How WWE HOFer Stone Cold Steve Austin Became One Of Wrestling's Top Talkers

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin has had one of the most unique meteoric rises in the history of wrestling, but "The Texas Rattlesnake" wasn't always the explosive promo he is today. Hardcore fans know he came up in the industry as The Ringmaster, but on an episode of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s "DJD Classic" podcast, Austin revealed more about how he found his voice, in addition to finding his WWE Hall of Fame-worthy character.

Austin explained his origins in Dallas, Texas at "Gentleman" Chris Adams' wrestling school, which he saw a commercial about when he was in college. He said he signed up, and five months later, he had his first match, but the promo aspect didn't come as naturally to him.

"I go out there and I start trying to talk, because they're trying to promote the school," Austin explained. "I got a few promo opportunities and when you first start off, your voice is kind of high. You don't know how to talk from your diaphragm. You don't know what to say. You haven't really created a character, so there's no base... to build from. So, you flounder. When you go out there, where you're doing the best you can, but, you know, when you s*** the bed, you have done just that. When you fall on your face enough, you learn, 'Hey, man, this is sink or swim. These are shark-infested waters. You better succeed, or your a** is going to get left behind.'"

Austin explained things started to change for him in WCW. He said they didn't know what to do with him, as officials didn't think he had "it" yet. He credited his partnership with Brian Pillman, as Pillman knew how to talk "whenever there was a microphone in his face," so Austin knew he needed to step it up.

In addition to his tag team with Pillman as The Hollywood Blonds, Austin told Earnhardt Jr. that he credit ECW's Paul Heyman with helping him learn how talk in the professional wrestling world. He explained that on a tour in Japan, he tore his triceps, but Heyman called him up and asked him to work in ECW anyway, not wrestling, but cutting promos. He told a story about working with Heyman one day very early in the morning, when Austin was told he was "up."

"I said, 'Well, hell, Paul. What do you want me to talk about? What am I doing?'" Austin explained. "He goes, 'Just talk about how you're feeling. Just talk.' He turned the cameras on and I rattled off that promo, it's still on YouTube, ECW, and I talked about six minutes. Nonstop. Adlib. Told it like it like it was, and that was probably the ground-breaking promo where I started feeling who and what I was. I hadn't come up with the 'Stone Cold' thing yet, but I realized at that point, that who I was in that ring was, I'm competitive as hell at anything I do. So what I was, was, when you turn me up to 11, that's me."

Once he got the "Stone Cold" character off the ground with his "Austin 3:16 promo" at King of the Ring 1996, Austin's career was forever changed. He told the NASCAR Hall of Famer there was some nervous energy cutting promos as his career progressed, but he thrived with the size of the crowd, and when the camera's red light indicating "live" turned on.

"Stone Cold" explained it was hard for anyone to write for promos for him, and it was difficult to feel what the writer's gave him, as nobody had been through "the grind" with him and really knew what he had truly been through before getting to the then-WWF. He told a story about a time he was told he needed to rehearse a promo with then-WWE chairman Vince McMahon, with whom he was feuding with during the Monday Night Wars.

"I'll never forget one time we were at a building and someone came and found me," Austin said. "He said, 'Hey, Vince wants to go over the promo with you...' I remember, we were in this little itty bitty room... I'm sitting there, 'Okay.' I come back from my neck injury, I'm like, [monotone voice] 'Okay, Vince. I am going to rip you to shreds.' He got mad at me, he goes, 'Dammit, Steve! Give me your 'A' promo!' I said, 'Hey, man, I'm going to give you my 'A' promo out there. I'm not a rehearsal guy. I'll read your bullet points. I'm going to get a couple of them in there, and then we're going to fly.'"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "DJD Classic" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.