WWE Rumors: Key Update Released Regarding Stone Cold's WrestleMania 38 Return

After being rumored to have his first pro wrestling match since retiring in 2003, it now seems that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin will stay on the sidelines for WrestleMania 38.

As reported by Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, Austin still has not agreed to a match at WrestleMania 38 as of last Friday, March 4 and will instead be confronting Kevin Owens at the event.

"It's essentially up to Austin at this point. They want the match, they thought they had the match and [Stone Cold] Steve [Austin]...there's a reason he hasn't wrestled in 19 years. I just know that as of Friday, he had not agreed to do the match even though it was on the books. Now, it's on the books as a confrontation,” Meltzer revealed.

Seeds of a match between Owens and the WWE Hall of Famer were planted on the February 14 episode of WWE Raw where the former debuted an “anti-Texas gimmick”.

At the time, pro wrestling outlets such as Fightful Select tried to get confirmation about an Austin-versus-Owens match at WrestleMania but failed to do so as even backstage personnel were unaware of the plans for the pair.

Controversial pro wrestling figure and former WWE writer Vince Russo was also vehemently against the idea of "The Texas Rattlesnake" doing another match but was approving of him having a face-to-face encounter with Owens at the WWE’s biggest show of its calendar.

Austin has remained a popular figure in WWE despite not wrestling as his work during the Attitude Era of the late 90s and early 2000s has made him an icon across generations.

His titanic on-screen feud with WWE chairman Vince McMahon pushed pro wrestling to the top of pop culture, with his “What?” chant still being used to this day.

Despite him being retired for almost two decades, Austin made sporadic appearances across WWE programming and it was always a massive treat for the fans live in attendance.

A joust between Austin and Owens would have been a massive draw based on the star power that the former alone carries, but his well-documented history of injuries and medical procedures have surely played a role in his hesitancy to have another match.

However, having Austin make an appearance at WrestleMania in his home state of Texas should be more than enough of a draw for WWE.