Austin Idol

Hey Scott:

Thanks so much for the hilarious reviews of the Observers newsletters that you’ve done. It has been a pleasure to read them each day.

My question is about what your take is on Austin Idol and his career. Seemed like in his prime I thought he was as good as it gets from a promo standpoint, although not that great in the ring. I cannot say I think he would ever be a candidate for the WWE Hall Of Fame, even though he had some legendary feuds with Jerry Lawler and others in the 80s in Memphis. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Idol was great and way ahead of his time in promos and character work. Although he was basically ripping off Superstar Billy Graham along with the rest of the world, he could have been dropped into the Attitude Era and got himself over lickety split because his stuff pretty much influenced Steve Austin directly as far as heel work goes. Problem was that he didn’t want to travel because of a plane crash earlier in his career, so he was content to stick to the driving distance of the southern US and then got out of the business entirely. I will say, it’s well worth finding his old stuff on YouTube if you like the Lawler feud I already posted.