Steve Austin on WWE WrestleMania 38 match vs. Kevin Owens: ‘I had no timing’

  • Ian Carey
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Steve Austin wishes he’d have slowed down and savored more crowd reactions during his match at WrestleMania 38.

Austin defeated Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred match on night one of the two-night event from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was his first match in over 19 years, his previous bout being a loss to The Rock at WrestleMania XIX.

Austin spoke about his performance that night during a recent interview with Sports Illustrated.

“I was happy in a moment, but, you know, they didn’t send me a ring down,” he said. “I didn’t have any timing.”

“(Triple H) 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.”

Austin mentioned that Hulk Hogan told him every move he did would hurt more because his body was no longer as calloused as it had been during his in-ring career. He also says he wishes he’d worked the crowd more and savored their reactions to the match.

“I think I couldn’t hear the crowd as much as I wanted to,” Austin continued. “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. And I wish that I would have. I haven’t told too many people that, but I told you.”

Our own Dave Meltzer awarded the match three and a half stars, tied for the third-highest rating of the night. Cagematch ratings also have it third for the night, behind only Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins and Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch.