WWE is going full speed ahead toward WrestleMania 39 using the wrestlers fans see every week on Raw and SmackDown, one notable part-time wrestler (Logan Paul) and one legend who isn’t retired but doesn’t wrestle much any more due to his acting career (John Cena).
Despite a full year of speculation, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson won’t be in a match in Los Angeles. Nor, at this point, will Stone Cold Steve Austin, even though he had a successful return at WrestleMania 38.
It isn’t for lack of trying on WWE’s part — and it might not even be completely done yet.
Earlier this week, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp (subscription required but worth it) broke down the timeline for pitches the company made to Austin over the past year, including offers to face Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. The two sides either didn’t agree on money for Lesnar, and Austin “didn’t get back to WWE” on Reigns.
WWE reportedly kept pitching Austin more recently, and Sapp managed to confirm one name for a potential opponent:
LA Knight was a name rumored online, and we can confirm that’s at least been pitched. However, nobody close to Austin or in WWE have been able to verify that it’s happening as of yet.
LA Knight is an intriguing name for two reasons. One is that he has remains incredibly popular with WWE crowds for his excellent microphone work, despite his booking (including his stint as Max Dupri and loss to Bray Wyatt in the infamous Mountain Dew Pitch Black match) doing him no favors.
The other is that Knight doesn’t currently have an obvious path to a WrestleMania match. He didn’t win the right to face Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship and isn’t really in a program at the moment. There was some thought that he may be thrown into the mix against Bobby Lashley if Wyatt’s recent issues keep him out through WrestleMania, but Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported today that the Wyatt-Lashley match “is still on.”
Putting together something between Knight and Austin would have to be done quickly considering WrestleMania 39 is less than three weeks away, but considering that both men are good talkers — and that Austin’s match last year didn’t even officially become one until the show itself — that’s not impossible.
There’s room for a few more matches to be added to the WrestleMania card to fill out the two-night schedule. It still feels like Stone Cold is a longshot to end up on it, but it’s something to keep in mind as a possibility until WWE formally announces which matches will be on which nights.