Steve Austin reflects on his own heel turn at WrestleMania 17

Steve Austin reflected on his own heel turn at WrestleMania 17 and explained why he wouldn’t give John Cena advice on turning heel.

“No, I wouldn’t because I loved working heel when I was in WCW. I loved working heel when I first came into WWE because that was a true heel.” However, he admitted that his heel turn at WrestleMania 17 was a mistake. “When I turned heel at WrestleMania 17, the people didn’t want me to turn heel. It was a forced turn. It was my idea. Vince always likes to do something big on a WrestleMania. He didn’t do anything big. So I suggested that and he said okay, but it was a shit move.”

Austin explained that while he personally enjoyed working as a heel, the fans were not receptive to the change. “People weren’t ready for it. People didn’t want it. I liked working heel. I just figured it would go over like gangbusters.” He also admitted that his approach may have been too aggressive. “So the heel I was trying to be was, you know, and trying to be so hated, so much, so fast. I think I tried too hard.”

Although his heel run allowed him to experiment with his character, he ultimately regretted the turn. “When I look back at it, sure, I got to push the creative envelope and do a lot of things that were cool or whatever, and push the envelope in a different direction and go out on a limb, but people didn’t want me to turn heel, and so I should have never done that.”

Because of his own experience, Austin doesn’t believe he’s in a position to advise Cena on a potential heel turn. “So I don’t think that I’m in a position where I need to offer John Cena any advice from Steve Austin.”

Source: The Takedown on SI