Steve Austin Tells All About Why WrestleMania 39 Match Didn’t Happen

Steve Austin thrilled fans with his matches at WrestleMania 38, but he did not follow that up the next year. There were pitches to have Austin come in, even with Brock Lesnar, but that didn’t pan out.

WrestleMania 39 went down in SoFi Stadium without the Texas Rattlesnake. That being said, there were attempts made to lock him into the show of shows this year.

While speaking to Sports Illustrated, Steve Austin admitted that WWE talked to him about working WrestleMania 39. Sadly, they just couldn’t make things come together.

“I haven’t spoken to this, but I’ll give you the story, I met with some people from WWE. We talked about the possibility of me wrestling at WrestleMania 39. The biggest thing in my mind was the presentation and what kind of match it was going to be.”

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“Going back to 38, the way the KO thing was presented—I love KO—I turned that down three, four, five times until the creative finally came to what it ended up being. I didn’t want it constructed as a real match, per se. I needed something that could turn into one, and it did, but I think that’s why we got away with it. The Dallas crowd was very receptive. I hadn’t been around, so the timing was right.”

Steve Austin wanted to make sure that he could be in shape for another match. Despite the fact that he was working out, it just didn’t come together for him this time.

“But to do a proper match, I’d have to be in off-the-charts shape. I told them, and this is the exact truth, I said, ‘Guys, I’m just fixin’ to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don’t know what my life looks like. I can’t commit.’

Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did. There’s no way, with the schedule I was doing—driving an RV all over God’s creation, doing all I was doing—that I would be ready. I had two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag, and a 25-pound kettlebell.

Working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30- or 40-minute workout, that doesn’t get you ready for WrestleMania. I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn’t going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn’t commit.”

We’ll have to see if Steve Austin ever wrestles for WWE again. Odds are, he won’t agree to a match that will put a lot of wear and tear on his body. That being said, a bout against Brock Lesnar probably isn’t going to happen.

WWE has a schedule full of massive events, and they also have a ton of money to throw Steve Austin’s way. Only time will tell if they can work something out to get Stone Cold back in the squared circle.

What’s your take on WWE and Steve Austin not being able to work things out for WrestleMania? Do you think that Austin has enough gas in the tank for another run? Sound off in the comments!