This chapter is dedicated to my favourite wrestler of all time Stone Cold Steve Austin and is in his honour, there's no one like him to me he really is the greatest of all time and there will never be one like him again, and that's the bottom line cause Stone Cold said so…. Lol
Also I just want to say that I don't have anything against Liz, I'm really happy for her and John, as a fan I support him in anything. Anything bad said about her is just apart of the story and not my personal views.
Thank you to dreamin'BIG for adding this to your favs
angelicacena1621 for your reviews, they always make me smile!
Yankees01 for your review
Cenarko1986 adding to story alert
It's a real long one too so enjoy and as always I don't own anything apart for Emma
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Chapter 24 - Honoured
"So what does this chick have that you don't anyway?" Melina asked me sitting on the seat to my right on the table in our hotel room. She was looking on my laptop of pictures of Liz and John that had leaked onto the net when he proposed to her. I looked at them once and couldn't bare to look at them again as I nearly threw up looking at them the first time round, seeing how happy they were and how she beat me made me wanna puke my guts out. Anyway he was promoting '12 Rounds' and had announced while promoting the movie, that he was getting married later this year.
I looked up from my notebook, pushing my reading glasses back up my nose as they had slipped. I was currently finishing my speech for the Hall of Fame in which I was inducting Steve into. On the night where I had returned and signed for RAW was also the night the company announced Steve was being inducted into this year's Hall of Fame in Houston and I was inducting him.
I had told Vince a few years back that when, not if Steve gets inducted I want to be the one to have the honour.
Today was April 4th and the day of the Hall of Fame ceremony, my birthday was a few days ago and I was currently Women's Champion for the ninth time, I had beat both Melina and Beth Phoenix in a triple threat match at No Way Out back in February.
I had told Mel all about my love for John and she was 100% supportive, I wanted a woman's advice on the whole thing so she decided to check out Liz for herself and give me her opinion.
"I dunno, maybe she's good in bed or something." I laughed trying to lighten the mood on the conversation I was having, it seems all people want to talk to me about is John and his little fiancée. "He's know her since High School so I guess he has some connection with her" I shrug a shoulder, she raises her eyebrows at me.
"I would hope she's good in bed. Even so, this so called connection can't be like the connection he has with you, that's bullshit Em and both you and me know that" she laughed although I knew she meant what she was saying.
"I don't know, I've never even meet her, he doesn't like bringing her on the road so I've not even had the privilege yet and I probably won't till the wedding" I informed her causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"Look at her!" she exclaimed looking back at the screen "you are so much more pretty and probably smarter than she is too. Woman like her probably doesn't know how to satisfy a man like John" she said with a little venom in her voice.
"That's got nothing to do with it Mel"
"Stop defending her Em, you should hate her guts. She took your man." she said sternly turning to me
"First of all I'm not defending her I don't even know her, second why should I hate her guts when she doesn't know how I feel and third John is not my man" I said
"But you would like him to be?" she asked
"Would we be having this conversation if I wouldn't"
"Fair point. It's just this isn't some crush Ems, you're in love with him and when he's married you can't do anything about it" I sighed, why do I keep having to repeat myself over and over about this topic.
"I know. I still can't tell him though. I have my reasons not to let the cat out of the bag"
"I respect that hon I really do." she said sympathetically as I wrote down a few more notes "Is she here? Is she going tonight maybe you can finally meet her" Mel said causing me to look up again
"No she's not here. He doesn't like to bring her to these kind of things cause of the fans, he wants to protect her, which I think is a lame excuse cause everyone else brings their families and Randy brings Sam. You know he actually had the nerve to ask me to go with him tonight bet she would love that if she found out"
She laughed "Sounds like John and are you?" she raised an eyebrow in wonder
"Hell Yeah" I laughed, I wasn't going to turn down my best friend plus when you go to the Hall of Fame, it's basically who you are riding with like on the road and I'm riding with John, Rands and Sam and since Sam and Randy are a couple, John asked me to go with him.
"You know when he sees you in that dress you picked out I'm sure he'll forget all about his so called fiancée" she laughed causing me to roll my eyes, I actually couldn't wait for John to see me in that dress I was hoping to knock his socks off.
"Never mind all that how's the speech coming?" she then asked I glanced down at the paper book in front of me.
"Ok I guess, so far I thank my brother for all he's done for and the business" I told her and she looked at me shocked.
"That can't be all you have, you've had since January to write this. The ceremony starts in 4 hours… let me see" she grabbed the book and I smiled watching her expression after she saw all I've written "You liar" she laughed hitting my arm with the book.
Kevin Dunn had sent me a copy of the video a couple of weeks ago that they were going to show at the ceremony about Steve so I could have some inspiration for my writing.
"I've had it written for a while. I've been working on it for months. I'm just putting on the finishing touches" I informed her smiling
"Good" she said "wow look at the time. Jan will be with us any minute now" she said glancing at the time on her watch.
Jan from wardrobe, make up and hair was dropping by to help me and Mel with our make up and hair and stuff for the ceremony. That woman can even make me look like a million bucks, she's a genius!
Later that night…
I walked out of the bathroom as I heard a knock on the door in my gorgeous long black gown with a sliver trim just under the bust with a open neck line, showing a little bit of what I call classy cleavage and straps on the shoulders that ran down and crossed over on my back, the skirt part flared out and had a split up the right leg that went just above my knee.
My hair was down spread across my shoulders and had a slight wave, a black hair band pushed back my bangs from my face, my make up as always was natural yet the grey eye shadow really brought out my blue eyes and my usual vanilla lip gloss coated my lips. A beautiful diamond necklace that the Orton's had bought me for my birthday this year was hanging round my neck and I was currently fiddling with a bracelet on my left hand to similar to the necklace as I walked to the door.
Whoever was on the other side knocked again, I was on my own as Melina had already left with Johnny.
"Alright I'm coming!" I yelled becoming frustrated with the gold hanging round my wrist. I gave up with the damn thing as I reached the door. I reached out to the handle and pulled it down before pulling open the door quickly diverting back to the bracelet not even bothering got see who was at the door even though I had a feeling who was on the other side.
"Come on in. I'm nearly ready I'm just trying to get this damn thing to fasten but not having much…" I looked up to see John standing at the door staring at me dressed in a black pinstripe suite, white pinstripe shirt and a maroon tie with his mouth wide open.
"John are you ok? Earth to Cena" I laughed waving my hand in front of his face and clicking my fingers, he snapped out of any thoughts he was having by blinking a few times and shaking his head then looking at me in the eye.
"Sorry I….err…you…." he stuttered before taking a deep breathe regaining his composure "There are no words to describe how you look"
"I hope that's a compliment" I joked folding my arms across my chest
"It is"
"Wow John Cena lost for words I never thought I'd see the day and I'm the reason why" I fluttered my eyelids flattered.
"Not many things leave me speechless" he grinned showing the dimples and all.
"Don't I know it" I roiled my eyes "Can you help me?" I asked him sticking out my bottom lip and holding out my wrist
"Sure" he said stepping in front of me so we were inches apart, he gently took hold of my wrist in his hands and used one hand to click the clasp on the bracelet shut.
"Thank you, I've been fiddling with the thing for about 10 minutes" I said leaning forward and kissing his cheek gently leaving behind some of my lip gloss on his cheek, I giggled realising what I'd done
"Sorry forgot I had this crap on my lips" I laughed reaching up and brushing the gloss from his skin with the pad of my thumb
"Don't sweat it, are you ready to go?" he asked sticking out his elbow for me to take, I grabbed my purse from the table along with the key card and linked my right arm through his left.
"I am now"
"Got your speech?" he asked as we headed out the door, it closed behind us
"In the purse" I said as we began to walk to the elevator.
"We're meeting Randy and Sam in the lobby" he told me and I nodded, he'd been awfully quiet since he picked me up and curiosity was getting the best of me as I wondered why.
We reached the elevator and he pressed the button as we stood and waited, he turned to look at me.
"You look absolutely beautiful…. actually that's not the word..you look gorgeous…. you actually look stunning no pun intended" he stuttered again, what's wrong with him?
"Thanks, you look very handsome" I said quietly and he smiled even though it didn't reach his eyes.
Anyway we reached the lobby and walked out the elevator to see Sam dressed in a gorgeous black dress also sitting on one the couches there and Randy was stood next to her talking to her dressed in a grey suite, white shirt and a blue tie. Sam looked over and saw us as we walked over she smiled at stood up causing Randy to look up also
"Hey guys wow look at you Mrs. Orton, very gorgeous" I smiled letting go of John and embracing my friend, knowing the boys were greeting each other
"Thanks hon so do you" she said pulling back
"Hey killer looking good as always" I winked turning to Randy
"Damn right" he laughed embracing me and kissing my cheek "You look beautiful" he said in my ear
"Thanks, it's my brother's big night got to make an impression" I giggled
"We ready to go people?" John asked and got a reply of yeahs.
We arrived at the Toyota Centre and I knew someone was going to approach me about my queue.
We got out the car and I linked with John again as we walked ahead of the Orton's into the building.
Randy
"You ready honey?" I asked my wife as she stood next to me outside the car, John and Emma had already walked off ahead of us.
"Yeah" she smiled up at me smoothing out her dress, she looked gorgeous, I felt like the luckiest man alive.
She linked her arm through mine and we began to walk into the building.
"It's not fair Randy" she suddenly said
"What's not fair?" I asked turning to look at her
"Those two" she pointed up ahead, I followed her gaze to the two people in front of us "I mean look at them" I watched the two of them laughing and joking about something
"They should be happy, I want to see my friends happy and I know they would be if they together. I've never know two people have connection like those two and not be a couple. I know how Em feels, has John said anything to you about her?" she asked me turning to look at me with hope in her eyes.
I didn't want to lie to my wife but I knew I had to about this as I'd sworn John to secrecy about the whole Emma thing.
"No he hasn't said a word" I shook my head
She sighed deeply
"Look honey, this is none of our business, we have to let them figure this out on their own, if it's meant to be it'll happen sooner or later" I told her softly
"Will it though? He's marrying someone else when the doofus should realise he should be with Emma" she said sadly as we began to walk into the building
"I know babe stop worrying and relax enjoy the evening" I said and she nodded
"Ok" she smiled "I need to call my parents to check on the baby though"
"Alright"
Emma
After Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat was inducted by Ric Flair, Jerry The King Lawler began to show a clip of new video game; Legends of Wrestlemania and I knew that was my queue and that it was time to head to the back. I stood up from my seat on the front row which had John on my right and Torrie Wilson on my left and was just to the left of the stage and walked up to the few steps climbing up them and sneaking into the back.
I waited patiently as The King introduced Vince McMahon, he walked out to his music to an standing ovation and stood in front of the stand as he began to speak..
"Stone Cold, Stone Cold Steve Austin and I have a sort of strange relationship, an unusual relationship actually. It's some what referred to my relationship with Steve as a love hate relationship, I love him and he hates me.
I'm convinced he hates me and there's a number of reasons why I think so. He tried to run me over with a zamboni, hit me in the head with a bed pan, filled one of my favourite corvettes up with concrete." The crowd start chanting 'What?' after very sentence
"Don't start that, I'm gonna get to the what here in a minute. Ran over my limousine with one of those monster trucks, he scared me so badly one night in the ring that I wet myself, not one of my prouder moments.
So many things that Steve did that convinced me that he hated me even though Austin does not have a doctoral degree I remember the night that he gave me an enema, I don't think you're supposed to stick those things up that far.
None the less Austin in doing theses things it was amazing to me because he became more and more popular, I didn't quite understand that. Austin became not only a fan favourite but he became the most popular superstar in the history of the WWE. He was, he was thought of as a fan favourite but not in a traditional fan favourite way. You know if you were a traditional fan favourite you well you didn't break the rules number 1, you signed a lot of autographs and kissed a lot of babies and smiled a lot if you were a traditional good guy so to speak and Austin was not that way. Stone Cold broke the rules and not only did Stone Cold break rules, Stone Cold in the process broke records.
Stone Cold broke all time records, broke box office records, broke pay per view buy rate records, anything to do with attendance, anything to do with merchandising, licensing, he broke all those records. No one had ever done anything like that, he blew anyone that had proceeded him away.
He broke rules, he broke records and that's not the only things he broke, he would break bones. I'm not one to complain and Steve maybe hearing this for the first time but Stone Cold broke more than just one of my ribs from time to time and he would not only break ribs, I could swear he could break my jaw almost every time we would go out and compete. I mean he beat me so badly that I would forget my name in the ring and Austin, Austin also forgot not only did I forget my name but Stone Cold he would forget my name as well because he would just clobber me and I remember the first time he just hauled off and blastered me and he didn't call me Vince he called me sorry. Stone Cold would call me sorry 5 or 6 times in every single match I ever had with him so much so when I came back to the locker room I was convinced my name was not Vince McMahon, my name was sorry, I see Steve sometimes and I would say 'Hey, how you doin', I'm sorry'. Not only would Steve break records and break bones, break rules Steve was so creative he would come up with his own t-shirt ideas, he was a man who just had it all and coming up with these t-shirt expressions I think says a lot about a man.
Everyone remembers the famous 'Austin 3:16' t-shirt. a lot of people think that Steve came up with that idea when he competed with Jake the Snake, actually truth be known Steve was about 15 and he was considering at that time entering the ministry, being apart of the clergy then he thought maybe that's not what he wanted to do.
The 'Oh Hell Yeah' t-shirt that's a real easy one, Steve said oh hell yeah when his older brother offered him his first beer.
And then you get to the… And now I'm gonna get back to what struck this mess then you get back to the 'What?' t-shirt.
Quite frankly I would like a bit of credit for the What t-shirt myself, maybe I should have a royalty or two because it all started, Steve got that idea competing with me in the ring neither one of us, neither one of us can hear very well especially when you have thousands and thousands of people out there and they're roaring, you really can't know what's going on and every now and then Steve and I would say something to each other, yell something and I would say yell something to Steve and he would go what" The crowd shout what
"Thank you- he would say something to me I couldn't hear him I couldn't hear him and I'd say what. And if we had been giving each other the weather forecast we'd be yelling so loudly in the ring that anyone out in the fifth row could have said 'he said it's cloudy with a chance of rain'.
None the less Stone Cold err let's see there's another t-shirt a number of them one would be the very unusual one it was the letters F and then there was a Stone Cold skull and then the letters CK Fear, I'm yet to…I don't know what that one means, I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Steve is a lot of things to a lot of people, there's no question he is of nothing else the greatest WWE Superstar of all time.
Let's take a look at Stone Cold Steve Austin…."
A VT of Steve begins to play, starting off slow showing him through some of the hard times of his career as several people begin to talk about him on the video.
Jim 'J.R' Ross - "Arguably Stone Cold Steve Austin is the greatest WWE Champion of all time."
Ric Flair - "Steve is the biggest star in the wrestling business I've ever been around."
CM Punk - "He single handily revolutionised an entire business."
Chris Jericho - "He carried this company out of the wilderness and into the promise land."
Shawn Michaels - "You know the WWE was something you had to see because you had to see what Stone Cold was up to."
Edge - "There's guys that are synonymouswith this industry and he is in that group and it's a very select, elite, count on one hand list."
Me - "He was one of those guys that comes along and just completely changes the whole set up and changed the way the business was."
John Cena - "Everyone who has anything to do with any piece of this should know that Steve Austin should not only be in the Hall of Fame, if they're ever gonna give someone their own wing, it should be Stone Cold Steve Austin."
Then the video showing him saying those famous words….
"Talk about your songs talk about John 3:16, Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"
Then Living Colour's Cult of Personality provided the soundtrack to Steve's career.
And again superstars began to compliment him….
John Cena - "Stone Cold Steve Austin was the attitude era, drinking beer in the middle of the ring."
CM Punk - "Flipping people off.."
Big Show - "He was anti establishment, anti authority"
John Cena - "Kicking everyone's ass in his path."
MVP - "Everyone wanted to punch their boss in the mouth but Austin did it."
The footage rolled and showed Steve some more before coming to an end before Vince announces a certain sister of Stone Cold….
"To induct Stone Cold Steve Austin into the Hall of Fame is someone who knows Austin very well, better than anyone in this whole room in fact.
Like Stone Cold this someone has been nothing but a pain in my backside since the day they walked into the doors of the WWE.
Between them to date they hold 23 championship regains. And if having one Stone Cold is bad enough then having another more female version of him so to speak is even worse.
And let me say this and I know better than anyone….that hell hath no fury like a rattlesnake scorned.
Ladies and gentleman to induct her older brother into the Hall of Fame Stone Cold's sister, the toughest female in the WWE and current WWE Women's Champion… Emma Austin…"
The glass breaks for the first time in the evening and I walk out to one hell of an ovation by the fans but also by my friends and colleagues sitting in the audience, I walk over to Vince and I mouth 'pain in the butt huh?' He just smiles and kisses my cheek before moving to the side to let me begin my speech.
The crowd are still applauding me and I even give them a little cheeky bow before they sit down and I begin to speak..
"Man is it good to be home in Texas….." I smile widely hearing the audience cheer at the mention of the state. I take a deep breathe as I begin to speak again.
"I thought real hard about to say about Steve so I hope I don't disappoint…
You know I cannot believe I'm up here finally inducting my big brother into the WWE Hall of Fame, to me this is where he belongs because he is without doubt one the greatest of all time. I don't usually agree with Vince but I will agree when he said Stone Cold is the greatest WWE Superstar of all time and always will be. Sorry guys" I say of the rest of the Superstars with a smile.
"Looking back at some highlights of Steve's career two of the most important parts come to mind. I remember back in '89 I was 9 years old and that day Steve told me he wanted to be a wrestler and then in '96 at king of the ring I heard like millions of people heard him say the words that changed it all and you know the ones I'm talking about.
Stone Cold, he paved the way for so many us here today doing things and acting like no other had, he did so many things that made him stand out and made people relate to him.
He broke rules, fought the boss, used foul language, drank beer, had a bad attitude, flipped people off, came up with catchphrases that no one will ever forget, drove anything on wheels and of course was way too controversial and these things made him so popular beyond belief.
Watching Steve and his success was overwhelming to me that he made me wanna climb in the ring and do what he did too.
But along with his success came a lot of bad times too, I had to watch him as he got hurt and beat up and live a not so glamorous life of a pro wrestler. It broke my heart to see a man who I looked up to and thought was indestructible break his neck in a match and watch him as he suffered but through all that he came through.
You know my mom and dad weren't exactly thrilled when Steve told them he wanted to become a wrestler and they were even less enthused when I told them I wanted be a wrestler too. Since the day he told me, I was Steve's biggest fan whether he was Stunning Steve Austin or the Ringmaster, I supported him 100%.
But I looked up to Steve, I admired him so much because he took a chance, took a risk and followed his dreams knowing that there may be not success in the future for him and I saw him work harder and harder as time went on which made me follow suite and work just as hard in the Women's division of the WWE.
He taught me a lot of lessons personally like if you're gonna get married make sure you do it right the first time." I said getting a laugh form the audience.
"And professionally there's was number of them, he taught me if you're not here to be a champion and be the best then you ain't welcome in the world of Sports Entertainment, he taught me how to open up a can of whoop ass and probably the most famous one of them all: DTA-Don't Trust Anybody.
I can't really describe what this guy means to me and how much he helped me and encouraged me and coached me to be what I am today.
Not only is he my second oldest brother, he's my friend, my mentor and lastly he's my hero. He's the reason I'm standing up here before you all tonight, the reason I wanted to be a professional wrestler and work in this wonderful business, he's the one that brought me here and this company helped mould me into the women I grew up to be and why I've made so many great friends in this company too, friends I'm sure I'll have for the rest of my life." I looked to John and Randy smiling and some of the girls too knowing Dave wasn't there.
"I can't thank him enough for all he's done for me and how he helped me to live my dream too, I owe him so much and I don't think I'm going to ever be able to repay him.
There's actually 15 long years between Steve and I in age. Like I do with all of my brothers, I have a bond with him but I have a bond with each one of them in different ways.
Steve and I had a relatively strong closeness before 1989, a typical brother sister connection but after then I had an even stronger one with him and still do to this day. Pro wrestling brought us together even more and gave us a bond that can only be described as very special because we will always have it, no matter what we disagree on this business will always be the one thing we will love together for the rest of our lives.
When he retired I knew I along with the rest of the guys in the locker room had some pretty huge shoes to fill. There has never been and there never will be another one like him.
To you all he's Stone Cold Steve Austin but to me he's just my goofy older brother who would push me on the swings in our backyard or take me to school or would play baseball and soccer with me.
Like said earlier I was Steve's biggest fan and with a doubt I am Stone Cold's number 1 fan by far and always will be forever.
Even long after I hang up my boots and decide I want to step away form the ring just like Steve one things for sure that Austin 3:16 will live forever.
Ladies and gentleman I can't describe how much of a proud little sister I am right now and how much of an honour it is to induct and introduce to you the toughest SOB in the WWE, The Texas Rattlesnake Stone Cold Steve Austin….."
The glass breaks again and Steve comes out with Kelly on his arm and lifts his free arm in the air saluting the crowd.
I applaud as he lets go of her and walks to where I am, shakes Vince's hand before he comes to me and embraces me, hugging him tightly
"I love you" I say in his ear
"I love ya too kiddo, thanks for what you said" he replies squeezing me tightly.
After I pull away and walk off to the side from the stage and back to my seat next to John, as I sit down he smiles at me and takes my hand giving it a gentle squeeze. I look up to the stage to see Steve posing and clapping. As his music dies down, the crowd start with an 'Austin' chant which turns into a 'Thank you Austin'.
He smiles before beginning his speech…
"Alright thank you, thank you…
Alright guys, thank you very much for that - thank you very much.
I wanna say something real quick about this suite, everybody here in the WWE that knows me knows I don't like to get dressed up very many times in a year and I had this tuxedo made in Los Angeles California at the Men's Warehouse, that guy always says you're gonna like the way you look I guarantee it well I like the way I look I'm happy with all that but the damn button popped off right in the back. I'm going into the Hall of Fame I got 15,000 people, I got a couple of million around the globe watching this and I got a button popping off my jacket cause of the Men's Warehouse.
If there's one thing I can't stand….
I been eerr the video that we watched earlier was put together by young man named Adam Pannuchi in the WWE and Adam has been making me look like a million bucks for a long time and I wanna say thank you so much to Adam, KD Kevin Dunn and the staff over there. You know it's very easy for me to go out into an arena and cut a promo and try to sell tickets is what I love to do and there's a feeling that I get from that. It's hard for me to explain really to anybody how I feel about the business as it's affected me in such a way it's a big part of my life but I watch that video probably 50 times in a row to try and come up with the words to say to you people err words that would live up to my expectations or my standards and your expectations and if I don't succeed at that I want you to come away from tonight knowing from Stone Cold Steve Austin I wanna tell each and every person here and each and every person that ever watched Stone Cold Steve Austin or the World Wrestling Entertainment… thank you so much. I wanna thank you so much for always sticking with me.
As hot as I got and as high as I got in this company and set records and took the business to the level I took it to the times when I would go down with a neck injury or I'd get a surgery on my neck or I'd blow a knee out or I'd get a divorce or I'd blow my other knee out or get my neck worked on again and get another divorce then there's one time I took my ball and went home as the WWE was so fond of saying and I was gone for a year and every time I came back from something like that you people always took me back and I've always appreciated that.
It has been my pleasure and a privilege to make my living in a squared circle 20 feet by 20 feet. There's not too many things you know in this life that I'm good that and it just errr….." he trials off as crowd start chanting one more match
"I don't know about that." he smiles
"There's not too many things I'm good at you know I've got a bunch of friends that ended up being football coaches, my friends down here in South Texas are all into construction and contractors my dad was an insurance man and my mom an interior decorator.
I always wondered what I would be as a big fan of professional wrestling still trying to put all the information together in my head.
I remember I was in high school in Edna Texas 100 miles south down at US 59 I took my little aptitude test and I circled all the little dots and all the stuff that you did and a couple of weeks later the information came back to try and guide you into a career what you should do with your life. When I got my little test back it said that I would make a swell park ranger. Park rangers are cool, I got nothing against a good old park ranger but it just wasn't gonna work for Stone Cold Steve Austin.
So I've had a blast riding up and own the road in this wonderful business. Met some of the greatest people I've ever met in this business and by the same token I've met some bad ones too and I've got no complaints, I've got nothing to gripe or complain about. I've gotten beat up, I've gotten my share of stitches and staples, broken bones and surgeries just like the rest of these men and women have and man I've got a big smile on my face and I'm here to say thank you for all of it.
Kinda gets on my nerves when something bad happens and everyone comes out of the woodwork saying all this business is this or that or it's a hideous thing to do or Vince McMahon is the devil err this business is what you make it and I've made it into a wonderful experience for myself and I think most of these men and women here that are still in this ring would agree with me and say the same thing. This business is what you make it. Do your business take care of yourself and get down the road.
They're winding me down cause we're a little time constrained here but if there's anyone here from Atlanta, is there anyone here from Atlanta, Georgia?
You know when I left the ring if it wasn't a neck surgery or a divorce or knees or whatever, when I took my ball and went home I never really got a chance to say goodbye to everyone, it was after Wrestlemania 19 and I just kinda rode off into the sunset and I never got a chance to bring closure to anything and that night in Atlanta I remember getting a phone call from Jim Ross and he kinda gave me the heads up on what creative was gonna be that night in Atlanta. I was wrestling Ric Flair in Columbus Georgia in a cage that night, one of the highlights of my career and I told Jim I wasn't really happy with creative and I got a phone call from Vince you know and I called him back and I no showed at Atlanta, bottom line and I always wanted to tell the people cause I took a lot of pride at making my shots whether it was working hurt, working sick just like a lot of these other cats do, I take pride in making my shots and let everybody down in Atlanta and I always wanted to apologise for that and I thought that was…I thought that was the decision, the booking team thought maybe Stone Cold ought to get beat that night, I thought that was the dumbest damn decision that I'd ever heard in my career.
So I handed it the dumbest damn way I could, I went home and I stayed home for a year and I lost a lot of money and the company lost a lot of money and I apologise to a lot of the guys that are sitting here tonight and to apologise to Emma cause I know I let her down the most, she's my family and I didn't let her in on what was going on but she really stepped up when I was gone. And I don't know if anybody will understand where I was coming from but I really thought on a personal level it was never about doing a job. I've always been about business if it's good business. If there's one thing I know it's this business and that wasn't a great business decision.
So I no showed and made a stupid decision on my part but that's the way I am, I'll chop my nose off to spite my face, I'm stubborn right Em?" he asks me and I nod my head as the crowd have take an amusement to that "But its worked so far for me…..
I'm living out in Los Angeles now, Monday I'll leave for Brazil and work on a movie with Sylvester Stallone, I'm real happy about that.
Just finished filming a movie called Damage which should be out hopefully in the next 6-8 months.
In June we start another film project in Vancouver and I will say about the acting business it's tough, it's very challenging and I'll say this in my 4th match I was nowhere close to being where Ric Flair was, in my 4th movie I'll be nowhere close to what Marlon Brando was but damn it I'm trying so I'd appreciate the help and I wanna close the door on my wrestling career but I don't wanna close the door on you, I wanna say thank you as I move away from professional wrestling you've still got Emma for now and I move into the movie industry or that line of work, I just want you to continue to support me and know I'll do whatever I can to try and entertain ya the best I can. It's been a wonderful pleasure and I can sit up here and talk for another damn hour and I haven't even used none of my notes.
Before I go I've got to say a personal thank you to Nicole Dirasio for taking care of me for all these years and make sure I got to my towns. I pride myself in getting to the towns but she always made sure I had a stack full of tickets and I wanna thank her.
There's also mom, dad, Scott, Kevin, Jeff my family for sticking by me and the one person who believed in me more than anyone who supported me through the good and bad times and who I even inspired to get into the business too and follow in my footsteps, Emma I wanna thank you for putting up with me, being the best sister a guy could ask for I know I don't say it very often but I love ya with all my heart and I'm so proud of you cause you can give one hell of a stunner." that earns another laugh as he looks at me while talking to me
"Seriously thank you kiddo and raise some hell tomorrow night." I nod my head telling him I will.
"I could thank a million people right now but I'mma ride into the sunset now.
Wrestlemania's tomorrow, if you're ready for Wrestlemania give me a hell yeah!"
Crowd respond with a big hell yeah
"Let's wrap this thing up, I'd like for the young men the superstars and the divas to get a goods night rest and get a good start on a cold drink before they go to work tomorrow night, it's gonna be a good night here in Houston, Texas.
I thank you again, I love you from the bottom of my heart and that's the bottom line cause Stone Cold Said So….." he finishes as his music begins to play again and I along with everyone else stands up from their seat to applaud the now official legend.
Steve then calls for a couple of beer and drinks them in his own way as the confetti falls from the ceiling. He then gets two more before pointing at John calling him over, he looks at me briefly and I nod and he walks over and Steve bends downs handing him the can before he toasts with John who after walks back over to his seat. I look up and Steve signals for me to do the same as John did, I walk over and Steve bends down
"Drink up kid" I hear him say as I take the beer and clink with him before walking back over to John who holds his can up, I toast with him and we enjoy our cold beer as the ceremony comes to an end and it's off the after party.