Steve Austin on working a match at WrestleMania 30: 'A shot in the dark'

Steve Austin was a guest on the PWTorch Livecast Friday and chatted about the latest happenings in the world of professional wrestling with the host, PWTorch editor Wade Keller.

During the show, Austin and Keller fielded questions from callers. One of the callers asked Austin whether he would return to the ring for one more match at WrestleMania 30 next year.

Austin, not one to give people the proverbial run around, was very straight forward in his answer, and essentially made it clear that the chances of him returning to the ring next April are very slim to none.

Among the reasons Austin gave for the slim chances of his return were him having to get back into ring shape and the current creative direction of the WWE not necessarily fitting the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin character.

"If I were to get ready for a match, let's call it WrestleMania 30, you need about a three-month prep for that," Austin said during the show. "I've been out of the ring 10 or 11 years, if not longer. I don't even remember. So to properly train for that match would be bumping in the ring every single day for a couple of hours along with all of the other things I would need to do and get on the road and get back into timing and stuff like that."

"Take all this time, dedicate that window of time to accomplish this one goal and then go from that to where? It's a dead-end street," Austin continued. "Yeah, you can cash a pretty good check at the end of the rainbow, but then the rainbow is over and I got to go back to doing whatever else I was doing."

"I've made inroads into the fields of business that I'm in right now," he added. "I'm very comfortable doing what I'm doing right now. I enjoy my reality television stuff, some of the acting stuff. I enjoy my podcast. I'm pretty busy. I enjoy spending time with my wife and my dogs and going back and forth from Los Angeles to Texas. I'm down here at the [Broken Skull] ranch for two months of hunting, so I enjoy my schedule."

"Also, you got put yourself in my shoes and go back to let's call it the 'Attitude Era,' when things were hot in heavy and I came, said and did whatever I wanted within reason — not saying the F-bombs on TV, and go back to the system which is so heavily scripted. I don't know that it's a world that 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin could exist in," Austin said.

Keller jumped in and asked Austin if he could completely rule out stepping back into the ring at WrestleMania next year.

To that Austin said it would be a "shot in the dark." He didn't necessarily rule out an appearance, but actually working a match is all but ruled out given his hectic schedule.

Keller then asked what are the chances that Austin works one more match in the next couple of years.

"Probably for the most part I wouldn't see it happening," Austin said. "To be quite frank and candid with you I don't see it happening. Again, anything could change, but it would really have to be for the right reason. It would have to work for everybody. I love my wrestling fans and I know the fans would love to see one more 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin match. I would have to make sure it would be a good enough 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. You never know until you go in there and have that match, but I don't want to go in there on a personal note and be 90 percent of what I was. That's just not how I want to be remembered. I want people to remember me for good or bad, but the nostalgia of it all, the 'one more time' thing is great, but I don't know. Maybe it's best to leave well enough alone."

Austin did say that if he did return to the ring, there a few names that would pique his interest as opponents. That three he rattled off were CM Punk, Brock Lesnar and Triple H.

On Triple H: "I always enjoyed working with Triple H because he's good in the ring."

On CM Punk: "I got a lot of respect for Punk. I like his promos and I think we could light it up [on the microphone] and in the ring as well."

On Lesnar: "Brock is just from the standpoint of that time I no-showed in Atlanta and didn't get a chance to do the favors for him because it wasn't time to. I have a lot of respect for Brock and I consider him a friend. On paper it's damn good, in the ring it could be damn good."

The time Austin was referring to was in 2002 when Austin refused to show up to a taping of Raw because he did not agree with the creative direction WWE was trying put him in.

On that particular show, Austin was slated to lose in one of the opening rounds of the King of the Ring tournament to Lesnar. Austin didn't believe that the match should have been given away for free on television and that it should have been built up for a pay-per-view.

The WWE stood firm on what it wanted and Austin stepped away from WWE for nearly a year. Lesnar eventually won the tournament and went on to win the WWE Championship from The Rock at Summerslam.

Despite some agreeing with Austin's stance, Austin still holds this as one of the biggest regrets of his wrestling career.

Austin also mentioned John Cena as a potential opponent and admitted that he would make more sense to face than Triple H because he's face Triple H on a number of occasions.

Austin and Keller discuss these topics and much more on the show. To listen to the full free portion of the episode, click HERE.