“Stone Cold” Steve Austin came out of retirement for a surprise No Holds Barred Match with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38 back in April. Between the workout videos, he’s been uploading to social media and the recent insider reports, all signs point to Austin wrestling again at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles next year. And while fans are thrilled about the idea, one of Austin’s former tag partners isn’t as positive about the idea.
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“No,” Foley said when asked if he’d like to see another Austin match. “He had the swan song and it was a tremendous swan song. It was my favorite match of the night just because Steve went and did so much more than anybody thought he would. Then Kevin Owens deserves some type of award. I don’t know if the Nobel Peace Prize went to Kevin Owens last year. I could argue he should have won it just for single-handedly carrying that angle. Steve wasn’t even on TV. I think he did one promo by remote. Owens calling the Texas landscape flat and uninspired is just a thing of beauty.
“Then the next night trying to create an excuse for his loss by saying not only was he lifting weights, he was lifting a lot of weights. Man, there’s a lot you can learn from watching how that program was done, but the main ingredient is that your guy coming back has to be able to deliver on a level or exceed the level that is expected. Steve did such a fantastic job. Of course, people would love to see him and The Rock, but not as much as they’d love to see Rock and Roman, in my opinion,” he added.
Foley spoke with ComicBook back in 2020 and gave some insight as to why so many wrestlers struggle with staying retired — “I think because success is subjective in our business. It’s not like you can gauge it based on a batting average. In baseball, if a guy can’t get around on the fast ball, his career is done. Whereas, in sports entertainment, you are often at your peak years after your physical peak ends. In that you understand more about crowd psychology, you connect more with the fans, and you find ways to have better matches even though your prime physical years are over. I think there’s a fine line between self-confidence and delusion. I think some of us, myself included, when we get older tiptoe over that line and still believe we have that one last match left in us.”
