George Kittle Freaked Out When ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Surprised Him During an Interview

In Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: George Kittle gets a fun surprise on “First Take,” Fred VanVleet’s historic night and more.

Stone Cold! Stone Cold!

George Kittle is a big wrestling fan. Like, a really big wrestling fan. He’s not the kind of guy who just watches WWE’s monthly pay-per-views. (Although, he did get upset in 2018 when his postgame press conference made him late for Tables, Ladders & Chairs.) He’s hardcore. His first-down celebration is the “Cero Miedo” hand gesture of Pentagón Jr., a guy who, at the time Kittle started doing the gesture, was a semi-obscure Mexican luchador. Kittle, though, fell in love with Penta after seeing him perform at a bunch of tiny indie shows during WrestleMania weekend in 2018. So yeah, he’s pretty serious.

Kittle’s favorite wrestler, though, is “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. So when Austin and Kittle were both booked to appear on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday, it was a perfect opportunity for Austin to make a shocking entrance.

“Are you kidding me right now?” Kittle said when Austin’s face showed up on the screen.

The First Take producers missed a great opportunity, not hitting a glass breaking sound effect when Austin made his entrance. In an alternate universe where the interview is taking place in-studio, that might have been a possibility.

Kittle talked about getting together with Austin to practice catching beers, but it would also be great to see Austin give Kittle some pointers in the ring. Back in 2017, Kittle showed up at an indie wrestling show in his native Iowa wearing a Stone Cold t-shirt and hit Austin’s patented Stunner.

The form looked pretty good, but Austin could still probably provide some constructive criticism. 

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