By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Austin Theory
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
On his segment with The Rock: “So the day starts. I have nothing that day at Smackdown, I’m kind of lingering around wondering am I doing anything? I haven’t heard anything. Was it a setup? I don’t know. It didn’t feel like one, but if it was, then wow, you got me. But I remember we have an hour before the show kicks off. So we were in Colorado, so the time is probably like a couple of hours [back]. So we had an hour before the show, I get a call, and I end up going to Triple H’s office, and he basically gives me the rundown of ‘Hey, Pat McAfee’s coming back. We’re thinking you go out there, you cut a promo, and then kind of get on him, and then we’ll have The Rock come out.’ I’m just like, for real? Alright!
So then they’re sitting there, and then the head writer, he’s like, ‘Hey, there’s not a lot of time left now. There’s like 40 minutes, 30 minutes left. Go figure out what you want to say to Pat and then we’ll figure out the rest, we’ll tell you what you’re doing with Rock when he gets here.’ So I’m like, well he’s not even here, this is crazy. So I go away and I started thinking in my head. I started thinking too about the last time I was in the ring with Pat McAfee, and how the promos were. I remember he said some things that I couldn’t, I could only say what I was able to say. But I feel like there was some more freedom there for him. So in my mind, I’m like well this is where I’ve got to take it, I’ve got to get it back. So going out there, we had the same outfit on, so I ripped into him about that, you don’t look like me in a tank top. I called him something and then Rock comes out.”
On meeting The Rock: “Before Rock comes out, kind of going back to when I met Rock, I remember, I came up with what I wanted to say on Pat I was like, Okay, I got it. And then I just get a text, come outside. I come outside, and it was one of the writers, and he said, Come with me. And then next thing I know, I’m with Triple H and Nick Khan and we’re all walking outside. The busses are there, and this black car pulls up, six people get out, it’s just insane to me. Rock gets out, and I’m like this is crazy. He’s like the size of a blimp. He looks insane. I’m like, What is going on? They walk over, I think they’re just trying to get us on a bus so this could be private and nobody sees Rock.
“I think Nick Khan knocks on Charlotte Flair’s bus, and they’re like, Hey, can you get off? She’s like, alright. So she just gets off, and then we get on the bus. Then I just remember I was in the back of the bus with The Rock, and he was kind of telling me, ‘When we get out there, it’s going to be magic. Just feel it. It’s going to be good.’ And I kid you not being out there with him. He did like these Jedi mind tricks with his eyes, when I just knew when to go, when to say something, and just feeling it with him. He would just, I don’t know, just with his eyes. I was like, oh man. But it was such an experience and I just felt so on top of my game.”
On the Steve Austin Stunner: “I guess I just really to live for everything. So at the time of WrestleMania, getting Stunned by Austin. I fell out the ring, I kept one eye open. I’m watching Stone Cold do this horrible Stunner to Vince. Finally, Vince takes the stunner. We get out and I remember I picked up Vince’s shoe, and his arm was around me, we’re walking up the stage, and I just remember being like, yo, that was so f—ing awesome. I think he just gave me haha or whatever. But at that moment I was just in it. Never having alcohol in my life, I came to the back after that match thinking in my head, already living in the future. I’m about to drink a whole beer because Stone Cold is going to walk through the curtain and he’s going to hand me one, and if I don’t drink it, that’s so disrespectful. I was like, so here we go, first beer, I’m going to be so drunk tonight. He comes through the curtain, he’s covered in beer on his shirt, and he hugs me, and I just taste all the beer. That’s enough of the beer I needed. He didn’t give me a beer, but he said, ‘Was a hell of a Stunner, kid. That was a great sell.’ It was awesome.”
On his failed Money in the Bank cash-in: “I don’t feel like there’s ever a plan. To be honest with you, if you know a match you’re going to have at a pay-per-view, if you’re kind of on that road, like [John] Cena for example, I knew we did the promo, so I know we’re going to have the match. But honestly, like a lot of things, even when I had the U.S. Title the first time [shrugs], Money in the Bank [shrugs], second time U.S. Title [shrugs], you know, it’s just kind of seeing what rolls. And then at the same time too, with the briefcase I was in such a tough spot, because Roman Reigns, the position he was in and where they were going with him. I would have loved to cash in on Roman, even if it was a failed attempt, I think that would have been cool because I would have never cashed in on the United States Championship.”
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