Former WWE Superstar ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin participates in fun challenges and jobs as part of A&E’s new reality series Stone Cold Takes on America, premiering April 30. The series follows Austin as he hits the road to accept challenges from fans to take on everyday tasks as he looks to experience things he missed during his more than two-decade wrestling career.
Stone Cold Takes on America executive producer and showrunner Mike Nichols talks about the series as well as his experiences in working with the WWE legend as part of an interview with Multichannel News. Here’s what Nichols and A&E want you to know about Stone Cold Takes on America.
‘Stone Cold Takes On America’ primarily focuses on Steve Austin’s life and experiences post-WWE: “Steve wanted to do something very different in the series. He had this great, rich experience [with WWE], but he missed out on a lot of stuff that everybody else got to do as regular people. So in this series he’s saying, I want to try some things that I missed out while I was living my dream. We’ve seen him wrestle, host shows and do some fun, scripted stuff, but with this series he just wanted to hang out with people. He looks like a hard ass, but in fact he wants everybody around him to be comfortable. He has a terrific sense of humor which we did not see coming and that just made for a fun, lively series.”
Steve Austin steps out of his comfort zone to participate in unique challenges: “He does things you wouldn’t believe that Stone Cold Steve Austin would be doing, and some of the tasks are really tough, physical challenges. He rides trophy trucks and drives dune buggies, which can be dangerous. But then he’s also doing the live weather reports in Reno, and he’s operating a drive through window at a fast food restaurant. Sometimes it’s really adventurous and sometimes it’s very comedic, but it’s his willingness to do those things and put himself out there that makes it fun to watch.”
Viewers don’t have to be familiar with Steve Austin to watch the series: “If you’re a fan of Steve Austin you will love the series because it’s going to confirm what you were hoping to see. If you’re not a fan of his, you don’t need to be one to like the show, because he’s just fun to watch. He brings this fun energy to everything he does — he’s a guy you want to have a beer with. We would go to different cities and people would be nervous to meet him, but within 10 seconds they were like old friends. He appeals to people whether they know him or not.”
