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The following was issued to PWInsider.com:
Special guest ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin’ joins this week’s ‘Iron on Wrestling’ podcast
WWE Hall of Famer and pro wrestling legend "Stone Cold" Steve Austin joined Gregory Iron on the latest episode of "Iron on Wrestling."
Recorded last year during the filming of a WrestleDays feature on Iron, the conversation between the two wrestlers touches on Austin's mindset immediately after his neck surgery in 2000.
“I got a phone call from Vince. He said 'Steve, I want to talk to you about an angle when you come back.'” Austin said. “I told him 'Man, I don't think I'm coming back.' That kind of shocked him, because he thought I was going to be coming back. When you get dropped on your head, coming back is the last thing on your mind.
Austin also spoke about the uphill battle to get back in the ring following his injury.
"When it first happened, I went to see Dr. Joseph Torg in Philly, and he was like the lead guy on Quadriplegia,” he said. “He wasn't going to let me back in the ring. He thought the business was a shoot. So finally, I had to tell the doctor, 'I don't gotta take a piledriver every time I go out. I can control what I do'." And it was like a light went off in his head."
As hard as Austin worked to return to in-ring action, his final match against The Rock at WrestleMania XIX became the kind of career conclusion "The Texas Rattlesnake" didn't even know he needed.
"When I walked up the ramp, I just felt a sense of relief,” Austin said. “It felt like this 200-pound iron plate had been lifted off my back. There was no way in hell I wasn't going to miss the business, and that would come back to haunt me later, but the initial relief of just saying, 'Okay, I don't have to put my body on the line anymore.' It was a big relief. It was bittersweet. It was weird. But it was what it was."
Other topics on the episode include Austin's candid thoughts on his Three Stages of Hell match with "The Game" Triple H, why Austin has yet to watch his WrestleMania XIX match with The Rock, long drives to Sonic to simulate being back on the road, and the time Austin almost had his face crushed performing one of his signature "Stone Cold" stunts.
"Iron on Wrestling" is available on Apple Podcasts. Video of the conversation is also available on the Iron on Wrestling Youtube channel.
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