“Stone Cold” Steve Austin believes he still has one match in him despite the wear and tear of a celebrated career.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Austin maintained he isn’t advocating for one last match but he is in decent shape.
“I could. God dang it! Just saying that takes me back to when we did that WrestleMania match with Kevin Owens in Dallas, Texas, and they didn’t send a ring down for me to work-out in to get any kind of timing or hit the ropes. I remember going down there and I was running the ropes and taking a couple of flat back bumps before we got into the ring but you can’t get your timing or any kind of anything back, much less your wind. I was over here in my gym doing all kinds of cardio, because when that glass breaks, or whoever’s music hits, and you start walking to the ring, man, just the buzz of the crowd. I’ve seen people blow up walking to the ring, because that’s just what a crowd can do to you. So, just going there with Kevin Owens and trying to have that match with him, where we didn’t bill it as a match but it was going to be a match, so to speak.” he recalled.
Austin still keeps in touch with Owens to this day too.
“I was knocking the s–t out of him. I was potatoing him so bad because I hadn’t thrown a punch in 19 years and he never threw a receipt. I told him, because we keep in touch with each other every now and then that I just wish that he could have been in the ring with me when I was really going, you know, full speed and had my timing because he’s a great worker and I really like him a lot. I wish he would have got a chance to experience me when I was in my prime because that would have been a great contest but I could still do it, and I’m not advocating for nothing, so I’m not selling a match here, Chris. But you asked me, could I? Yes.” he said.
Austin was asked if he would wrestle again.
“Probably not. I’ll say that but you say never,” responded Austin explaining the pain he went through with his knee surgery last year.
Getting back into the ring during the WrestleMania 38 match.
“Well, it was interesting because there were different people that were making comments about that. Triple H says, ‘You never know what you got until you get in there.’ He was right. Hulk Hogan, God rest his soul, says, ‘You’re not calloused up because you haven’t been on the road, you haven’t been taking bumps in the ring.’ He was right. Undertaker says, ‘There’s no way that you can have timing because you haven’t been in the ring over and over every single night.’ And he was right. So on that night, walking to the ring I remember I couldn’t hear the crowd like I wanted to just because of the acoustics of that building. And, man, I’m just real in tune with how the crowd responds to anything particularly as anybody would, your entrance, we blew the roof off the place. So anyway, we go into the match and it was fine. I blew up because I hadn’t had any reps in the ring but when I look back at that I rushed through so many things. I wish I would have slowed down more and savored a little bit more and just entertained the crowd a little bit more. It was what it was. We got away with it because it was anticipated. It was billed as my last match because Dallas is where I started and Dallas is where I would finish. So for all the right reasons, it was there to have that match and we pulled it off. But God dang! I could have been better prepared and I would have loved to have been better that night for Kevin Owens,” he said.
