Steve Austin Match Is Reportedly On The Card For WWE WrestleMania 38
Earlier this week it was reported that WWE Hall Of Famer Steve Austin could be competing at WrestleMania 38. On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens is on the card for WrestleMania. However, it is currently unknown whether or not the match will be happening on night one or two of the premium event, but the match is planned.
The build for the match started on Monday Night Raw this week, when Owens trash-talked Texas.
This would be Steve Austin's first match in 19 years since he was beaten by The Rock at WrestleMania 19. Since that time, Austin has been inducted into WWE's Hall Of Fame, and he has shown up sporadically in different roles. From being a general manager to a special guest referee. Nowadays, his primary role for the company are his popular Broken Skull Sessions on the WWE Network/Peacock.
Last April, on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Austin was asked if he had ever seriously considered an in-ring comeback.
"Man, not really," Austin responded. "I think Vince [McMahon] tried talking me to coming back a couple times, but you know Chris, I love the business so much. I love it more than anybody else, I can only speak for myself, but I love the damn business. It hurt me so much to leave it. And to me, going back for one match, man, why? What am I proving? What are they going to remember? It ain't about the money. It took me a long time, damn near three years to get over the fact that I left the business."
Austin added that returning to the ring for just one match would be "anti-climactic."
"To get hooked on it again just for one match and to me, it would have been so anti-climactic," Austin admitted. "Go out there and do it, and then whatever the finish was. And then the people go home, but what does it all mean in the big picture? Stone Cold had a comeback, and the match was a three-and-a-half Meltzer five-star rating? 'It ain't great enough,' and even if I crushed it, what would it mean? I just had to say, man, stay away, and I've stayed away."