In the main event of WrestleMania 38 – Night 1, Stone Cold Steve Austin came out of retirement after 19 years and defeated Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred match.
During an interview on The Takedown On SI, Austin revealed what he regrets from this match:
“I was happy in a moment, but, you know, they didn’t send me a ring down. I didn’t have any timing. I think they interviewed Triple H, The Undertaker, and (Hulk) Hogan. Each one of them said something that was so true.
Paul (Levesque) said, you can come back, but you don’t know what you have, because you haven’t been out there. Undertaker said, you’re not going to have any timing. He was right. I didn’t have any timing. Hell, I hadn’t hit a set of ropes in 19 years. Hadn’t thrown a punch in 19 years.
Hogan says you’re just not calloused up. Your body is not as hard as it used to be. He was right, because when you take off, people talk about ring rust, that’s timing. So, I had no timing. Hogan was talking about being calloused up… those ropes hurt. Those bumps hurt.
If you make a long comeback, it takes you two or three months to get those callouses back, so that your body doesn’t hurt after every single match. You build up an immunity to it, so they each made valid points.
Like Paul said, you don’t know what you got until you get out there, because you can think you got it, but you don’t. When I went out there, I think I couldn’t hear the crowd as much as I wanted to.
When I watched it back, the crowd was into it. It was very, very loud, yes, but I wish I would have taken more time, savored more moments, and worked the people a little bit more than I did.
I think I was in a space of not knowing what I had and trying to be a little too frantic. I could have slowed down drastically and made that better. I wish that I would have. I haven’t told too many people that, but I told you.”
Related: Steve Austin Has Bad News For Fans Ahead Of WrestleMania 41
Also Read: Stone Cold Steve Austin Reacts To John Cena’s Heel Turn
