WWE veteran Big Show was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s guest on Monday’s live Steve Austin Show podcast, which aired on the WWE Network immediately following RAW. The two covered a lot of ground in during the one-hour podcast, including just how much longer Big Show, who is 44, will be an active member of the WWE roster.

Austin asked Big Show how he felt about the fans who chant “PLEASE RETIRE!” at him when he’s in the ring, which made “The World’s Largest Athlete” laugh. He then went on to tell Austin that he’s planning to retire from wrestling in two years.

“I think (the ‘PLEASE RETIRE!’ chants) are… most of the people who do that are just trying to have fun and be a part of the show, and some of those who take it seriously really don’t understand what our product is about, because they don’t understand what I’m actually doing for our product, what I actually do for the younger talent. I get the tweets too, ‘oh, step aside, you’re killing all the younger talent.’ I’ve got two years left, then I’ll step aside.”

Big Show also addressed the thirty-something turns that he’s done throughout his career, saying that the reason he’s turned so much is because he’s versatile, and because WWE can trust that he’ll be a great heel or a great babyface. But while he’s proud of his versatility, Big Show also admits that he probably shouldn’t have turned as many times as he has, because he thinks his character lacks credibility as both a babyface and a heel.

He also touched on how he’s been booked throughout his tenure in WWE, and while he’s proud of what he’s accomplished in WWE, he thinks that he’s been booked horribly, and he blames most of that on himself and not being able to tell Vince McMahon no at times when he probably should have.

When Big Show was brought into WWE in February of 1999 as Paul Wight, which is his real name, many believed that he would become the company’s next Andre the Giant. However, that wasn’t exactly the case, although he did make a huge impact upon his debut at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, where he came up through the ring, and attacked “Stone Cold” Steve Austin during his cage match with Vince McMahon.

(image via WWE)

WWE didn’t do a whole lot to protect Big Show during his first couple of years in the company, and even though he ended up winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship during his first year with the company, he was a little too big for the company’s liking, so they sent him down to Ohio Valley Wrestling a little over a year after his debut, which was the WWE’s developmental territory at the time, hoping that he’d lose some weight.

Big Show briefly covered the early year’s of his WWE run on Monday’s podcast, and he suggested that Brock Lesnar may have saved his position in the company, saying that, when Lesnar was asked who he’d like to work with during his first run as WWE Champion back in 2002, he said that he wanted to work with Big Show.

Earlier that year, The Undertaker, who was Big Show’s mentor when he first came into WWE, appeared on TSN’s Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, and when he was asked about who was the biggest disappointment in WWE, he quickly named Big Show as that guy. So, that shows you how little faith WWE had in the big man just a couple of years into his run there.

So it’s safe to say that Big Show has completely turned his career around over the last decade, and while he may not be the biggest fan-favorite in the world, he’s certainly had a Hall of Fame-worthy professional wrestling career.

(Featured image via WWE)