Steve Austin Has Major Praise For Pat McAfee In WWE

As seen in the video above, WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin spoke with Jason Fitz and Dan Graziano on ESPN's "Monday Tailgate" show.

Austin was asked about former NFL players crossing over to pro wrestling, such as Pat McAfee, Rob Gronkowski and George Kittle. The Rattlesnake praised McAfee for his recent work in WWE NXT and specifically the "Takeover: WarGames 2020" event.

"Hey man, he puts it all on the line," Austin said of McAfee. "He's going for it. You know, basically I think his verbal skills – he's slinging everybody. But he's not afraid to go out there and put it all on the line, so you know, you wouldn't expect that from a guy that kicks a football. But Pat McAfee's badass, I think he's doing a really, really good job. I give him a solid A."

Regarding Gronk, Austin was shown a clip of Rob capturing the WWE 24/7 Title at WrestleMania 36 earlier this year.

"Gronk, he's one of my favorite players of all-time. All of a sudden he seizes the opportunity," Austin said while watching the clip from WrestleMania. Now, well done, well executed, but the 24/7 Championship, with all due respect, it pales in comparison to the World Heavyweight Title. So, I'm going to give Gronk a real solid B+ on that."

Austin also rated Kittle's impersonation of The Rock, which he did while backstage at a SmackDown event in September 2019, and discussed the second season of "Straight Up Steve Austin" on the USA Network. As noted before, the second season will premiere Monday, January 11 at 11pm ET, right after RAW goes off the air. The second season will feature NFL legend Brett Favre, WWE's Charlotte Flair, and others. You can click here for full details and the trailer.

Stone Cold said he's happy to have the show return, but he wishes the USA Network would've given the green light to season two sooner.

"It's a talk show with a lot of moving parts and a lot of activities, I think it's killer," Austin said of the show. "I'm very, very happy to get season two. I wish they wouldn't have waited so long to green-light it. Hopefully they'll green-light season three based on this season. We've got some outstanding guests."

Austin talked about how much he had filming with Favre, and noted that actress Tiffany Haddish really blew him away with her appearance on the show. Austin also mentioned that he likes hosting a lot more than he does acting, and more than anything else he's done besides wrestling.