If Stone Cold Is Wrestling at WWE WrestleMania 38, When Will He Show Up on Raw?

So, is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin going to show up in WWE or not? 

That's a pretty fair question to ask at this point. There has been plenty of buzz and speculation about a Stone Cold return at WrestleMania 38 for a long, long time. The event going down in Arlington, Texas, at  AT&T Stadium on April 2-3 was enough to drum up all sorts of buzz. 

But the anticipation has only intensified in recent weeks because the event's getting closer, and there's not much solidified on the two-night card. 

Surely...surely WWE will roll out Stone Cold soon, especially after having someone like Kevin Owens trash Austin's home state: 

That's the same Owens, of course, who uses the Stone Cold stunner and would make for a layup of a matchup with a returning Austin. 

The question of whether or not Austin needs to show up to help build a feud at all is worth asking. He's The Texas Rattlesnake, and as soon as that glass-breaking music hits, it's on. WWE may want to roll him out to build hype, but the simple allure of him showing up at all in Texas is probably enough to move ratings and tickets—All Elite Wrestling experienced a comparable situation recently in Chicago with the return of CM Punk. 

Still, getting Austin on weekly WWE programming before 'Mania would at least tell us what in the world they're thinking. Stone Cold is, after all, 57 years old and hasn't wrestled an official match since WrestleMania XIX in 2003, losing to The Rock in what turned out to be a retirement match. 

The idea of Austin suddenly coming back out of retirement and in good enough shape and health to work a full match is borderline silly. It doesn't have to be a complicated match and sure, Owens is one of the best workers on the planet, but return matches for Goldberg over the years weren't very complicated either, and we know how the majority of those turned out. 

More likely is the idea Austin just shows up to deliver a stunner to Owens in the middle of his insulting the home crowd. Beer, music and hype flows and everyone gets their special moment. That even goes for Owens, who like most of the up-in-the-air card still doesn't have much of a 'Mania direction otherwise. 

Anything beyond that sort of one-off moment that isn't an official match might risk tarnishing Austin's legacy. Coming back to wrestle a full match nearly two decades later would fly in the face of his long-running character, which didn't need any flair or goodbyes. He saluted and left, never to return. 

If WWE was intent on a full match for Austin, he probably should have come back to WWE programming by now, anyway. Even Austin needs some heat for a match and reason to break his retirement. Kevin Owens sending out a few tweets and making a few comments about Texas isn't it—a whole lot of people talk trash about Texas or anything else, why is this what brings him out of retirement to risk his body and legacy? 

Fans aren't supposed to think too hard about this if it happens, but...they will. They'll remember guys like the aforementioned Punk seemingly trying to lure Austin back for nearly 20 years to no avail. They'll remember all the times they fantasy-booked his return, only for it to be Texas trash talk. And they'll wonder how differently things might've unfolded for WWE over the last 15-plus years had he stayed in the ring. 

A full match would also have them wondering what's next. A one-off isn't going to sit right with fans, not when The Undertaker repeatedly came out of implied retirement and guys like Edge have made unexpected returns to wrestle regularly. 

There's no lack of Austin dream matches fans would want to see. Even if he looks mediocre against Owens, that won't stop the expectation that he's all the way back, at least for a few major matches a year. 

Taking all that into account, it's probably best for any Stone Cold appearance to see him briefly smack around Owens and leave.

If that's the case, the go-home Raw before Mania might make the most sense for his return. That would keep fan expectations in check—he's going to be at 'Mania, but it won't be a match. And with how lackluster the build to Mania has been so far, it would only be fitting to save the big surprise for the Raw likeliest to have the biggest audience. 

It's too late to build a 'Mania match at this point. A return to the ring nearly 20 years in the making can't be built on a handful of weekly shows, even if any return for The Texas Rattlesnake would be unforgettable two decades after his departure.