During a recent appearance on the “State of Combat” podcast, Steve Austin commented on Becky Lynch and Kevin Owens emulating him, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On people copping his style: “Aw man, it’s a huge honor to be able to help someone. Because you know, back before I got dropped on my head [at SummerSlam 1997] I was a Ric Flair clone. You know, Ric Flair is the G.O.A.T in my opinion and I was trying to emulate his style. I wasn’t trying to copy him, I was trying to use his style as it pertained to my athletic ability. And getting dropped on my head was, I dare say — I didn’t enjoy that, but it was probably one of the best things that happened to me. Because I had to change my style to be more of a brawler, and then combine the ‘Stone Cold’ character with it, that made me turn into the superstar that I ended up being. But it was Ric Flair who I looked up to.”
On Becky Lynch becoming ‘The Man’: “Becky, she is doing her own thing. And her promos are a different kind of promo. But that swagger, maybe I inspired some of whatever she’s doing, she has done it all on her own.”
On Kevin Owens using his stunner: “And for Kevin Owens to borrow the Stunner — sometimes when I see that trademark stomp in that corner I know that might have come from me, whoever is doing it. Everyone stomped someone in the corner, but I had a way to do it. So, when you see your influence on the younger generation that’s currently still out there doing it, it’s very flattering. And you just want them to take it as far as they can go with it. Because you look for everyone to get in the business to have great success. And sometimes, the greatest technical workers aren’t the greatest success. It’s the character people, or it’s a combination of people. So anytime that you see something of yours that someone else has taken and ran with, and improved or tweaked, and made part of their own — go back to the superkick. Everybody’s been doing the superkick. But when Shawn [Michaels] started using it, it was really effective for him. So yeah, it is really cool.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
