If schedules had worked out, we could have seen Stone Cold Steve Austin competing in a top match at WrestleMania 39.
WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin was a recent guest on WrestleRant Radio to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about his absence at WrestleMania 39 despite rumors that he would return to the ring, Austin confirmed there was a pitch for him to wrestle one of the top people in the company at the premium live event.
“Yeah, the concrete idea was a match. Yeah, it was a match with one of the top guys in the business, period,” Steve Austin said. “So I’ll let everybody speculate about that. But yeah, it was a match. And I just didn’t think I could get ready for it in time because I didn’t know my schedule, which is what I told them. I don’t know what my life looks like until I finish the show.
“Like you said, you were in Dallas. Man, it was a great show. That was a great crowd, and they welcomed me with open arms. That was a hell of a pop. I did the best I could at short notice to get ready for KO, and I barely did anything. This would have been a real competitive match, and I tell you what, man, those superstars that are out there on the road every day, there’s a different type of shape between what I was trying to do.
“I was doing Becky Lynch’s comeback workout; I was doing Daniel Bryan’s workout. I did Edge’s workout, and then I invented my own. But if you don’t have a ring, Kevin Owens, for whatever people think about him. First of all, he’s an amazing worker. He’s an amazing talker, and he’s in amazing shape. I was constantly trying to monitor my systems out there because ring shape is a whole different thing than what you do in the gym.”
As for who Austin might be talking about, there were reports prior to WrestleMania 39 that The Texas Rattlesnake was pitched matches with both Brock Lesnar and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
Stone Cold went on to reveal a funny aspect of his WrestleMania 38 match with Kevin Owens when he was stiffing him so much because he hadn’t thrown a worked punch in almost 20 years.
“And one other thing I’ll tell you, it was so fun to be out there with KO because I hadn’t thrown a working punch in 19 years. I was killing him; I was knocking his head off,” Steve Austin revealed. “In the business, when you start teeing off on the guys, you know, finally, after a guy’s had so many of them, they sent back what is called a receipt. He never sent back a receipt. And I laughed about it when we were talking backstage after the match, but I was proud to go out there with Kevin Owens and put on the show that we did.”
READ MORE: Steve Austin On Potential WWE Return: If The Stars Aligned, I Would
What do you make of Steve Austin’s comments? Are you disappointed that Stone Cold didn’t return to the ring at WrestleMania 39? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit WrestleRant Radio with a link back to this article for the transcription.
