Stone Cold Steve Austin Opens Up About The Toughest Moment Of His WWE Career

Stone Cold Steve Austin is arguably the most outstanding professional wrestler of all time, but in his mind, one moment stands out as the toughest of his historic WWE career. It took him a while to get to the top of the mountain, but once the Texas Rattlesnake got there, he pushed the industry to new heights. Along with The Rock, Austin generated an amount of interest in pro wrestling that had never been seen before and might never be witnessed again. It was a time when wrestling was “cool” and much more a part of the media zeitgeist of the 1990s.

Landing on most fans’ Mount Rushmore of professional wrestling wasn’t easy for Stone Cold. He struggled to find singles success during his early days in WCW, and he never picked up a ton of momentum with the upstart ECW brand. However, once the Stone Cold Steve Austin persona was indeed born at the 1996 King Of The Ring, he was not cooling off. He ran hot until he couldn’t anymore, which is where his most challenging moment comes in.

For all the ups and downs of Stone Cold’s career, he identified his early retirement as the toughest thing he’s had to deal with. Speaking with Bill Apter of Sportskeeda, Steve Austin said the following: “[Retiring] at 38 was one of the toughest things that I’ve ever had to do. Walk away from the business that I love so much. This is one of the things that I love more than anything in my life. I have my family, of course… but professional wrestling… this is one of the biggest passions of my life. So it was very hard to walk away at 38 years of age.“

Stone Cold Steve Austin Made The Most Of His Top Guy Run

With this challenging moment in mind, it’s fantastic to know that he finally received the sendoff he deserved at WrestleMania 38 in a main event match against Kevin Owens. That bout exceeded expectations, as Stone Cold got pretty physical with KO. It’s not something fans should expect to see again, but witnessing Steve Austin deliver just a few more stunners in the middle of the ring was a moment that the audience will remember forever.

For Stone Cold, it has to be tough not to consider where he could have taken his career had he not been forced to retire at 38. For context, Roman Reigns will turn 38 next year. Cody Rhodes will turn 38 in June of 2023, while Steve Austin’s WrestleMania 38 opponent, Kevin Owens, is 38 now. These performers are just starting to settle into the arcs that will take them, health permitting, into their 40s. It shows how much Steve Austin accomplished by the time he was 38 and how many remarkable years in WWE he had to leave on the table.

Source: Sportskeeda/YouTube