Steve Austin Talks Feeling Bad For His Awkward Interview With Jon Moxley
Steve Austin addressed his awkward interview with Jon Moxley in August of 2016. During the interview Austin suggested that Moxley, who was then the WWE Champion as Dean Ambrose, was resting on his laurels and felt that he needed to find his edge.
Austin discussed the interview while speaking with AEW President Tony Khan on the latest edition of The Steve Austin Show.
"For whatever reason, we got off on the wrong track," Austin admitted. "It was a rough podcast. I have been carrying around 1,000 pounds on my back ever since that happened. I felt so bad about that interview and I was leading the interview. I take the fault of it because I'm there to get people over and make them come off like a million bucks. We just came off on the wrong street and just kept taking left turns and never got back on track, well we never were on track. He had his reasons and I had mine."
Moxley recently said that while he "f–king loves Steve", he would have "hung up" on Austin if it were a regular interview. Austin said that he would hear people saying that his podcast got cancelled because of it.
"For all this time I felt like s–t about that interview," Austin said. "People said the Stone Cold Podcast got canceled because of how bad that interview was. No. I'd fulfilled my commitment, that was why the podcast stopped."
Austin said that there were rumors of him having heat with Moxley following the interview. Austin noted that Moxley's fans were "crapping all over" him, while his own fans were taking Austin's side. Austin said that he thinks about that interview almost every day and eventually got Moxley's phone number through a mutual friend.
"We had the best 30 minute conversation," Austin said of his call with Moxley. "There was never any animosity towards us, I didn't know how he felt about me and I thought he might hate my guts."
Austin noted that there are just times when things don't click, and gave an example of having a really bad match with Sting one night. Austin said that he is back on the same page with Moxley, and that he's a "huge Jon Moxley fan." Austin also revealed that Moxley will appear on a future episode of his podcast.
"We got back on the same page, he never hated my guts," Austin said. "I think he's going to come down to Los Angeles whenever he wants to and we're going to do the podcast together.
"This has haunted me for so damn long. People just think that I'm this guy and there's this Darth Vader forcefield around me where I don't feel things. I do. When I've not made someone look the way they're supposed to look, that haunts me. So now that we're back on the same page, I'm looking forward to talking to Jon Moxley."
Austin discussed Moxley's debut at Double Or Nothing and said that he looked like he took a gigantic breath of fresh air and came back to life as a performer. Austin said that he popped for Moxley's appearance and could see that he was having the time of his life. Tony Khan agreed, and credited producer Keith Mitchell for catching the moment.
"That was one of the great moments I think, and what an incredible way to end an incredible pay per view," Khan told Austin. "It was unbelievable. What was cool, is Keith Mitchell, who had shot all these cool moments with WCW and working with a budget in a big arena and a big crew and some super-talented wrestlers and he's had some of these pieces since, but he hasn't had this type of combination in a long time but things were really clicking at the right time in WCW with that type of emotion. For him to be able to shoot something like this, I mean that was absolutely a nuclear, white-hot incredible moment and when Mox came out he was unleashed as a performer."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Steve Austin Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.