Steve Austin successfully returned at WWE WrestleMania 38 in 2023 when he defeated Kevin Owens.
It happened after Owens talked trash about the WWE Hall of Famer, leading to Austin shooting a promo and accepting the offer to appear on the KO Show. This turned into a match with the former Universal Champion.
In an interview with Zack Heydorn for The Takedown On SI, Austin discussed his match with Owens. He admitted that some elements of it fell short of his expectations.
“I was happy in a moment, but, you know, they didn’t send me a ring down. I didn’t have any timing. I think they interviewed Triple H, The Undertaker, and Hogan. Each one of them said something that was so true. Paul said, you can come back, but you don’t know what you have, because you haven’t been out there. Undertaker said, you’re not going to have any timing. He was right. I didn’t have any timing. Hell, I hadn’t hit a set of ropes in 19 years. Hadn’t thrown a punch in 19 years. Hogan says you’re just not calloused up. Your body is not as hard as it used to be. He was right, because when you when you take off, people talk about ring rust, that’s timing. So, I had no timing. Hogan was talking about being calloused up … those ropes hurt. Those bumps hurt. If you make a long comeback, it takes you two or three months to get those callouses back, so that your body doesn’t hurt after every single match. You build up an immunity to it, so they each made valid points. Like Paul said, you don’t know what you got until you get out there, because you can think you got it, but you don’t. When I went out there, I think I couldn’t hear the crowd as much as I wanted to. When I watched it back, the crowd was into it. It was very, very loud, yes, but I wish I would have taken more time, savored more moments, and worked the people a little bit more than I did. I think I was in a space of not knowing what I had and trying to be a little too frantic. I could have slowed down drastically and made that better. I wish that I would have. I haven’t told too many people that, but I told you,” Austin said.
Austin recently stated that he hasn’t been contacted about an appearance at WrestleMania 41 this year. However, he’s open to hearing ideas.
