Stone Cold Steve Austin apparently saw the writing on the wall for Mr. Anderson before WWE finally let him go.
During his appearance on Tagging In with Chris Harris, Anderson recalled a phone call he received from Austin during a rough period in his WWE run. According to Anderson, Austin told him straight up that certain top names in the company had issues with him and that he needed to get out before things got worse. Anderson said Austin did not sugarcoat anything.
“Yeah, it was a it was a call. I remember he called me. I remember that day that he called me, he he was like, ‘Kid, get the hell out of there.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘This guy hates your guts. This guy hates your guts. And this guy hates your guts.’ And it was three of the top guys in the company.”
Austin also brought up the match with John Cena where Cena tore his pec. Anderson said he knew he had taken blame for that situation.
“And he’s like, you like you know that you got the remember I did I did a match with Cena where I gave him a hip toss or he gave me a hip toss and he ended up tearing his pec and he’s like you know you got the blame for that and I did know that I got the blame for it but um you know it was just stuff like that.”
Austin’s advice was simple: leave WWE, go somewhere else, clean off the bad perception, and come back later if the opportunity was there.
“He’s like get the hell you got some stink on you get away from it. go to Japan, go to go to TNA, and then you can always come back.”
Anderson said the call hit him hard because, at the time, he could not fully understand why so many people seemed to have turned against him.
“And I just I remember hanging up that call and I almost like f***** broke down because I was like, what what have I done, you know? And then now looking back, I know what I’ve done. I know what I could have done differently. But in that moment, I was just so caught up in like, why do they f****** hate me? Why do these guys dislike me? What have what have I done to them?”*
Even though Austin told him to leave, Anderson admitted he did not listen. He said walking away from WWE money, travel, exposure, and major opportunities was not easy. When WWE finally made the call, Anderson said it crushed him.
“Um, so yeah, it was it was really hard. And then I didn’t take his advice. I didn’t because like you it’s hard to go from making that kind of pay and you’re traveling the world and living that lifestyle and you know the appearances and stuff that I got to do and I got to do a movie and you know it’s really hard to walk away from all that and so I waited too long till they fired me to to then go over and you know go to TNA.”
“And I and I will say like the first day that I got when Johnny gave me that call. It was like somebody punted me in the nuts as hard as they possibly could. It was really, really hard. It was a really hard pill to swallow.”
After a few days, though, things started to feel different. Anderson said conversations with other wrestlers helped him realize that it was not the end of the world.
“And then after a couple days and a couple phone calls from certain boys, you know, like it’s going to be okay. And I started to It was almost like an elephant took its foot off my back. It really was a crazy crazy kind of experience.”
Chris Harris then gave his take, saying it sounded like Anderson was in a situation where people were going to find something wrong no matter what happened. Anderson did not fully expand on that, but he did say the Cena match had been planned.
“I think I I think that it was it was designed. It was a designed spot that it was planned. So, we’ll leave it at that.”
The story adds to Anderson’s WWE exit because Austin apparently told him to leave before the company made the decision for him. Anderson chose to stay, but looking back, he seems to understand why Austin gave him that warning. It also shows how fast things can change in WWE when a performer gets the wrong kind of reputation backstage.
What do you think about Stone Cold Steve Austin warning Mr. Anderson to leave WWE? Should Anderson have listened and walked away before WWE fired him? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
