Steve Austin put a kibosh on reports that part of the reason that we will not wrestle again was from realizing how dangerous a return to the ring would be after filming Tough Enough and banging himself up in the ring. Austin called it a “Total. Bulls–t. Story.” on Twitter.
Austin has often said that he was physically able to wrestle again. When asked by Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast if he would return for a match, Austin revealed why he probably wouldn’t.
“To totally get ready for a high caliber match like WrestleMania 30, I would think that would mean a three month training window – for timing, getting back in the ring, taking bumps, to do it right,” Austin said. “You do that, you bump for three months, you get in the storylines, you go to the Monday Night RAWs, you do the creative, you have the big blast-off match at WrestleMania… and then, there it is. There’s the big match at WrestleMania. Then what?
“Then three months later you’re going to get your paycheck after all the pay-per-view counts come back, and then you cash your check. Then what? Where do you go? You make some money, but you get all revved up. You have your thirty minute window, and then what? You’ve gotta decompress, download, maybe recover…
“I know where I’m at in my life right now where anything’s possible. Being involved in some capacity would be fun. But, I like the way I operated back then, I like the way the landscape was back then, I like the creative liberties and freedoms I had back then. I don’t know that walking in there right now, that I would have those same freedoms, and I don’t know that I could operate in that system.
“And when I say what’s next, I mean that on a personal front, I mean Steve Austin as a person. I know there so many of my fans that follow me on Twitter, and who listen to my show – The Steve Austin Show – that would love to see me in a match. And I love my fans first and foremost, and they are people that I worked hard for, to build up that fan base and they’ve been really, really loyal to me and I really, really treasure them. And I know they’d like to see me in a match. You’ve just gotta understand that the shoes that I’m in right now, and where I’m at now, that I don’t say that to insult you or that you would want me to be in another match, it’s just a personal thing with me. Again, I love the wrestling business and the fans, my fans, and I love the WWE.”
