Steve Austin Reflects On His Decision To Retire At 38

Steve Austin retired following his WrestleMania 19 bout against The Rock at the age of 38. 

While some wrestlers are just beginning to hit their peak at 38 nowadays, Austin had to retire due to various injuries suffered in his career, specifically relating to his neck. 

Austin is unquestionably one of the top drawing wrestlers in history, bringing the business to new heights in the late 90s and early 2000s. 

Speaking to Bill Apter of Sportskeeda, Austin reflected on his decision to retire. 

“Believe me, retiring at 38 was the toughest, one of the toughest things 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, and of course, they are very close to me, but professional wrestling, you want to call it Sports Entertainment, it’s all the same to me. This is one of my biggest, if not the biggest, passions of my life. So it was very hard for me to walk away at 38 years of age. There is no telling as to what I would have done had everything else played out the same with respect to the development of the character. But you know, things along the way, getting dropped my head forced me to turn into a brawler but god, if I could have had that kind of physicality and you know, that kind of health that I had in my youth. The run would have lasted a lot longer,” he said.

Austin would remain in an on-screen role in WWE after his retirement as Sheriff Austin. He eventually returned to the ring at WrestleMania 38 where he defeated Kevin Owens in the main event of night one. 

You can find Austin’s thoughts on his bout with Owens by clicking here.