WWE Hall Of Famer ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin’s feud with The Rock has gone down in history as one of the most iconic feuds in all of professional wrestling. Their feud ended at WrestleMania 19 in 2003, which was Steve Austin’s final match as an in-ring competitor. It was the third match at WrestleMania in their feud. Steve Austin and The Rock Smackdown return also leaked previously.
After that match, the WWE Hall Of Famer was supposed to face off against Brock Lesnar. However, he chose to leave WWE and retire from the squared circle for good. He has yet to compete in the ring since his retirement back then.
However, the company did try to get ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin back inside the squared circle back in 2005. The match was supposed to be a gimmick match and would have seen Austin face off against Jonathan Coachman. Unfortunately, Steve Austin pulled out of the match at the very last moment.
As revealed by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was going to square off against Jonathan Coachman in a gimmick match, where he was supposed to lose in the end. Due to this, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin pulled out of the match, citing a back injury.
“Over the years, he had considered and talked of wrestling again. In those years he said it would take him a good six months to prepare to do so. In 2005, he was called for the Taboo Tuesday show to do a gimmick match with Jonathan Coachman with the stipulation that if he won, Jim Ross would get his Raw lead announcing job back, but if he lost, Ross would lose his job. Austin was going to be booked to lose the match, and before the match claimed a back injury and didn’t appear.”
