Steve Austin Says Wrestling Lost Its “Outlaw Days” When Scripted Promos Took Over

TLDR

Steve Austin stated that professional wrestling lost its "outlaw days" when scripted promos became the standard, ending the creative freedom that defined the Attitude Era. Speaking on the Busted Open Podcast, Austin explained that when he returned from neck fusion surgery in the early 2000s, he was surprised to be handed a scripted promo, saying he had never worked that way before. Austin emphasized that the era he came up in allowed wrestlers to improvise and take creative risks naturally, which he believes no longer exists in the same way today.