Jim Ross On Why Steve Austin Didn’t Want A Match At WrestleMania 38

Stone Cold Steve Austin is set to appear at WrestleMania 38 during a special addition of the Kevin Owens Show.

After being called out by Owens to end Monday Night RAW, Stone Cold accepted the invitation during a special video from his ranch in Texas, which Owens responded to, stating he's looking forward to it. WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross spoke prior to the announcement of the match on the latest episode of the Grilling JR Podcast about the rumors that Austin would be wrestling at Mania 38 and revealed a conversation he had with his old friend.

"Looks like Austin is not going to do anything at WrestleMania as far as wrestling in the ring I had heard," Jim Ross said. "He and I had talked, but at the time we talked he didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't sound overwhelmingly enthusiastic about it. People got to understand Steve is a perfectionist. Even though he stays in great shape and looks wonderful, especially for a guy his age, he looks great. That's just the athlete in him and the fact that he likes to train and eat right.

"If he was going to wrestle at WrestleMania, this is just me talking, I would suggest that had to have been decided six months ago. Not only to build the story to that crescendo in Dallas at WrestleMania but to give him more time to train better, more piece of mind and you know he's going to hand pick his opponent, why wouldn't you let him hand pick his opponent for god sakes. What difference do you care, if you're the promoter what you do is you want him on the card so you can sell tickets or pay per views as well."

During his response video to Owens, Austin stated that whether it's the KO show, a match or a brawl, it's going to lead to an ass kicking in Texas. Although it was confirmed to be just an appearance on the Kevin Owens show for Austin, it could turn into a quick match similar to what we've seen in the past with The Rock vs. Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32 or John Cena vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34. Prior to finding out about Austin's appearance at WrestleMania being confirmed, Jim Ross stated why he's not optimistic for Austin to have a great match and believes Austin would've liked to pull off something perfect if he were coming back to wrestle.

"I don't have a lot of optimism for it," Ross said. "I don't want to be a negative nelly, but he's not going to do unless he thinks he can pull off something perfect and I don't know that he can do that even in my mind or his mind with only a few weeks to prepare for it. I know him and he doesn't like surprises and he likes to prepare, if anything, over prepared. He likes to give the fans their moneys worth and he's got a legacy that he's built around the Stone Cold brand that he's not going to purposely or by his own hand, make himself look bad and I don't blame him.

"People say thats ego, no that's being a perfectionist, that's being a performer. You think Tom Brady cares about when he's playing, does he want to win the game or does it matter anymore? All these perfectionists want to be perfect, that's their nature and that element alone is what drives many of them to great success. Nothing less than perfection and being at your very best will do. I know Steve probably better than anybody and he's just the kind of guy that wants to make sure the game plan is good, prepared, all of that. Wouldn't you think if you're going to have Stone Cold on the card, as we record this he's not, he may be there with a wave and a Stunner on somebody, but that's not having a match."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.