Steve Austin Returning To WWE For WrestleMania 41 Weekend After HUGE Cody Rhodes Teases (WWE News)

Stone Cold will be in town for WWE WrestleMania 41.

by Andrew Pollard
Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE

While there was plentiful speculation of him appearing at WWE WrestleMania 40 last year, could Steve Austin have a role to play at WrestleMania 41 next month? Possibly...

Stoking the fires of a Stone Cold appearance at this year's Showcase of the Immortals, it's now been confirmed that the Texas Rattlesnake will be in town during WrestleMania Weekend. To be specific, Fanatics have announced that Austin will be part of WWE World at the Las Vegas Convention Center on April 19 and 20.

As Austin himself has revealed in various interviews - including recently with the ever-great Adrian Hernandez - he did indeed have conversations about appearing at WrestleMania 40. The Bionic Redneck explained that WWE did reach out to him for 'Mania 40, but that he and his wife already had plans that meant he couldn't go to Philadelpia for that event.

In the aftermath of WrestleMania 40, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted how Steve Austin was originally pencilled in for the spot that ultimately went to the Undertaker. As in, Austin was earmarked to come out and hit the Rock with a Stone Cold Stunner as part of Cody Rhodes' win over Roman Reigns. This Observer report added that WWE and Austin could not come to terms financially, and thus, the Phenom ended up being the one to thwart the Final Boss.

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Cody Rhodes Steve Austin Broken Skull Sessions
WWE

Steve Austin To Give Cody Rhodes A Hand?

As part of that recent chat with Adrian Hernandez, Stone Cold was asked whether he'll be around for WrestleMania 41, particularly with Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena in mind.

On that front, Austin said, "If [Cody] needs another hand, I'll be there".

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The WWE Hall of Famer and six-time World Champion has often said how he's at a point in his life where he doesn't want to travel, and that he'll only make appearances at WWE events in the wider Las Vegas area near where he nowadays lives. And with WrestleMania 41 taking place from Paradise, Nevada's Allegiant Stadium, that has led some fans to speculate that it's a case of 'now or never' for one more Stone Cold WrestleMania appearance.

Away from those talks of doing something at WrestleMania 40, Steve Austin also had discussions with WWE about wrestling at WrestleMania 39. Ultimately, Austin felt that he didn't have enough time to get into adequate ring shape, plus he was filming his Stone Cold Takes on America series at that time, too. Of course, the previous year saw the one-time Ringmaster lace up his boots for the first time in 19 years, closing out Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 in a No Holds Barred war against Kevin Owens.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.