Jim Ross shoots on Steve Austin being unhappy with his creative in 2001

For over forty years Jim Ross has been the Voice of Wrestling. From starting as referee in the regional territories to becoming the Executive Vice President for WWE, nobody has a story quite like Jim Ross. From recruiting and hiring some of the biggest superstars in the industry to providing the soundtrack for the most important moments in wrestling history, “Good Ole JR” was there for it all. Join us every Thursday morning as Conrad Thompson grills JR like you’ve never heard before, uncut and uncensored!
Logos and album art by Dave Silva
All backgrounds licensed by Videoblocks
Videos edited and uploaded by Steve Kaufmann
Some copyrighted images may have been curated and altered to create uniquely transformative content.

[@kennyhackett1461]

The worst thing that ever happened to WWE was WCW shutting down.

[@rlouie05]

We wouldn't say this if TNA, ROH, or AEW were serious threats, but in yeah, it's AOL's fault for dethroning Ted Turner from his own empire and suddenly wrestling disappears after 30+ years from his network. It also didn't help that the pay in WCW got insanely ridiculous vs. the money they kept losing after 1999.

[@Michael-cz6ob]

Nah turning turning Steve heel. Look at the ratings ever since.. they never recovered after that. Austin was the most valuable character fans could relate too.. Once they had him hugging Vince and singing and crying ect it turned so many fans away

[@qpeocn]

Another worst thing to ever happen was Linda McMahon deciding to run for office. That tremendously affected the direction Vince had to take the company.

[@LanceG007]

@@Michael-cz6obwell blame Steve

[@kckc6578]

Unless you lived it, you don’t understand. But this is exactly why wrestling fell off a cliff soon after WCW sold out. Even tho we were seeing some cool things like Hogan back in the WWE and a lot of talent under one roof. That soon faded and we were left with a generic product and all its top stars leaving. And Vince had no reason to worry bc there was no competition so we got the John Cena era

[@henrikschmidt3964]

My heart went out to Jim when he mentioned his passed wives. It takes a man to admit to failures.

[@bradcsuka5054]

You can hear the pain in his voice when he thinks about his late wife.

[@RyMicTheKing]

I'm so glad that Stone Cold said "this sucks, I don't wanna do it". Think of how much awesomeness came out of that. Imagine how shitty the attitude era would have been if he just did everything they told him to. They wanted to call him frosty mcfreeze for heaven's sake.

[@Kjraider2009]

Wanted him to work with Mark Mero ffs.

[@TRJ2241987]

Frosty McFreeze, Rocky Maivia, Mankind The Mutilator.........WWF creative never seemed to have a good idea at the first page

[@bradcsuka5054]

Unfortunately, the time period that they are (mostly) talking about was 2001-2, when awesomeness was not the case. WWF/E creative at that point was brutally bad. Austin certainly did not help matters any - as he freely admits, he was a jerk. But the creative did him no favors.

[@henrygvidonas9573]

Back in the "Attitude Era" Austin said "this sucks, let's do _this_ instead". The period they're talking about in this video was when Austin said "this sucks" got up and went to his hotel room to sulk. It was also the time when he started to not answer the phone when he didn't feel like it. Additionally, nobody involved on both sides was honest about the fact that Austin shouldn't have been in the ring at all anymore because, according to himself, he had clear symptoms of neurological damage from his broken neck like involuntary, uncontrollable leg movements that scared the hell out of him.

[@lochlanrodrigo1244]

i know Im asking randomly but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an instagram account..? I stupidly forgot the account password. I would love any tips you can give me.

[@AV-bz2zv]

When JR says about Jan in a somber tone “god, do I miss her.” that hurts. JR seems like such a good dude and deserved to retire and spend the rest of life relaxing with her. I remember people tried giving him flack for immediately continuing work. But he said it in here he wouldn’t know how to react so he continues to not think about it by working beyond his needed years. I enjoy hearing his stories especially ones about Cornette.

[@SuperZombiemoose]

Austin was right on the money. The brand split was right around the time I stopped watching WWE

[@SyndicateSuperman]

I watched SmackDown instead of Raw because it was a better show and we never had cable growing up.

[@SuperZombiemoose]

@RedRaptor7 They should have provided a boost to a 3rd show such as Heat and had who's on which program vary week to week. The brand split restricted the matches/angles you could have. Rather than feel like 1 mega wrestling federation they made it feel like 2 separate mediocre federations.

[@kevinpayton2664]

I never liked the brand split at all.

[@TheJosephPrice]

The brand split was and is great, when they actually keep everyone separate and don’t move around 80% of the roster every year. You think half the guys that got over would’ve without it? Eddie, Benoit, JBL, Mysterio, etc - would’ve never been world champion without it.

[@Pillar5770]

@@SuperZombiemoose I agree that more guys should have been used on Heat instead of splitting the brands. They really should have booked a better invasion angle, but it is a waste of time to beat a dead horse.

[@Pillar5770]

Austin was right: the brand extension sucked and the creative sucked. Vince defended the creative team because Stephanie was on the creative team/head of creative team.

[@bradcsuka5054]

Bingo

[@cmj199318]

Don’t forget that sorry ass bastard Tripl H try to rear head up onto everything

[@knightshousegames]

The idea of the brand extension is great, especially when you have as huge of a roster as WWE had, and still have now. If you have a single world title, a single midcard title, and a tag title, and like a hundred guys fighting for all of them, either nobody gets enough time of TV, or a few people get enough time on TV, and all the others go to waste. Adding a second brand and a second world title means you can effectively double your pool of main eventers. It also means you can format your different shows to different skillsets, like they did when Heyman was in charge of Smackdown initially, where Raw was the talking show, and Smackdown was the wrestling show, you can format the shows for different audiences, with one show being more about "sports entertainment" for your promo guys, and have the other be your show more focused on the actual wrestling. It provides a lot of possibilities and made a lot of sense, especially back then

[@FRESNOSTATE1559]

@@knightshousegames I always thought smack down was better because of the wrestling and raw was always drama

[@poeticjustice7049]

@@knightshousegames the brand extension is a good idea if you actually push your whole roster. Having John Cena be unbeatable for 15 yrs followed by Reigns defeats the purpose of a split roster.

[@pandavelli8176]

No injury is as terrifying to me as a neck injury. Steve could’ve been paralyzed in his whole body, PERMANENTLY, in an instant.

[@kevinpayton2664]

2002 was certainly a transitional year for the company.

[@Dagoat5.0]

For the world . The pussivaction began.

[@CGJUGO80]

Poetically also went from WWF to WWE in '02

[@jesseandrews2303]

Title mentions 2001. They're talking about 2002.

[@artemmorozov5966]

yep, Austin's 2001 run was pretty exciting, liked him as a heel

[@j.3o21]

@@artemmorozov5966 your probably the only one, with a few exceptions and good moments, it was a bad year for Stone Cold.

[@countof3everybodyOD]

John Wigmore it pretty much killed the wrestling business so idk why someone would like it

[@tylertravis2081]

@@artemmorozov5966 wouldnt say that

[@TRJ2241987]

I hated everything that happened with Stone Cold post-car accident. WWF product really was never the same after the Millennium. Still very good, but it was slowly slipping down the slope even at that point. Took a few years to really free fall.

[@raphaeldelaghetto85]

Having Austin turn heel at Mania 17 was one of the worst moves in WWE history. IMO that marked the end of the Attitude era.

[@chrismorgan8330]

Austins character post invasion was like taking somebody like Allen Iverson and asking him to become the 4th scorer in your lineup. Wouldn't work and didn't work.

[@aricjennings6460]

great analogy

[@rlouie05]

He was on borrowed time though...

[@front331]

He was still the top scorer. WWF champ.

[@jstinson7072]

Stonecold was right about the brand split being a bad idea. Handing HHH the big gold belt on labor day 2002 after putting it on the shelf 5 months earlier is maybe my least favorite moment ever. Should've been 1 wwe champ that was on both shows

[@HereIsWisdom1318]

Thats what I thought! Or….or…..put both shows on Monday! Continue the Monday Night Wars!

[@ShaunInce123]

I feel it comes down to 3 things. 1. The creative, which has been explained extensively. 2. His injuries started to catch up to him & 3. He wasn't the number 1 guy in the eyes of WWE. Went from being a headliner to being in the middle of the card for Mania 18. Missed out on a match with Hogan, which went to The Rock & they created a legendary match & Wrestlemania moment. Hogan & Rock were riding high & it was the opposite with Steve.

[@attiepollard7847]

Has it also come down to at least chefs in the kitchen? I mean when you get all these superstars in one company no one is not willing to come off the bench and play six man.

[@qpeocn]

All good things come to an end.

[@montblancnoland1]

Jim is a real as person you need a Jim Ross in your circle

[@Alanthe918mobilemechanic]

Steve was getting mad that then started changing the wrestling business from wrestling more to a corporate setting where wrestling people didn’t have much of a voice anymore it was more sponsors and corporate and accountants telling Vince how to run the company which is obviously a bad idea hence why Steve was unhappy

[@num1Jaysta]

Now it's even worse and completely controlled by sponsors

[@attiepollard7847]

I don't think WWE want corporate yet in 2002 but it did started to have some lackluster story lines coming in and creativity.

[@ssgSentinel]

In retrospect it would have made more sense to never announce that WWF beat WCW. They (Vince) should have kept it on the DL, kept running Nitro vs Raw with run-ins, as well as have the NWO come back in full force versus WWF guys. Because no one would have known, it would have made the Monday Night Wars continue and it would have been seen as upping the ante.

[@dustinhenry2890]

No tv time for Nitro

[@tammyforbes2101]

It was the beginning of the end for Vince and WWE in my eyes! I stopped watching and I think a lot of others did to!

[@ericlofstrand]

I kept watching, was too diehard of a fan and knew he'd be back, but yeah, austin's rise and austin's exit from the wwe was pretty much the exciting time

[@pussydestroyer87]

I stopped watching. Thank God I missed the what years.

[@orangemaniabrother2232]

I stopped watching because of Austin being there, the reason he wasn't getting good creative is cos he had a character that went against most wrestling logic, there was nowhere to go with him from what he'd already done, he'd broken way too many rules to get himself over in spite of others, his existence was holding things back, and his legacy is still damaging to this day, and that's not even counting the "what" stuff

[@ericlofstrand]

@@orangemaniabrother2232 that's interesting. I disagree but I'm not against hearing more on it. You could be right though, maybe that anti-hero ruined wrestling somewhat. I don't know how it ruined it anymore than nWo did before it though..

[@j.3o21]

I stopped, with the occasional check in. But never more than a couple episodes per year, ever again.

[@socratesvilleda7732]

That’s true that 2002 was like the beginning of the of us attitude era people .. the ruthless aggression was decent but no where near the attitude era has a lot do to with the rock and stone cold leaving they change the game forever !!

[@attiepollard7847]

It did give some younger talent time to shine while two of these guys were gone

[@chrisf2471]

Worst part of his heel turn was there was no strong face after WM 17 to challenge him. If Rock stayed then HHH turns face and/or Jericho and Benoit can emerge then maybe then 2001 into 2002 could have been so much different

[@J-S.P]

HHH was supposed to turn face to fued with Austin, but he(HHH) felt he wouldn't get over against Austin.

[@CharlesDarkson]

HHH was due to turn Face by Summerslam, but his Quad injury messed that up. Benoit being out for a year after King of the Ring didn't help either.

[@J-S.P]

@@CharlesDarkson actually I'm not so sure the quad injury had anything to do with him not turning face. HHH knew/felt he wouldn't have gotten over on Austin, so he nixed the idea himself.

[@CharlesDarkson]

@@J-S.P The truth is somewhere in the middle, HHH thought it was too soon to turn Face straight after WM17 which was what Vince was pushing for. Austin's Heel turn wasn't working well until they were paired together either.

[@J-S.P]

@@CharlesDarkson I could definitely see that.

[@manuelramos3588]

When Austin was on, it was must watch T.V. That will never happen again..

[@justineanglemyer3980]

1994 through 2001! The rise of ECW was making the "Monday Night Wars" seem like Sesame Street! Steve Austin left WCW & went to ECW where his feud with Sandman would be the genesis for the Stone Cold gimmick. Greatness followed!

[@jesseandrews2303]

2001 is my favorite year for Stone Cold Steve Austin. That's when he was Stone Cold for sure.

[@rudibotha3947]

He was better in the start for me before 2000

[@GorditoCrunch343]

His best in-ring year for sure. No one has had a better run as the top guy in a single year with that many classic matches. Austin vs HHH, Austin vs Rock, Austin vs Undertaker, Austin vs Jericho, Austin vs Benoit, Austin vs Angle, Austin vs RVD. Every single one of them were classic.

[@phantomsidious2934]

I agree, he added so much to his character, the humor he brought during his heel run was awesome

[@MrSkullHead1250]

For me, I like the start of the Stone Cold Character. Near the end of 97, in to 98. Also should not be a surprise, but his feud with Vince is a classic in my opinion.

[@jesseandrews2303]

@@MrSkullHead1250 Undoubtedly. From a character standpoint, 1996/7. 1998 was the commercial version, the name still fit but became who the fans wanted to be. 2001 turned the volume even higher than it was in the years you mentioned.

[@stonecold5373]

austin wanted to work with hogan. he says that on his 4 disc dvd/blu ray "and that's the bottom line". it was a crime to put lesnar over so quick by having austin lose in one match. terrible business when you have top tier talent like scsa. that could have been a damn good feud.

[@atlien1988]

Nah I was literally just listening to his podcast and he specifically stated he had no interest in wrestling Hogan.

[@sabot4ge]

@@atlien1988 i remember watching brock lesnar beating the sh*t out of Hogan in 2002 in richmond virginia, my town. Jesus. He was new then, and it was kind of crazy..he was built to mow down everybody in his beginning so Austin would have had to fall too.

[@johnmcnamara8741]

@@atlien1988 He did say on that DVD that "he should have been working with Hogan". You're not wrong though, he did say that on his podcast. One of the things Steve has been inconsistent about.

[@Emporkommling]

@@johnmcnamara8741 he wanted the money and spot on the card working with Hogan would bring, but didn’t want to deal with his politics

[@johnmcnamara8741]

@@Emporkommling can't say I blame him.

[@TheKevinWood]

The thing is Austin was absolutely right about the bad creative during this era. The last year Austin was a full time worker, he was used to prop up the terrible Alliance storyline, then got shuffled into an extremely watered down 2nd run of the Austin-McMahon storyline. By the time 2002 came, they prioritized pushing Rock & Triple H as their 2 big faces, and Austin didn’t have anyone that was really worthy of being in a long term storyline with him, which was always where he did his best work.

[@blueblur2273]

Not surprising though because when you look at Rock's booking in 2000 it wasn't that good either. In fact there were a lot of guys who were booked poorly at the start of the millennium.

[@greatomeister675]

Blueblur 22 And 2000 ironically is called the greatest year ever by fans.

[@blueblur2273]

@@greatomeister675 It use to be my favorite year also. But having watched it again as an adult I feel differently. But it makes sense why fans view it as the greatest year. 2000 is the year they decided to focus more on in ring product and less on Attitude. That's good for the marks who love wrestling but it's going to eventually push away casuals who watched for the Attitude aspect of the show which is what ended up happening.

[@greatomeister675]

Blueblur 22 You’re right on the money

[@Tony-fq5bn]

@@blueblur2273 To me I just didn't like 2000 because that was the Triple H show. I mean I have respect for him today, but its like, why does HHH get to dominate the title and not The Rock? Especially while Stone Cold was out. They could've at least let Rock dominate one half and HHH dominate the other.

[@mattuk56]

It was around the 2001 time, that Vince started making stoopid stories in wwe

[@AlexBrovo]

Compared to now, it looks like Citizen Kane back then

[@CuteLesbo69]

Vince has been making stupid storylines since 1984.

[@orangemaniabrother2232]

It's all stupid, we just loved it for its stupidness at one point. I think the fans have a lot to answer for

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Orange Mania, Brother! Yep exactly I loon back on much of attitude era stuff and think how did I even like this shit?

[@zacharythomason7359]

@@CuteLesbo69 how bout 1985 to be exact.

[@guevara3236]

Say what you want but I’d much rather watch wwe from 01-11 both raw and smack down than today’s real talk

[@Kioxx7]

You'd really want to watch the absolute garbage from 2006-2011?

[@guevara3236]

@@Kioxx7 yes more than todays

[@daddynanners3944]

eh...personally I'd rather take 97-05. I didn't like how they were pushing Cena & that's the main reason I stopped. Plus it started becoming too PC.

[@youdropwemop8854]

The way you described Austin not suggesting solutions and only bringing up problems, is exactly how Dale Earnhardt was described by people in nascar he worked with as far as building his cars and setting them up for each track. Especially late in his career.... Both the arguably best in their business, and both a master of being a good guy and a bad guy at the same time. Just was interesting to know they were that similar in personality in real life.

[@rlouie05]

Austin had his heel moments, but unfortunately not every town booed him since he was the undisputed star.

[@youdropwemop8854]

@@rlouie05 im guilty lol even when he flipped and they were really trying to make him hateable....i was 3:16 til i die 😂

[@johnnymaximum3828]

MY GOD THE STUNNER

[@DukeOfBransholme]

02:11 - heart goes out to you

[@jasonwalker3209]

That’s some real talk from the best color man in my generations history. The last point he made is honesty

[@henrikschmidt3964]

Until they actually set it up as separate, rival companies, the brand split will never work.

[@Spider-Complexion]

Hey Jim if there is any consideration, you’ve directly and indirectly impacted a lot of lives positively through wrestling. I’m here watching this video because I grew up with you and King co-commentating. Impacted by wrestlers that you got signed and a lot of those wrestlers (just like John) had their lives impacted positively by being given the chance in the WWE.

[@sartorialboss]

Austin ruined himself by turning heel and bringing his wife onboard, never got over that really! Made him look weak!

[@rudibotha3947]

Shame dude JR sacrificed alot for pro wrestling especially time relationships

[@Neethan3247]

Then he got fired

[@GhostofMcNabb]

Man JR was always a saving grace in WWE for me. Damn shame they fired him

[@StewartLucrative]

Let that be a lesson to all of us, companies do not give a fuck about their employees. In fact, often times the more loyal you are the worse they treat you.

[@Neethan3247]

@@StewartLucrative Lesson number two is if the chairman has a daughter of 18 or older... Well y'all know the rest

[@coresan9956]

Austin shouldve realized when he was out in 2000 a lot of wrestlers elevated Rock, HHH, rikishi, jericho, angle and benoit. So when he came back he wasnt the way he was in 97, 98. Indont think he ever truly adjusted. However the 2-man power trip with HHH was awesome

[@TheProphegy]

I think the WCW invasion thing was cool. When they made Raw and Smackdown they should’ve let Bischoff run Smackdown with ECW+WCW guys and let Raw be WWE talent, and let them meet up at PPVs.

[@kpsjamaicaestates1653]

💯

[@countof3everybodyOD]

Didn’t have any viable opponents? You could run a program with him and Angle forever and it’d draw

[@TheKevinWood]

Nah, they had been in a program for like 6 or 7 months at that point, and it was stale.

[@chazsims2565]

It wouldn't have worked cuz angle went smackdown, there would have been great stories tho Yea some of the stories w/ kurt as a face and austin as a heel had gone stale, but after survivor series, they both switched...but I go by my other paragraph, kurt went smackdown, austin went raw I need to re edit my whole comment but you get what I'm saying...

[@NinkyStigger]

Easy to say in 2021 but back on ‘01 it wasn’t working

[@nasirjones9149]

No you couldn’t

[@jamalwalker]

To me not having a viable opponent means not having the Rock long enough to do a big fued

[@_DropTheMike]

I think they say 2001 in the title because isnt that when Austin turned heel? At Wrestlemania?

[@denisdemey9624]

I always wondered during this time if WCW was still around would Austin have gone back?

[@nike316]

Most likely not. WCW was already bad enough for Stone Cold when he was originally there, and it looked like the company were even worse off without him.

[@CharlesDarkson]

Austin couldn't stand WCW when he was the U.S Champion there back in '94, he certainly wouldn't have wanted to go back once it was circling the drain.

[@dhackdaddymac]

That was the 2002 rumble not the 2001 rumble

[@ManuelGarcia-gr7ti]

Triple H was the guy, they should had done fine by putting Austin in the title picture

[@infosunshinedyeingcom]

We need an episode on rocks departure in 05 . Everyone knew he was on his way out but I have heard some funny stories on vince forgetting about his contract renewal.

[@attiepollard7847]

No we don't because if you don't rock and Hollywood is calling you you will take that phone call and tell Vincent man hey forget about everything right now I'm off to Hollywood I'll see you when I see you.

[@chrisjohnson8636]

I thought Austin was still Hot in early 2002. Austin doing the what stuff was huge. It was just terrible creative.

[@attiepollard7847]

Actually something was not feeling right about WWE after survivor series in 2001 to 2002. Y2j becomes undisputed champion, undertaker turns heel, half lackluster of the NWO, Vince changing the name of the company, the brand split and a new Brock Lesnar coming in. Those were some odd months for me as a WWE fan and made me lose interest a bit.

[@chazsims2565]

Title should say 2002, not 01

[@tylervasquez192]

Fawk yeah! Splitting the brands was the worst move that Vince did. Til this day I feel that way😡😡😡

[@NEMtvOfficial]

@BMS Tyty how about keeping WCW around on a different channel or Time slot? Its simple...that Brand Split ruined wrestling..we got used to continuing a story on thursday, rather then having a whole different brand on thursday and waiting for the story to continue only next monday

[@NEMtvOfficial]

@BMS Tyty no they didnt try that, they put WCW as the last match on a Raw..they didnt launch WCW on a different time slot..they had Arn anderson as a comentator, not the legend Tony Schiavone or Bobby Heenen...they had no build up or story to that match..and saying WWF fans didnt like WCW is just wrong..WWF fans didnt care about the company, we were switchin the channel back and forth and seeing both shows..as long as the shit was good, we were watchin it..you really think someone would rather watch the Headbangers then a Booker T or a DDP or a Rey Mysterio match? We were switching when those fuckin guys came out...Most wrestling fans in 2001 loved 1997-1998 WCW and Vince was an idiot for throwin that brand away...couldve easily had a real restart and introducin the big stars as their contracts expired..Vince killed WCW you know why? Cuz he just failed with XFL and doesnt want anyone to think he'd fail again, and with a wrestling company to make it worse....

[@alexkashmanian9837]

Other than Mr. McMahon which was different. The only two good opponents Austin really has were The Rock and Bret Hart. Those two brought out the best in Austin. As a kid I remember not really caring about the rest. When he and Bret had their feud it felt real. When he and The Rock had a feud it felt real. The rest of the guys except maybe Shawn (but he got hurt) felt forced.

[@Thegreatone-tx1yl]

“Hey yall” more like HAAAAYYYY YALL!!

[@ChenoodleSoup]

When rock beat taker and angle at judgement day for the undisputed strap they should’ve start the trilogy match feud with Austin and rock going into summerslam or all the way to wrestle mania for their 3rd match then instead of pushing Brock so early

[@Rschr101]

This. Brock wasnt ready and didnt appreciate it.

[@attiepollard7847]

No. I disagree with you that final rivalry at wrestlemania 19 was the only thing that we needed. No problem with Austin is he just needed time off because he was physically and mentally worn out

[@TheBlindEye90]

Vengeance***** Not judgement day

[@johnlaurinaitis475]

You know you play too many video games when you recognize the ring is from 2k

[@nasirjones9149]

Austin DID get stale, rewatching those episodes Austin clearly got tired of competing with The Rock for the top babyface role. The Rock was the guy, unless you go to places like Texas and “good ole boy” states. He thought he was becoming stale and wanted a change.

[@Chillboyhaad]

Austin's gimmick was becoming stale by late 99, Rock was getting louder pops at the time. I'm willing to bet that if Austin didn't get injured they would've turned him heel in 2000. One of the reasons why I always liked Rock over Austin was because Rock could make gold with whatever he was given. When you look at the way Rock was booked as a champion compared to Austin, Austin was always booked more dominant. Austin's gimmick only worked if HE was on top and HE was the champion.

[@CREOLEHEAT]

Austin was becoming stale around August 99. His feud with Vince jumped the shark with the Higher Power. The end of an era match gave one final boost but that was that. Fans were starting to cheer Rock more & Austin's feud with Triple H fell flat. Rumors were going around in October 99 that SCSA was supposed to turn heel & drop the belt to a face Rock at WM 16. It's also not coincidental that Austin decided to have surgery he put off for two years right as Rock was starting to surpass him. He comes back in 00 & by December, the gloss wore off. He didn't need to turn heel, tho. He needed to reinvent the SCSA character.

[@jon_s849]

**2002

[@jasonlinton9902]

Its hard going from the top of the heep to mid carding wrestlemania and thats what happened to austin he wanted exposure and he wasnt getting it anymore during the attitude era austin was so huge the whole show was built around around him that stopped the more exsposure meant more money more t shirt sales and other merch austins checks got smaller and he was pissed he felt he was owed more because he kept vince from going bankrupt austin became a millionaire but vince became a billionaire austin didnt have say anymore and it pissed him off!!

[@ganglabesh]

2001 was a fun trainwreck to watch

[@bartolomeestebanmurillo4459]

Yeah 2001 was not their best year, I felt the invasion storyline could have been better.

[@danielrierson6683]

Wcw could have won ratings. Wwf was gonna get stale even if they kept Austin face.

[@bilalc4415]

They should have kept the WCW organization and did cross promotional stuff. It became overwhelming to have them all under the same roof! They should have moved Nitro to another night and kept it all.

[@dustyhaynes8817]

The brand split always sucked. Instead of watering down the product why not just keep one super roster?

[@insomniacbritgaming1632]

Brand split was 2002, not 2001, titles wrong

[@cjones3710]

Hul Hugan is like a golden Eagle, pooping out goldn eggs. I think that's where that Gobbledee Gooker came from at Survivor Series.

[@memesarentdreams4739]

Austin and hogan dont get along becuade they are similar when at the top, wont put certain people over and only worried about themselves

[@Craigers8637]

Stone Cold, Perfect, Triple H and Angle....wow

[@willglenn-bl9gm]

I didnt even know mr perfect was still wrestling then

[@macho.813]

They should’ve hired street gangsters for the creative team

[@JusRed48]

If they were smart they could have made an Austin vs. Eddie feud work. I don't know how they fucked that up.

[@tonyd3752]

They did start doing that actually, leading up to him walking out. Look up stone cold and Eddie atthe bar.

[@TylerMorganShow]

Deadly jr #1

[@jamescooke1462]

I remember Wrestlemania X8 & thinking wtf they got him wrestling Scott Hall of all people? Who was probably drunk and or high during they’re match. 😭 He should have wrestled Hogan, tho I don’t think that match would have been nearly as good as Hogan & The Rock as both Hogan/Steve had injury problems. Him and Eddie could have done something really great, him and Kurt Angle too. If only HBK was back then they could have done a program together to redeem themselves from WM 14! I always enjoyed their match at The KOR in 97 when they were Tag Team Champs! It’s crazy to think that they didn’t have anything for Steve or Taker at Wrestlemania X8. They should have gave Steve 6 months to a yr off to recharge himself & give his body some rest. That WWE schedule is BRUTAL idk who they do it tbh.

[@atlien1988]

They wanted him to face Hogan, but he and Hogan couldn't put egos aside. Austin spoke on his podcast that he wasn't in the right mindset and he was never going to wrestle Hogan. He commented that although he would likely handle how the aftermath differently, but he still don't believe he would've wrestled Hogan and it likely wouldn't have been a good match anyway.

[@Thex-W.I.T.C.H.-xMaster]

Stone Cold should have been the first Undisputed Champion not Jericho. It should of been Austin vs Triple H at Mania 18 not Jericho. Right after Jericho lost to Triple H he went right back to the mid card where he was before. They wasted the First Ever Undisputed title on him. Austin was right about the creative after 2001 everything sucked until like 2003 to me. I still remember watching the WWF turn into the WWE and how horrible the booking was during that time period. To me the start of the Ruthless Aggression Era didn’t start until after 2002 but the Attitude Era ended when WCW went out of business so you kind of had a period of time where the WWF didn’t know what direction it wanted to go into so they did the Alliance storyline for 8 months after that Flair and McMahon were Co Owners. To me WWE didn’t start getting good again until 2003. Unfortunately they ran off Austin by constantly mishandling his booking he never should of been in a feud with Scott Hall and should’ve been the first Undisputed Champion like I said Austin’s character in the late 90’s saved the WWF from bankruptcy the antihero gimmick McMahon vs Austin feud saved that company and how did WWF repay that after all that Austin did they ran him out of the company with stupid heel turns and bad books and pointless feuds.

[@attiepollard7847]

Nope because it was going to be the same rerun all over again so you got to give it to a new guy

[@scottriffe222]

I have heard that Steve was supposed to work with Eddie and give him a push to where he got the title but Vince or someone changed it and wanted him to push new guy Broc Leaner and Steve wasn't having it.

[@gregmcpherson7483]

Yep I heard that too. Austin wanted to work with Eddie for the longest time.

[@adamandanna]

Did this Broc Leaner ever become a big star? sorry no offense just noticed it lol

[@bigwobs8040]

Yeah, I saw a vignette on RAW between Eddie and SCSA where they were in a bar...it's a shame we never got to see that program.

[@WCWThunderRosa]

When Austin walked out they had just started a feud between Austin and Horsemen-like group of Flair, Benoit, Eddie, & Arn Anderson

[@stonecold5373]

brett hart sure wasn't pleased with creative, lol

[@muhyee294]

If Austin would have lost Scot junky hall that would of been the worst thing ever

[@mikehunt8247]

It's ironic that vince said he grabbed his competition by throat (wcw and Ted turner) but in reality the only person that got choked out was vince himself. He ruined the buisness he claims to love so much by taking away wcw. They brought the best out in each other and im sure anyone that lived in that era could agree. Bischoff and vince had the most lucrative years of their lives during that feud

[@qpeocn]

The problem was they were both worried about being taken out by the other. So the goal became who can first take out the other. All the competition went out the window when that settled

[@MattAlbie]

"I don't carry any negatives in my carry on." No, you just dump all of that on the air.

[@fernicusmaximus9282]

JR needs to cut down on that BBQ sauce.

[@TheRexrapper]

Austin was not the top guy in the company anymore by 2002. It was The Rock. The lies to undermine The Rock need to stop. By 2000 he was the top guy in the company.

[@RoseyRK]

Exactly but Austin fans are bitter

[@TheRexrapper]

@@RoseyRK And I truly don't know why. It's okay to admit Austin reigned for a certain time and The Rock took over. They make it seem like The Rock never really passed Austin. We know that isn't true.

[@nathangarrett9868]

@@TheRexrapperI’m no so sure he ever passed Austin, more like they swapped a few times, Austin was out a lot of 2000 so obviously the rock was more popular he was there. It’s a 1a 1b kinda thing.

[@TheRexrapper]

@@nathangarrett9868 I think overall that's the case. I think each shared a period of being the top guy in the era. But there was a clear shift in 2000. Even Austin felt it. That's one of the main reasons why he wanted to turn heel. The Rock not just in wrestling but outside of it was everywhere. Hosting SNL, on late night talk shows, promoting Xbox, hosting the Republican national convention, etc. He became the biggest draw in the company.

[@freddesanantotx4905]

If he thought the script's sucked backed then imagine what he would think of the bullshit that goes on today lol

[@Taurus791]

John Wayne John Wayne Foot ball foot ball shut up JR!

[@NorthWalesKid]

Austin turning heel is one of the worst wrestling decisions ever. I know JR tried to talk him out of it and Austin insisted but it was a terrible decision

[@Alanthe918mobilemechanic]

Eddie Guerrero versus Stone cold or even Chris Benoit versus stone cold would have made way more sense then having Austin lose to Brock Lesnar in a king of the rain qualifying match that’s just so shitty like whoever wanted that to happen is the reason that WWE is basically a TV show that’s only still alive because of how rich they are not because of good content or entertaining stuff

[@attiepollard7847]

But park the match was good matches but I believe Steve Austin should have took time off at least after the spring time of 2002 so he can get his personal issues together. Bring him back and either late 2003 or early 2004.

[@TheDustifiable1986]

"Marital issues" He was abusing Deborah. I wish these shoots would stop tip toeing around that

[@sabot4ge]

when it comes to beloved stars, people are willing to be philosophical about those kinds of things, like "We all have had experiences that shaped us, good and bad, we grew" as opposed to dealing with it realistically as "He was just doing bad things to his wife"...Percs of fame

[@attiepollard7847]

@@sabot4ge whay Austin did was wrong but why should we have to dwell on his domestic violence issue? He redeemed himself for that issue and we should just move on from that. .

[@wingedhussar1453]

Rhe Steve Austin character should have turned into something else off screen the time for him to be wrestling full time didnt work with him also being at the top as main event

[@_DropTheMike]

Yeah I'm not gonna lie once wcw folded and their guys merged into WWE I that's when I was on my way out the door with wrestling. I checked back in here and there but nothing like I was between 96-00.

[@attiepollard7847]

That was too soon for you to check out. I checked out in 2002 a bit because NFL and basketball was becoming popular in my teen years. GO PATS AND GO PISTONS

[@pmfg11]

"Vince McMahon was Russo's filter and was the one responsible for the main event storylines" Also "Austin unhappy with creative in 2001 and 2002 and left by mid June 02" Nice agendas out there

[@blueblur2273]

Clearly you never watched WCW under Russo. Not only that but most guys who have gotten a chance to work with Russo have ultimately come up with the same conclusion after working with him. Just go listen to Al Snow, Raven or Booker T.

[@pmfg11]

@@blueblur2273 Funny, I remember guys like Austin, Rock, Foley and HBK giving credit to Russo. How many creative meetings with McMahon and Russo those guys attended to know about McMahon being a "filter"? If McMahon was such a filter then why was the product crap before and after Russo?? Why can't anyone in creative give him great stuff so he can filter and make even better?

[@blueblur2273]

​@@pmfg11 Guys like Austin, Rock Foley and HBK didn't work behind the scenes and know how the whole creative process was done. Foley said himself in the Monday Night Wars docuseries that everything you see in the Attitude Era was *probably* created by Vince(the probably shows he wasn't sure how everything was made). Russo himself has said the that only him, Mcmahon and later on Ed were the only ones involved on the creative process. Russo was a great idea guy. Vince Mcmahon would say in the Monday Night War docuseries that Rosso "would come up with ideas and concepts that were so far out there but it was good because once 1 domino falls then the others do and it turns from this germ of an idea into something that is completely workable". Which suggest that Mcmahon would help work those ideas and concepts into an actual storyline. Not only that but then you take a look at his work in WCW. He had full creative control for the 1st 3 months and those 1st 3 months were nothing but ideas and concepts with no storyline. WCW was absolute garbage under him. Meanwhile the WWF at that same time without him was still experiencing success. So you're actually wrong when you say that it was crap after he left. Lastly Russo hasn't had any kind of success after which is why he isn't working in the business while the WWE is still to this day a billion dollar business.If Russo was really the mastermind behind the WWF it would have all transferred over to WCW

[@blueblur2273]

BTW guys like Al Snow who is one of Russo's big supporters actually sat with him and picked his brain and concluded that he doesn't fully understand wrestling and that it was clearly that his partnership with Mcmahon is why the Attitude Era was so successful. Mcmahon balanced his wacky ideas out. A lot of which you see in WCW when he doesn't have anyone to reel him in.

[@pmfg11]

@@blueblur2273 The WWE is a billion dollar business because Russo helped them get out of the financial hole they were in before he got in creative. Also the machine around the product is the best that it's ever been, they are making money despite their product, not because of it. You mean the WWE's docuseries that are full of revisionist history? Why was the product so bad before Russo got there? Wasn't McMahon capable of filtering the stuff that Prichard and Cornette were doing to great levels? After Russo left they had close to a year to ride the wave and that's what happened, bad creative throughout 2000 made sure that popularity started dropping by late 2000 and it would be worse with the years. Why is it that everyone else that was in creative couldn't put out a great product and the blame was on Vince McMahon but when it was Russo it was due to Vince McMahon. Look at how boring and predictable the shows are when Russo isn't there and look at how basic the storylines are and compare it to when Russo was there, look what happens when they try to recreate moments/storylines that happened when Russo was there and they fail miserably at it. Look at how different the product was in the Attitude Era from the classic Vince Mcmahon product (a cartoonish sports entertainment product with cartoonish characters with the main babyface [Hogan or Cena] overcoming the odds everytime no matter how difficult it is and compare it with Stone Cold. Lmao he had 3 months in WCW to turn the ship around from multiple years of bad booking (Nash even said that by week 2 or 3 they already cut their nuts off) and that time period is held as a failure when he managed to stop the bleeding in the TV ratings and house show attendance? He wrote for TNA and got their highest ratings (that are higher than RAW's ratings today) despite not being head of creative and that's a failure? Plenty of Anti Russo going around still to this day

[@Cultofpersonality09129]

Austin was on top for 3 years and Hogan was on top for over 25.

[@jasons5212]

austin was the biggest ever his squash match with kevin owens proves it,

[@DinoTGenesis]

God forbid Austin have standards.

[@azapro911]

WWF/E definitely slacked off compared with 2000, but it wasn't all the company's fault. Austin was originally supposed to face Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8 but finally abandoned the heel run after Survivor Series '01, so a villainous Jericho got that spot. Then he was supposed to face Hogan but couldn't come to terms on how the match would go, so he's out of the top tier shuffle by default.

[@tojs2394]

And people shits on CM Punk for doing the same thing...

[@PsychoKillertheGame]

Cm punk was an absolute asshole. He was never as big as the Rock or Austin or Taker or Warrior or Hogan. Yet he thought he was. Let me be clear, in the Attitude era which is the best overall of all time- mid card players like Edge and Christian, and the Hardyz were better than Punk ever was. The dude is totally deluded in terms of skill, ticket sales/draw/opinions of himself.

[@subzero-ws7wt]

Stop it. CM punk is nowhere near Stone Cold's level.

[@CharlesDarkson]

CM Punk is a modern day Bret Hart though, he was good but also his own biggest mark who thought he was greater than what he was.

[@kckc6578]

People don’t want to admit it but Austin wasn’t as over 01-03 as he was 97-99 It’s why I always give Hogan the edge as Goat. Hogan stayed on top longer

[@blaketindle4703]

Turning heel absolutely killed his reign. They had a chance to correct it. Watch that Raw before the 2001 Invasion ppv when Austin briefly turned back face. One of the loudest crowd pops ever! Then six days later they ruined it by turning him back heel. Of course it was all Austin’s idea. He’s mainly the one to blame. And yeah even when he was face again in 2002 I certainly remember his popularity had dropped from its peak.

[@CREOLEHEAT]

As great as he was; he was a one trick pony. His popularity never recovered after he decided to turn on WWF & remain heel. No one wanted to see him begging Vince for validation. It was pathetic. No one wanted to see him singing & playing the guitar. If you told people in 97-99 what SCSA would be doing in 01, no one would've believed you. Probably not even Steve himself. It was awful. Then, he starts doing that annoying as "WHAT?!" crap that ruined promos in the WWE for over a decade. Without Vince, Rock, & Undertaker, no one cared what Austin was doing.

[@kckc6578]

@@CREOLEHEAT When they started the “what” bs and the comedy skits with Austin I knew it was over. I think he knew it too.

[@edge803]

The booking was horrible in 2002 .so many different champions within a year. Vince and the creative wanted to push Brock to the moon becuase of his look and no build up vs scsa. Doea anyone think the fans would have bood stone if he faced hogan at wrestlemania like they did rock? p.s the rock made that match because he bumped for hogan at the right moments in the match.

[@CharlesDarkson]

That's why Triple H had the World Heavyweight Championship for a year (minus a month for when it was on Shawn) after it was established, they knew they had played Hot Potato far too much with the Undisputed Title and had to do the opposite to solidify an equal belt.

[@supersaiyantayt]

austin lost his real opponents wen vince got rid of bret....

[@attiepollard7847]

Nope Austin was just over worked along with personal issues. I just wish Vince McMahon seen the writing on the wall when it came to Steve Austin. Give him a year and a half off and have him come back so he can sort his BS out. This is the one thing I don't like about Vince he doesn't see the bigger picture or maybe don't care.

[@stephenwalker8789]

The new guy hulk hogan the damn audacity

[@Irobinson86]

The title of this video is wrong 🙄

[@1950Grendel]

Should have been Conrad Runs His Mouth Again for Fifteen Minutes.

[@danielstack4158]

@@1950Grendel JR got a word or two in

[@toddrichardson8595]

GET OVER IT!!!!

[@Carnius797]

Lmfao I cant believe hulk got the belt. Well I can but still.

[@Bostonguy222]

This guy Conrad talks way too much. I fast forwarded just to hear the parts where JR talks.

[@chunky9791]

Love Steve, but idk why he gets a pass during this time yet hogan gets blasted for trying to keep in that top spot

[@toddrichardson8595]

Because Austin didn't spend YEARS playing creative control and politics and constantly screwing guys over no matter who they are. That is what Hogan did his entire career on top of being a crappy wrestler....

[@atlien1988]

@@toddrichardson8595 you may be right, but that doesn't absolve SCSA in this scenario.

[@captainjaber5610]

@@atlien1988 Hogan is definitely a politician who passes himself off as innocent. Deep down inside Hogan knows he wanted to rip Austin apart and wanted the fans to root for him. He was not getting that, Hogan with his little kiddy hulk up and muscle flexing won't get over with Austin. I am glad Austin got over on him in the HOF 2006, WM 30 and the beer bash. The fans will never boo Steve. They may have rooted for Hogan at WMX8 in Toronto of all places, but anywhere else, Steve would certainly get his pops over Hogan.

[@PsychoKillertheGame]

Because the direction of the business was wrong. The creative team and Vince did not see it. Here we are today..guess Austin was right

[@dumbwagertalkfollower5859]

Stars pushing back on horrific creative helped the product in 1996-2001. Funny how Austin loved when it benefited him.

[@flexbori]

Russo wasn't in WWF when Austin was disgruntled with creative. That's when Stephanie had a role. Before Steph, WWF had two legendary writers who brought the brand to it's peak and it will never be duplicated again.

[@CharlesDarkson]

@@flexbori Heyman was the Lead Writer for Smackdown at the time Austin walked out and they got on relatively well, so to blame Creative/Steph for him deciding he'd had enough is side-stepping the real issues. Granted by booked to lose on Raw to a Rookie Lesnar was stupid but it was probably just Vince pressing the 'F*** You' button at that point, knowing that Steve was banged up and already on borrowed time.

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

How could he be unhappy it’s what he asked for?

[@Alanthe918mobilemechanic]

WWE messed up with Austin when they were gonna let Brock Lesnar beat him when Austin took his ball and went home as they say he did the right thing if he wanted to be even more controversy all he could’ve dropped a pipe bomb like CM punk did which would’ve been cool to see him walk out to the middle of the ring and dismantle the WWE creative and Brock Lesnar‘s push before it even started it would’ve looked a lot better and people couldn’t say he just walked out with no explanation but I still think he did the right thing they were going to destroy his character and he was not cool with it

[@thejoeyrothshow8946]

Can't that sloppy talking JR say one thing ever during these without sticking it to Vince? We get it Jim, you should still be everywhere calling everything.

[@Grassyknolldallas]

This hurts Austons legacy in my mind. I don’t remember Rock complaining or UT

[@JJA1987]

It doesn't - He was right to walk out back then the way he treated - He was the single reason the WWE took down WCW

[@cmj199318]

Once you get so famous that you’re in Hollywood, the Rock couldn’t care about complaining

[@JayCity10]

The only person allegedly The Rock had issues with, was Billy Gunn. A mid carder, who was inserted into the main event picture. He ended up not getting over, perhaps was buried by The Rock, and broke The Rock's nose in the match. It was a cluster fuck. I did feel bad for Billy. He was very talented.

[@jamalwalker]

Billy said that he and the Rock got along well so I don't know how much stock is put in that rumor​@@JayCity10