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This week, a chat with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, as they share their thoughts on transitioning from the squared circle to Hollywood. Both are featured in "The Longest Yard," the football movie starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. Nash has a bigger billing than Austin, but both are a hoot -- delivering in what should be a big moneymaker.

In the ring, we last saw Austin mixing it up with Roddy Piper in "WrestleMania 21." He still loves WWE, but scaled back his in-ring appearances because of movie opportunities. That, and his contention that he doesn't have a worthy opponent.

"When I look at the roster right now, there's really no one that I think would make for a big pay-per-view match," Austin said. "I've heard Hulk Hogan throw my name around and I think he'd like a match with me. I think that could be quite interesting -- a spectacle -- and draw some big money.

"I love that job. It's the most fun I've ever had in my life. I've built up such a unique fan base who stuck with me ... so that's something I'd never want to break away from," Austin said.

As for Nash, his last big match was in a TNA (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) pay-per-view a few months ago, taking on then-champion Jeff Jarrett. But Nash has since developed a staph infection in his knee, knocking him out action. He says his in-ring career is all but over, but still hopes to contribute to Jarrett's promotion.

"I've learned about as much as I can in wrestling," Nash said. "I told Jeff when I left: Right now my career path is to do major motion pictures and to do television work. Maybe I can come back in some kind of creative capacity ... and help them (TNA) storyboard-wise and storyline-wise and continue character development and do those things. I've done four motion pictures in the last two years. I think going to a completely different media ... and watch how they storyboard it, how they prepare and how they pick shots and pick locations ... you just, learn, learn, learn. How can I can not come back to a show (TNA) that shoots with two cameras and not be able to help it?

"But as far as wrestling, I can do it here and there, but week in and week out ... I don't want to tear something or hurt something and then two days later have somebody tell me, 'Hey, you know they want to put you in the next Bond film?' It's like, 'Wow, I'm sorry. I just broke my ankle last night in Orlando screwing around.'"

Stone Cold is in the same boat, saying the day-in, day-out routine is over.

"You just can't go around the country every single day of the week month after month, year after year on the road forever," Austin said. "Sometimes it has to come to a halt. You have to work smarter, rather than harder."

And part of working smarter is getting those movie gigs, where the acting doesn't always include tumbling in and out of a ring. Austin says it's definitely a different beast.

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Preview: 'The Longest Yard'

"When my glass breaks and I go out into the arena and 20,000 people go crazy -- you don't get that any other place," he said. "On the set, it's just a different deal. It's quiet. It's still. It's manufactured. It's a lot of memorization. In the WWE, I'll know where I'm going, I know I have some points to make. But it's just ad lib and trying to build my opponent to try to build a match. It's a big psychology lesson. Every time you're in front of a live crowd -- and you're able to control that crowd and make them do what you want them to do -- that takes a lot of smarts."

Without a doubt, both Austin and Nash are considered two of the smartest players in the history of wrestling -- both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. But although they're in the same acting troupe for "The Longest Yard," the stone cold fact is that they work for rival wrestling companies -- two companies that could soon face off in a cable war.

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Required Reading: More From Steve Austin
Required Reading: More From Kevin Nash

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WWE is moving it's Monday night "Raw" show to USA in October. TNA is reportedly poised to upgrade its cable TV presence from Fox SportsNet to either Spike TV (home of "Raw" right now) or WGN. TNA spokesman Brad Bernstein says an announcement on a new TV deal is expected soon, but declined to say with which network. When and if it happens, TNA will more than solidify itself as being the No. 2 promotion in the country -- especially if it goes head to head with a WWE program. But can it ever be as big as WWE?

"I don't think there will ever be a day when they (TNA) rise to the level that WWE is ... and be a serious threat," Austin said. "But competition is always good. It was so much fun when were having the Monday night wars with WCW and they were kicking our (butts) for two years straight (a war which WWE eventually won, putting WCW out of business). Storylines were at their best. And the fans benefitted.

"It's good for another wrestling company to be around because WWE just can't use everybody. And it gives these guys a chance to work and make money. That's a good thing. I wish them all the luck in the world because I love the business."

Nash also loves the business. That's why he's off learning new tricks in Hollywood. Who knows? Maybe he'll give Jarrett the golden idea to fuel another Monday night war. But to do that, he knows he has to keep learning.

"When you stop learning," Nash said, "it's when they put dirt on you."

(Professor Wrestling is a masked employee of Internet Broadcasting Systems. He thinks Ivan Putski -- in his long-haired, beer-bellied AWA days -- could drink both Austin and Nash under the table.)