Steve Austin says WWE legend made him realize he was not good enough

Steve Austin became one of WWE's most marketable superstars when he transformed into the Stone Cold character in 1996. The wrestling icon recently shed light on how he felt about his ability after sharing the ring with Ric Flair.

Before joining WWE in 1995, Austin made his name as Stunning Steve in WCW. During that time, he got a first-hand look at Flair's in-ring skills after being booked to be his tag team partner.

Speaking on the Bobby Bones YouTube channel, Austin admitted he knew he had to improve after witnessing how good Flair was:

"All of a sudden, when you're watching the man do his thing, you're like, 'F**k this. I got a long way to go.' But it was awesome to be in the ring with him because it was a heads-up call like, 'Okay, man, you need to step up your game a whole lot more than you thought you did.'" [2:42 – 3:00]

Austin and Flair shared the ring more than 20 times in WCW between 1993 and 1995. They also worked together in WWE shortly before The Texas Rattlesnake's infamous 2002 walkout.

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Steve Austin compares himself to Ric Flair

Although he became one of WWE's most reliable in-ring performers, Steve Austin still does not view himself on the same level as Ric Flair.

Austin thinks The Nature Boy is the greatest wrestler ever and is proud to have done battle with and against him so many times:

"I would never say that I ever reached Ric Flair status in the ring at all because I consider him the GOAT [greatest of all time], but working with a guy like that or working with Ravishing Rick Rude, working with any of those guys that had any names was always fun to me." [3:01 – 3:16]

With 16 reigns each, Flair and John Cena are recognized by WWE as the two superstars with the most world title wins in wrestling history. Charlotte Flair and Randy Orton, both on 14, are the closest current wrestlers who could realistically equal the record in the coming years.

Do you think Steve Austin was on Ric Flair's level as a wrestler? Hit the discuss button and let us know.

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Please credit Bobby Bones and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.