I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Ep. 219

The second half of Carter's interview with Austin is this week

If you're new, here's the rundown: I listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are better wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but these are the ones in my regular rotation that I feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If I can save other folks some time, I'm happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show
Episode: 219 (May 12, 2015)
Run Time: 1:31:08
Guest: Dixie Carter, part two (11:13); Jim Ross (44:18)

Summary: Austin finishes his in-studio interview with Carter, talking about Texas ranch life, TNA’s TV situation, being competitive for entertainment dollars, the six-sided ring, Billy Corgan’s role with the company and her infamous table bump. After that, he calls good old JR to talk about Oklahoma storm shelters, DDTs and the other problems with today’s in-ring style and Ross’ upcoming show in Baltimore.

Quote of the week: Carter, on hiring Corgan: “We’re trying to make some changes. I mean, Steve, we’ve done a lot of things right and we’ve done a lot of things that haven’t been right. And I’m not gonna focus on what hadn’t been right because I think all you can do is learn from that to not repeat those mistakes. But I’m not ashamed of ’em, you know? I think that’s ridiculous to try to pretend like they didn’t happen or whatever. They’re all learning, they’re all part of the process to get us to where we need to be.”

Why you should listen: If you enjoyed last week’s part one interview with Carter, this ties a bow on the experience. If you never listen to Ross’ podcast, or if you catch his interviews and skip the monologue (always skip the monologue), his segment won’t seem tired and rehashed.

Why you should skip it: Almost everything Carter has to say of any interest was said in part one. Austin’s “kids these days” rant with Ross egging him on is old hat, too, since he had almost the exact same conversation with Court Bauer on episode 218, and it wasn’t fresh then, either. Basically this was 90 minutes of talking without saying much of anything.

Final thoughts: I don’t understand why Austin didn’t just package the entire Carter interview in last week’s show. The Ross interview is less wasteful — but only for the portion of the Austin audience that never listens to The Ross Report. You could argue it’s worth listening to Carter explain the Corgan hire in her own words, but her brief remarks don’t do anything to disprove the notion it’s an absolute mark of insanity. It might be too harsh to say any of this is bad, it’s just not interesting, informative, enlightening or especially entertaining.