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Transcript of Jim Ross and Vince McMahon Interviews from the June 15th WWE Confidential
Vince McMahon: Austin, for whatever reason, was hell-bent on not showing. He got on a plane and went home. He took his ball and went home, and obviously, I'm pissed off.
Jim Ross: He was the lead performer advertised to be at that event in a major venue, and he didn't fulfill his obligations. He decided to go home. And that's wrong.
Vince McMahon: I had a phone call from J.R., who is in charge of talent relations, at about 10:00, 10:30 on Sunday night, informing me that Austin was not terribly excited about the creative that we had set for him on Monday.
Jim Ross: He mentioned on Sunday that he wanted things changed or he wasn't coming to work. I said, "That's not the way you handle your problems; that's not the way you do business, that's not the way we do business." So I asked if he'd talked to Vince, and he said no, and I said "How come?" and there was just a lot of aversion there. He was very uncomfortable about talking to the owner of the company about his issues. He has never been in the past, until the last few months.
Vince McMahon: I then immediately called Austin on his cell phone, and told him no matter what hour it was when he got this message, to call me. So about 2:00 in the morning, he called me. So that began my Monday. I went through the entire creative process with him, explaining how this was good for him, and good for the company, and he said all right. Not that I needed his approval, but it's always important when you're working with talent for them to buy into what it is you're trying to do, because they feel a lot better about it; they feel a part of the creative process, and that was what I had attempted to do, and thought I had done.
Jim Ross: When I got to the Phillips Arena in Atlanta on Monday, I was informed through our travel service that he had independently made a call and booked himself and his wife flights home.
Vince McMahon: He tried to do this in a way that no one would even know that he wasn't going to be at the event.
Jim Ross: At that point, I started calling him again, and I left several messages, and finally got through to him and I think he was boarding the plane, because I heard the flight attendants talking with him, and how you doing, I heard him sit in his seat. We had a very frank conversation. He made a mistake. He screwed up. And he had no business going home. I did most of the talking in that conversation. The other conversations he and I have had over these issues the last two, three weeks, he's done most of the talking. And I'd listened long enough.
Vince McMahon: He had done this once before. And myself and J.R. and others had the conversation, you can't ever walk off the job like this. It's the only unpardonable sin that there is perhaps in our business, because fans are expecting to see you, and when you don't show, it's the worst thing that can happen. So he had a history of this happening the day after WrestleMania, which I just chalked up to the fact that he was burned out. That's what he said. I had to take him for face value.
Jim Ross: It's not the Stone Cold that I know, and it hurt, because he made a big mistake. He didn't admit he made a mistake. I said it to him more than once. I told him to get his ass off the airplane and come to work; face the man eye to eye, go into a closed room, I would be there if I was asked or needed or wanted, and would help expedite a conversation to settle these issues. And then at the end of that conversation if we were not able to come to a mutual understanding and clear the air, then he should get his ass home and stay home.
He made the biggest mistake of his professional career.
Vince McMahon: From a personal standpoint, a business standpoint, I look in the mirror firstly when things like this happen and say what could I have done to have changed it, what could I have done not to have had this not happen, and I'm not sure I know the answer. I'll accept whatever blame I can put on myself in terms of lack of communication or whatever, but when someone won't speak to you, won't come to work and discuss intelligently how to get out of something, my hands are tied then. And heretofore, in whatever disagreement he and I ever had, we always sat down and worked it out. We always saw each other's point of view. It always worked that way. But when someone won't sit down with you, they refuse to show up, they've screwed you.
Jim Ross: Being senior vice president of talent relations and being Stone Cold's friend was I guess quite theoretically a conflict of interest. That's my fault. Vince talked about looking in the mirror. I got no problem looking in the mirror. I'm the guy that's responsible for talent. Me. If you can't solve a problem, you eliminate it. Stone Cold eliminated himself from the issue without giving us a chance to solve his problem. He took himself out of the game. Vince McMahon didn't, J.R. didn't, Jim Ross didn't. Steve Williams took Stone Cold and flew him to San Antonio.
I'm gonna take a lot of responsibility about this. There's going to be a lot of things written. Half the crap you read is wrong. 'He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to do that.' People with just active imaginations that want to stir crap. Bottom line is he's got some issues that maybe some day will be revealed, maybe someday will really be explored by the public, because that's what the public wants.
That's why I'm doing this interview now. They want to know, and quite frankly, this company wouldn't be here today or what it is today without our fans. And on that night, there were kids in Stone Cold shirts, there were people there that had posters. Those fans have made him a very, very wealthy man.
Vince McMahon: When you have an investment like we made in Stone Cold Steve Austin, it was a tremendous investment, hours and hours of hard work on his part as well as ours. I don't know, you can't calculate really the loss of this investment for the long term. Ten years from now, Stone Cold Steve Austin as a part of World Wrestling Entertainment would have been making speeches, personal appearances, and things of that nature. He would always be Stone Cold Steve Austin. So the investment that we made, he just took it and flushed it down the toilet.
Jim Ross: This is a very unique business. I think that maybe sometimes the things that go on behind the scenes are most intriguing or more thought-provoking than what we broadcast. I don't know what his problems are. I don't know why someone that could be the biggest name in the history of sports-entertainment say 'I'm not going to come to work. I'm going to turn my back on the people that have helped me me because I'm pissed off, I'm unhappy. Because I just can't take it anymore.' I'm not big on psychologists, on get-on-the-couch time, I gotta have a sabbatical, and I gotta have quiet time, and all that bullshit.
A man's a man. And he's always been a man's man. He was the first man in the building, he was the last man to leave. Why all of a sudden we can't be trusted? The people who have spent hours and hours with him on a lot of tough situations, let me tell you, a lot of tough personal situations -- we're not trustworthy then. I'm gonna go home. And I'm very disappointed. I'm damn sure disappointed.
He's been in my home many, many times. I've been in his home many times. I was the only person in this company invited to his wedding. I felt that to be a very big privilege. Honored to be there, and would do it again. We gotta re-evaluate where we are as human beings, as Jim Ross and Steve Williams, not Good Ol' J.R. with the black hat -- which I'm not wearing today, because I'm not Good Ol' J.R. -- and Steve Williams, my friend that's been affected. I'd like to see it someday put back to where it was. But I don't know in God's name how that's going to happen, because I don't know when I'm gonna see him, I don't know when he's going to want to communicate. And I don't know what's wrong with him -- I don't know how you can just turn your back and go home. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. I don't care how bad things are.
We've all done things here that we've been uncomfortable doing. I've had pig shit poured all over me in a pig pen, I've kissed Mr. McMahon's ass, I've been beat up by a woman, I've had a lot of things happen here. But it's because we're trying to entertain people, because it was the thing we all believed was the thing to do on that program, and we did it, because it's a team effort. You win here as a team and you lose here as a team. But you don't just turn your back and say, 'I'm not going to do this; I'm going to go home.' Maybe someday the real story is going to come out as to why he made his decision. Only he knows. I don't know.
Vince McMahon: I'm personally hurt. Steve was a friend of mine. I have no idea what could possibly motivate him just to walk off the job like a child, to take his ball and go home. Yeah, I'm angry about it. At the same time, from a professional level, I always feel that I have failed when something like this happens, because I always thought that I went the extra mile for Stone Cold, more than anyone perhaps that I have ever worked with. I always thought that I bent over backwards for him, and this hurts. But he did what he did, knowing the consequences.
This is not a publicity stunt. This is something that unfortunately is sad. That's what we're confronted with. This is sad. Just walking off. He spits in the face of everyone who ever supported him, spits in the face of everyone in this organization who helped him become the talent he is. It's sad.
Whenever there's hardship, whenever something happens in life that you don't expect, those who are the survivors try to take something negative and turn it into a positive. That's what we've always done here in World Wrestling Entertainment where there's an opportunity like there is now. Austin was a huge superstar. As such, he meant so much to our company. Without him here, notwithstanding the devastating affect on our company, it makes room for others now to go to the top.
Jim Ross: It's time now for the players to play. We're going to find out who are going to be main-event level stars. I believe we have a lot of potentially great ones. And we have some established stars who need to get back at the top of their game too. It's going to create opportunity. I think that the benefactors of it will be our fans, because they're going to see new situations, new rivalries, new stars given opportunities to live their dream, just exactly like Stone Cold Steve Austin lived his dream in this company. I think the WWE's going to be just fine. I hope Steve Williams is going to be just fine.
Vince McMahon: The door is not open for him to return, and I'll tell you why. Because again, I have a responsibility to our stockholders, a responsibility to our fans, and I too have to look in the mirror. When someone walks out on you without even telling you -- as he did after WrestleMania, and I chalked that up to burnout -- and all of a sudden they do it again, especially when I talked to that person the morning of the same day, and they intentionally walk out with not informing you or anybody else in the organization that they're not going to be there, then as a businessman, how can I trust that person to come back and build up again and then, what, so he can walk out for the third time? I never say never in this business, but I don't know how I could do business with him.
Jim Ross: I just don't know how anyone could trust him, because what's going to happen at the next bump in the road? Is he gonna go home again? I think that goes for anybody on our roster. If you don't want to be a part of the team and take this company to the promised land, you should get your ass home. Don't waste anybody's time. Pack your bags and go. But be professional enough to do it the right way.
I got kicked in the guts. I was sick all day Monday. I was physically ill. You're damn right. Hell, to me, it was John Wayne. He never retreated. He broke his goddam neck and fought back to be the top guy here. That's guts, conviction, belief in what he does for a living. He's gone through a horrendous divorce, injuries, personal problems in that regard, and came back to pull the wagon. Then all of a sudden, the wagon got too heavy in his mind's eye, and he went home. It would be like John Wayne becoming a coward in a big fight. You never saw it happen. You never see it coming. And I didn't see this coming. And it hurt me. But I can't get too down about that, because I'll get back on TV Monday night, kicking ass because I love my job, with or without Stone Cold. Would it be better if he was there? Yes. But Stone Cold ain't gonna be on RAW Monday night. Stone Cold ain't gonna be on RAW again, as far as I know.