Tuesday, July 7, 2015

I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Eps. 233/234

A doubleshot of Austin podcast recaps
Photo Credit: WWE.com
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: 233
Run Time: 1:23:14
Guests: Kevin and Jeff Williams

Show: Steve Austin Show — Unleashed!
Episode: 234
Run Time: 1:41:28
Guest: Ted Fowler

In order to save even more time than usual, here's the quickest of rundowns: Steve Austin's shows last week were chock full of good ol' Texas drawl. In the Tuesday show — ostensibly family friendly but in this case not obscenity free — Austin has a mostly audible sit-down with his brothers at the Broken Skull Ranch. On Thursday it's his chance to reconnect with Ted Fowler. Between the two bull sessions someone told Austin his Tuesday episode was plain difficult to hear, so the Thursday show is clear as day.

I come not to knock or praise either effort. If you love this side of Austin, you've probably listened. Likewise, if you're only interested in the wrestling talk, you knew to take a pass. In the Tuesday show there was a little talk of Austin having one of his brothers come see him perform at the Dallas Sportatorium in the early 1990s, but everything else is color. Amusing, tawdry and at time hilarious color, but color nonetheless.

I'd also like to take a moment to chuckle at all of the "Stone Cold and WWE are on the outs" rumors and writings from a few months back. Though easily disproved at the time, the Monday announcement of Austin as the cover boy for the next WWE video game is the nail in the coffin of that ridiculous "story." Usually false rumors don't grind my gears, but in this case people were using Austin's podcast as evidence for the schism, but those of us to listen to every word knew by the nature of his shows then and now there was never any validity to the speculation. Vindication is sweetly satisfying.