WWE News: Stone Cold Steve Austin Regrets 2001 Heel Turn, Advice For Roman Reigns

Stone Cold Steve Austin is a legend of the squared circle. He’s arguably the most-over wrestler in WWE history. Many WWE analysts and fans believe without Austin, they don’t survive the Monday Night Wars in the late-1990’s and they fall to WCW. His reign of rebellion against the tyranny of Vince McMahon and the Corporation provided WWE fans great entertainment and it is still considered the greatest rivalry in WWE history.

The Mr. McMahon character and Stone Cold character had such great chemistry with one another. It was never a dull moment when one of them, or even both, were inside the ring. WWE fans couldn’t wait to see what happened next. That’s why the ratings were so high every week. Monday Night Raw was pulling out fives and sixes on a consistent basis. Times were different back then, as professional wrestling as a whole was more popular.

It’s 2016 and Stone Cold has been retired from in-ring competition for over a decade now. He’s still involved in the WWE. Austin even makes periodical appearances on WWE TV or the WWE Network. He may even be brought back for the Royal Rumble, according to an Inquisitrarticle. Stone Cold is best known to newer fans as the man behind the Stone Cold Podcast on the WWE Network. What most don’t realize is that he has his own podcast that he reveals a lot of information on. Austin recently just dropped some pretty big news from his WWE tenure.

For those that aren’t aware, the Texas Rattlesnake wasn’t always the anti-hero he became during WWE’s Attitude Era. In the year 2001, he turned heel for a brief moment, and it wasn’t as good as they hoped. On a recent episode of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast, he revealed that he regrets his 2001 heel turn and offers advice for Roman Reigns.

“I felt as a babyface I began to flatline a little bit. I needed to reinvent myself to a degree. I was a little bit burned out, I think, because I was run real hard, partying a lot. I still loved the business, was working my ass off, we [were] selling out. Rock was hot and that was very important to me because I needed that match.”

“He needs a little bit more fire on the offense, a little more active, sell on the run on defense. I think that’d help him out… he needs to pick his head up. He needs to sell on the run, be more active. He has a bad habit of dying when he sells. To his credit, he will sell for anybody. He’s very unselfish in the ring in regards to that. But because he sells so much, he just needs a more active sell to keep those people buying in, so he can get that sympathy.”

When Stone Cold offers advice, it’s best for the WWE superstars to take it to heart. Take Dean Ambrose’s appearance on the Stone Cold Podcast as a great example. He called out the Lunatic Fringe to his face and said he needs to turn it up a notch and not be so complacent now that he was a WWE World champion. Austin wanted to light a fire inside Ambrose, which is something lost in the WWE in 2016.

Austin continues to analyze the WWE from his own perspective. He isn’t backstage every night, so Austin’s not aware of what happens at every second. That’s why his opinion of Reigns is solid and sincere. If he does show up at the Royal Rumble next January, perhaps it will be to help put over Reigns.

[Featured Image by WWE.com]