Steve Austin on Potential WrestleMania 42 Appearance, Potentially Wrestling Another WWE Match in Future, If He Could Thrive in Today’s Wrestling Era, His Past Controversial CTE Comments, & More

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Austin’s thoughts about the potential of him making an appearance at this April’s WrestleMania 42 event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“It’s funny because you’ll sit there or they’ll put something on [Instagram] and people will say, ‘Oh, no, no. Man, he’s too old. Let the current talent have the spotlight.’ Let the current talent have the spotlight, of course. If I can go out there and do something, that’d be fine. But God damn, when I crashed that four-wheeler last year up there against that wall, man, you talk about sh***ing the bed big time. I was so pissed off about that. Because I was looking forward to going out there and announcing the attendance and then watching the show, seeing what kind of show the superstars were going to put on. And, man, I sh*t the bed on the big stage.

We’ll see if they have me back. If they do, that’s cool. I always say — they got a pretty good roster, you know? So I think those guys and gals, they need all the time.”

Austin also gave his thoughts about if he gets the itch to return to WWE and the potential of him wrestling again in the future.

“It’d be to go back for one of those moments. Not a match itch, right? I got a left knee replacement a little over a year ago. And God dang, my leg feels good, I’m glad I got it done. But, yeah, I get the itch for certain moments. But to try and do a match? No.”

Austin also gave his thoughts about if he is interested in doing a cinematic match in the future for a potential return.

“No. Yes and no. Because it could be done. But I remember that (Boneyard) match (between AJ Styles & The Undertaker) and it was the right time for that match. To keep doing those, I don’t think so. But I remember watching that. I enjoyed the hell out of that. I’ll go five-star, okay? Whatever the scale is. I loved it, I love both guys as talents, as human beings. So it was badass. But they did it. I don’t know that I wanna see a whole lot more of it. But it’s almost like a mini-movie, almost like the Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ video, right? Longer, but, I don’t think so. I think I’m good.”

Austin also gave his thoughts about if he could thrive as a star in today’s era of pro wrestling.

“Well, I would have had to, and you know this, kind of when you see old footage of Jim Brown, the great running back. It looks like he wasn’t that fast, but he was and he was big and he was just running over everybody so it’d be like, hey, could Jim Brown thrive in today’s NFL? Yes, he could. He was that damn good so, yeah, of course I think I could navigate the waters because the talent is what it is and it’s a high level but, if you could make it in any era, I think you could make it in today’s era.”

Austin also gave his thoughts about his current belief that AJ Styles will wrestle another match in the future despite his recent retirement from his in-ring wrestling career.

“I’m glad to hear you say that at 48 — whatever he is years old — that AJ Styles is young, because he is. In a sense, he’s post-prime and he’s gonna get older, but God dang, so many people don’t understand that you really don’t hit your peak years until — and like I said, he’s post-prime, but what a monster career he’s had. One of the best workers ever that I’ve seen, and I just love the guy. I don’t know him real well personally. We speak every now and then. But he’s had a phenomenal run. I’m glad he’s going into the Hall of Fame. He’ll have one more, he’ll get the itch. But I’m glad you said that, yeah, he’s still young… Not to go back on my retirement but I retired at 38. Sh*t man. That’s when you really put it all together, (mentally) and physically. You (are) post-prime but your mind, that’s when your mind is at its best because you’ve done so much and you’ve soaked in so much and you can apply it all…”

Austin also gave his thoughts about his past controversial comments downplaying the serious effects of CTE and concussion injuries have on wrestlers. Austin made these comments during an interview segment in Netflix’s Mr. McMahon docuseries in 2024.

“Well, I remember they were doing a documentary one time and they were talking about CTE at the time, and this was, Jesus, 15, 20 years ago. I think we just had this conversation on the telephone a long time ago. 20 years ago, and I said that, ‘Hey man, I don’t think if you work in the business of pro wrestling, you shouldn’t have a whole lot of concussions and maybe you’re doing it wrong’ and I was speaking from a classical, Ric Flair-type style of wrestling that you shouldn’t be having a bunch of things and man, all of a sudden — I’m not really answering your question but, I just remember my Twitter timeline started blowing up and the people got mad as hell at me and they said, ‘Oh! You don’t believe in CTE?’ I was like, ‘God dang.’ I said, ‘No, I believe in CTE. Just not as it really kind of applies technically to pro wrestling.’

It’s gonna be a hot button that everybody starts sounding off so, I’ll get out of it but, that was just kind of being put on the spot about it and I answered accordingly so, sh*t, I don’t know… I’m not a scientist, I’m not a doctor… I took a lot of bumps and took some shots but, do I forget things every now and then? Yeah, well, I’m 61. I think that kind comes with the territory. But, I’ve seen most of the guys that I know are pretty cool.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4