WWE News: Update On ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Vs. Brock Lesnar Possibly Taking Place At ‘WrestleMania 32’
It’s safe to say that the return of the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin podcast to the WWE Network made quite an impact. On top of being the most entertaining of all of the podcasts that have taken place on the WWE Network, Paul Heyman challenged Steve Austin on Brock Lesnar’s behalf to a match at WrestleMania 32. Austin didn’t verbally accept, but he did go into full “Stone Cold” mode, and he really sold the fact the he may be returning to the ring next year.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer— who is the number one pro wrestling journalist in the world — talked about the ending to the Stone Cold podcast on the post-RAW edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, and he seems to be confident that the match between Lesnar and Austin will be happening at WrestleMania 32.
“Knowing both [Steve Austin and Paul Heyman] they didn’t do it for their health. It was very clear that they were going to go out there and do this podcast, and in the last minute they were going to cut a promo, after they told you about money promos. It was a really fascinating thing.
“Both of those guys… They didn’t do that for their healthy, and they didn’t do it to get buzz on the internet. I’m not saying that the match is happening, but I’m saying that if it didn’t have a chance to happen, those guys aren’t going there. Those guys aren’t going out there to steal the spotlight away from other guys for some fake angle that’s not going anywhere.”
In the podcast with Heyman, Austin said that he would only face Lesnar in a “Texas Death Match,” which would basically be a street fight, and the reason for that is — at this point in his life, with the injuries that he’s had — Austin probably isn’t capable of having a straight, technical wrestling match with anyone, including Lesnar.
Back in 2002, Austin was supposed to go one-on-one with Lesnar in a King of the Ring qualifying match on RAW, which lead to Austin famously walking out on the job because he didn’t like WWE’s idea of giving away an Austin vs. Lesnar match for free. Austin ended up returning to the company less than a year later, but he only faced two men — Eric Bischoff and The Rock — before retiring. He hasn’t had a match since.
In past interviews, Lesnar has said that if there’s one guy he would like to get his hands on in a WWE ring, it’s Stone Cold Steve Austin. Of course, other than the advertised King of the Ring qualifying match in 2002, Austin and Lesnar have never been close to having a match, although they have had a few physical confrontations when Austin was the RAW general manager in 2003 and 2004. The most famous one is when Lesnar stole Austin’s four-wheeler, and Austin went to SmackDown to retrieve it, and took Lesnar out in the process. Austin also stunned Lesnar out of WWE back at WrestleMania 20, which was Lesnar’s last night in WWE until he returned eight years later.
[Images via WWE]
