With rumours of his wrestling once against at WrestleMania 39 reaching a fever pitch, Stone Cold Steve Austin has tempered expectations by announcing his retirement from professional wrestling.
The former WWE Champion is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Austin blew up during the Attitude Era, becoming the most popular wrestler on the world and breaking into the mainstream.
He had movie roles and various TV appearances during this time, but it was his wrestling career where he really took of. Austin was said to have made around $14 million during his time in the WWE, and he main evented some of the hottest shows in wrestling history.
However, he retired from wrestling in 2003, with a final match against The Rock at WrestleMania XIX proving to be his swansong. He stayed retired throughout the time since then, with many expecting him to never set foot in a ring again.
However, Steve Austin came out of retirement for one last match last year. He wrestled his first match in 19 years when he beat Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38, putting on am impressive performance in the main event of the show.
This, as well as an Instagram video showing him in great shape, prompted speculation for a second match at WrestleMania more Stone Cold. Sadly Steve Austin had some words for those fans, tempering their expectations.
Steve Austin Announces Retirement
Stone Cold Steve Austin has announced his retirement from wrestling, one year after wrestling a surprise return match against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania.
The Texas Rattlesnake won that bout, and had been courted by the WWE for another match at WrestleMania 39. The company reportedly pitched names like Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and LA Knight to Austin to work with. However, the Hall of Famer turned down the offers.
Austin has now taken to the media to reveal that his is retiring from wrestling for good, regarding his match with Owens his final one in the WWE.
While speaking with NBC Los Angeles, Stone Cold revealed that he is retiring and will not wrestle again, calling last years match “a fluke”.
“You have to understand that I retired in 2003, so it’s been a long time, so I’m over it. But when I walked away from the business of sports entertainment, I endeavored into other things;
I work with Kawasaki motor sports on the side by side division, I’m in the beer business, and I do other things. Coming back to do something from time to time is fine, because I love my relationship with WWE, but my days in the ring are done…
although, I did do the main event at WrestleMania last year in Dallas, but that was kind of a fluke and we pulled it off. It’s good to be back and see some of the faces… But I’ve been gone for a long time, and I do not miss it.
Well yeah (there are things I miss about being on the road), I miss the boys. That’s what I miss. You miss going up and down the road telling stories, laughing, and doing things to entertain each other when you’re doing the grind on the road… just living life.
It’s a different breed of animals, or guys, or human beings, that get into this business, and birds of a feather flock together and the sports entertainment industry draws some very unique characters.”
Steve Austin is staying retired, although he was recently asked about if he’d wrestle one more match against another WWE legend who he has never faced inside a WWE ring.
In a discussion on Ryan Satin’s Out Of Character podcast, Steve Austin revealed that he has a lot of respect for John Cena, but that he would not be wrestling the 16-time world champion inside a WWE ring.
He says that working with Cena would have been “a real highlight”, but sadly the match just never happened.
Working with him would have been a real highlight. I had a bunch of highlights. It would have been a real special thing because there’s something about John that people get so invested in his matches. He’s a very special talent. It would have been great to have a match with him. But will it ever happen? No, but I think very highly of John.
Steve Austin vs John Cena is a dream match that never happened, with their sole interaction coming at the Tribute to the Troops show.
