'Stone Cold' Steve Austin is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. His persuasion as an anti-authoritarian and surly redneck who loves drinking beer and kicking ass is among the most celebrated characters in WWE / WWF history. Those familiar with Austin may picture the man listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd or Hank Williams, and although that may be true, Austin recently professed his love for Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne and many other metal acts.

Nobody had more attitude during WWF's 'Attitude Era' than 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. Whenever fans heard the sound of glass shattering at a taping of 'Raw,' they knew a beat-down was coming. However, Austin's attitude may have been heavily inspired by metal music; a topic which Metal Hammer recently spoke with the former world champion about.

Steve Austin has recently delved into the world of podcasts, having recorded 60 episodes of 'The Steve Austin Show - Unleashed!' as of this posting. "The other week I talked to David Lee Roth and I’m working on getting Sammy Hagar on the show," says Austin, "and I recently sat down with Kerry King from Slayer. I met Kerry back in the day during several Ozzfest tours that I was going to. I’m very good friends with Zakk Wylde from Black Label Society – and of course this was back when Zakk was playing with Ozzy. I stumbled into Kerry, and Kerry was also a wrestling fan, I was a big fan of Slayer, so I later called him up and we were finally able to co-ordinate. We sat down and talked about music, football, life…my goal in life back in the day was to be a rock ‘n’ roll star!”

Austin continues to speak of his affinity for metal. “Man, I was more really into, I hate to call them ‘hair bands,’ but Scorpions, Dokken and Ratt. I was a big AC/DC guy, Judas Priest…Iron Maiden are probably one of my favorite bands of all time. Dio was one of my favorites, and all the stuff from Ozzy Osbourne. But I listen to many different things!”

For the entire interview with 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, head on over to Metal Hammer.

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