Stone Cold Steve Austin's WWE plans canceled

The WWE: Unreal docuseries has revealed that Stone Cold Steve Austin was set to return to the promotion in a major role. The Netflix series focuses on the build-up to WrestleMania 41, and a photo from the company's creative room has shed light on the promotion's now-scrapped plans for The Texas Rattlesnake.

Austin last featured in a wrestling capacity at The Showcase of the Immortals when he wrestled Kevin Owens in the main event of Night One of WrestleMania 38. While the legend appeared at WrestleMania 41, he was supposed to have a different role on the show.

WWE: Unreal, which premiered on July 29, takes fans backstage, offering a dive into WWE's creative process. On one of the episodes, fans can catch a glimpse of the original plans for WrestleMania 41 as the camera captures the initial card on a whiteboard. It shows a vastly different card from the one that eventually materialized.

The early card was set to feature Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a one-on-one match, and it also mentioned plans for Austin. According to this card, Stone Cold Steve Austin was going to be the special guest referee for a match between Bron Breakker and Drew McIntyre.

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As fans know, these plans didn't come to fruition with Breakker and McIntyre being involved in different matches, and Stone Cold Steve Austin made his WWE return to announce the official attendance for the show.

Breakker ended up losing his Intercontinental Championship in a Fatal-Four-Way match, eventually won by Dominik Mysterio. Meanwhile, McIntyre beat Damian Priest in a Sin City Street Fight.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was close to returning at WrestleMania XL

WrestleMania 41 wasn't the first time WWE planned to get Stone Cold Steve Austin involved. Reportedly, there were plans for him to show up for the dramatic ending to WrestleMania XL that saw appearances from The Rock, John Cena, and The Undertaker.

Last year, in an appearance on Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed how close he was to returning at WrestleMania XL.

"Oh, it was close, and they certainly reached out to me. We had conversations, but my wife and I had some things going on that I didn't need to go to Philly at that time," Austin said. [21:47 - 21:57]

In the interview, Austin did express a desire to be at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, and WWE had him in its plans.

If you use quotes from the second half of this article, please credit Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

About the author

Sherjeel Malik is a writer at Sportskeeda and covers pro wrestling. He was hooked on the product from the moment he saw The Hardy Boyz jumping off ladders during the Attitude Era. While he comes from an engineering background, Sherjeel’s love for pro wrestling and content writing led him to pursue a career in sports journalism. Before assuming his current role at Sportskeeda, Sherjeel worked at other reputable organizations for five years.

While writing articles, he ensures that he only relies on credible sources for information and covers relevant subjects that do not project an agenda against a particular person or association. WWE legend Paul Heyman once shared Sherjeel’s work on his social media handle.

Sherjeel’s earliest memory of pro wrestling is watching Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker square off for the WWE Title in the main event of a pay-per-view in 1998. His favorite wrestlers are Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. While he admires Orton for his character work as a heel, he looks up to Jeff because of his unique wrestling style and risk-taking ability.

If he could go back to the Attitude Era, Sherjeel would like to manage Ken Shamrock and be his mouthpiece. He feels Shamrock’s promo skills prevented him from becoming a main event-level act in WWE. Hence, he would like to help the UFC Hall of Famer get over with fans.

When not writing about pro wrestling, he likes to read classics and fiction books.

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Edited by Pratik Singh