WrestleMania 38: 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Competes in First Match in 19 Years

By Brian Jones

The first night of WrestleMania 38 ended with a WWE Hall Famer making a huge comeback. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin appeared on the KO Show with Kevin Owens to close out the show. Owens challenged Austin to a match right then, and the two competed in a no holds barred contest. When it was all said and done, Austin defeated Owens via Stone Cold Stunner. And when the match was over, Austin had a couple of beers while hitting Owens with another stunner. 

The last time Austin competed in a WWE match was at WrestleMania XIX when he lost to The Rock. He has made various appearances in WWE over the years but was forced to retire after his match with The Rock due to various injuries. Austin was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019. 

"For 19 years I've had to live with that defeat knowing my time was up," Austin said in a video posted to Twitter. "Kevin Owens, I want to thank you for waking up something up deep inside me that I've kept buried for 19 years. Ever since you started running that damn mealy mouth of yours talking about the state of Texas, the great state of Texas, you got my attention.  "And why would you want to do that Kevin? I can think of two reasons. One, you are one dumb son of b—. Or two, you are looking to get your a— kicked by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Whether you want to call this a KO Show, a match, a fight, a brawl, whatever. I will guarantee you this, in Dallas, Texas, where I started my career at WrestleMania, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is going to open up one last can of whoopa— on you, Kevin Owens. And that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so."  

Austin was the face of WWE during the Attitude Era in the late 1990s. He won the WWE Championship six times, the Intercontinental Championship twice, the Tag Team Championship four times, the King of the Ring in 1996 and the Royal Rumble match three times. Last year, PopCulture.com spoke to Austin before WrestleMania 37 about the two-night format of the event. 

"I'm still working on that because it's kind of a new thing," Austin said to PopCulture. "It's different, but with the pandemic, I guess they got creative and decided let's spread it over two days and give the guys and girls more time. I kind of dig it. I'm down with it."   

0comments
Start the Conversation

of