Dave Meltzer On Blockbuster Opponent For Steve Austin At WrestleMania
Dave Meltzer has given his thoughts on Steve Austin returning at WrestleMania 39 and names what he sees as the biggest money match Austin could have.
After nineteen years, Stone Cold Steve Austin came out of retirement to headline WrestleMania 38 against Kevin Owens in a somewhat impromptu match. Prior to that, the last time Austin competed was at WrestleMania 19 when The Texas Rattlesnake lost in the final of his trilogy of matches with The Rock.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer has responded to rumours that Steve Austin could be set for another monumental comeback at WrestleMania 39 in 2023 and names a huge opponent for the icon:
“It’s all hands on deck, they’ve got two nights of WrestleMania and they’ve got some big, money matches that he can do. I mean, there’s a bunch of them. I don’t know what the legalities would be for [CM] Punk but I think actually that’s the biggest money of all the matches that he could do because Punk coming back to WWE would be big.”
“But there’s the injury – Punk might be able to make it to WrestleMania with a torn tricep. I mean, everyone’s different, I kinda pegged late March [for him to be able to return], WrestleMania’s like a week after that so that’s a real touch and go. But then there’s the legal issue.”
Meltzer’s co-host Bryan Alvarez then asked if Meltzer knew something that the rest of us didn’t since the first name mentioned as a potential opponent for Austin was CM Punk – who is still contracted to AEW – to which Meltzer replied:
“I think about money and I think about what’s the match that would draw the most money and the match that would draw the most money for Steve Austin would be CM Punk. I think the second match that would draw the most money would be John Cena. That could happen to, the battle of generations. There’s Lesnar, that could be something. Those would be the three.”
“If you’re looking for the match that’s gonna shake up the business, the Punk match is the one but I don’t know that Punk will have a release, there’s just a lot of issues there. If I’m Paul Levesque and I’m looking for the match that’s gonna draw the most money at WrestleMania this year, I mean you could say Roman and The Rock but I think Austin and Punk would be right with them and it doesn’t matter because it’s two days and you headline one of them with one and the other day with the other and you’ve got two big matches that will be the two most watched WrestleMania [matches] of all time.”
Steve Austin recently showed off his incredible physique which only caused rumours of his imminent return to a WWE ring to intensify.
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