Steve Austin's return to the ring and match with Kevin Owens on Saturday was perhaps the main highlight of WrestleMania 38 weekend in Arlington, Texas.
Ahead of WrestleMania, Austin agreed to show up as a special guest on "The KO Show." It was widely assumed that Austin would get physical, of course, but it was a pleasant surprise when he actually challenged The Prized Fighter to a No Holds Barred bout. A referee was rushed to the ring, and just like that, Austin was ready to wrestle his first match in 19 years.
Owens and the WWE Hall of Famer put on an exciting back-and-forth clinic, and the bout ended with The Texas Rattlesnake picking up the pinfall victory in his home state. Austin simply didn't look like a 57-year-old who hadn't wrestled an official match since 2003. But as you'd probably guess, he's supposedly not planning to continue his in-ring career.
According to Paul Davis of WrestlingNews.co, the backstage talk "is that Austin was happy with his performance in the match with Kevin Owens and there are no plans for him to wrestle again."
This shouldn't come as a surprise in the slightest. After retiring from wrestling in 2003, Austin seemed very adamant about never wanting to wrestle again. The Texas Rattlesnake took pride in his in-ring performance, and according to Jim Ross, it's a key reason why he didn't think a match with Hulk Hogan would be a good idea.
It's unlikely that Austin would put on a better all-around performance than what we saw at WrestleMania 38 weekend, so it's no wonder that he's presumably keen on staying retired from here.
Austin & Owens Stole The Show
One can argue that Owens and Austin should have closed out WrestleMania 38 weekend, especially considering how disappointing the Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns "Winner Takes All" bout was. But those two single-handedly stole the show and made WrestleMania 38 weekend look better than it actually was. The Texas Rattlesnake's return to the ring, put simply, will undoubtedly go down as the defining moment of this year's show.