Stone Cold talks WrestleMania, and it sounds like he’s fixing to take some bumps

It’s 3:16 Day, which always means some Stone Cold Steve Austin content. This year, the WWE Hall of Famer is getting ready to do something more than a “Hell Yeah” & a stunner but less than an official match at WrestleMania 38 in a couple weeks. So we were definitely getting something.

Austin talked to Rich Eisen on Eisen’s eponymous podcast today, and his pitch for his ‘Mania “confrontation” with Kevin Owens gave us some indication of what to expect:

“This opportunity comes up, Kevin Owens starts running me down and gets my attention. It was a thing where, I kind of said, ‘I’m never going to get in the ring again.’ In this business, never say never. I said I would never get in, but prompted by the right person at the right time, hell, I wish he would have pissed me off a little sooner than he did to give me more time to prep. Once you step into the ring, it’s like stepping onto a football field, that’s where business happens. We don’t know what it’s going to escalate to...

“I’m doing this for me. I’m going out there to have a damn blast. I’m gonna have fun and I’m gonna wear these two fists out on Kevin Owens. I’m sure he’s going to get some too because he’s had an amazing career. I’m glad he pissed me off when he did.”

Without going into too much detail, Austin did discuss getting ready after so many years where his in-ring appearances have been limited to a promo and his finisher:

“It’s going to be an interesting challenge because in my documentary awhile back on A&E, I said as an active performer, you never want to come off of the road because if you come off of the road, you become soft. In the NFL, a football player would tell you the same thing, you go through the season, and you have to get calloused up and ready to go. So he’s ready to go, and I’ve got my work cut out for me on Sat., April 2. I’m going to be there whippin’ some ass.

“When I left, I didn’t want to leave. At WrestleMania 19, my neck had presented some problems. After I had got spiked and landed on my head in 1999, I had my neck fused up, and it was time for me to ride off into the sunset and do something else. So, this comeback means a lot to me.

“As I’ve been getting back into ring shape, I’m going to go out there and do the absolute best I can, but I’ve said this on my Biography if I can just refer back to it again — My wife knows how much I love her, my family knows how much I love them, my daughters and my stepdaughter knows how much I love them, but professional wrestling — they call it sports entertainment these days — is the number one passion in my life. I like to hunt, I like to fish, I like to ride my four-wheelers, but the business of sports entertainment is in my blood. So, to get a chance to go back on the world’s grandest stage in one of the greatest stadiums of all time, it means a lot to me. I’m doing this for the fans, I’m doing this for WWE, but I’m doing this for me number one.”

The 57 year old Texan did crack open a cold one with Eisen to celebrate his day (What? His new Broken Skull American Lager). Other than that?

“But then it’ll be back to hardcore training for WrestleMania 38 because, you know, I got a can of whoop-ass it might be the last can I have in me, but I’ve got one last can for Kevin Owens. I’m gonna give it to him in fine fashion.”

Hell yeah.