Steve Austin's love of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a joke, but it's still real to me dammit

I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but like so many things in wrestling, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's love of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was, if not fake, then scripted.

During an interview with Fox Sports analyst Ryan Satin (via TheGamer), Austin was asked about whether his professed love for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was real. "Zelda," Austin said with a laugh. "That was like a rib. An inside rib. My producer says 'hey, say this.' And it stoked so much stuff on social media, so it's like an inside rib."

If you didn't get it through context clues or long-time wrestling fandom, a 'rib' is wrestler's parlance for an inside joke. Alas, Austin's love of Breath of the Wild was a joke. "I never have really been a big video game guy," Austin continued. "But in the business that I've been in, I've been fortunate to be in so many."

This all started with a promo segment for Austin's Broken Skull Sessions podcast last year, where he interviewed current WWE star Cody Rhodes. Rhodes is an avowed, longtime Zelda fan, who once went so far as putting the Triforce on his ring boots until he got a "stern letter" from Nintendo. That promo opened with Austin asking about Rhodes's favorite Zelda game. Rhode's responded with Ocarina of Time, and Austin responded with "no, dude, Breath of the Wild."

That moment got enough traction on social media that, a few months later, a selection of behind-the-scenes pictures of Austin on the set of the podcast included him taking a moment to relax with a brief Breath of the Wild session. Now we have to live with the knowledge that his producer set all this up.

Or, I guess, we could just let the miraculous powers of kayfabe keep us in a world where Stone Cold is ready to open a can of whoopass on Calamity Ganon. It's still real to me, and it can still be real to you, dammit.

Maybe The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be the one to finally get Austin on board.