'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Explains Why He and Kevin Owens Did Not Have a Segment During the Raw Reunion

Last week's Raw Reunion special of Monday Night Raw featured nearly 40 WWE Superstars of the past, though none drew a bigger reaction from the crowd than "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at the very end of the show. But while his show-closing promo was a nice moment, many fans were shocked that he did not interact with Kevin Owens, who has adopted the Stunner as his new finisher and has interacted with Austin online numerous times. Many assumed there would be a moment where the pair would take turns hitting Shane McMahon with a Stunner, giving Owens the proverbial rub from an all-time great while also building towards their SummerSlam match.

Austin explained why the segment never happened in a new interview with Sports Illustrated this week.

"With Kevin Owens, don't throw my name on there," Austin said. "This guy can talk a lot of trash, he is great in the ring, and he's using my finisher, but hell, no one is going to be the next Steve Austin.

"I remember when people were saying I was going to be the next Ric Flair when I was in WCW. No one's ever going to be the next Ric Flair, and you're not going to see the next Hulk Hogan or the next Bret Hart, either. It just doesn't happen that way. People like to say that because of the similarities, but what we should be saying is, 'I want this guy to be the next big thing.'"

But while Austin does not believe Owens will be the "next Stone Cold," he does think very highly of the former world champion.

"So just let Kevin be Kevin, put him in good situations and don't put the brakes on him," Austin continued. "If you're going to run with this guy, then let him be the biggest, baddest, best Kevin Owens he can be."

After turning heel to kick off a feud with Kofi Kingston over the WWE Championship, Owens turned back into a babyface back in early July after being fed up of Dolph Ziggler's "It should've been me" promos. He then turned his attention to McMahon, calling him out for pushing himself so much on television week after week.

Owens explained in a recent interview with Lilian Garcia (prior to the face turn) that he feels he could be incredibly successful as a good guy.

"Only because I've been a heel for so long now, I personally am ready for something different," Owens said. "And I also would love to see how successful I can be as a babyface. My ego tells me I'd be great. But I got a tiny taste of it and then for reasons beyond my control for what the show needed, I had to go back the other way. And I'm trying to make it as good as I can. But I still have this need to find out if I'm right."