While promoting WWE 13, Steve Austin spoke about how John Cena would have thrived in the Attitude Era and more. Here are the highlights…
On Working With Bret Hart: Man, working with Bret Hart was some of the most fun matches I've ever had in my life. There was Chicago and WrestleMania 13, over in South Africa, in Germany — and Bret had a pretty good stronghold over in Germany. Man, I loved working with Bret. I've got a lot of respect for Bret as a person, and everything he did as a pro wrestler. Hell, I remember one time we were working a show somewhere and Bret was in the main event. [Bret] got a flat tire on his Lincoln Towncar, and I changed his tire while he was in the ring working. Every day you work with Bret, you could learn something. We had 100 percent trust in each other, and 100 percent respect for each other. He's a badass guy, and I just — every night was a good night with Hart. That's the damn truth.
On John Cena Thriving in the Attitude Era: John Cena in The Attitude Era. Man, that's a good question. Yeah, had he been placed in it, and been dealt with accordingly, the John Cena you see now — the face of the franchise, the leader of the pack? Not so much. But I guarantee if you'd have gotten him face to face with "Stone Cold" in an interview, and you know John cuts a good interview himself, if I slapped the s*** out of that son of a b****, I think we're off and running to make a lot of money. All he needs is to be poked and prodded in the right way. I think John Cena has a hell of a lot of fire and he needs to be in the ring with the right opponent, or the right cat, to bring that out. So in the current environment, you really don't see that in him. Place [Cena] back 10 years in the ring with "Stone Cold"? You'd have rung the cash register, big time.
On Superstar Billy Graham: Oh man, it's like the DVD they made of "Superstar" — "20 Years Too Soon." He was. Man, that guy was just the perfect guy. He could have lived in The Attitude Era rather than "Stone Cold," had he been around a little bit later. I just think everything that guy did was so entertaining back in the day — the promos he cut, the outfits he wore. His work style was a little bit different than mine, obviously, but he had such a great look. You just thought he was a badass, and he was just a highly entertaining guy. Had they known, they could have done with Billy what they did with me, had they had the wherewithal or the chance to do it back then, but they didn't think of it back then.
