For years, many have wondered if “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will ever step foot back in the ring. He has done so, every once in a while. Still, it has been some time as he hasn’t stepped foot into a WWE match since facing off with The Rock at WrestleMania XIX in March of 2003. He has said that he’s in the best shape of his life, and to “never say never” when it comes to one more match, and he’s even considered having one against Brock Lesnar.
Austin appeared on Monday Night Raw two weeks ago to introduce The Undertaker at the start of the show. After it was over, he did the “Stone Cold Podcast” with Brock Lesnar as his guest on a show that was rumored to have a “ major angle ” taking place, which never happened.
It’s been confirmed by Austin that he will be at WrestleMania 32 , as it’s in his home state of Texas, but he says it won’t be for a match. The problem is that rumors and hints persist to come about regarding a possible match between him and Lesnar.
When speaking with Fox Sports, Austinwas asked if he would ever have another match, but he sounded about as close to being done as possible.
“I think 99.9 percent I’ve had my last match. If I felt froggy and wanted to jump for any particular reason, just because I said right now I have the fever for it, I’d like to do it. But for all practical, intrinsic, whatever kind of purposes, I’m done. Again, if I felt like it, could I? Yeah. Would I? In a dream world. Possibly. I’m not trying to promote a match and pretty much I am done. I would always reserve the option.”
As visions of one more match keep coming in and out of his head, Austin does have thoughts on who he would like to face. There could be a number of big money matches out there, but the one person who has come to his mind most often is Brock Lesnar.
“I considered [facing Lesnar] for just a brief moment but again, just like I tell everybody, what’s on the backside of a match like that, you know? I got out of the business when I got out. The hunger was out of my system. It’s almost like getting off an addiction. I’m not addicted to wrestling anymore. For a long time I was. So what’s on the backside of that match for me? A whole lot of nothing. So it would be a lot of buildup and, to me, it would be almost anti-climactic.”
The “Stone Cold Podcast” with Austin interviewing Lesnar was eye-opening, but it really had nothing to do with the two of them in relation to one another. WWE.com even posted clips of it with Lesnar speaking on not liking people at all, but there is never discussion of the two of them having a match.
It was back in the early part of the summer where rumors of Austin vs. Lesnar really began and it was due to Paul Heyman being a guest on the podcast. Heyman asked Austin if he would be interested in fighting Lesnar at WrestleMania 32, and “Stone Cold” responded in old-school WWE promo form.
For those that have been watching wrestling since the ’90s, this was huge, as it sounded like the Steve Austin of old. He cut a promo as if it was the WWE Attitude Era , and many began thinking that the match was going to happen and everyone was setting up for it.
Austin went on to say that he was just doing it for the show and he won’t be facing Brock Lesnar. Needless to say, but that disappointed a lot of people.
Still, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has a history of saying he isn’t going to do a lot of things that he ultimately ends up doing. Could he step into the ring for one more match and face off with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32 ? Everyone officially says no, but anything could happen.
[Image via WWE]