Paige and Steve Austin on Who Started the Divas Revolution, WWE Tough Enough, Patrick’s Ego, More

– Steve Austin’s live WWE Network podcast with Paige kicks off backstage from RAW in San Jose with Austin bringing up her win over Naomi. Paige says she’s freaking out and ran over after her match. She thought the match was cool and says she’s always her biggest critic when she’s in the ring. She says she critiques herself in the moment. Austin mentions how Paige curses a lot like him. Austin says he was excited when he found out she would be on the podcast. He days she has a very interesting story because she’s just 23 but has been in the business 10 years. He says he’s never talked to a 10 year veteran who’s just 23. Austin has her talk about her parents, Saraya and Ricki Knight.

Paige talks about how her family has been in the business and her father has his own company and training school. Her mother was blinded for 6 months after taking a dropkick one time. She tells a story about getting knocked out in her first match and wanted to do it forever from that moment on. She wanted to be like Lita, Bull Nakano and Alundra Blayze (Medusa) when she was younger. She talks about training with her whole family. She says even in the matches she had with her family, they did not hold back on her and went at her even harder. NXT trainer Robbie Brookside gave her her first bump. She says she’s been taking bumps since she was a fetus. She discovered she has a case of scoliosis and didn’t know until she came to WWE NXT when a trainer realized her back didn’t look right.

Austin brings up a documentary on YouTube that Paige and her family made. He suggests everyone watch it. Austin says it was crazy that she signed with WWE at 18. He says she was traveling the world at 14 but even before that she was tending bar and bouncing. Austin asks what it was like with wrestlers always being around as a kid. She talks about Jake “The Snake” Roberts living with them for a time. She says he was sweet. She got to meet Yokozuna, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, The Bushwhackers and loved it, saying it wad awesome. A Twitter question asks what Superstar or Diva she looked up to as a kid. She says Bull Nakano, whose finisher she has modified. Lita, who she dressed up as for Halloween before, and Austin, who she says she was obsessed with. She says Rikishi and Austin were her favorites. She liked Austin because his character was cold, he flipped people off and drank beer. She also liked how his character didn’t change if he was heel or babyface. She says shes going to embarrass herself but was in love with Austin.

Austin asks about failing at her first WWE tryout. She tried to be a Diva and didn’t know how to be one she says. She says she still can’t brush her hair properly. She got a spray tan, her hair done and a colorful dress and says she did not feel confident. She says she was so nervous she busted the other girl’s lip in the tryout, Lisa Fury. She knew WWE could tell she wasn’t being herself. John Laurinaitis got another tryout for her 6 months later and she came back as herself with the dark hair, piercings and dark clothes. She says Goldust and Jamie Noble were running the tryout. They were in the ring for over 2 hours and she was the only girl there. She and her brother Zak “beat the crap out of each other” in the tryout. Austin says she came to NXT with a very physical style because that’s how she was brought up. Paige says the other girls didn’t like her at first. She was told by Shaul Guerrero that she was intimidated by how Paige looked at first and that she could already wrestle. She says they became friends later on. Paige says Dusty Rhodes helped her a lot in NXT. Austin says Dusty was one of the first guys that resonated with him and got him hooked. Paige says Dusty kept her sane at all times. She says this job is hard and she moved across the world at 18. She says people think you’re on TV and have fans… but that’s just the cool part. She says Dusty was very sweet and took her in. She could vent to him about what was going on and Dusty was so helpful. Dusty liked to give attention to his “broken toys” too. Paige says Dusty called her his princess. Austin asks the best advice Dusty ever gave. Paige says Dusty was always telling them to save money. She says she makes good money now and does right with taxes and such, thanks to Dusty. She tells a story about how Dusty yelled at her one time during promo class and she called him a “m-f’er.” She stormed off and Dusty sent another Diva to check on her. Dusty finally came and told her to come out. They talked for around 20 minutes and Dusty just said he wanted the best for her. He wanted her to deliver and that day she didn’t so he critiqued her. Paige says Dusty was so sweet and they laughed about it. He told her she was the first person to call him a “m-f’er” and get away with it.

She talks about how her dad was tough on her and she helped put the rings together early on. She got hit by a car one time and her dad just asked if she could wiggle her toes and told her to dust it off because they had a show that night. They talk about John Cena’s broken nose from last week and she thought it was great he carried on, saying Cena was old school. Austin gives props to Paige’s mom and brings up the mother vs. daughter match they had in 2011. She talks about her mother influenced her and helped her slow down in the ring. They talk about her wondering why people like her and want her autographs when they ask for it. She feels like it’s a low self esteem thing. She can’t see why people like her. She talks about advice she got from The Rock – stay humble and stay hungry. Austin brings up Triple H being a big influence on her and she says he’s been a huge influence. She went through a stage where she had bad luck – a car wreck, surgery, had to be out of action for 3 months, her bank account got hacked and her dog got hit by a car. She was ready to go back home but Triple H worked with her and soon after she made history by winning the NXT Women’s Title. She says the whole Divas Revolution really was started by Triple H. The next Twitter question asks if Paige she thinks she started it. Triple H was the one who started it with NXT. She brings up AJ Lee and says she looked up to her. She talks about how surprised they were when Triple H gave she and Emma 20 minutes at the first NXT special. She says he started it but her and Emma got the ball rolling. She says they opened the door for other Divas like Charlotte and Bayley but she gives huge props to trainer Sara Del Rey. She also gives props to Finlay and Dean Malenko, who she goes to a lot these days.

She says she travels alone sometimes but travels with Alicia Fox a lot now. She used to travel with Emma. Austin asks where she feels she is after 10 years in the business. She says she’s still super fresh and still learning. She says she still has a lot of time left. Some days she feels she has it all put together and some days she don’t. She’s where she wants to be but some days she wonders if she still gets it. Austin asks about Tough Enough and says he’s enjoyed watching her on there. Austin says he hadn’t had a chance to watch but recently binge-watched and says the show is interesting, he really likes it. He says it was met with some indifference because people expected to see what the show was in 2011 but it was different. He says he likes the franchise and all the moving parts of the show even though it can be a lot some times. Austin says she’s tough with the competitors but the show is called Tough Enough. If they think she’s tough, wait until they get in the business. Austin says she gives them positive encouragement, she’s hard but she’s fair. She says she put Patrick Clark on blast because he was 19 and already had an ego. She says Patrick rubbed her the wrong way and she felt he needed a shock, going in the bottom three. She did not expect him to be eliminated. Austin asks if she has any hobbies. She likes to go to gigs, live music, hang out with friends, take trips, have a few Steveweisers. Austin asks what she likes to drink. She likes drinking beer and whiskey, saying she’s a beer enthusiast. Paige says she wants to be Divas champion, wants to work WrestleMania and really wants to be in the Hall of Fame, which is one of her goals. She says she wants to maybe change the title back to the Women’s Champion. Austin asks about WrestleMania 32 and she says she hopes to be there, joking that even if it’s just a run-in. Austin asks what’s next. She’s flying back to Orlando for Tough Enough. She says everyone is mad at her right now hoping she hurries up because they’re waiting to fly back. Austin asks about a Big Show story. She and Renee Young were cold a few weeks back so Big Show threw a pair of sweatpants at them. They each hopped in a leg and danced around to country music. Austin asks what we can expect tomorrow night. She says she has no idea but it changes now that they have The Miz. She’s going to see how Amanda and Sara Lee did this week and go in with guns blazing. Austin is looking forward to it. He signs off and that’s it for his latest WWE Network podcast.

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