Stone Cold Steve Austin says he encourages today’s WWE stars to think about their future long before they retire.
On the DJD Classics podcast, Stone Cold explained that he had no plan when he retired from wrestling, which led to years of wasting time. “When I got out, I didn’t really have an exit strategy. And for about three years, I drank, I hunted and I fished and did a lot of stupid stuff… I sidetracked myself, three years of nothing… I could have planned it a lot better.”
When the host asked if he tells current wrestlers to plan their ending or exit, he didn’t hesitate. “Oh, absolutely,” he said. He advises wrestlers to stay loyal to WWE but to also use their fame and TV exposure to build future opportunities.
“I just say, ‘Hey, man… always keep your loyalty, and your main job is with WWE. But if you’ve got some feelers out there and you’re trying to network other things, you know, based on the fact that you’ve got a high Q rating or a lot of television exposure, and you can get you get your hands into different things, do it.”
Stone Cold added that thinking ahead is the best way to avoid the lost, unfocused period he went through after retirement. “But you know, right now, this is your bread and butter. But start planting those seeds right now. So when you spin out of this, you come out with momentum.” [H/T: wrestlingnews.co]
Read More: Steve Austin Admits He Didn’t Handle Life After Wrestling Well
