Steve Austin opens up about his absence from WWE WrestleMania 39.
The WWE Hall of Famer returned to the ring for the first time in nearly two decades when he battled Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred match at WWE WrestleMania 38. Austin also appeared on the second night of WrestleMania 38 and hit Austin Theory, Vince McMahon, and Pat McAfee with Stunners. Multiple outlets reported that WWE pitched matches to “Stone Cold” ahead of WrestleMania 39, but these efforts proved to be unsuccessful, as the legend didn’t stomp any mudholes in SoFi Stadium.
In a interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Austin confirmed that he talked with people from WWE about possibly wrestling at WWE WrestleMania 39. He also looked back on what he enjoyed abut the way his program with Owens was presented.
“I haven’t spoken to this, but I’ll give you the story,” Austin said. “I met with some people from WWE. We talked about the possibility of me wrestling at WrestleMania 39. The biggest thing in my mind was the presentation and what kind of match it was going to be. Going back to 38, the way the KO thing was presented—I love KO—I turned that down three, four, five times until the creative finally came to what it ended up being. I didn’t want it constructed as a real match, per se. I needed something that could turn into one, and it did, but I think that’s why we got away with it. The Dallas crowd was very receptive. I hadn’t been around, so the timing was right.
The WWE Hall of Famer emphasized that, in order to have a proper match, he’d need to be in remarkable shape, and that wasn’t possible given his schedule heading into WrestleMania 39. He cited the production of his new show as a factor and stated that he couldn’t commit. Austin also noted that he wouldn’t be protected in his potential match at WrestleMania.
“To do a proper match, I’d have to be in off-the-charts shape,” Austin said. “I told them, and this is the exact truth, I said, ‘Guys, I’m just fixin’ to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don’t know what my life looks like. I can’t commit.’ Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did. There’s no way, with the schedule I was doing—driving an RV all over God’s creation, doing all I was doing—that I would be ready.
” I had two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag, and a 25-pound kettlebell. Working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30- or 40-minute workout, that doesn’t get you ready for WrestleMania. And I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn’t going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn’t commit.”
Bret Hart recently stated that he feels bad he didn’t get to work with Austin more. Click here to see what he had to say.
Edge has said he believes it would have been fun if he crossed paths with Austin. More information is available here.
