'Stone Cold' Steve Austin says there was a concrete plan for a match involving him and a top star at WWE WrestleMania 39.
Although WrestleMania 39 was a very well received event by many fans of WWE, there was a group of fans who pointed out the notable exclusion of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin from the event, especially following Austin's return to the ring at WWE WrestleMania 38.
According to 'The Texas Rattlesnake' himself in a new interview with Bleacher Report, there was a concrete idea for him to have a match at WrestleMania 39 with one of the top guys in the company, but filming on his TV show ultimately prevented that from happening.
"People have asked me, 'Why didn't do you do 'Mania?' They asked me, but I didn't know what my life was going to look like until I was done with this show. I finished up on the show four days before WrestleMania. I drove every single mile in an RV and I brought dumbbells with me, a sandbag and a kettle bell, so I got my workouts in. The concrete idea was a match. It was a match with one of the top guys in the business, period. I'll let everybody speculate about that, but yeah, it was a match and I just didn't think I could get ready for it in time because I didn't know my schedule, which is what I told them. 'I don't know what my life looks like until I finish this show.'"
Austin went on to reveal that there were some issues with his television show that ended up delaying the shoot for a little over a month.
"There was an internal stop-down with stuff that was out of our control, so we were down for a little over a month. Originally, give or take, this show was going to take three months to shoot, but it took close to five and it chewed up a lot of time."
Austin also noted that before the filming of the show, he had got into the best shape of his life.
Fightful Select had a report back in January 2023 noting that Steve Austin was approached for a match with the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. Reigns went on to defend his championship against Cody Rhodes at the event instead.
Austin first talked about the missed opportunity of him performing at WrestleMania 39 in a separate interview back on April 19. Fans can learn more by clicking here.
Special thanks to Bleacher Report & Graham Matthews for the quote(s).
