Stone Cold Return Match Not A One-Off?

Earlier this week, a report from Fightful revealed that WWE is in talks to bring back Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first match since 2003, with Kevin Owens penciled in as his opponent at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas.

Following the initial report, Andrew Zarian would reveal some more details on the story, confirming he has heard the same thing from his own sources within the company.

During the latest We’re Live, Pal podcast, Zarian would reveal that whilst the match isn’t officially signed, a source has informed him that an Austin return is closer than it ever has been. He would go on to reveal that he doesn’t think the match will be a one-off and could be the catalyst to set up a larger thing. Zarian would add:

“I don’t think this is a one-off. This is again, my speculation based on what was said. If he is having a match, right? If he’s actually going to have a match and it’s not just him coming out stunning Kevin Owens and getting a 1-2-3 and making the three-second, you know, bit, which is very possible, they could do that they could announce it and something could happen.”

“I would think, you know, you convince this man that you’ve been trying to convince for 17 years to come back. You finally have now convinced them you’re gonna only do one? I think Saudi Arabia had offered him like a $3 million a match offer right? I would if he does do something with Kevin Owens, this would not be a one-off. They would want to capitalize on a larger thing.”

Many fans have pointed to a recent quick-fire Q&A with Austin himself, where he would reveal that if he was to wrestle any modern-day Superstar, it would be Brock Lesnar.

Whilst the two men have never met in a match, they were advertised to be wrestling in a King of the Ring qualifying match in 2002, but Austin felt that jobbing to Lesnar on an episode of RAW with no build would be a waste when the match could easily main-event a major pay-per-view.

Perhaps this Austin return could eventually lead to the two men meeting, 20 years after the canceled match.

h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.