During a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed Austin not wanting to put Scott Hall over at Wrestlemania 18 due to his drinking issues and unprofessional conduct. Here’s what he had to say:
It was very disconcerting, that Scott would have this great opportunity to come back, and be in play at this level, no matter the finish. This bullshit about, if we get beat at WrestleMania, it’s gonna kill us. Then you must have zero fucking confidence in your goddamn work. You’re telling me you’re not a good enough worker to lose and maintain your credibility? That’s the art form of pro-wrestling. It was a tipoff that we’re still in choppy waters. Again, holding out hope that Scott, maybe just having a night out, maybe he got over served, maybe somebody brought in to many drinks, whatever, try to make every excuse you can, but the bottomline was, there was evidence there that Scott still had issues that he was having a challenging time dealing with.
Yes, absolutely, because it felt so thrown together with short term thinking. Here’s the other thing about that. We had guys on our roster that deserved that opportunity with Steve at WrestleMania, to work with Austin at WrestleMania is gonna help you get over whether you win or you lose.
The way you deal with Stone Cold is you deal with him straight up. You give him the story, here’s the headline, here’s what we want to do, and then you back it up with fact or reason or whatever it may be. But whatever you do, you don’t become deceptive with this deal, and that’s what I think Steve felt like, that he was being worked. And whether he was or he wasn’t, I don’t think anybody would work Stone Cold purposefully, intentionally, but that’s how it came off.
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Credit: Grilling JR. H/T 411Mania.