I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Ep. 150

Austin was on location for ep. 150 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 Unleashed!
Episode: 150
Run Time: 1:18:05
Guest: None

Summary: Steve is on location in Georgia shooting the next season of Redneck Island. He’s having a heck of a time getting an Internet connection, and also it can be a challenge getting to a bathroom in time. After several monologues, he answers some reader email questions then gives a match of the week suggestion that’s actually more of a YouTube highlight reel.

Quote of the week:“And I looked at my wife, and I said, ‘Hell no, I ain’t wearing no motherfucking Spanx. If the word on the street got out that global icon and a national treasure, America’s favorite beer drinker, one bad motherfucker, walking down the street hosting Redneck Island, the toughest show on television, Broken Skull (Challenge), was wearing Spanx? Spanx! I ain’t wearing no goddamn Spanx. Shit.’ ”

Why you should listen: When Austin does talk about wrestling, he answers a question about being able to hear WWE performers call spots in the ring, and later he responds to a query about the relatively small number of goody guys in the top tier of the WWE roster. Other than that, you’d better really enjoy Stone Cold’s unleashed approach to storytelling about his last few days in rural Georgia.

Why you should skip it: Well, it’s not quite as bad as the early episode in which Austin narrated a fake wrestling match between himself as a fly, but if you tend to skip past the opening monologue of most episodes, you can blow by just about the first hour here, if not the entire thing (as noted, only two of the reader questions pertain to wrestling).

Final thoughts: I recall being bummed when Austin’s 100th show was nothing special, and the 150th is a dud as well. It’s no coincidence he crossed both milestones while on location for a TV shoot. He hinted at maybe interviewing wrestling personalities still kicking around Georgia, which has the potential to be great. But this was no more than a mildly amusing way to kill time while my kids had swimming lessons.