Austin’s back in a new roleby Phil SpeerWWE fans last saw Stone Cold Steve Austin on the March 31 episode of RAW, one day after WrestleMania XIX, where the Texas Rattlesnake wrestled The Rock.
"In this business, I've learned never say never," Austin told WWE.com. "But I would say probably 99.9 percent out of 100 that you'll never see Rock and Stone Cold in the ring again."
Asked why he was so confident that he'd never battle The Rock again, Austin said, "I'm not wrestling anymore. That was my last match."
It turns out that Eric Bischoff's comments about Stone Cold's health on that episode of RAW – the one in which Bischoff fired Austin -- were the truth.
"That was a short version of a long story," Austin said. "I've got some serious problems in my neck. It's too long and too complicated to discuss. But a lot of the reasons I walked out of this company seven or eight months ago were things I didn't want to talk about at the time because we had WrestleMania coming up. The biggest reason I walked away was because my health is going downhill so badly, and I can't compete at an acceptable level to me, and at a risk factor that's high enough to me. Everything I do in that ring is very dangerous and makes me go even further downhill. It's potentially something where I could end up being a quadriplegic. That was the biggest reason I walked out. The creative and the political issues were just icing on the cake -- the straw that broke the camel's back."
Austin underwent spinal cord fusion surgery in late 1999 -- "it feels like yesterday," he said -- and returned one year later feeling great. But his neck problems have come back to haunt him, he says, and even his eight-month hiatus from WWE, from June to February, didn't help.
"My health has been bothering me for a long time, but I'm Stone Cold Steve Austin. That's not something that we discuss with the public," he said.
But Austin revealed that he had three MRI exams in the two months leading up to WrestleMania.
"The bottom line is, my health sucks as far as my neck goes," he said. "I need two other levels fused. I'm not going to have them fused at this time. But nonetheless, I've got a lot of problems.
"I'm not sitting here bellyaching about how bad my health is. I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me. That's not what this is about. I'm taking myself out of the ballgame because I'm at risk for further damage. There are people (who are) a lot that are a lot worse off than me. I meet Make-A-Wish kids all day long. So I'm not singing a sad story. I don't feel sorry for myself; I don't want anybody else to feel sorry for me."
Austin says he's not a candidate for the procedure that Kurt Angle had -- a substantially less invasive surgery performed Dr. Hae-Dong Jho -- because "Kurt's deal (injury) is completely different than mine. I can't go into technical terms because no one's going to understand them anyway. But it's a whole different deal. And I can't really elaborate on Kurt's deal because I haven't seen his MRIs."
Austin added that WWE fans will still get to see him. This new co-General Manager role guarantees that.
"I'm not done," he said. "Physically in the ring -- work-wise -- I'm done. We're going to do something where I'm going to stay around this place. This is what I do, this is what I was put here to do. It'll be a different role. It'll be an on-camera role. We'll see what happens. It'll be a work in progress. I'll probably end up staying with this company several more years, as a matter of fact. If the relationship's good -- it works for them and it works for me -- we'll keep rolling along."
With no more wrestling on his schedule, Austin said he'll once again consider acting opportunities, but "this is still my focus," he said, referring to WWE. "This new role is going to be a challenge. I want to expand on what I've done. I'm not doing what I'm doing in the ring anymore, so I want to expand psychologically and on every other level, as far as being a personality that's not in the ring but is obviously speaking a lot, and just like I've always done, not be like everybody else. (I want to) be something that's still equally entertaining, just not doing it in the ring. I still consider myself a main-eventer. It doesn't matter if I'm not in the ring. I'm still a main-eventer. I'm still Stone Cold Steve Austin. I'm still extremely valuable to this company, and it's very valuable to me."
Austin left open the possibility that he may one day change his mind and return to the ring when he was asked why he didn't call Rock-Austin III at 'Mania his retirement match.
"You never know," he said. "At this point, I'm out. But maybe there could be that one more match down the road. I'm not going to sit here and lie to the people. At this point, I'm out. Will my neck ever get better? No, it won't. Does it mean I won't change my mind and get back in the ring? No, it doesn't. It wasn't billed as a retirement match because that wasn't what it was about. It was just The Rock and Stone Cold in the ring. And I guess because I am going to stay on in a capacity with the company -- not in the ring, but on TV -- I guess that's why we didn't call it a retirement match. Because I'm not going to leave this place yet."
One logical place for a one-night-only comeback match would be next year at WrestleMania XX. Austin said that's a possibility.
"If I can sneak in there with the right person, and not subject myself to too much punishment, then I would consider that," he said. "... (But) I refuse to go out there anymore, perform at a substandard level and have people judge me on what I'm putting out right now. I had a hell of a run. I'm completely satisfied with it. It'd be nice if I could go further, but I can't. So, the WrestleMania XX match? If I thought I could sneak by with it, the people were happy enough with it, they wanted to see it bad enough, and they could accept the fact that I can't perform anywhere close to 100 percent, I would consider it. And it's not even a money issue. Money doesn't even come into play. If I'm going to look anything less than what I'm suppose to be, I won't even consider it.”
If Rock-Austin III ends up being Austin's last match, Austin says he's satisfied.
"The match itself was real basic," he said. "I enjoyed the finish and the steps leading to the end of the match. We've certainly had hotter matches (and) better technical matches. This wasn't really a heated issue. It was more of an attraction. It was what it was. But anytime I get to step in the ring with The Rock, I enjoy it, and I did. I hadn't been in the ring in seven or eight months, so I was a little rusty, but for being gone so long, I was pleased with what I did."
The Rock was even more praiseworthy about the WrestleMania match.
"I loved it," he said. "I thought it was an emotional match, it was a physical match, and it was emotional in many, many different ways. It's a match I'll never ever forget, ever. It ranked right up there with the classics. I loved it."
Assuming The Rock has had his last battle with Austin, he was asked if Rock-Austin III was the right way for Stone Cold to bow out of the in-ring spotlight.
"I don't think you could ever truly say there's a right way and a wrong way," The Rock said. "Life is unpredictable. And I'm a firm believer in karma and things happening for a reason. And I don't say that meaning he deserved any of this. But life is unpredictable. Because he's a very good friend of mine, selfishly and personally I would have loved to see him go out with a grand exodus, grand exit, which personally I think he deserves considering what he's done for this business, and what he's done for me."
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