Steve Austin showed up to the March 16 WWE Raw to celebrate 3:16 Day with the WWE Universe.
Unfortunately, the March 16 WWE Raw was the first Raw, and second show overall, to take place at the WWE Performance Center in front of no live audience. Austin still appeared on the show, doing a bit with Byron Saxton where Saxton would rate Austin's Rules of 3:16 Day. The segment ended with Austin kicking Saxton in the nuts and delivering a Stunner.
Speaking to Peter Rosenberg on ESPN, Austin revealed his original idea for the segment.
"It was strange. I wanted to go out there and do a sit-down interview with Byron Saxton or Jerry Lawler and talk about what 3:16 meant to me because so many years ago, cutting that promo in 96, and all these years later, we didn't have social media. All these years later, WWE making 3:16 Day because of social media, I wanted to talk about the impact and resonation with the fans and give people something to think about and talk about. We did what we did. That was their creative so it was what it was. It was hard (working with no audience)," he said.
Earlier in the interview, Austin was asked about shows continuing at the Performance Center in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Austin replied, "I didn't know what to think. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Tampa working at the Performance Center in the empty building. That's Vince's mentality, 'show must go on.' When Owen fell to his death -- rest his soul -- the show went on. That's his mentality."
WWE will continue to run events, including WrestleMania 36, at the Performance Center for the foreseeable future.
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