THE STONE COLD TRUTH (22 page)

My biological father took off on my family before I ever got a chance to know him. I just want to make sure that my girls know I’m always there for them, and how much I love and miss them.

Shortly after my divorce from Jeannie, I was a guest on
The Howard Stern Show
radio show in New York, and I told Howard I’d probably never get married again. I think the thing that I enjoyed the most about being on the show was being able to laugh about a few things, and maybe get them off my chest. Even at a time when I wasn’t so happy to go out on national TV, it was very refreshing—kind of like therapy for me.

Cassidy and me, Christmas ’97.

I always have a good time with Howard because there is no preshow interview. On most other shows, a production assistant calls you a couple of days in advance and asks you a bunch of questions to be talked about on the show. It’s so lame. The show day comes and you go on, and you and the host just go through the motions. Oh-how-fun. But with Howard, it’s flying by the seat of your pants, the way I like it.

I had a real good time on Howard’s show and I liked Howard. I think I could hang out with that guy. We’d just sit there and talk, and he’s a different person when he’s off the air, like I’m a different person when I’m off the air. Same guy, just turned down a notch. I’ve always liked going on his show. It ain’t like any other radio show in this whole country! I am so Texas and he is so New York, it just kind of works.

When you go on that show, you have to go in with a self-deprecating sense of humor and be ready, willing and able to laugh at yourself. You know they’re going to dump on you a little. That’s what the show’s about. It’s entertainment. I don’t mind getting made fun of, because I make fun of people all the time. I’m not going to go on there like, “Hey, I’m Mr. Tough Guy and you’re not going to say this or that about me.” I had a real good time with Howard and his crew.

Howard Stern is great at what he does. He always treats me like gold too, so I appreciate that. He’s paid millions of dollars in FCC fines, and in the process that has made him more money, because people would say, “Hey, he’s paying all these fines? Now I’m really going to listen and see what the hell is going on there.”

Howard Stern has paved the way for many, many radio personalities to become stars and earn a helluva living. I hope I have been able to do the same in wrestling.

22
WrestleManias XII, 13
and
XIV

I
remember my first
WrestleMania
with crystal clarity. It was
WrestleMania XII
on March 31, 1996, at the Arrow Head Pond in Anaheim, California.

I had never been to a
WrestleMania
before, so I had never seen anything like it. It was just amazing to be part of such a show—the Super Bowl and the World Series of our business.

At
WrestleMania 13,
stomping a mudhole in the incomparable Bret “the Hitman” Hart.

I defeated Savio Vega at
WrestleMania XII,
only to drop a Strap match to Savio at the following Pay-Per-View—a loss which meant that Ted DiBiase, my manager, had to leave WWE. That was a good thing for me, as I wasn’t allowed to have mic time when DiBiase managed me.

A year later, it was a different story. I was getting a lot better in front of the camera.

I loved doing my programs with Bret Hart in 1996 and 1997 when he made his comeback. I was handpicked by Bret to work with him at Madison Square Garden. I was real proud of that. Then we booked our big match for March 23, 1997 at
WrestleMania 13
at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois. It put him over as a heel for being such a crybaby.

I think that match at
WrestleMania 13
was my favorite ever. I cut some great promos on Bret.

“Bret, you’re sitting out there whining and crying, because you are a loser! I tried to come out and help you win the title. It could have been you and me going for it all at
WrestleMania,
but you blew the whole damn thing because you are a loser! Well, Bret, at
WrestleMania 13,
you will say ‘I quit,’ and someday it will be you and me for the championship, and I will be the next WWE Champion!”

The following week on
Raw,
I said, “A Submission match is not my kinda match, [Bret]. Do I know a whole lot of wrestling holds? HELL NO, I DON’T! But I will beat your ass until you
say ‘I quit.’ Every week you get on TV saying you been screwed. Well, let me tell you this, son. I ain’t bringing a condom to the ring. I’M BRINGING A HELL OF A CAN OF WHOOP-ASS!!!!”

When that match was being built up for
WrestleMania 13,
I was blind to me becoming a babyface. I didn’t see it coming. I wasn’t looking to be a babyface at all when we had that match. But the fans’ cheers were outweighing their boos at the time. Everyone was telling me I’m a babyface.

Brian Pillman came up to me and said, “Hey, man, you’re a babyface now.”

I’d say, “No, I’m not.”

He grinned and said, “Yeah, you are a babyface,” with a smart-ass delivery, as only Brian could deliver. He said, “Steve’s a babyface! Steve’s a babyface!”

I said, “Screw you. No, I’m not, I’m a damn heel.” I was starting to get hot!

And he said, “Listen to the fans, you are a freaking babyface. A damn white-meat babyface!”

So I started listening to the crowd. And at that match, I got almost as loud a cheer as Bret Hart did. That told me something.

I loved working that match. Bret beat me by submission, but I hadn’t given up. My face and head were a bloody mess, but I had passed out rather than say “uncle.” And when the match was over, everyone was chanting my name, even though I had lost.

I remember that Ken Shamrock was the special referee of that match. It was great. I really enjoyed it and felt honored. Of course, anytime I got to work with Bret it was an honor, because I thought so much of him.

I was hot at the time and “Austin 3:16” and “’Cause Stone Cold Said So” were going strong, but that match at
WrestleMania 13
really locked it in for me. It put Stone Cold Steve Austin square in the middle of the pro wrestling map.

It was a quality wrestling match—a “match of the year,” according to some people. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration either.

At
WrestleMania XIV,
which was held on March 28, 1998, at the Fleet Center in Boston, I won my first WWE title by defeating Shawn Michaels. A very talented wrestler, Shawn Michaels was another of my favorite guys to work with. But the Heartbreak Kid was pretty beat up at that point. He had some back problems, I remember, and the match wasn’t as good as it could have been.