Steve Austin's WrestleMania 38 Status Reportedly Up In The Air
Steve Austin and Kevin Owens are now scheduled for a confrontation at WrestleMania 38, as was noted by Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. There have been reports in recent weeks that the Texas Rattlesnake was set to compete in a genuine match against KO. However, that appears to not be a guarantee anymore.
The match between Steve Austin and Owens had been on the books, but that has now been switched to just a confrontation. The Hall Of Famer is expected to be appearing on the show in some capacity. But things are no longer clear, and it is very much down to Steve Austin himself.
WWE would like him to wrestle and have a match, but it depends on whether the 57-year-old wants to do that. Stone Cold has been involved in the promotional videos for the event, which is taking place in Texas. But it remains to be seen if fans will see him in action.
Of course, Kevin Owens has been pushing the storyline heavily in recent weeks on Monday Night Raw. The former Universal Champion has been trash-talking Texas on a regular basis, which fans believed as building to this rivalry. KO has been called out via Twitter by other legends from the state, with JBL and Booker T continuing the storyline.
During a recent episode of the Grilling JR Podcast, AEW's Jim Ross shared a story about Steve Austin. He reflected on a tense conversation they shared together at one point. This resulted in Austin getting a million-dollar check for his t-shirt sales.
"One of the most intense conversations we had on time was about him turning babyface," Ross mentioned. "G*d damn, he hated that. He cussed me and he said, 'I'm not going for it.' I said 'Oh, Jesus Christ. You're not going to go for it? Why are you here? I know why you're here, you're here to make money. Right or wrong?' I gave him some merchandise numbers of what Hogan earned back in the day. And it had been years later, the information had been obsolete but it was accurate.
"I said 'You don't want that t-shirt money? You don't want that no-bump money? I know you're smarter than that, that doesn't make any sense, Steve. Here's the beautiful part about it, the way you work, you don't beg off much and you don't do typical heel s**t.' I said you're missing the boat and then I remembered when the checks were coming out and I asked the check guy to bring me a list of all the royalty checks, and Steve Austin got a million-dollar check for selling t-shirts, Austin 3-16's."