At the height of his WWE career, Stone Cold Steve Austin routinely had thousands of people eating out of the palm of his hand. One of the driving forces behind the company’s financially and creatively successful Attitude Era in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Austin struck a chord with fans who related to — even if it was often by living vicariously through him — his beer-guzzling, anti-authority persona.
His days as an active in-ring performer ended 20 years ago, save for a well-received match at WrestleMania 38 last year against Kevin Owens. But since then, Austin has found success as a podcaster and TV show host, proving that there’s more than nostalgia that drives his popularity.
Still, everything he’s done has to some extent traded on the “Stone Cold” part of his personality, the one he’s described as his true self with the volume turned way up. Would people love him just as much if that wasn’t the case? Would they tune in to see him try things that don’t come as naturally to him as scripted ass-kicking and drinking beer?
In short, do they want to see a show that’s just about Steve Austin?
That’s a question he hasn’t answered yet, but one he’s fully committed to exploring in his latest A&E series, “Stone Cold Takes on America.” The high concept is pretty simple: It’s Austin driving around the country in an RV doing a bunch of things you wouldn’t expect a pro wrestler to be doing. In the first few episodes, he’s taken on such wide-ranging challenges as working a fast food drive-thru window, taking the controls of an advanced flight simulator and seeing if the infamous Nevada State Prison is really haunted.
It’s a vast departure from what fans have come to expect from the WWE Hall of Famer, and as Austin told Wrestling Junkie during a recent Zoom call, that’s exactly what attracted him to the series when it was presented to him.
“This show was a cool opportunity,” Austin said. “I got a call from a former colleague of mine who used to work at USA Network, and Heather [Olander] pitched the show to me and it sounded like a cool idea. And it was more like, ‘Hey, do you want to do some things that you’ve always wanted to do?’ And I gravitated towards that.”
It wasn’t necessarily framed as a fish-out-of-water chronicle, but there are unmistakable elements of that in each episode. Part of the fun is seeing what Austin is good at — it turns out he’s got some natural talent behind the wheel of most any vehicle — and what he’s not.
That’s the creative risk Austin is taking in “Stone Cold Takes on America.” His fans are used to seeing him as one of the very best at his craft, or in more recent times, at least talking to others who are. These are completely different circumstances, the type that make him very aware that he’s not operating in his wheelhouse.
“For instance, one of the things is I’m taking orders in a steakhouse and I ain’t got no game because I’m not being Stone Cold,” Austin said. “I’m not just going to chuck down a couple of menus and say, ‘Hey, if you wanted a medium rare steak, give me a hell yeah!’
“I didn’t know the menu, I’m trying to copy this guy’s shtick … You know, I’m pretty awkward just trying to do something as Steve Austin now.”
He also described himself as “terrible” in a segment from an upcoming episode where he tries to do the weather on live TV. It’s that kind of self-awareness that not only shows Austin’s appreciation for people who are experts in their own fields, but also perhaps a tad of perfectionism in him as well.
“If it was just me hanging out with somebody, that’s a whole different story,” he said. “But trying to do a job to perfection, or, you know, worthy of not getting fired, that’s the kind of pressure.”
Speaking of pressure, “Stone Cold Takes on America” was ordered without a pilot, meaning Austin and his crew are finding their rhythm as they go. He estimates it takes about halfway through the first season for him to really find his groove.
“I couldn’t see what sticks and what I needed to turn up or what I needed to turn down,” Austin said. “So we’re flying by the seat of our pants and you’re watching it in chronological order as it pans out. I’m along for the ride just like everybody else is, and it’s going to be interesting.”
Austin was reluctant to talk about the possibility of a season 2, noting that it depended on whether the interest was there. He clearly had a lot of fun shooting the first batch of episodes, and was effusive in his praise of the show’s crew and the bond they formed along the way.
So it all comes back to a bit of a paradox: The series is called “Stone Cold Takes on America,” but its success may hinge on how much viewers want to learn about Steve Austin.
“I’m very honest about who I am and what I am,” Austin said. “I’m willing to show it. Are people interested in seeing it?”
New episodes of “Stone Cold Takes on America” are airing weekly right now, Sunday nights at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on USA.