Is Vince McMahon Taking WWE Fans For Granted?, Stone Cold Critiques Top WWE Superstars

Pro Wrestling Torch’s Wade Keller was a recent guest on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s The Steve Austin Show podcast. Keller speculated on what Vince McMahon’s goals were in light of the recent Backlash pay-per-view,

“I am not convinced that Vince’s #1 goal is to satisfy his fans. I know that sounds weird to say it; but, I think he is in a mode where the #1 goal is to satisfy Wall Street, TV executives, and potential suitors who would pay huge money like UFC got and I think that’s on his mind so much he is losing sight of how much damage he’s doing by continuing to push Roman [Reigns] in these circumstances where the optics are terrible. What do you think if you’re a TV executive or a potential suitor to the company and you tune into the network and you watch your lead babyface getting rejected by your fan base. You start to think maybe Vince McMahon doesn’t know what he’s doing or that this fan base is hard to please and maybe we don’t want to get in this business. I don’t know. I get Vince’s rationalization and determination; but, I am concerned that it will backfire more than he is realizing, if that core fan base that’s making the TV deal possible and that’s filling the RAW and Smackdown arena with passionate fans – I think he’s taking that for granted.”

On the same episode, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin offered critiques for several of WWE’s top Superstars.

On Shinsuke Nakamura:

“I wouldn’t do a whole lot with Shinsuke; but, I’d knock off the comedy because I don’t think he needs that to be entertaining. If Renee [Young] asks him a question, if he just sits there and looks at the camera, because he’s not gonna answer the camera – to me after a period of silence, you just fade out and go to the next match. Then you let Michael Cole and those guys pick it up and, ‘Hey man I think this guy is going to talk when he wants to and not talk when he doesn’t want to.’ That way you can get off of him, leave something to talk about, still be entertaining and not put him in a comedic light because as The King of Strong Style, that’s a statement.”

On Seth Rollins:

“Sometimes he relies on high spot type sequences for his comeback. Sometimes I want to see him use a few more right hands or a little bit just straight up offense rather than high spots. I’m not telling him to be A.J. [Styles]; but, sometimes as that baby face, you’ve got to use good old fashioned knuckles or feet or just strikes, stomps, whatever it takes. If you can keep working his way around it, more power to him; but, sometimes when you are using those high spots as comebacks, it’s like I really want to see Miz have his ass handed to him a little bit more.”

On Braun Strowman:

“He can work. I’ve been a fan for a couple of years now; but, you’ve got to be careful with what you do with Braun Strowman….dude, you’re Alpha. If you don’t get out there and work and act like Alpha every time you get into the ring, you play Beta or second to anybody, you’re going to start losing your mystique or power. I think Braun’s gotta be careful about that and I don’t want to see Braun Strowman do anything funny….with respect to booking Braun, they’re calling him Monster Among Men, Come Get These Hands and all this other stuff. He’s a little like Stone Cold and a lot like Braun Strowman. I don’t need to see a 6’8″ 330 pound guy make me laugh, make me smile, bring any warmth to my body – I want to see him go out there and destroy and crush people because he’s capable of doing it and because his desire for the gold belt is so great that’s what drives him…he’s been a competitor his whole life…Braun Strowman, as well as he’s done over the last few years still has a ways to go and he’s not bullet proof. If you start puffing that kid up, you’re gonna diminish him.”

Readers interested in listening to the episode in its entirety may do so HERE.

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