Steve Austin Explains Why He Wrestled At WrestleMania 38
One year after he main evented the first night of WrestleMania 38, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has explained why he chose to wrestle Kevin Owens.
It was nearly one year ago when Kevin Owens announced that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin would be KO’s guest on the Kevin Owens Show talk show on the first night of WrestleMania 38.
Not only that, but WWE even announced that the Owens-Austin “interview” was going to main event that first night of WrestleMania. The company also never advertised Owens-Austin as a match, but many of us thought that’s what we would get.
The legendary WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin is considered by many people to be one of the best wrestlers of all time. In fact, when Austin was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 25 weekend in 2009, WWE’s Executive Chairman Vince McMahon called Stone Cold the greatest WWE superstar of all time.
In that main event of WrestleMania 38 night one, Austin and Owens sat in the ring for the interview, but things quickly disintegrated leading to a match agreement right there. Austin was 57 years old at the time of the match, he had been retired since WrestleMania 19 in 2003 and fans had no idea what he could do in a match.
As it turns out, Steve Austin and Kevin Owens had a very entertaining No Holds Barred Match that saw them fight all around AT&T in Stadium in front of a crowd that loved seeing Stone Cold in action one more time. Austin won with a Stone Cold Stunner in a match that went about 14 minutes.
During an interview with Justin of The Wrestling Classic this week, Steve Austin explained that WrestleMania 38 was the right place for him with the right opponent, so that’s why he has happy to have one more match.
“I got a call from WWE. They said, ‘Hey man, would you like to take part in WrestleMania 38.’ It was in Dallas, Texas, and it was kind of a sentimental thing of I played football right outside of Dallas. I started in the Sportatorium with the world-famous Von Erich family, and what a fitting way.”
“I always said I would never get back into the ring. I was done, but I always said I would if the stars aligned properly and they did. They presented a storyline or a short angle with Kevin Owens, who I absolutely love, who is golden on the mic and awesome in the ring.”
“Once they said his name, the creative process continued into what it was. And not for it to not be a full-blown match, but a talk segment that turned into what a match would be. I love Kevin Owens and I was happy to share the ring with him.”
Over the last year, there have been rumors of Steve Austin having another match this year with WWE pitching multiple opponents for him ranging from Brock Lesnar to Roman Reigns. However, Austin turned those ideas down. He is likely content with what he did last year and with good reason because it was a great performance.