Backstage News On Steve Austin & The Rock's WWE WrestleMania 39 Statuses

For a brief time this past month, it looked like WWE could potentially have both Steve Austin and The Rock lined up for either Night One or Night Two of WrestleMania 39 this April. But as the dust settles from Royal Rumble weekend and the picture for WrestleMania becomes clearer, it instead seems that neither man will be wrestling in Los Angeles two months from now.

While it was already known that The Rock was unlikely to wrestle at WrestleMania 39, today's Wrestling Observer Radio reports that Austin also likely won't be wrestling, though doesn't rule out either man appearing at the event. "As far as Austin goes, Steve might be at the show, he might do something on the show, but he did, in fact, turn down wrestling at the show. He was offered Lesnar, he was offered Roman Reigns. He could've named his opponent if he wanted to do it with anybody else. But he did not choose to wrestle on the show. The same goes for Dwayne," according to WOR.

Before news emerged that he wouldn't be wrestling on the show, Rock was heavily rumored to challenge Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, who will now be taking on Cody Rhodes in the main event. Meltzer did note however that a Rock-Reigns Mania match could still be in the cards, just for WrestleMania 40 in 2024 instead. "He left the door open for next year, if he has more time," Meltzer said.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Observer Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.