I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Ep. 218

Austin gabs with Court Bauer this week 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: 218 ( May 7, 2015)
Run Time: 1:39:39
Guest: Court Bauer (22:54)

Summary: Austin calls a frequent guest, and after Bauer talks about his geriatric pug, Austin goes on a rant about the current state of the DDT, which leads to a look back at the insane violence of ECW. Other topics include Lucha Underground, Sami Zayn’s RAW match and injury, Uhaa Nation and current independent stars, Billy Corgan’s role with TNA, the E:60 NXT special, the Lana face turn, the structure of three-hour Raw episodes and speculation about Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling.

Quote of the week: Bauer, on the team meeting scene from the E:60 production: “When I was there, we had, you know I thought 12 people, at times, were a lot, including the McMahon family. This was like a conference. I mean it was a massive amount of people just kind of going over the roster and who makes the cut and everything. Even in the NFL I don’t know if you have that many guys. … There’s only so much you can do by committee.”

Why you should listen: Because you’re watching your kids play in the front yard and need a little background noise in your left ear, are comforted by the dulcet tones of Steve Austin raising hell about the DDT, raving about the upside of Sami Zayn and having his mind opened to promotions and wrestlers you don’t know all that much about either. (OK, that’s why I listened to it — you might have different reasons, but is that really worth splitting hairs?)

Why you should skip it: The DDT rant is played out, as is the examination of why the current RAW model is stagnant. Lest you think this episode is a two-way street, many segments involve Bauer explaining things to Austin, such as the nature of the E:60 show, various promotions and wrestlers new to Austin, the status of GFW and so on. The issues are probably better covered on Bauer’s podcasts, though there is arguably some charm in Austin’s inquisitiveness.

Final thoughts: This one is pretty easy to judge. If you want to be informed, we’ll catch your ass down the road. If you’d simply like to be entertained, go ahead and hit that download button.