Original subtitles

♪

- There is no one

that has ever laced their boots,

any more intense,

any more with the will to win,

than Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[crowd chants "Austin"]

- I'd run myself into the ground.

I wasn't in a great place and it was time to ride off

the sunset, and I did.

- To be at your prime and at the top of your game,

and then have to walk away.

Had to have been very difficult for him to cope with.

- I did not handle life after wrestling well at all.

I always said I would never come back.

But, then I also said if the stars ever aligned perfectly.

that I would,

- After 19 years, Stone Cold Steve Austin,

He is back.

- When you haven't done this for any period of time, and

all of a sudden you find yourself back going in the ring

that doubt is crippling.

- I'm always concerned about his health.

- Anything can happen out there.

- Your body needs to be grinded to be ready.

- I think some people are still on the fence as to what it

was going to be.

I didn't know mechanically what I could do.

- People didn't know what to expect.

- It's a hell of a gamble.

You don't know what you have.

Although I'll go into this with a clear head,

- I don't have that momentum confidence.

When that glass breaks, I'm Stone Cold.

I fear nothing, and I'm ready for everything.

Come here buddy.

Here's ol Rebel about 28 years old.

He's got some arthritis.

He's got some back problems.

So he's retired.

So he's living a good life and just hanging out,

eating in the pasture.

Every now and I'll come out here and drink a beer with him

Man, the grind of the road is behind me.

It's been behind me for a long time since

I walked away in 2003.

And coming out here to the middle of nowhere in Nevada.

Just a peaceful surroundings.

It's an absolute Paradise.

Now, all these years removed, my normal routine is

getting up about 5 or 6 in the morning,

having a few cups of coffee.

It takes about an hour to wake up.

All right.

Good morning.

All right.

See the things about chickens is

you start walking around in the coop,

there's a lot of chicken [bleep] in there.

Come on, y'all come on out.

Here you go. Here you go.

Normally when I'm coming out here, I'm just walking around

drinking coffee.

My wife will usually feed the

chickens and horses and all that stuff, and I kind of

watch her do that so-

The hard work out here is really done by my wife.

[chuckles]

That's the truth

Got three eggs.

What a super score.

Farm fresh eggs.

Start selling these at the grocery store.

It's a complete difference from what I was used

to on the road.

That-that's a grind that you put yourself through,

and it's an absolute blast.

My career wasn't the longest, but God dang man,

it was a rocket ride from hell.

But kind of started getting frazzled at a physical level

and somewhat of a mental level as well.

I was rolling pretty hard in those days

and that started to take its toll.

The lifestyle that I was living

and the environment that I was putting myself in

wasn't helping my physical status.

You kind of start putting two and two together and you think,

"hey, man, I might have worn my welcome out of

what my body is willing to put up with."

You never think about.

"Hey, man, this is the end."

All of a sudden, the end just kind of starts showing

itself or presenting itself in these small things that

start happening, and then you kind of start putting two

and two together, and you think at some point in time

you need to address the situation and decide,

you know, if you're going to stay in and continue the

risk, or are you going to get the [bleep] out.

And for me, it was time to get out.

- When it comes to walking away.

When it's not on your own term,

it's not what you want.

It's not the ideal.

We'd rather be able to write our own ending.

- Leading up to WrestleMania 19,

I had made the decision that that was going to be my last

match, just based on how I was feeling, how I was living.

I felt like [bleep].

This is going to be my last match and that's it.

So going into that match, I was just thinking,

"hey, everything's cool, it's my last match,

I'm ride off in the sunset.

But before that I was at the gym with Kevin Nash,

and we were on the recumbent bikes doing cardio,

and my nervous system was really jacked up and I didn't

know what was going on.

My feet were really shaking and trembling badly.

I walked back to my hotel room and I was on like floor 24.

It was way up there.

And I'm the only person in the elevator, put 24.

I go up and as I'm about to step off the elevator,

my heart starts beating.

I timed it, it was like 180 beats a minute,

and man, I think I'm going to die.

I'm thinking, "Man, [bleep], dude, this-

You're getting called this-

this is when you're going to leave the Earth."

And all of a sudden the doors open,

and there was Liz Difabio

WWE employee coming down the hall.

And I looked at her and I knew Liz, and I said,

"Liz, I'm in trouble."

Liz calls 911, two ambulances show up.

They're running all kinds of tests on me.

At the time, I was drinking, you know, one, two, three

bottles of wine a night.

I drank two pots of coffee

When I woke up in the morning, I'd drink three rip

fuels or whatever they call it before you go to the gym.

I was consuming so much caffeine and so much alcohol

and so little water that was basically dehydrated and my

nervous system was on the edge, so it just freaked out.

And so it turns out, as I'm laying there in a hospital

bed, you know, the doctor comes by the next morning and

I think he put four liters of fluid in me.

I was really dehydrated.

And he never cleared me to go to the ring uh and work,

but they cleared me to get me out of the hospital.

And even though I just spent the night in the hospital

when that glass broke, that was go mode.

[glass breaking]

[crowd cheering]

And you know what?

If I went out there and ripped it up with the Rock.

We had a great match, great.

If I end up, and then I died in the ring.

Well, [bleep] it, I died in the best place

I ever could have been.

- Here we go.

- Either way, you know, the job is goin' to get done.

- You're seeing one hell of a match-

between two of the greatest that have ever been in the ring.

Oh, the Stunner.

The Stunner.

- Oh my-

- And so three Rock Bottoms.

And when that third count went down,

I just felt like

[whoosh]

A peacefulness washed over me

because at that moment,

the pressure was gone.

I wasn't put myself at risk.

I wasn't going to live on the road anymore.

Life was going to change and it was probably

going to be a lot easier.

The stress was off.

There was relaxation.

I didn't kick the bucket.

And I can go home.

- To be at your prime and at the top of your game,

and then have to walk away.

Had to have been very difficult for him to cope with.

- Anytime you put your heart and soul into something for a

long period of time, it's hard to walk away from it.

- Coming out of that spotlight and going home,

it's a tough transition.

It's a lot harder than you think it is

and a lot of guys will self destruct.

- Retiring at 38 was very hard to process.

I did not handle life after wrestling well at all.

I didn't have a plan.

Just drank a lot.

I did a lot of hunting and fishing.

When you're used to being in front of people every night,

and you used to being on the road,

on one hand I thought, "Oh man, this is a great relaxation

because it's over, the pressure is over."

But you miss the people, you miss the boys,

you miss the adrenaline.

I can't say that in any way, shape or form

has anything I've done since

taken the place or filled the void,

that leaving professional wrestling held for me.

And I'd say it took me a couple of years to come

to grips with it and to really, honestly, you know,

get my feet back under me,

and start moving forward as a human being.

I was at the house in LA and Vince McMahon called me.

I didn't know what he was calling for and he said,

"Hey man, we'd like to put you in the Hall of Fame.

What do you think?"

Ain't like, he's asking me the question if I want to go in

the Hall of Fame.

like a God damn, I said, "Yeah, [bleep], I'll be there."

[glass breaking]

[Stone Cold Steve Austin's music]

- Going into the Hall of Fame that night,

from an emotional standpoint, extreme gratitude,

just because and through all the

things that I had done in my career man, first and foremost,

I worked my ass off to try to,

you know, learn how to entertain people.

And through all the highs and lows,

and struggles and good times and bad times,

my fan base has always stuck with me.

Thank you so much.

I want to thank you so much for always sticking with me.

It has been my pleasure and a privilege

to make my living in a squared circle, 20 feet by 20 feet.

- There's not too many things,

you know in this life that I'm good at,

and it's just uh

[crowd chants "One more match"]

- Yeah, I don't know about that.

I always said I would never come back-

And that's the bottom line.

'cause Stone Cold said so.

But then I also said.

If the stars ever aligned perfectly,

that I would.

As far as WrestleMania 38 goes,

the first reach out to me

It was a really weird thing because Vince McMahon

and Kevin Dunn wanted to come down and say hi to me,

and I told my wife, Kristen, I'm like, "Man, these [bleep],

they don't come down and say hi to anybody."

So anyway, they come over to-to this place right here.

And my wife cooks steaks and me and Vince have a drink.

Vince goes, "What do you think about, you know,

having one more match?"

And I shot him down.

I don't know, 4 or 5 times.

- It's a funny thing, because I think Steve has been talked

to many times before about doing things.

I think his name comes up, you know, probably yearly,

and there's a question asked about,

"Hey, you want to do something at mania?"

- I never really wanted to wrestle again.

I've walked away. I'm done.

Vince was resolute on me being a part of that show.

And finally, after about the third, fourth or even fifth try,

they go, "You started in Dallas, you end in Dallas.

One last can of whoop ass."

- The new find of Chris Adams and the USWA wrestling school.

- Steve Williams.

- My career as a professional wrestler began

in the Dallas Sportatorium.

No one in my family could understand what

I saw in it or why I liked it.

My younger brother Kevin, who has been my biggest

supporter from my family, has followed my career ever

since I started and one of my first matches in Dallas, Texas.

He was there.

- He told me he's going to try it out, and I figured that'd

be great, you know, you got the size, you got the build,

you know, I support him whatever he wanted to do.

- I always said if the stars ever aligned perfectly in the

sky, then I would have another match.

And the caveat being it was in Dallas, Texas.

It was where I started and it'd be great to finish there.

It was with Kevin Owens, who I knew was a great

guy and a great worker and a great talker.

- You know, it sounds so corny to say, but I was really the

biggest Stone Cold fan.

There's pictures of me when I was a kid.

Head to toe in Stone Cold gear all the time.

Austin hat, Austin shirt, Everything.

Floor to ceiling, Stone Cold Steve Austin posters,

and just uh, just the biggest fan.

In 2005, Sami and I were doing a lot of independent work.

- We are young independent wrestlers and now we're

starting to break out into the US.

We're starting to fly.

We're doing these flights on zero sleep and sometimes two-

It's even happened with three connections.

You know, whatever we got to do.

- We were in the middle of one of those travel days,

and we're about to board our third flight,

really dead tired.

And I just remember walking toward the water fountain,

and I just looked to my left and my first thought is,

"Oh, that guy looks like Steve Austin.

Oh, that-that is Steve Austin."

- I'm on the ground sleeping, and I'm so-so out of it.

and I get woken up in a panic by Kevin.

He goes, "Dude come on, we got to go.

We got to go, right now, We got to go."

And I'm so in a haze that for some reason,

I'm under the understanding that he's gotten into some

kind of altercation, and now he needs me for backup.

We're about to go have a fistfight.

- As we're walking towards Austin, he goes,

"Who are we fighting?"

Like "What?"

- He thought I was asking him to come fight some guys,

which, to his credit, he was coming.

He was. "Okay. We're going to fight guys in an airport.

That's a good plan."

But then I'm like, "We're going to see Stone Cold Steve Austin."

Sami looks up, sees him and goes, that's not-

"Oh [bleep], it is."

So we approached him-

- I remember Kevin Owens coming up to me,

and Sami Zayn was there as well,

and Kevin started, you know, running off at the mouth and

"Nice to meet me. He'd been a long time fan of mine."

- We told we were independent wrestlers.

And then he started talking to us about wrestling.

Just what we're doing.

How things were going.

- Probably ended up talking to him for a good ten minutes

And then it was time to board.

They called first class,

which obviously he was on, and we weren't.

right before he boarded, like, "Hey, before you go,

I just if you have one piece of advice for us, what is it?"

- And I said, "Kid, you just need to learn how to run your

mouth. You need to learn how to talk."

- I took that advice to heart.

It's an understatement when I say that advice probably

helped get me where I am today, for sure.

I never would have imagined that I'd work with Steve

because he retired 19 years ago.

Honestly, I really thought, something's going to change.

It's too good to be true.

But then, no, I went out on TV and got to call him out.

I want to have the biggest, most stupendous

KO show in history.

- The KO show is Kevin Owens personal platform within WWE,

which nine times out of ten ends with both Kevin and his

guest in some sort of physicality.

- And you know, I've been thinking about who my guests

could be, and I have the perfect guest in mind.

Man, the goosebumps I had when I said Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Like, I'll never forget that.

Stone Cold Steve Austin

[crowd cheers]

- The reaction, it was just so unbelievable.

- Here we go.

In three.

- When I cut that promo in the desert, I was just thinking,

"Been a long time since I cut a promo.

What level of Stone Cold am I?"

- Stone Cold Steve Austin just cut a promo,

and I thought maybe we should watch it together.

- Kevin Owens, I want to Thank you.

I want to thank you for waking something up deep

inside me that I've kept buried for 19 years.

- Stone Cold Steve Austin.

- You are one dumb son of a bitch.

Whether you want to call this a KO show, a match,

a fight, a brawl, whatever.

- Did you hear him say match?

- I will guarantee you this.

Stone Cold Steve Austin is going to open up one last can

of whoop ass on you, on you Kevin Owens.

And that's the bottom line, 'cause Stone Cold said so.

- Oh my God.

- It's funny because I talked to Steve on the phone.

I talked to Steve face to face, but that wasn't-

that was Stone Cold.

Like that promo was Stone Cold and I saw it.

- The Nevada desert is kind of my refuge.

I come out here to relax.

There's a lot to think about.

I never thought I'd get back in the ring again in my life.

And so I come out here and just cruise around in the buggy.

Sometimes I ride fast as hell.

Sometimes I just cruise.

It just gives me a chance to relax my brain and not think

about it, because sometimes I just need to separate

things and just chill for a minute.

So it's very important for me to come out here and

maintain my sanity.

But then going into AT&T Stadium with 80,000 people

and trying to focus on doing what I need to do with KO

put on a show, you know, that's the-

I live for that moment just as well.

I'll micromanage and micro process everything

leading into that because I'll be wanting to meet expectations,

not want to let anybody down,

because I know when they said, hey, Stone Cold and KO

are going to do something.

I know a lot of people bought some tickets to see that,

so I want to make sure that we don't disappoint them.

But sometimes it's hard to remove your mind

from dwelling on that.

- Not sure if you've heard, but WrestleMania

is back in Texas.

- 150,000 fans pouring into AT&T Stadium

over the next few days to attend the WWE's marquee event.

- Saturday night sees the big return of Stone Cold Steve

Austin to the ring, 19 years after losing his last

WrestleMania match.

- Man, there's a lot to think about.

I started my wrestling career here in Dallas, Texas

back in 1989.

Well, when I agreed to be part of WrestleMania 38,

I was just agreeing to be a part of WrestleMania.

I didn't care where on the card they put me.

I was just happy to be there.

Vince called me and says,

"How do you feel about closing the show-

on Saturday night?"

Pretty good, yeah.

So for me to be, 57

and being a main event at WrestleMania were Kevin Owens.

There's a lot going on.

When you hear that you're going to be the main event,

rather than just somewhere part of the card, it changes

everything as far as expectations.

So, you know, even though it's not billed as a match

now because it is a main event, at least in my head,

you know, there are expectations that need to be met.

A couple of days before WrestleMania, we go down to

Billy Bob's, which is great honky tonk in Texas,

and we're going to release Broken Skull American Lager,

which we just come out with.

The thing that I did take to heart was the enthusiastic

response in which people showed up to that event

and were ready to see it.

- Oh hell yeah.

- Hell yeah.

- There's the man right there.

- There he is. Look at that shirt.

- Yes, sir.

- Has to be the best shirt I got.

- Good luck tomorrow.

- Choose when you would like to walk out, sir.

- I think now's a good time

- Here he comes, here he comes, here he comes, light him up.

- Made me feel good and made me feel confident.

- It was like God dang, man, how long can I be gone?

You know, these people will never forget about me.

If you don't know, uh I'll tell you.

I'm involved in WrestleMania 38 this year.

[crowd cheers]

Thank you again to everybody who showed support and love.

What you people did for me

was give me a way to make a living.

And if you had fun watching me.

I had twice as much fun doing that [bleep] with you guys.

[crowd cheers]

- Are you ready for WrestleMania 38?

Give me a hell yeah.

[crowd "Hell yeah"]

- I think everybody wanted to see Steve back in a ring, but

he still didn't quite know what you were going to get.

And I remember talking to Kevin, who's a very good

friend of mine, and Kevin didn't quite know

what he was going to get.

- My friends texted me like, "What are you guys doing?"

I was like, "I don't know."

They were like, "well, it has to be a match

if you're the main event,"

I'm like,"I don't know. I don't know."

- It was never being promoted as Steve Austin's last match.

It was more about he's going to appear.

- Whether it was a conversation, a appearance,

just the glass break in general, I think is what a

lot of us were just hoping for.

So we're pumped up about it

We hope there's a match.

- Thank you sir.

I've been in a few police escorts in my day, but

WrestleMania in Seattle, Washington all those years

ago was a pretty somber experience because I'd just

come out of hospital, so it was nothing like this.

It's pretty badass.

It's pretty chill, and it's pretty special.

It's a strange weekend because when I got here a few days early

just trying to acclimate,

I was kind of all over the place, a little bit emotional

just as far as being appreciative of being here.

There's no emotion today as far as all that sentimental stuff.

- It's business at hand, and the business at hand

is to go out there and do the best I can to

entertain those people who came to see, you know,

WrestleMania, the other WWE superstars,

and specifically Stone Cold.

So it's laser focused time right now.

If you'd have told me 19 years ago when I walked away,

"Hey, you know what? When 38 comes around in Dallas,

Texas, all the stars are going to align and you're

going to end up headlining one night at WrestleMania."

You know, I would have said, "You're full of [bleep]."

So it's a pressure situation because you're going on last,

but man, if I don't go out there and have fun,

I'm letting myself down and I'm letting the people down.

When you go back into that kind of setting,

it's an alpha state, and if you ain't alpha, you're beta.

And I don't believe in being beta.

What's happening, guys?

- No, no, no.

- Hey, we got some beers for you too, man.

- If y'all don't drink a beer with me after this [bleep]

is over, I'm calling you.

- What'd you think this is for?

All right, bet.

- This is why I got it right here.

This is why I got it.

- Wait, which night? Tonight?

- Bet.

[Background chatter]

- How are you feeling man?

You good?

- Yeah.

- Oh, I'm so excited for you tonight.

- Hey sir.

It is an honor to meet you in person, man.

- About time we finally met,

- I know, I can't wait to watch you do your thing tonight.

This place is going to [bleep] explode.

- Well, you know, we hope so

- Man.

- We hope so, I've been gone a long time so,

you kind a wonder, you know if you still got that connection?

- Man, I-I

Just seems like everything passed by so fast.

- I-I, I swear to you I said that earlier today.

It's just [bleep] flown by.

- There was a time where I never looked at the end.

- Yeah.

I never thought, you know, I just thought

I'd [bleep] do this forever.

- To have crossed paths with all the people that I have

and done business with, all the people that I have,

and to kind of transcend the business

only because of the business, especially,

particularly WWE and Vince.

And it really means a lot to me.

And just the fact that I'm from Texas.

I played football down the road.

I started here in Dallas.

The chance to perform in this building is really

important to me because I played the Garden, I played

all of the great buildings, and this is one of the Mac Daddy's

You can't pass up the house that Jerry built.

You just can't.

This is home of the Dallas Cowboys.

That's a global brand.

When you walk into a building like this and your

head is on, right, the way I look at it,

Jerry Jones built it,

but while I'm out here, when that glass breaks, I own it.

- After 19 years away from the ring.

Stone Cold Steve Austin, he is back.

- When you calculate the time off, age, the biggest thing

that we have, and the thing that we rely on the most is

our timing and our fluidity and all of that.

And when you're not in the ring week after week after

week, it becomes difficult to have that.

- Ready?

- As ready as I can be.

on short notice.

- You got this.

- Good to see you.

- It's just so hard for a guy like Stone Cold Steve Austin

to come back and perform at that level with not having

his body being grinded on for 19 years.

- Before the big night.

- Well, he's never going to hurt his legacy.

I'm always concerned about his health.

- Thanks man.

For short notice, I sure tried.

- You [bleep] did it.

- Thank you.

- When you have done this for any period of time.

Significant period of time, and all of a sudden you find

yourself back going in the ring.

That doubt is crippling.

- How long do I have?

- The sooner I have them it would be better

just so I know what I'm actually wearing.

- You know, can I do this?

Can I be what I was before?

Will they remember? Will they care?

Vince had even had conversations with Steve

right up until the day of Like, "Look, if you get out

there and you're just feeling a Stunner and that's

it, you know, that's it.

If you feel like you want to do more, take it bit by bit,

and when you're ready to say, that's enough,

that's enough."

- I know for all of us, when you come back,

it's the most intimidating, scariest thing that goes on in

our life is can I still do it?

It's the hardest thing in the world to get over

because you don't know.

- Wrestling is very specific.

I hadn't done any kind of work that was wrestling

related, so I didn't know mechanically what I could do.

- You know Triple H would tell me time and time again,

even up to that moment, literally, Steve won't know what

he wants to do until he gets out there.

- Even the fans in the arena were not of the impression

this is going to be a match.

It was just going to be a talking segment that would

likely end in a few Stunners and some Steve-Weisers maybe.

- It's a hell of a gamble.

You don't know what you have.

He could've got out there and done one Stunner and been

like, "Forget that, I'm not doing anything else."

And that would have been a very quick main event.

- I will.

- I was kind of just winding down from my own high of my

own match, and I heard Kevin Owens go out,

and then I ran out to the side stage,

and I was still in my gear,

and I got my camera out because I didn't want to miss

a moment of it.

- Sometimes, you know, if there's a comeback or

something when you watch it, there can be that debate of,

I wish maybe I didn't watch that.

You know, I would rather have kept the memory the way it was.

And you always run that risk, right?

And I know for Steve it would be the same.

You don't want to embarrass yourself.

You want to go out there and do right by the WWE universe,

and our fans do right by yourself and your legacy.

You don't want to let anybody down.

- You-you feel.

You feel a lot of things back here?

Although I'll go into this with a with a clear head

and a good space.

I don't have that-that momentum confidence.

So hopefully when that glass breaks, you know, my process is

Whatever that crowd gives me,

I'm going to know where I'm at.

And is this going to make me, you know,

want to run through a brick wall?

Yeah, I'm a bad [bleep] again. Here we go.

[Stone Cold Steve Austin's music]

[crowd cheers]

- Man, once a glass broke and the-the place went nuts.

[crowd cheers]

[crowd cheers]

- The coolest thing about that was Becky, and these newer

generation people wanted to be out in the crowd, actually

feel what the Stone Cold pop was like.

- I mean, I'm a bit envious.

I wish I was kind of in that spot just to be

a part of that energy.

It was pretty rad.

It was pretty great. Everyone was into it.

- You just you live and die by that.

You're just thinking, "God damn [bleep].

Thank you. Thank you for remembering.

It's been damn near 20 years and you still give a [bleep]."

[crowd cheers]

- Oh ho.

Here we go.

- And then it's like, you know, [bleep] yeah, man.

Let's go [bleep] do this.

[crowd cheers]

[crowd chants "Austin"]

- Stone Cold taking part in the KO show

in and of itself was a massive event.

It definitely fit at WrestleMania, but there had

been a lot of wishful thinking.

It had seemed so impossible.

Of course, Stone Cold's in-ring days were done.

No way that was going to happen.

- I don't want to talk.

I'm looking for a fight.

[crowd cheers]

Once I said "I'm looking for a fight."

The like just the buzz that grew.

- If you will, Stone Cold Steve Austin to compete in a match

tonight against this sack of [bleep].

Give me a hell yeah.

[crowd "Hell yeah."]

- I didn't even know it was going to be a match.

He's going to be on Kevin Owens show.

I figured he's going to come out,

talk smack back and forth.

I figured he'd put a Stunner on Kevin Owens, that'd be it.

- I thought it was just going to be a build up and

then they're just going to like, tease you.

And so the fact that it turned into an actual match too.

And it was just so much fun because the whole stadium

was just edge of their seats, or standing up,

or leaning on the railing in front of them.

- I think it's actually going to happen.

19 years in the making.

[bell ringing]

- There's the bell. Here we go.

Austin and Owens teeing off.

- They have a full badass match.

- Owens sent over the top to the outside.

- He was going to put in that work.

And that is exactly what he did.

- Look at the fire in the eyes of Steve Austin.

- I couldn't believe some of the stuff that he was doing.

- When I landed on my back, that concrete.

[chuckles]

It was a- it was a hell of a thud.

[crowd groaning]

- Oh.

[clapping]

- What a [bleep] animal.

- I wouldn't do that.

Me today, an active performer, you know, who's

relatively healthy.

There's no chance.

- That is it. Austin's not getting up.

I don't care if you're the toughest S.O.B. on the planet.

[yelling]

- God, it was just so much fun.

- Look at Stone Cold. Still fighting.

Still swinging. Still fired up.

- Oh.

- Keving Owens laid out on our commentary table.

- The pressure wasn't on him like it was back in the day.

So he was just going out there having a good time and,

you know, taking his bows and accepting his roses.

And I thought it was really cool.

- Austin looking to return the favor.

- Think with what Steve did in this business, I don't think

he could ever do anything to tarnish his legacy.

They have so much respect for him.

I think he made such an imprint.

On whose Stone Cold Steve Austin was.

That they're just happy to see him again.

- I mean, again, they're beating the tar out of each other.

- Owens is going to do it?

- He didn't just show up and hit a Stunner and drink a beer.

He put on a clinic, and if that was the last time

we ever see him, it would be a hell of a way to go out.

- Stunner.

Stunner.

- Three.

[bell ringing]

- It was awesome. I can poke no holes in that match.

It was brilliant.

Had the fans on their feet.

It was just awesome.

- I imagine there was a part of him.

That was like "That was the one that I needed

and I can now, you know

[click]

Shut that suitcase.

Put it in the attic and be done with it."

- Just so much fun as a fan to be able to witness

that one more time.

- Kevin, my brother, he was sitting right next to

George Kittle the tight end for the San Francisco 49ers.

So I gave him a signal to come on in .

And the security guard let him in.

- Stone Cold sharing a moment and a cold one with his brother

deep in the heart of Texas.

- I think that was just his payback to me for supporting

him all those years, and then wind up in

Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

- I wanted to share a moment in the ring with my brother

because he had supported me so much.

He was a number one guy in the family that supported me,

so I appreciated it.

He's signing an autographs in the parking lot,

trying to get to his car after the show.

Made a star out of him that night.

[clapping]

- For me to be at the age I'm at

to come out here and headline a WrestleMania in Dallas, Texas,

where I started where I stopped

just means the world to me.

I had a [bleep] blast.

[fireworks]

- Night one of WrestleMania is in the books.

[crowd cheers]

- 70,000 plus once again here at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

We are still recovering from a stupendous night one.

- So I'm in my car uh-

I'm going to WrestleMania on Sunday night.

And the plan was, let's just sit there and low key,

drink whiskey and coke and watch the guys and gals work.

- If not we'll take it, but.

- Guys you do a picture real quick?

- Best of luck to you.

- Appreciate that.

- Look this way.

- Can we get a picture real quick?

- Yeah.

- You're good. No, no, you're good.

That way.

- Hi, ya doing, man?

- How you doing kid?

- Are you kidding me?

I'm incredible now. You were incredible last night.

Like that was the loudest a stadium of been in a while.

That was awesome.

I mean, I'm used to being on the field for it, so, like,

that was loud.

You couldn't hear yourself talk.

It was-it was incredible.

- Did you see those two long range catches?

- Oh my gosh.

I literally I gave you a shout today on the show.

I said best hands in the NFL right here.

This guy right here. I mean-

- Couple fo those could've gotten away.

And those two I'm proud of 'cause I knew you was out there.

- Oh I was watching, I know I was I sat next

to your brother the whole time.

- Someone says, hey, Vince wants to talk to you.

Sure enough, I go to his dressing room and he goes,

"God dang, that was great last night.

He goes, "What did you think about the four Wheeler?"

I said, "Oh, the four Wheeler was great."

"You want it?

I said, "Yeah,."

Great, it's yours."

So Vince gives me a four Wheeler right after I walk

into the room, and then he goes, "Hey, listen, what if

you went out there and I know you did what you did

last night, and you can sit here and you can enjoy what

happened last night, but I really think it'd be great if

when I go out there with Austin Theory.

- Theory, the embodiment of the entitled era.

- "If you go out there, it'd be great.

- A sniveling, cowardly punk.

Because I understand if you don't want to do this"

And I told him, I said, "Hey, man, you're the coach.

If you want me to work, I'll work."

And so that's what I did.

- Pat McAfee is about to step into this ring at

WrestleMania and face Austin Theory.

- Not long before the match, Bruce Prichard comes up to me

and he says, "All right, after the match, glass breakS,

Steve comes out." I'm like,

"I'm drink-so tonight I'm hammering beers with

Steve Austin?"

[Stone Cold Steve Austin's music]

[crowd cheers]

- Oh my God.

The Texas Rattlesnake.

I did not expect this.

I feel like it's 1999 all over again.

[crowd cheers]

Oh Theory went after Austin.

- Oh ho, big mistake.

- And Stone Cold unloading on Theory.

- You're like, okay, when's it coming?

Like, you just know it's coming.

- Austin stuns Austin.

- I thought we were going to have a good time.

I thought we were going to shake hands, maybe, you know,

shake hands, keep it moving.

- Here we go.

Now it's time to celebrate.

McAfee's wanted to drink beer with Stone Cold forever.

- Instead I get the old kick to the gut.

Stunner.

- Oh no.

- And then Pat McAfee.

[laughing]

Pat McAfee takes a freaking epic Stunner.

He just kind of timbered back.

- And then I get beer dumped on me.

And then as I'm laying on the ground dumping a

Steve-Weiser into my mouth afterwards,

my brain is also thinking like,

"You live the dumbest life of all time.

How the hell did you end up here?

We will never find out that answer.

Let's just try to enjoy this all."

- Great athletic ability.

I thought all you did was kick a [bleep] a ball.

- That's all I do, man

- Nah dude, amazing.

Great composure out there.

- Thank you, I appreciate you.

- That was a perfect place ,

and a perfect way to end his career.

And yet he will continue to be a force in WWE

and in popular culture for as long as he wants

to be a force.

- You know, at the end of the day, it was a very special

weekend for Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[laughing]

- Yeah, uh

- If that's how Stone Cold Steve Austin,

the Cowboy rides away.

That's an unbelievable ride off into the sunset.

To do that, to have essentially a match at this

point, we're we've been told that-that will never,

ever happen again.

That's an unbelievable send off.

- 19 years later, he's still incredibly relevant.

You know, I can't think of anybody that's had

that kind of impact.

- He's already a Hall of Famer.

He's already the greatest to ever do it.

So to be able to close the book

on his terms with a final performance like that is

really just a kind of a chef's kiss with a cherry on top.

- Steve, to me, is the biggest star

in tthe history of the business.

I wish him nothing but the best and he deserves it.

- Hats off to the biggest box office performer ever.

- It was a nice trip back in time, and it was also a

moment for us all to say, "Yeah, we were right."

Every time we said we wanted Steve back.

We knew he still had it and he'll have it forever.

- If I never get in a ring ever again in my life, I'm 100%.

I've walked away.

I'm happy with what I did.

There's people who've done more or lasted longer.

I had a pretty good run.

I'm pretty happy with it.

So I ain't got nothing to prove to nobody.