Will Steve Austin Wrestle at WWE WrestleMania 39 This April?
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin came out of retirement last year at WrestleMania 38 for a No Holds Barred Match with Kevin Owens. Even though "The Texas Rattlesnake" hadn't competed since 2003, the match was incredibly well-received. Within days of the match, there was already speculation that he might come out of retirement again at WrestleMania 39 this April in Los Angeles. Reports even popped up in recent weeks about WWE offering him matches with either Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar, but now it appears neither will be happening.
"As far as Austin goes, Steve might be at the show. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised at all. He might do something on the show but he did in fact turn down wrestling at the show," Dave Meltzer explained on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingNews.co). "He was offered [Brock] Lesnar, he was offered Roman Reigns. He probably could have named his opponent if he wanted to do it with anybody else but he did not choose to wrestle on the show."
"Well [laughs], for me to participate in WrestleMania 38, if you would've told me, 'Hey man, you're gonna be a part of WrestleMania 38. Not only that, you're gonna main event night one,' I would've said you're full of sh*t and you're crazy and there I was in Dallas, Texas, headlining main event on day one so, never say 'never' but I would really imagine that within the scope of that show, that's gonna be a big show in a big time city and it'll be a two-night event again so, I'm not — I'm sure I'm done wrestling per se, but as a part of WWE, I can't imagine I would not be there in some capacity and I'm not booking myself on the show because I didn't book myself on 38. That's a Vince [McMahon] thing and I have a great relationship with him and if I get the call, I'll be there," Austin said on the Brewbound Podcast a few weeks after WrestleMania 38.
WWE officially began advertising Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes for WrestleMania on Monday night. Rhodes returned from injury as the No. 30 entrant in this year's Men's Royal Rumble and wound up winning the match. As for Lesnar, all signs point to him having a rubber match with Brock Lesnar after the two split victories at last year's Royal Rumble and the Crown Jewel pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia. Lesnar recently returned to TV to cost Lashley a shot at winning back the United States Championship and "The All Mighty" got revenge by tossing Lesnar out of the Rumble on Saturday.
The only other match confirmed for WrestleMania right now is SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Women's Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley. The two previously clashed at WrestleMania 36 over the NXT Women's Championship and Ripley chose a rematch with Flair as a means of finally getting revenge .