WWE Hall of Famer and AEW Commentator Jim Ross talked about “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s WrestleMania 38 involvement on a recent episode of his “Grillin’ JR” Podcast.
As many of you know, Kevin Owens has been throwing some verbal jabs at Austin and the state of Texas as of late, finally calling the WWE Hall of Famer out for a match at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas next month. WWE shared a video of Austin earlier this week where he accepted the challenge from Owens.
Jim Ross spoke prior to the announcement of the match about the, at the time, rumors that Austin would be in the ring at WrestleMania 38 and revealed a conversation he had with his old friend:
“Looks like Austin is not going to do anything at WrestleMania as far as wrestling in the ring I had heard. He and I had talked, but at the time we talked he didn’t know what he was going to do. He didn’t sound overwhelmingly enthusiastic about it. People got to understand Steve is a perfectionist. Even though he stays in great shape and looks wonderful, especially for a guy his age, he looks great. That’s just the athlete in him and the fact that he likes to train and eat right. “If he was going to wrestle at WrestleMania, this is just me talking, I would suggest that had to have been decided six months ago. Not only to build the story to that crescendo in Dallas at WrestleMania but to give him more time to train better, more piece of mind and you know he’s going to hand pick his opponent, why wouldn’t you let him hand pick his opponent for God sakes. What difference do you care, if you’re the promoter what you do is you want him on the card so you can sell tickets or pay per views as well.”
During the two-minute video clip that blew up the WWE Universe and the pro wrestling world, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin would say quote: “Whether it’s the KO show, a match or a brawl, it’s going to lead to an ass kicking in Texas.” Although it was confirmed to be just an appearance on the Kevin Owens show for Austin, it could turn into a quick WrestleMania match: Think Undertaker vs John Cena at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans in 2018 or The Rock vs Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32 in 2016, which also took place in Dallas.
Ross continued talking about how his optimism for Austin having great match is not remarkably high; noting how if Austin were really coming out of retirement for a match, he would’ve love to pull off something perfect.
“I don’t have a lot of optimism for it. I don’t want to be a negative nelly, but he’s not going to do unless he thinks he can pull off something perfect and I don’t know that he can do that even in my mind or his mind with only a few weeks to prepare for it. I know him and he doesn’t like surprises and he likes to prepare, if anything, over prepared. He likes to give the fans their money’s worth, and he’s got a legacy that he’s built around the Stone Cold brand that he’s not going to purposely or by his own hand, make himself look bad and I don’t blame him. People say that’s ego, no that’s being a perfectionist, that’s being a performer. You think Tom Brady cares about when he’s playing, does he want to win the game, or does it matter anymore? All these perfectionists want to be perfect, that’s their nature and that element alone is what drives many of them to great success. Nothing less than perfection and being at your very best will do. I know Steve better than anybody and he’s just the kind of guy that wants to make sure the game plan is good, prepared, all of that. Wouldn’t you think if you’re going to have Stone Cold on the card, as we record this he’s not, he may be there with a wave and a Stunner on somebody, but that’s not having a match.”
Jim Ross would finish on this statement here:
“It can all change by the time people hear this. It could be the biggest announcement of the day, the trending news of the day. I have no idea.”
And he was right to an extent, it has been the talk of the WWE since Monday afternoon. What exactly happens at WrestleMania is unknown, but one thing is certain: When you hear the glass break on that night in Dallas, you will not be looking away from the screen.
(h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions.)
