Steve Austin comments on not working WrestleMania 39

Steve Austin says that he simply couldn’t commit to working a match at WrestleMania 39 due to his schedule. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Austin revealed the details of his negotiations with WWE around WrestleMania 39 and why he didn’t appear at the event.

“I met with some people from WWE,” Austin said of working WrestleMania. “We talked about the possibility of me wrestling at WrestleMania 39. The biggest thing in my mind was the presentation and what kind of match it was going to be. Going back to 38, the way the KO thing was presented—I love KO—I turned that down three, four, five times until the creative finally came to what it ended up being. I didn’t want it constructed as a real match, per se. I needed something that could turn into one, and it did, but I think that’s why we got away with it. The Dallas crowd was very receptive. I hadn’t been around, so the timing was right.

“But to do a proper match, I’d have to be in off-the-charts shape. I told them, and this is the exact truth, I said, ‘Guys, I’m just fixin’ to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don’t know what my life looks like. I can’t commit.’ Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did. There’s no way, with the schedule I was doing—driving an RV all over God’s creation, doing all I was doing—that I would be ready. I had two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag, and a 25-pound kettlebell. Working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30- or 40-minute workout, that doesn’t get you ready for WrestleMania. And I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn’t going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn’t commit.”

Steve Austin worked an impromptu match at WrestleMania 39 in Dallas against Kevin Owens and was victorious. Austin also appeared on that show and hit his Stunner on Vince McMahon, Austin Theory, Byron Saxton, and Pat McAfee.

Austin has not been seen on WWE television since then.

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