Kevin Owens Challenges Steve Austin... To An Interview At WWE WrestleMania 38

By Scott Carlson / March 8, 2022

Weeks of vague comments about his hatred of Dallas and sparring with Texas-based wrestlers gave way Monday, when Kevin Owens finally laid down a WrestleMania challenge to one of the most notable Texans in WWE history, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

But instead of a match, Owens challenged Austin to appear on the KO Show at WrestleMania 38. This followed KO and Seth Rollins losing a match for the Raw Tag Team Championship, leaving the duo with nothing to do that night as of now. The duo looked despondent in the aftermath of the match, but Owens regrouped and came out at the end of Raw to issue his challenge.

Reports have flowed in the past several weeks that WWE had a match between KO and Austin listed on their internal documents, but Stone Cold had never agreed to compete. Those internal documents had the encounter changed to a "confrontation" recently, indicating that the match very well might be off, but the two are still linked together for Mania.

Monday night, Owens put down a bunch of Texas-based Hall-of-Famers before taking swiped at Austin, suggesting he was "a broken-down shell of his former self" who had let himself go drinking beer and had to wear knee braces just to get through a match 20 years ago.

“I am calling you out, @steveaustinBSR!”

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Did @FightOwensFight just make his #WrestleMania plans known on #WWERaw? pic.twitter.com/QiIKH1ZxFM

— WWE (@WWE) March 8, 2022

The rant sounded a lot like a challenge to a wrestling match rather than an appearance on the KO Show, and Corey Graves asked aloud whether Austin would respond after 19 years. It's worth noting that while Stone Cold last wrestled at WrestleMania 19, he's appeared at several Manias since then, including WM 20, 21, 23, 27, 30 and 32.

We should get our answer soon, but it seems like WWE left itself a bit of wiggle room in case Austin changes his mind and decides to lace up the boots one last time.