WWE: 10 Huge Errors On The Road To WrestleMania 30

10. Failing In Negotiations With Steve Austin For An In-Ring Return

While the televised road to WrestleMania starts in January, from a corporate standpoint, the road actually starts in the summer previous. This is the time when WWE first start thinking about their big ambition for the next year's showcase. What was their ambition in the summer of 2013? To bring Stone Cold Steve Austin back for an in-ring return at WrestleMania 30 no less. It would have been huge, truly worthy of headlining the thirtieth anniversary of Mania. Any modern day Steve Austin match would instantaneously become the biggest match of the year. Was he interested? Well, he had certainly been making noises about comeback, it was something which seemed a possibility if the circumstances were right. Austin continually talked about how healthy he was feeling. WWE's error came in their decision to present a quite frankly mediocre offer to Austin. They tried to book a match of Triple H vs Steve Austin for Mania 30, with Stone Cold being managed by Vince McMahon against a heel Hunter. It's hardly the ground breaking spot that was going to get Austin back and he unsurprisingly didn't make a deal. It's a huge error on WWE's part. If there was any chance of Austin returning the WWE should have proposed CM Punk to him (a man Austin previously stated he wanted to work with) and offered him a financial offer he couldn't refuse. Austin's return would have been a WrestleMania 30 main event we all loved, but WWE screwed it up in negotiations.