Stone Cold Steve Austin Reveals Why He Turned Down Multiple Offers For WWE WrestleMania 39 Match

Following his in-ring return at WrestleMania 38, in which he defeated Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred Match in the main event of night one, WWE tried desperately to get Stone Cold Steve Austin to commit to another match at WrestleMania 39. The Texas Rattlesnake was reportedly offered matches with Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and even LA Knight but all of WWE's attempts to get Austin to return were in vain as the Showcase of the Immortals came and went without any steveweisers from Stone Cold. 

Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Austin revealed why he turned down the opportunity to wrestle at WrestleMania 39. 

"I haven't spoken to this, but I'll give you the story. I met with some people from WWE. We talked about the possibility of me wrestling at WrestleMania 39. The biggest thing in my mind was the presentation and what kind of match it was going to be. Going back to 38, the way the KO thing was presented - I love KO - I turned that down three, four, five times until the creative finally came to what it ended up being. I didn't want it constructed as a real match, per se. I needed something that could turn into one, and it did, but I think that's why we got away with it. The Dallas crowd was very receptive. I hadn't been around, so the timing was right," Austin began.

"But to do a proper match, I'd have to be in off-the-charts shape. I told them, and this is the exact truth, I said, 'Guys, I'm just fixin' to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don't know what my life looks like. I can't commit.' Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did. There's no way, with the schedule I was doing - driving an RV all over God's creation, doing all I was doing - that I would be ready. I had two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag, and a 25-pound kettlebell. Working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30 or 40-minute workout, that doesn't get you ready for WrestleMania. And I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn't going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn't commit."

Stone Cold Takes on America is set to premiere in the United States on A&E on Sunday, April 30 at 10 pm ET. The docuseries will see Stone Cold drive an RV around the United States "on an epic adventure as he redefines what life after years in the ring looks like and experiences everything he missed out on while focused on his career."

If WWE plan to ask Austin to come out of retirement for a match at WrestleMania 40 is unknown.