Stone Cold Steve Austin’s sudden retirement in 2003 left fans heartbroken and shocked. While fans still have that little bit of hope left for that one more match, truth is that Austin has been keeping himself quite busy with many outside projects.
Austin has very much been involved with WWE over the years in non-wrestling roles. Whether it was writing a book or participating in a DVD interview, Austin’s presence is very much felt in WWE to this day.
His appearances on WWE still receives major reactions whenever he pops up, which is a testament to his star power and legendary status in WWE.
While not tied up with WWE, Austin has other projects going on. Some of his projects have no involvement with WWE whatsoever. Austin can do it all – even after retiring from the sport he remains a household name around the world thanks to his outside projects.
Fans may miss him in the ring, but his appearances bring some comfort that overall he is happy and healthy now that he has entered his fifties. Here are some projects that are all things Austin, since his in-ring retirement.
#5 Feature Films
Austin would make his official film debut in 2005, starring in The Longest Yard remake. It would be the start to his film career.
Austin has appeared in numerous movies, namely The Expendables, Grown Ups 2, and The Condemned. The Condemned is one of WWE’s first movies that the company produced, and it would be Austin’s first feature role.
Austin’s experience in wrestling served him greatly in his movie roles, as most of them were action films. He hasn’t filmed a movie in well over a year; however his movie career seems to be far from over. Let’s hope it isn’t.
#4 Tough Enough
Tough Enough returned in 2011, with Austin signing on to be the host of the show. While he was on the show for one season, Austin cut no corners and was very hard on the contestants that were selected.
Austin had no problem telling it like it is, and whether it was tough love or not he was very blunt and direct throughout the show. Fans remembered how he embarrassed Ariane (AKA Cameron) when she stated that her favorite match was Melina v. Alicia Fox.
They would end up talking about the notorious incident on Austin’s podcast four years later after Cameron was released from WWE.
#3 CMT mainstay
After Tough Enough, Austin would go on to host two shows on CMT. The first show, Redneck Island is a reality competition series that he has hosted since 2012. The show is self-explanatory; a group of contestants are stranded on an island as they compete for food and immunity from elimination.
Two years later, his second show premiered on CMT called Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge. It is also a reality competition series that has contestants compete in physical challenges. Winners of both shows received a cash prize upon completion.
Both shows are also still running on the music channel.
#2 WWE Network
One of the major draws on the WWE Network is Austin’s monthly podcast. The podcast is aired live after a Monday Night Raw and features a high profile WWE Superstar. His recent podcast was with Dean Ambrose, which delivered on the unpredictability of the show.
Austin has had a host of others on the show including Edge and Christian, Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon. Whoever Austin has as his guest on the show, it is sure to be good and worth the time to check out on the WWE Network. Fans look forward to who he will candidly interview next on the live show.
#1 The Steve Austin Show
Of course, Austin’s biggest project is his own podcast which can be accessed via Podcast One. Since 2013, his podcasts has had over 200 million downloads. He has two podcasts, one family friendly and the other adult oriented.
Austin interviews a variety of guests twice a week (one for each podcast, in addition to offering his thoughts on current WWE programming amongst other topics. His monthly WWE Network podcast stemmed from the success of his original podcasts.
Best of all, those podcasts are free to listen to when they are first uploaded to the site. Podcast One has a premium option to access past podcasts for a fee.
