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"Stone Cold" Steve Austin was nearly in a match at WrestleMania 39 but admitted in a recent interview with Fox News Digital he did not have enough time to prepare for what the original plan was for him.
Rumors floated in the days and weeks leading up to the event in Inglewood, California, that Austin was floated for a potential match with LA Knight or Roman Reigns at the WWE’s signature event. However, Austin said he was in the middle of production with "Stone Cold Takes on America" and wanted to do the match right if he was going to do it at all.
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"Stone Cold" Steve Austin, middle, speaks during WWE 2K23 Launch Event at El Segundo Brewing Company on March 16, 2023 in El Segundo, California. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for 2K)
"We met early on but it was before I started filming for ‘Stone Cold Takes on America’ and I told the guys that I was meeting straight up, I said, ‘Man, I don’t know what my life looks like until I get into production on this.’ And I didn’t," he told Fox News Digital. "I was traveling around in an RV. I drove every mile. I took two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag and a 45-pound kettlebell and I was trying to do workouts every single day and I did. And I lived in that RV."
The 58-year-old said the plan was for something more serious than dishing out a few Stone Cold Stunners.
Stone Cold Steve Austin, right, and Kevin Owens, left, wrestle during WrestleMania 38 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, April 2, 2022. (Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)
"But you can’t film a show like I was doing working 15-16-hour days and get ready for an event the magnitude of WrestleMania and this would have been a more serious match than the one I did with Kevin Owens where I would really need to perform, take bumps," he told Fox News Digital.
"And when I worked with KO, that was 19 years of not doing anything. You don’t have any timing when you’re not in that ring. And I take my hat off to Kevin Owens for being such a pro for dealing with me because when you’re not in that ring, you don’t realize because you’ve never done it in such a long time, how fast are happening in that ring. And that’s a good way to get hurt if you’re in the right place in the right time."
Austin’s appearance at WrestleMania 39 in 2022 was his first appearance in the ring since "Saturday Night’s Main Event" when he faced off against John Bradshaw Layfield in a beer-drinking contest.
Steve Austin in poses June 12, 2000 in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)
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His last match came against The Rock at WrestleMania XIX in 2003.
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