Stone Cold Steve Austin REJECTS WrestleMania 38 Match
Austin, Kevin Owens seem on WWE WrestleMania 38 collision course, but match might be OFF!
For the past month, rumors have swirled that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin could wrestle his first match in 19 years at WrestleMania 38, defending the honor of his home state against Kevin Owens.
But on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that this is far from a done deal. In fact, as of Friday, Austin has not agreed to wrestle an actual match at Mania. During the past month, KO has taken constant swipes at Texas and begun to lash out at several Lone Star State legends, such as JBL and Booker T, but conspicuous by its absence are barbs directed at the Texas Rattlesnake himself.
Meltzer said that Austin is still scheduled to be on Mania, but the match that originally was on the books is now listed as a confrontation.
"They will have a confrontation but it is not clear if that will be a match or not anymore," Meltzer said. "It's essentially up to Austin at this point. They want the match, they thought they had the match and Steve...there's a reason he hasn't wrestled in 19 years. I just know that as of Friday, he had not agreed to do the match even though it was on the books. Now, it's on the books as a confrontation."
Stone Cold last wrestled at WrestleMania 19, losing to The Rock in the final match of their Mania trilogy. Since then, he's appeared at numerous WrestleManias, guest refereeing at WM 20 and WM 23 and delivering Stunners at WM 32 (also in Dallas, TX). While a confrontation would be disappointing to fans who have wanted to see a return, it would be understandable that Austin, 57, doesn't want to get back in the ring for a full-fledged bout. If Owens and Austin get some decent mic time, it could be a fun and memorable segment.
Still, it's interesting that WWE reportedly had this listed as an actual match on their internal documents, but never had locked Austin down... and we're four weeks out from Mania.