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Follow @TheDocLOP This week on "The Doc Says" podcast, I will be joined by Jeff Jarrett. Just days away from Global Force Wrestling's first live event, Jarrett will discuss the evolution of the business and what we can expect from his newest pro wrestling venture. First airs Wednesday at 5PM ET. Check Out Wrestling Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with LordsofPain on BlogTalkRadio QUESTION OF THE DAY: What's your initial reaction to the Paul Heyman-Steve Austin interaction that sparked the rumor of Stone Cold returning to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32? Steve Austin and Paul Heyman created the latest round of buzz about a possible Stone Cold return to the ring at WrestleMania 32 during the Rattlesnake’s WWE Network-featured podcast special last week. While I do not wish to spend a plethora of time covering what may, yet again, prove to be the false hope offered to the gigantic legion of fans supportive of an Austin comeback, the proximity to what could be the redefinition of WrestleMania combined with elements to be touched on momentarily lead me to, at the very least, loosely and semi-seriously pontificate on the matter. Hell, how can we not talk about it a little bit? On a heavily hyped, WWE-produced program, the man closest in this world to Brock Lesnar advocated on behalf of his white hot client a challenge, of sorts, for “The Rattlesnake vs. The Beast.” Now, take away all the Yolo Lesnar malarkey, 50+ year old comments, and any other smart fan adage-turned reason to be cynical and just think about Lesnar vs. Austin from the perspective of a wrestling fan that wishes to see the biggest possible wrestling matches. Could it get any bigger than the return of the most celebrated star in WWE history, in front of 105,000+ people only miles away from where he grew up, to do battle with the most compelling act in the industry today, bar none, who just also happens to be the most legitimate pro wrestler in the eyes of the mainstream sporting world in the entire WrestleMania Era? I submit that it cannot. Whereas, in hindsight, previous Austin return rumors have been pipe dreams, there’s something more genuine about it this time. As much as it seemed cool to think that Austin might come back to face CM Punk a few years ago, how realistic could that have possibly been? If Austin was ever or is ever going to come back, it was not/is not going to be for a match against someone who has never proven to move the financial needle considerably; it’s going to be against the most substantial draw in the business. Lesnar certainly fits that bill, while also providing Austin a unique challenge against an opponent that he has never faced before. A match with Brock would be both creatively stimulating and incredibly fruitful for Stone Cold. The past has been wrought with comparatively silly reasons for Austin to give the fanbase a chance to properly send him off into the sunset. “He’ll come back to face Jericho on behalf of the legends” was perhaps the silliest in 2009, as was “he’ll comeback to give back to wrestling by putting a new star over.” There’s something about merely the name “Brock Lesnar” that makes all prognosticated opponents and reasons before him seem sillier. You put “Lesnar vs. Austin” on the hypothetical marquee and just about everything looks a little less important, doesn’t it? If Stone Cold has been waiting for the right business offer and the most grandiose of scenarios, then surely this would be it. I wrote a couple of months ago of the synergy at work in the universe to make The Shield triple threat the WWE Championship match next year in Dallas; that same synergetic formula easily applies for Austin in the case of Brock Lesnar. I salivate at the idea of this match, to be perfectly frank. There’s something visceral about the emotional chord that it strikes within me that the dream of Austin vs. Cena never has or that Austin vs. Punk never quite managed to this extreme. Part of it is their history. Steve Austin walked out on WWE in the summer of 2002 because he so hated the booking decision that would have seen him put over Lesnar on Monday Night Raw in a King of the Ring qualifying match. Though, in principle, Stone Cold was correct – that would’ve been stupid – it was a choice that spawned a decade plus of “Austin dodged Lesnar” / “Austin was unprofessional” critiques that, to the more critical community, put a blemish on an otherwise universally-praised career. Heyman would be foolish not to incorporate that into his promos if his client and Stone Cold do, indeed, clash at Mania; the manner in which Austin responded would be fascinating to me. Going back to the criticisms that we shelved in order to allow ourselves to bask on the beach next to the ocean-sized potential of seeing the names “Lesnar” and “Austin” with a “versus” in between, there are reasons to avoid this match. In addition to age and health concerns for the Hall of Famer, I’d be remiss not to point out that adding Austin to a card already expected to feature Undertaker, Sting, The Rock, and Triple H would possibly agitate the core fanbase that drives the Network subscriptions that WWE already has. It would be a regression, in many minds, to a past star-driven model for WrestleMania success that seemed to be put to rest for however long with a new star-driven formula at WrestleMania 31 – a WrestleMania that, it should be noted, broke all previous viewership records. Without the balance of the old and the new, can WWE realistically make WrestleMania 32 the complete and utter success that it’s capable of being (if financially, then maybe not critically)? Austin’s presence, if all other matches held, would significantly tip the scales toward yesteryear to the detriment of today and tomorrow. In all likelihood, this is all much ado about nothing. I sincerely wish that Austin would shut up about coming back if he didn’t intend to return for that elusive “one more match.” I find it annoying. I much prefer the Shawn Michaels style of “this is an instance in which you can say never; I’m done.” However, HBK got to say goodbye and be said goodbye to. As old school as Austin’s departure was and as much as I respect him for it, this column and any discussion it stimulates could easily be rendered pointless if Austin’s not serious.
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