Stone Cold Steve Austin shared his thoughts on Vince McMahon’s no longer being affiliated with WWE. During a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, he recounted a past conversation in which he questioned McMahon’s desire to take the company public.
Asked if he ever thought he’d see a time when McMahon wasn’t associated with WWE while still alive, Austin acknowledged the shift.
“It seems weird, but I mean, only for a minute, because, you know, when they sold the company to TKO or whatever the deal is, you know, it was like, okay, it was kind of like the end of an era, and now that we’ve taken a breath, okay, we digested that the era’s over, and it is what it is,” Austin said.
He then recalled advising McMahon against taking WWE public many years ago, puzzled by the chairman’s reasoning.
“So I remember talking to Vince 100 years ago when he wanted to take the company public. And I told him, I said, dude… I said, why do you want to go public? He goes, Steve, [to] be more legitimate. I was like, man, what the hell? be more legitimate? He owned the whole damn thing, you know, it was worth a shit ton of money, you know, how much do you want? So I never understood to begin with, you know.”
Despite past disagreements, Austin spoke positively about his time working under McMahon and for WWE.
“And I love working with Vince… and I’ve had a tremendous time working with WWE, and we haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything, but, you know, and I gave him all my blood, sweat and tears, and they gave me a bunch of opportunities to go out there… We had a great time together.”
Austin ended by noting the change in leadership and the company’s current positive trajectory.
“But you know that era is gone and a new one has… begun, and it’s taken off, and it’s seemed like it’s going good.”
