I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Ep. 145

Ross is the guest on this show rather than the host Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you're new, here's the rundown: I listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are better wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but these are the ones in my regular rotation that I feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If I can save other folks some time, I'm happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show
Episode: 145
Run Time: 1:29:56
Guest: Jim Ross

Summary: Austin opens up with brief thoughts about the opening of Raw Monday (he hasn’t watched the rest of the show), then brings back his old fan JR to shoot the breeze a bit before taking questions for both of them from Steve’s Twitter followers. They touch on many familiar topics — Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Sting and the Survivor Series 1997.

Quote of the week:“As long as Heyman doesn’t get laryngitis, as long as a camera crew can find their way to Minnesota and watch this big bastard cut down trees or gut a deer, whatever, you’re good. It was the same theory back in the day with Andre the Giant coming through the territories a week a year, two weeks a year.… It was damn sure that way with Flair when Flair was the NWA champion.”

Why you should listen: If you’re not a regular listener of the Ross Report, perhaps what JR offers here will feel fresh. The first question, about the legendary Danny Hodge, is the best of the bunch. If you love Paul Heyman, the praise each has for Lesnar’s advocate is worth your time. Ross is at his best when honestly discussing his own craft as an announcer, and he has a few chances to tell some of those stories.

Why you should skip it: A lot of this is well-worn territory. It’s late August, no one has anything new to say about the Undertaker’s streak ending. Likewise, there’s no stones unturned about the Montreal Screwjob nearly 17 years later, or King of the Ring 1998 16 years hence. We’ve heard what Ross thinks about Taker, Sting, Reigns and WrestleMania XXXI almost weekly on his show, and neither he nor Austin have anything fresh on these familiar fronts.

Final thoughts: Austin actually is a thoughtful interviewer — much more so than Ross, oddly enough — but turning the questions over to his listeners moved the show away from anything but the most obvious topics. Presumably Austin curated those questions, which makes the choices all the more curious. I was hoping I’d be rewarded by being a regular listener of both men’s shows, but this episode is really only useful for those who haven’t heard much of anything from either guy of late.