Legendary professional wrestler and WWE Hall-of-Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin just returned to the ring to compete in an official match for the first time in 19 years.
Austin turned up at WrestleMania 38, ostensibly to sit down for a chat with Kevin Owens on a special edition of The KO Show. However, Owens soon revealed his true intentions and challenged Austin to an anything-goes match. With the Dallas crowd behind him, Austin accepted and ultimately defeated Owens to close out the first night of this year’s ‘Mania. The Texas Rattlesnake had not wrestled in an official match since his loss to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at WrestleMania XIX in 2003. Nevertheless, the 57-year-old Austin was met with “you still got it” chants during his match with Owens.
Hailing from Victoria, Texas, Austin (real name Steve Williams) made his professional wrestling debut in 1989. After spending a few years in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Austin debuted in WWE (then known as WWF) as The Ringmaster in 1995. Not long after, he developed the fan-favorite “Stone Cold” anti-hero persona that would not only make him a megastar, but also arguably the biggest draw in WWE history.
Austin’s legendary feud with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was the backbone of the company’s “Attitude Era” and is viewed as one of the deciding factor’s in WWE’s victory over WCW in the fabled Monday Night War. Austin is also well known for his multi-WrestleMania-spanning feud with The Rock. The Texas Rattlesnake defeated The Great One at WrestleMania XV in 1999 and at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001 before Rocky finally got one over on Austin at ‘Mania XIX in the latter’s 2003 farewell match.
Prior to his retirement in 2003, Austin had been plagued with health issues ever since SummerSlam 1997. It was at that fateful show that Austin was severely injured following a botched piledriver delivered by the late Owen Hart. While Austin went on to wrestle for several more years, that incident caused lasting damage and is credited with significantly shortening the Rattlesnake’s career. Hence, why he’s been retired from in-ring competition for so long.
Nevertheless, Austin remains a fan-favorite and boasts one of the most impressive lists of accolades in WWE history, being a six-time WWE Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a four-time Tag Team Champion, a three-time Royal Rumble winner and a King of the Ring winner. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
All in all, it was an eventful first night of WrestleMania 38. Prior to Austin vs. Owens, The Usos defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, Drew McIntyre defeated Happy Corbin, The Miz and Logan Paul defeated Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio, Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch to claim the Raw Women’s Championship, the returning Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins and Charlotte Flair defeated Ronda Rousey to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
The advertised match pitting Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston of The New Day against Sheamus and Ridge Holland did not take place. It remains to be seen if the bout was cut entirely or will be featured as part of night two.
Currently, the WrestleMania 38 night two card consists of Queen Zelina and Carmella vs. Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan vs. Natalya and Shayna Baszler for the Women’s Tag Team Championships; RK-Bro vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy for the Raw Tag Team Championships; Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn; Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory; Edge vs. AJ Styles; Bobby Lashley vs. Omos; and Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns in a championship unification match.
Source: WrestleMania 38, via Twitter
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