Stone Cold Steve Austin Has Major Regret About Kevin Owens WWE Match

WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin recently got candid about his last match with Kevin Owens.

Stone Cold put WWE on the map as a popular culture staple with his unforgettable run in the Stamford-based promotion in the 90s. This era later got dubbed as the Attitude Era, which fans of the WWE consider its greatest period.

The Texas Rattlesnake was at the epicenter of this WWE earthquake that shook the world of popular culture and took it to new heights. He had many A-list feuds with legends who were rising stars at the time, helping define the era, like The Rock, The Undertaker, and Triple H.

Just like his mic skills and promo work were direct and no-nonsense smack-talk, his in-ring style was that of a brawler with a limited but effective moveset that housed a finishing move that would scare people a mile away and make arenas erupt: The Stone Cold Stunner.

Even as a brawler, Austin knew how important it was to put in hours of practice before matches to make sure to get the timing right on the wrestling moves during matches, as protecting the opponent and yourself is key in the business.

Following his in-ring retirement in 2003, Stone Cold would regularly be involved with WWE and make appearances, but wouldn’t wrestle. That finally changed in 2022 when, to the delight of the WWE Universe, he returned to the ring for one final match against Kevin Owens in WrestleMania 38, which took place in his hometown of Dallas, Texas.

Stone Cold Has Regrets About His Match With Kevin Owens

Speaking on a new episode of Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Stone Cold was asked how he felt about getting back in the ring. Austin went on to reveal how his former colleagues, the Undertaker and Triple H, shared insights on what could happen after a nearly 19-year gap.

Well, it was interesting because there were different people who were making comments about that. Triple H says, ‘You never know what you got until you get in there.’ He was right. Hulk Hogan, God rest his soul, says, ‘You’re not calloused up because you haven’t been on the road, you haven’t been taking bumps in the ring.’ He was right. Undertaker says, ‘There’s no way that you can have timing because you haven’t been in the ring over and over every single night.’ And he was right.

Austin admits that he feeds off the energy of the crowd and is usually in tune with it, but couldn’t hear them correctly that night due to the acoustics of the building.

So on that night, walking to the ring, I remember I couldn’t hear the crowd like I wanted to, just because of the acoustics of that building. And, man, I’m just real in tune with how the crowd responds to anything, particularly as anybody would, your entrance, we blew the roof off the place.

Stone Cold said that he regrets not having had any practice going into the match and said he would have loved to be better for his opponent, Kevin Owens.

So anyway, we go into the match, and it was fine. I blew up because I hadn’t had any reps in the ring. But when I look back at that, I rushed through so many things, I wish I would have slowed down more and savored a little bit more and just entertained the crowd a little bit more.

And it was what it was, we got away with it because it was anticipated. It was billed as my last match, because Dallas is where I started and Dallas is where I would finish. So for all the right reasons, it was there to have that match, and we pulled it off. But God dang, I could have been better prepared, and I would have loved to have been better that night for Kevin Owens.”

Also read: 13-Time WWE Champion Confirms He’ll Probably Never Wrestle Again