“Stone Cold” Steve Austin Says He is Unlikely to Wrestle Again

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin made headlines across the wrestling universe this past Monday night after his in-depth and detailed live podcast with Vince McMahon aired on the WWE Network.  The two touched on various controversial topics, including CM Punk, Jim Ross, WWE locker room ambition among other areas.

One topic the two did not hit on was Austin’s in-ring future. There has been speculation for some time Austin could return to the ring at some point for one last match, possibly at WrestleMania 32. This was fueled further by reports of WWE wishing to make the Hall of Famer more prominent on WWE television over the course of the next year, which already begin with the push for the live podcast.

In an interview with WWE.com, however, Austin put the rumors of an in-ring return to bed…for now. Below is an excerpt from the article.

“WWE.COM: Now that you’re entering people’s eardrums with your podcast every week, chatter about your in-ring return has reached a fever pitch. Is there any part of you that wishes the rumors would die down?

AUSTIN: That’s all just chatter, because you never hear me on the podcast selling myself in a match. Hulk Hogan’s trying to stir a matchup, calling me a coward. A lot of what I say breaks over into the mainstream, but I don’t ever want to sell a match that I cannot deliver, because I wouldn’t be living up to my word.

WWE.COM: Point blank, is there any chance we’ll see the black trunks and black boots anytime in the near or distant future?

AUSTIN: As we speak right now, no.”

There had been some confusion after Austin allegedly revealed he was training for an in-ring comeback, though it appears those comments were merely taken out of context.

The entire interview with Austin can be found here.

Editor’s Note

I still believe we saw his last match at WrestleMania 19. That’s a long time between then and now, but who knows. Never say never in wrestling.

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