6-time WWE Champion confirms he turned down WrestleMania 39 match
WrestleMania 39 was one of WWE's greatest events in recent history. However, it could have been even better. Quite a few major stars from the past were rumored to wrestle in Hollywood, with one of them being Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The WWE Hall of Famer has confirmed that he was offered a match at WrestleMania 39. Stone Cold did so while reviewing The Show of Shows in an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated.
Austin said he met with some people from WWE but had reservations about the presentation of the potential match. Ultimately, though, he couldn't commit to being ready for it due to the production of his new show, Stone Cold Takes on America.
"I met with some people from WWE. We talked about the possibility of me wrestling at WrestleMania 39. The biggest thing in my mind was the presentation and what kind of match it was going to be. Going back to 38, the way the KO thing was presented—I love KO—I turned that down three, four, five times until the creative finally came to what it ended up being," said Stone Cold. [H/T: SI]
Steve Austin explained that he didn't want a "real match" at WrestleMania 38, which is why he had a successful outing against Kevin Owens. However, the pitch for this year's event involved a full-blown contest, where The Texas Rattlesnake wouldn't be "protected."
"But to do a proper match, I’d have to be in off-the-charts shape. I told them, and this is the exact truth, I said, ‘Guys, I’m just fixin’ to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don’t know what my life looks like. I can’t commit.’ Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did," said Austin. "And I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn’t going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn’t commit," he added.
It's wild to me that almost everyone forgot about Stone Cold vs Kevin Owens. One of the best WrestleMania 38 matches and Steve Austin's first match in 19 years. https://t.co/sNf0QnJNsA
According to Stone Cold himself, there was no way he would have been ready for a full match with the schedule he was on. As the six-time WWE Champion wisely put it, "working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30 or 40-minute workout doesn’t get you ready for WrestleMania."
Who would Stone Cold Steve Austin have faced at WWE WrestleMania 39?
Rumors flew around of WWE pitching matches against Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns to Steve Austin.
While a match against The Tribal Chief wouldn't have been likely, Stone Cold could have faced The Beast Incarnate at WrestleMania 39. However, another superstar was reportedly pitched for The Texas Rattlesnake closer to the event.
Fightful: WWE believe Steve Austin would compete at WrestleMania under the right situation but so far there has been no dice.
LA Knight is confirmed as an opponent that has been pitched for him. https://t.co/s61GlSIkV6
There were rumblings that Steve Austin would face LA Knight at 'Mania. However, after he turned it down, WWE didn't even book the popular SmackDown star to appear at The Show of Shows.
Stone Cold also spoke about the main event between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, which he enjoyed very much. The Texas Rattlesnake even sent a one-word text to everybody involved in it.