Steve Austin On If Edge's Return Changes His Mind On A WWE Comeback
This week on The Steve Austin Show, WWE Hall Of Famer Steve Austin weighed in on last Sunday's WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Austin shared his impressions of the first WWE pay-per-view on the road to WrestleMania and the return of Edge. Additionally, Austin talked about whether Edge's return would have influence over Austin's decision to make a comeback to pro wrestling himself.
According to Austin, he enjoyed the Royal Rumble and he even liked some of the matches more than other people.
"I enjoyed the Royal Rumble, the entire pay-per-view and I love talking about these things." Austin explained, "I thought it was a good night at the office. I thought we nitpicked some of the matches, but overall I think pretty much everyone had a good night. Like, I said, I enjoyed some of those matches more than other people did. I enjoyed both Rumbles and people say there were opportunities missed, this, that, or whatever. Yeah, there [are] always going to be missed opportunities from each subjective standpoint of the individual. But it was what it was. It was written the way it was written.
"One Royal Rumble was full of bodies. One Royal Rumble was not full of bodies. It was one individual tossing everybody out, but that guy received a Claymore from a guy they are trying to get over, so they were setting all the pieces in place to elevate Drew McIntyre to this place. And so, two different Rumbles. Two different stories. Different standouts in each one and different things. And I was entertained, highly entertained, by both matches. And I was looking through a lens of, 'dude, just watch it for what it is', don't think it's a shoot, and enjoy it. And I thought a lot of the women got a chance to show their personality. I thought a lot of guys, they came out there, well, most of them, they got eliminated by Brock. But when you settle down to it and you come to the final four or even that final six, all the stories that have been told, just the visual of Braun Strowman, Brock Lesnar, and Keith Lee was interesting and then Brock dumped both guys out, but all in all I thought it was a good night at the office."
Although the men's Royal Rumble match may have gone on a bit too long, Austin still enjoyed the match and noted Drew McIntyre's elimination of WWE Champion Brock Lesnar.
"Possibly, it ran on too long," Austin said. "I enjoyed it because as soon as Drew McIntyre comes out, there's your physical activity. Boom! Claymore [Kick], over the top spectacular bump Brock [Lesnar] style."
With respect to Edge's return to WWE, Austin claimed 'The Rated-R Superstar”s Royal Rumble entrance was great to see and that it was the biggest ovation of the night.
"Oh man, it's great to see Edge back, and, man, when they hit his music and he came out, man, he blew the roof off the place," Austin recalled. "That was the loudest pop of the night. Yeah, just an explosion. People were excited to see Edge back. And you could really see emotion on his face. He was thrilled to be back and he was thrilled to blow the roof off that place. When you've been gone for so long and then you come back, and then, people aren't expecting you, and they blow you away with that, it's immediate appreciation and it's a real confidence booster."
In Austin's view, Edge's return to the ring after being medical disqualified by WWE leads to many questions regarding how Edge will change up his ring style to protect himself and the nature of his new WWE contract. Of course, Edge returned to WWE at the Royal Rumble after reportedly being in talks with both WWE and AEW.
"So, like, alright, he [has] decided to go back in this, okay? What's going to come of that? What's going to be the adjustments in his style? What's he going to do differently? He's not going to be able to absorb a lot of the bumps that he took back in the day and he's not going to be doing – I wouldn't imagine that he's going to be doing any TLC matches, ladder matches, some of those things where The Dudley Brothers, he and Christian, and The Hardys, Jeff and Matt, just they wrote their names all over the history books with those outstanding matches they had where they defied all the odds and with extreme precision and calculation, just daredevilled their way through these thrilling matches. So he's not going to be put in that role again, I'm thinking. I'm hoping. So see what his style's going to be in the ring. How much are they going to ask of him? What do they want from him? How far is he willing to go? Where is this going? How long is this going to last? So yeah, when a guy comes back from the reasons he had to retire when he did, I hope that he can hold up to the grind and the task at hand. And that's being a pro wrestler and all the bumps and everything come with it. So stylistically, I'm wondering how he's going to operate and I wish him nothing but the absolute best and I hope the best for him because I know he loves the [pro wrestling] business and he [has] been a fan of the business forever and people love him, so I hope everything goes well with his return."
Austin continued, "it was very exciting and I wish him the best. I hope that neck holds up for him. It will be interesting to see stylistically what he'll change. It seems like he was leading with the shoulder a little more with the spears kind of protecting himself. And he was taking some good bumps as well."
Finally Austin said he will not consider a return to pro wrestling based on Edge's return to in-ring action.
"No, whatever Edge is doing has nothing to do with me," Austin laughed. "I'm done. I've already said I'm done. And I wish that dude all the luck in the world. When I see a guy whose had a similar kind of neck situation as I had or just neck surgery in general, and to leave the [pro wrestling] business when he did 9 years ago and then come back, I think I'm like, 'man, okay, be careful out there!'"
Check out the podcast here. If you use any of the quotations from this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.