If you weren’t already, this should help you get really excited for Steve Austin’s interview of AJ Styles, scheduled for the next Stone Cold Podcast Live on WWE Network a week from tonight (Monday, June 20).
His wide-ranging interview from SI.com’s Extra Mustard includes some thoughts on the Phenomenal One, and Austin does not like all the losses WWE has booked Styles to take over his brief run with the company so far:
They keep beating that f------ kid, and they’ve got a potential superstar on their hands. He’s only been working 16, 18 years, f---, he’s got it figured out. Put a rocket on his ass and send him to the moon. I would love to see them run with Styles.
When you see guys like that–who have been around the world and are veterans, you want them to finally get paid. He’s paid a million dues and he ain’t made no money. I want to see the kid go out and have a seven-figure year finally.
It’s not just timing that has Stone Cold high on AJ, he also loves the work he just did in his feud with WWE champ Roman Reigns. “The Guy” is someone Austin’s talked about a lot in the past, and while he gives Reigns credit for his performances in their matches at Payback and Extreme Rules, it’s clear who he gives the credit to:
AJ Styles just carried Roman Reigns to two world class matches back-to-back. The second one wasn’t as good as the first, but it’s hard to top an all-time classic. Reigns carried his end, but that was all AJ.
“Carried” is a word Roman-critics are going to latch onto... but does Stone Cold mean it as a negative for the champ, or just to get across how much he thinks of the challenger?
Or, is the business man in Austin showing, as siding with Styles and positioning himself as not-a-fan of Roman is what his podcast audience wants to hear?
Maybe a bit of both - it’s so hard to tell in this pro wrestling game.
What do you think, Cagesiders - about either Stone Cold’s quotes on SI, or his position that WWE is making a mistake by not “run[ning] with Styles”?