Steve Austin Talks Brock Lesnar Vs. Goldberg, If Ring Rust Will Have An Affect, Their First Match
As noted, Steve Austin appeared on the PWTorch Livecast "Interview Thursday" with host Wade Keller and talked for well over an hour about the latest big storylines in WWE including the return of his friend, Bill Goldberg, to WWE this month. They sent us these highlights regarding Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar:
Why he's excited to see Bill return to the WWE ring:
"I'm excited to see Bill back. I know he wanted to go back so his son could see him perform one or two more times, whatever Goldberg's deal is. I don't know what his deal is."
Whether he knew this was coming before it was announced:
"I was at his house a few months ago. I knew he was going to be on the back of the 2K17 game, but didn't know any of this stuff was going to transpire into what it has. Maybe he didn't either, but he totally kayfabed me."
His thoughts on their first match affecting expectations for this match:
"Seeing him get out there and step in the ring with Brock in two weeks is going to be interesting. I was right there front and center at Madison Square Garden back 12 years ago. And both of those guys were leaving the company. The match just wasn't that good? Certainly there's pressure on him [this time] because of what happened years ago. Both guys are very good friends of mine, so I want them to have a classic? I wish them all the luck in the world. Brock Lesnar can have a good match with anybody. So can Goldberg. I mean, that match he had with Diamond Dallas Page was a damn classic. If you get the right people helping these guys out, it could be a knock down, drag out affair. I think that's what people expected 12 years ago."
What kind of match he expects to see:
"You know, when you go in there and you work a match with Brock Lesnar and you were and still are Bill Goldberg, there's got to be some drastic physicality to this. This is not going to be Brock taking powders out of the ring because he's worried about Bill Goldberg. This is going to be two big bulls in there fighting. We'll just see how they lay it out. I'm not nervous, I'm hopeful that they just kick ass and blow the roof off the place. That remains to be seen? It can be a brutal, brief ten minute classic. I don't care how long it is, as long as it's good and suits both guy's character and it's good for both guys. You can look there and say, 'Okay, what's the finish going to be?' Let's just forget about the finish. We'll see what happens when the finish goes down.' Both guys need to go out there and be who and what they are."
Whether Goldberg's ring rust come into play:
"The fact is Bill Goldberg is 12 years older, but hell I was at his house, I've seen him punch kick do all that Muay Thai stuff. He's still strong as a bull, probably not as strong as Brock. At one time I would consider those guys almost equally explosive to the strongest guys in the history of the business. Brock is a freak athlete. Brock's gotta be Brock. I don't know how dinged up Bill is. He was getting along pretty good when I saw him."
Austin also talks about what's not clicking yet with some top WWE wrestlers including Seth Rollins, the amount of humor on WWE TV lately, reflects on his controversial dynamic with Dean Ambrose on his WWE Network interview with him, his thoughts on the return of squash matches, some very high praise for The Miz lately, and whether he is entertaining returning to the ring like Goldberg has. You can listen to the full 80 minute interview by clicking here.