WRITTEN PODCAST RECAP: The Steve Austin Show w/ Elias on dropping his last name, learning from Dusty Rhodes, if he felt nervous wrestling Roman Reigns, why Austin didn’t want the wrestling name Samson St. Claire

 

The Steve Austin Show

Release Date: December 19, 2017

Recap by: Joe Aguinaldo

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0:00 – Intro

Austin starts off talking about how his neighbor’s dog is barking its head off while he’s trying to record his podcast. He’s recording the open of the podcast on December 18th, which is his 53rd birthday. People have asked him how he feels physically. Steve says he feels like a million dollars and talks about how he started working out with his brother when he was in the 5th grade.

He gives a quick recap of his career from when he won the 1990 rookie of the year all the way to going to the WWF starting as the Ringmaster and becoming Stone Cold.  He talks about going up and down the road with guys like Mick Foley, Billy and Bart Gun, and Kevin Nash. He also talks about some of the injuries he’s had but says that he had a good time in the business. He thanks everyone who sent him birthday wishes on Twitter and Instagram.

He has some projects coming up in 2018 that he can’t talk about right now but he hopes that 2018 is going to be a hell of a year. Over the holidays, Austin will be hang out with his brother-in-law in Nevada. He wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and safe holiday and thanks everyone who has followed his career.

He talks about interviewing Gallows and Anderson on the Unleashed show last week and Gallows asked if Austin missed the wrestling business. Austin says of course he misses the wrestling business but that it was a long time ago and he’s gotten it out of his system. He talks about people who listen to his podcast being wrestling fans even though he doesn’t consider his podcast a wrestling podcast.

Today, Austin will be talking with Elias who he has watched over the last couple of years and is one of his favorite superstars going today. He likes what Elias is doing in the ring and thinks that he has a chance to be a huge superstar.

10:46 – Elias Interview

Steve introduces Elias and asks where his riding partners are as he thought Elias was bringing people with him. Elias mentions he was riding with Dash and Jason (Wilder and Jordan?) however they are probably at the casino.

Austin does a proper icebreaker and asks WHO WANTS TO WALK WITH ELIAS?

Austin talks about watching Elias on Raw prior to working with Roman Reigns a few weeks back. For a year, Austin always thought Elias said ‘who wants to walk with a lion’ but it was only a few weeks ago that he realized Elias was saying ‘who wants to walk with Elias.” Elias mentions that prior to that, it used to be ‘who wants to walk with the drifter?’

Austin makes a comment about Elias being called Elias Samson and mentions that one of the names he was going to use prior to Steve Austin was Samson St. Claire but didn’t want to live up to the Samson physique. Austin asks Elias about the name Elias Samson and what led him to dropping Samson. Elias talks about using the Bible to come up with wrestling names such as Joseph Samson and Elias Abel. He also came up with a name based on Johnny Cash. He said he came up with 5 or 6 names but Elias Samson was the one that stood out the most. However, the person in charge (he doesn’t say who but I’m assuming either Vince or Triple H) said they did not like the name. Even Gerry Brisco told Elias they would be changing his name. Elias still likes the name Elias Samson and thinks it could come back some day. He says dropping the Samson from his name was not his call and when he came up to Raw, he could no longer call himself the Drifter and Samson was dropped. Regardless, as long as they don’t try to change who he is or his character then he’s cool with whatever name he gets.

Next they talk about Elias being from Pittsburgh. Elias mentions he’s been a baseball player his whole life and has played shortstop, pitcher, centerfield or right field. As a pitcher, Elias says that he could throw a curveball, fastball, split finger and the occasional knuckleball, however, pitching wasn’t really his thing. Elias went to Penn State and continued to play baseball there but had some shoulder issues. By that time however, he knew he wanted to be a wrestler. Austin asks if he had a scholarship for baseball at Penn State but Elias says he did not and that he just went to school there.

Elias mentions that he always wanted to be a pro wrestler, however, his dad said that he should get his degree then he could go do whatever he wanted. He tells a story of leaving a Monday Night Raw and seeing a flyer on his car for an indy Show with Matt Hardy and A.J. Styles. This is the first indy show he had been exposed to and after the show asked one of the wrestlers how to get into the business. They introduced him to his trainer Shirley Doe.

Two weeks after that show, he started training. Shirley had been trained by Dory Funk Jr. and Elias says his trainer was someone who understood wrestling, wrestling psychology, and was still out there training. Elias says that he was training four days a week for a year-and-a-half. His trainer said Elias was ready for his first show after 6 months however, the company he wanted to wrestle for (IWC) did not have any open spots so Elias kept training until he debuted there.

Austin compliments Elias on his ring mechanics even at an early age. Elias is surprised at the amount of research Austin has done prior to the interview. They go through some of Elias’ earlier gimmicks such as Logan Shulo and Heavy Metal Jesus which Austin popped for.

They switch over to musical tastes. Elias says he likes blues and country and lists out artists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan. He also says he likes different genres such as classic rock. Austin suggests a few other artists for Elias to listen to such as Lonnie Mack and Redbone.

Austin then asks about Elias’ indie days. Austin mentions that he was making $15 to $20 a night when he first started. Elias says he did not get paid for his first match (it was on the house as the promoter said) but after that he was making $45 to $50 a night. Elias worked side jobs to earn extra money. He mentions that he did get a Business Management degree from college but has never used it. Elias started as a babyface and Austin asks him how he sets up matches. Elias says that he never called a match in the ring until after he trained with Rip Rogers. Both guys put Rip over as someone who is great at breaking down and explaining the business.

Austin brings up Elias’ training program. Elias says he wasn’t in great shape when he first got into the business. When Elias was 16 he was 165 lbs and knew he had to get bigger, eat a lot of food and lift a lot of weight. When he was 21, a friend of told him he was fat which prompted him to start taking his dieting more seriously. A bodybuilding friend of his helped him tighten his diet and training and later on, one of the trainers at the performance center brought his diet and training to the next level. Elias does benches, deadlifts, cleans and shrugs however he still has a bodybuilding mentality with his training. He talks about his workout routine and talks about his poundages on his bench press (365 lbs), deadlift (500 lbs) and squats (365 lbs to 405 lbs). Elias says he’s eating a lot but eats pretty clean and guesses he’s eating 4000 calories a day.

Austin asks if Elias has had any major injuries. Elias says he broke his tibia in a match with Andrade Cien Almas in a freak accident during a stun gun spot.

Austin and Elias talk about Dusty Rhodes. Elias says that Dusty believed in him the moment he walked in the door of the performance center. He talks about a character he would do in promo class called The Judge, which is similar to his current character that Dusty loved. Elias feels that Dusty was on his side and also feels that he was one of the last guys that Dusty invested in and pushed for prior to Dusty passing away.

Elias talks about how he got into the performance center. A few years into his wrestling career, he went for a tryout and FCW and was told no. He did this again for the next two years and was still told no. He then started doing extra work for the WWE. He was also asked to do a dark match with a pre-Shield Dean Ambrose. Pat Patterson and William Regal complimented him after that match. Two weeks later they flew him to another tryout and once again was told no. He continued to do extra work and work on the indies for 6 months. After another dark match, William Regal said there were some hirings coming up and that he would put a word in for Elias. A few weeks later, Elias was offered a contract.

Austin asks if he was intimidated once he made it to the performance center. Elias says he went in there knowing there were people who had seen his previous tryouts and said no. He felt that he had a lot to prove. At times he felt he had to walk on eggshells but for the most part, it was show up, work hard and continue learning..

Elias likes where his character is right now. On Raw he is given a lot of freedom. He says the stuff he does on Raw isn’t what he did on NXT but rather what he’s done at the live events. Austin asks Elias if he likes being a heel. Elias says that he’s been a heel his entire time from NXT to Raw. He admits that he doesn’t have experience being a babyface in his current character.

Austin mentions Elias has just come from Raw in Anaheim and they discuss how the show went that evening. Elias worked with Jason Jordan and says he got a good reaction from the crowd. Elias talks about playing songs on the guitar and how the crowd reacts. He also talks about playing certain songs that the crowd will ask for (e.g. Freebird) which pops the crowd but then he’ll turn on the crowd by switching up the lyrics. Austin asks what Elias listens to while on the road. Elias lists Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton and Alice In Chains. Austin asks about how Elias learned guitar. Elias says that his father bought him an electric guitar and he started teaching himself how to play using guitar tabs from the internet.

Austin asks how it was working with Roman Reigns. Elias says the fans react to Roman, that he’s the top dog. He says Roman is cool to work with, is smooth and isn’t panicked or rushed. Elias felt their styles came together nicely. Elias says that he wasn’t nervous when he wrestled Roman even though he understood it was a big moment. He says that it was a spot he wanted to be in and that it was just time to do it. He was excited to be in that spot.

Austin’s phone goes off and he owes everyone a beer.

Austin talks about Elias’ elbow of the top rope and makes the comparison to Randy Savage. Elias says he gets that all the time and says Randy Savage was an inspiration. Elias mentions Shawn Michaels as another inspiration and agrees with Austin that Michaels is one of the best in ring performers ever. Elias says he met Michaels when he was 15 and fifteen years later, Michaels was teaching Elias in NXT. Austin asks what Michaels taught him. Elias says Michaels would have the class thinking outside the box. Michaels looks at the product from a different perspective and tries to open everyone’s mind to look at WWE wrestling in a different light.

Austin asks about Elias’ finish. Elias says that Jeff Hardy gave him the name of his finisher called the Driftaway. They get into a conversation about Jeff Hardy and how creative he is in wrestling and his music.

Elias plugs his twitter and instagram feeds @iameliaswwe and the interview ends.

1:06:46 – Show wrap up

Austin plugs Bayley and Sasha Banks for the upcoming Thursday show and Brutus The Barber Beefcake on next week’s show. He also plugs the season finale of the Broken Skull Challenge.

Show Rating 7/10

This was a solid podcast and it was nice to learn more about Elias. Personally I like interviews with the wrestlers outside of their on-screen personas. I can’t say it was a hilarious interview like the Gallows and Anderson podcasts (which were a riot) but overall, Elias is an interesting dude with an interesting story.

Timestamps

0:00 – Show intro
10:46 – Elias Interview
1:06:46 – Show wrap up

Writer Bio

Joe lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and two boys.  He’s been watching wrestling for about 40 years (give or take) but don’t consider himself any sort of expert, mark, smark or whatever term they use out there.  He just likes wrestling.  Check him out on twitter and instagram @ja113.  

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