By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin offered a "State of WWE" evaluation on the latest edition of his "Unleashed" podcast following a visit to Raw in Los Angeles on Monday. Austin was mostly positive about WWE happenings, but offered some constructive criticism.

Austin also discussed WWE CEO Vince McMahon's frame of mind heading into the Network launch.

Austin said McMahon seemed "a bit pre-occupied" when he talked to him backstage at Raw. "I think he's got a lot on his plate and a lot going on," Austin said.

Austin discussed recent booking decisions, such as placing babyface Rey Mysterio in the #30 spot at the Royal Rumble when the crowd wanted to see Daniel Bryan.

Austin said he joked with Rey backstage at Raw that he must have heat with someone for being given the #30 spot in the Rumble. "I still don't understand that booking decision," Austin said, adding that it would have been a good spot for a heel like Wade Barrett to get even more heat. "Common sense booking there," he said.

Austin's "State of WWE" address included a message to younger wrestlers to make some noise and force management to give them a top spot, especially when top acts like John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H, Daniel Bryan, and C.M. Punk (if he returns) are "looking for new dance partners."

Austin said he could sense that a lot of wrestlers are walking around on eggshells because WWE is the only game in town, but he encouraged the roster to take chances.

"Now, it's true that the Powers that Be do not believe in certain people. It's up to the talent to make management believe in them," Austin said.

"There is a pretty thin roster of talent in that locker room. There's a lot of guys and gals. But, when talking about the cream of the crop, you're talking about the best... The doors are wide open."

Austin noted that he did four new podcast interviews while WWE was in town - John Cena, Big Show, Zeb Colter (Dutch Mantell), and William Regal. Austin's take-away from the Cena podcast was (a) Cena wants new opponents and (b) Cena wants someone to be in contention for top dog status. Austin described Cena as an Alpha Male who wants to fight for his spot and wants competition.

Also in the podcast, Austin shared an anecdote about each wrestler or talent he encountered backstage at Raw, including Cena, Show, Dean Ambrose, Vince McMahon, Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Lilian Garcia, Goldust & Cody Rhodes, Batista, Dolph Ziggler, and the Divas.

"(An) interesting atmosphere backstage," Austin said. "High degree of professionalism, but afraid to speak up and piss someone off. Hopefully these cats will start taking chances - or taking chances within reason."

[ LINK: Austin's recap of his Raw journey is from the "Unleashed" (NSFW) version of Austin's podcast. The show can be loaded HERE from PodcastOne.com ]

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline