Paul Lazenby Discusses Being Steve Austin's Stuntman, If Wrestlers Should Receive Stuntmen Benefits
Paul Lazenby is an acclaimed stunt performer with hundreds of credits to his name. With his bald head and goatee, he also bears a resemblance to Stone Cold Steve Austin and did The Rattlesnake's stunt work in several films.
Lazenby talked about being Austin's stunt man when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"That was an absolute career highlight and Steve's one of my closest friends now. It's kinda surreal for me because I thought I was gonna work with him once and that's it. We worked together initially on Damaged where I played his opponent in a bare knuckle fight where he accidentally broke my nose. We went out and had a drink afterwards and had a laugh about it," said Lazenby.
He added that after Austin was signed for several movies, he wound up doubling him in a total of six films. Lazenby also admires that despite how successful Austin has become, he hasn't changed as a person.
"He's the single greatest income generator in the history of pro wrestling history but you would never know it. He's a great guy and it was a fantastic run doubling him," stated Lazenby.
Lazenby actually started out as a wrestler and he talked about what it took for him to transitional into stunt work.
"I moved to Vancouver in 1998 as a last stab to make it in pro wrestling because there was nothing going on in Ontario where I was from," recalled Lazenby. "My good friend let me stay with him and I realized the dream was dead around 2000. I bumped into a stunt coordinator?and he was looking for a wrestling technical advisor and we got to talking. He brought me into the business and he's been a mentor ever since."
As a stuntman and actor, Lazenby receives benefits from Canada's union. He was asked if those involved in combat sports like wrestlers and MMA fighters should also be entitled to benefits.
"There is good and bad about belonging to a union. There are things about our union I would like to see changed but there are also ways in which I've benefitted greatly from it," admitted Lazenby.
"People need to be protected and especially fighters need to be protected as it's a very exploitive industry. I want the Ali Act to be brought into MMA because MMA is what boxing used to be where the fighters are treated like livestock while the guys in the suits are making all the money but shedding none of the blood. The sooner we can get some sort of union in MMA and all combat sports the better as far as I'm concerned.
Lazenby stars in the new web series "Paper Champions" which is now available to watch via Amazon Prime. His full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it Lazenby discusses his role in the new series Paper Champions, getting to showcase his comedic side, training with Lance Storm and Chris Jericho, Killer Kross' bareknuckle fighting background, Chris Jericho becoming an AEW leader and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.