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Steve Austin Says He Gets Emotional Thinking About WrestleMania 19 Match

April 16, 2021 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Steve Austin Favorites WWE Network Image Credit: WWE

Steve Austin looked back on his final match, facing The Rock at WrestleMania 19, during a new interview ahead of his A&E Biography special. Austin spoke with EW about his memories of the match, which you can check out highlights from below:

On the day of his match against The Rock at WrestleMania XIX: “That was an interesting day at the office. I was at the gym with Kevin Nash and my reflexes were very touchy that day. We were on recumbent bicycles and my feet kept twitching. I didn’t think anything of it. I left Nash and went to my room on the 27th floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel and right before the elevator opened, my heart started beating out of my chest.”

On his memories of that match: “Almost nobody on the roster that day knew that was going to be my last match. My nerves were acting up from my previous spinal injury that I knew it was going to be my last one. As you can see, I still get emotional as I’m even talking about the story and going back there. I damn near started crying [in the documentary]. My love for the business is so much, it’s the only thing I really wanted to do in my life for a living. Deciding to retire from that dream at 38 was extremely hard.”

On Rock letting him have his moment at the end of the match: “Normally when somebody wins a match, they stay in the ring. Rock won but because I was leaving, he let me have the ring so I could do my final farewell. He gave me that moment and it was really cool.”