Why didn't “Stone Cold” Steve Austin appear on either night of WrestleMania 39? Did he have other commitments? Was he slinging Broken Skull IPAs in El Segundo like he did on 3:16 days? Or could he simply not make it through the traffic, which was brutal, to make his way into SoFi Stadium in Inglewood?

Fortunately, this mystery won't have to remain one forever, as “Stunning Steve” sat down for an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to help promote his new A&E show, Stone Cold takes on America, and in the conversation, he explained why WrestleMania 39 didn't receive an impromptu match like the previous “Showcase of the Immortals.”

“I haven't spoken to this, but I'll give you the story,” says Austin. “I met with some people from WWE. We talked about the possibility of me wrestling at WrestleMania 39. The biggest thing in my mind was the presentation and what kind of match it was going to be. Going back to 38, the way the KO thing was presented—I love KO—I turned that down three, four, five times until the creative finally came to what it ended up being. I didn't want it constructed as a real match, per se. I needed something that could turn into one, and it did, but I think that's why we got away with it. The Dallas crowd was very receptive. I hadn't been around, so the timing was right.

“But to do a proper match, I'd have to be in off-the-charts shape. I told them, and this is the exact truth, I said, ‘Guys, I'm just fixin' to go into production on this show, Stone Cold Takes on America, and until we start production, I don't know what my life looks like. I can't commit.' Sure enough, there were technical issues before we finished. I was supposed to finish a month before we did. There's no way, with the schedule I was doing—driving an RV all over God's creation, doing all I was doing—that I would be ready. I had two 30-pound dumbbells, a 45-pound sandbag, and a 25-pound kettlebell. Working 15 hours a day, then getting in a 30- or 40-minute workout, that doesn't get you ready for WrestleMania. And I was really protected at WrestleMania 38. This time, that wasn't going to be the case. That was a true statement: Until this show was over, I couldn't commit.”

Would it have been nice to see Austin turn in another Hollywood masterpiece at WrestleMania 39? Most definitely; the crowd was hot both nights of the show, and it's safe to say the sound of glass shattering before “Stone Cold” marched down to the ring to kick The Miz's behind would have garnered a much bigger pop than Pat McAfee and Shane McMahon combined. Still, if Austin didn't think he could get in good enough shape to justify a right proper match, it's understandable that he would value his legacy over a 10-ish minute match against, say, LA Knight, even if, in this humble writer's opinion, a match between “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and LA Knight might have been the match of the weekend, YEAH!

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin loved the finish to Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns.

Elsewhere in his conversation with Barasso, Austin was asked about the finish to the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes versus “The Head of the Table,” Roman Reigns, and the “Rattlesnake” let it be known that he loved the match from bell to bell.

“I'm going all-in. To me, they got it just right,” Austin declared. “I was wondering how they were going to do this match. They built it perfectly. I told my wife, ‘I think they're going 30 [minutes].' They ended up going just over 34, and it was a classic. I loved it, and I wouldn't have changed a thing. I texted a couple people who were involved, and I sent a one-word text: Magnificent.”

Austin then turned his attention of the finish, which remains fairly contentious among fans of WWE and beyond. Did Austin think WWE robbed Rhodes of his Hollywood ending? Or did the right man with the match in the end?

“I loved the finish,” Austin added. “I loved all of it. Roman is so good right now. The story was there – Cody coming back from injury, coming back into the fold after he left from AEW, and putting himself in the position he's in now, overcoming all this adversity as part of one of the most famous wrestling families that's ever been in the business, and trying to finish the story against Roman.

“I watched both nights of WrestleMania 39 very intently. To me, you can't take that belt off Roman right now. You want to get it to Cody somehow, someway, some time—but now's not the time. Just thinking about that finish, I thought it was definitely the right call. I loved the outside interference. You didn't know what was coming next. That spike to the throat, for me, it was money.”

Welp, there you go, folks; Austin appreciated WWE's ability to get a reaction out of himself and the audience in order to tell a tragic tale of a  hero who came up short despite having the world at his back. While it may not be the “Hollywood ending” some fans wanted to see, Austin appreciated it nonetheless.