Stone Cold Steve Austin Praises Paul Heyman's Work as WWE Raw Executive Director

It's been three months since WWE hired Paul Heyman as the executive director of Monday Night Raw, and ever since then the show's creative direction has slowly but surely changed week after week. And while Heyman has remained quiet about his backstage role, many in the pro wrestling world have praised his work thus far. You can now add "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's name to that list, as the WWE Hall of Famer called Heyman "the right guy for the job" in a new interview with Sports Illustrated this week.

"Paul E. has a vision of what this business should be," Austin said. "He's working under the watchful eye of Vince McMahon, but Vince is looking at so many big pictures while Paul is going to focus on this.

"Paul E. is really close to the pulse of the product," he added. "He understands where and why the business should be, and how it should feel. You should feel something when you watch that show. Paul E. is hungry to bring back this industry to its heyday. There is already more of a sense of urgency and importance of the world title."

Austin has plenty of experience working alongside Heyman. Years before he was running wild as "The Texas Rattlesnake" in the WWF Austin wrestled in Heyman's Dangerous Alliance stable in WCW. In previous interviews he's also credited Heyman for helping him develop the "Stone Cold" character when Heyman hired him to cut promos while recovering from injury in ECW in 1995.

Monday night marks the season finale of Austin's interview show Straight Up Steve Austin on the USA Network. In an interview with ComicBook.com back in August, Austin admitted working on the show some of the most fun he's had working on television since leaving WWE.

"... I told everybody, I said, 'Listen, the way I see this show, if we're not having a blast filming it, we're doing it wrong,'" Austin said. "And they looked at me and they said, 'You're exactly right.'

"... I'm having a blast filming this damn show," he added. "And it's like I tell everybody, man, I laugh my ass off almost the entire show. And now there's serious moments, but there's so many fun things that we do, and I get a chance to meet so many interesting people, some of who I already knew. But yeah, man, I'm like a kid in a candy store."