.
06:44 McMahon.
06:45 Mr. McMahon became the greatest villain for the babyface Stone Cold Steve Austin.
06:54 They were parallel in talent.
06:57 They went toe to toe.
06:59 One was stronger than the other, then the other would go up and out, the other would
07:02 go up and out, the other.
07:03 They were raising each other's game.
07:07 This was magical.
07:09 Without having a great nemesis, Austin may not have reached the heights that he did,
07:15 but Vince McMahon, I give him all the credit in the world, one of the greatest on-screen
07:20 characters of all time.
07:23 So this was in fact a match made in heaven.
07:27 You know, there are a lot of people that ask me, "Why was it Mr. McMahon?
07:32 Why was he the nemesis?
07:33 Why wasn't it somebody like The Rock?"
07:35 Well, the answer to that question is, at that time, man, we had a lot of great talent, bro,
07:42 and they were all on their own trajectory.
07:46 And Rock's role was taking over the nation.
07:50 That was Rock's role.
07:52 Then you had Taker.
07:54 Undertaker was consumed with his brother.
07:57 Then you had Triple H, who was now the new head of DX.
08:02 So all of those characters were on their own trajectory.
08:07 That's why Vince McMahon worked so well.
08:10 And now you've got the white-collar boss and the blue-collar worker, and it fits like a
08:15 glove, and it is absolutely magical.
08:19 These were two absolute pros at the absolute top of their game.
08:26 Now unfortunately, when myself and Ed Ferrara left the WWE in around September of 1999,
08:37 Steve Austin left the company a couple of years later, and the main reason was he wasn't
08:43 happy with creative.
08:45 And this is important because this is what I tell people all the time.
08:49 So many people, especially my people who love to hate Vince Russo, they all say, "Oh, well,
08:55 yeah, of course Russo was successful.
08:57 Look at the roster that he had."
08:59 Well, I just want to remind everybody, when I took over the roster, Stone Cold Steve Austin
09:05 was the ringmaster.
09:07 The Rock was Rocky Maivia.
09:10 They were already on the roster.
09:13 What I was able to do was find an opening for Austin, give him that opportunity, and
09:18 he ran away with it.
09:19 But my challenge every week was I had to write up to Austin's level.
09:25 I had to keep raising the bar.
09:29 I could not give Steve Austin a crappy script that would start taking him down the ladder.
09:37 I believe that's what happened to Bray Wyatt.
09:39 I don't believe the writers at WWE had the capability to write up to Bray Wyatt's standards.
09:47 So what did they do?
09:49 Their writing was below his because he was such a genius, and he started coming down
09:54 the food chain.
09:55 I had to assure that every week Austin topped himself again and again and again.
10:03 You could have the greatest talent in the world, which Austin was, but you got to feed
10:07 him.
10:08 You got to give him meat on that bone.
10:10 That's why we did the beer truck.
10:12 That's why we did the Corvette filled up with cement.
10:17 It was spectacle after spectacle after spectacle, and that's what kept Austin hot.
10:25 So you had the performance of the talent, you had the right material for the talent,
10:30 and that kept going up.
10:32 If the writing does not meet up to the talent, you're going to start getting this.
10:39 And I think that's what Stone Cold Steve Austin was experiencing, and I believe that's why
10:44 he left only a couple of years after.
10:48 So that is how Stone Cold Steve Austin was created.
10:54 But again, I want to make one thing perfectly clear.
10:57 I give all the accolades to Steve Austin.
11:02 He had a vision, man, and he was going to make sure that that vision was seen through.
11:07 I give accolades to Mr. McMahon, who played an enormous role in the success of Steve Austin.
11:16 This was kismet.
11:17 This was made to happen, and it did, and it will never, ever, ever be repeated again.
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