Steve Austin Reveals Hilarious Detail About His WrestleMania 38 Match With Kevin Owens
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin wrestled for the first time in 19 years at WrestleMania 38 last April, fighting in an impromptu No Holds Barred Match with Kevin Owens. Austin shocked wrestling fans with his ability to still compete, going nearly 14 minutes before putting the former Universal Champion down with a Stunner. But being out of the ring for so long was still a challenge for Austin, as he admitted in a recent interview on Ryan Satin's Out of Character Podcast. He managed to take breaks during the match the best way he knew how — by drinking beer!
"(I had) zero in-ring training. I was doing cardio. Here is an inside tip for you. I love Sheamus, he has a great YouTube channel, the Celtic Warrior Workout. I got on there, I watched Edge's routine, I watched Bryan Danielson's training routine. The one that really got me was Becky Lynch's comeback routine. I did her routine over and over, then I invented my own out of that. I was training hard at my house, but I didn't have a ring. Once I got to Dallas, I got there three or four days early because I always do, I ran the ropes a lot with Drew Gulak, who is absolutely wonderful, a great talent. Super guy, very intuitive in the ring, we did a lot of criss-cross stuff. Locked up, grab a headlock, a couple of spots. Just a little bit of that and I was gassing. When I tell you I was in good shape, I was, but doing cardio at the house, as hard as I was working out, is not in-ring activity. It's very specific, cardio is. When KO [Kevin Owens] or Drew come in, they've worked on the road a lot. As much as I worked, it was short notice, but as hard as I worked, I still wasn't in shape because they were doing a specific task," Austin explained (h/t Fightful).
"(The match) was what it was, I wanted to give them more, but the whole time, when you have that amount of people out there, I've been in front of a million crowds, but you're trying to pace yourself. When you saw me go sip beers, I wasn't doing that to advertise my beer, I was doing that to take a breather and kind of monitor the system because I was getting a little gassed. You don't want to go out there and freak out. I was taking those opportunities to slow down and catch a breather," he added.
While there were reportedly pitches for matches Austin could be involved in for WrestleMania 39 next week in Los Angeles, nothing has been announced, Stay tuned for full coverage of the entire WrestleMania weekend!