CM Punk Says He'd Put Steve Austin To Sleep In Potential WWE Dream Match

CM Punk has addressed the idea of facing "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WWE WrestleMania 41. Austin made his return to the ring at WrestleMania 38, wrestling his first match almost 20 years against Kevin Owens in the main event of the Saturday show. Austin recently admitted that there had been talks of another appearance at the "Show of Shows," reasoning that he couldn't make the journey to Philadelphia for this year's show. However, he hopes to be at next year's event set to emanate from Las Vegas, Nevada. Speaking on "The Ringer Wrestling Show" during Fanatics Fest, Punk was asked about the prospect of facing Austin in Vegas. 

"That would be up to Steve. It's not up to me," he replied, pondering whether the time for it had passed, "I think he had a pretty good return, came back, main evented WrestleMania. At this point, his six shooters might be buried in the Nevada desert."

Never one not to drum up excitement, Punk teased, "But if he wants to dig them up, I'm your huckleberry. It should've happened 10-plus years ago, but if he wants to sleep, he can call me."

Shortly after Punk made his surprise return to WWE at Survivor Series last year, reports emerged that WWE was hopeful of making Austin vs. Punk at WrestleMania this year. It was said later on that there was no formal approach to the "Texas Rattlesnake" with the match in mind, and Paul Levesque confirmed during the "WrestleMania 40: Behind The Curtain" documentary that the plan heading into the Royal Rumble was for Punk to challenge Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. That was until Punk sustained torn triceps in the men's Rumble match, sidelining him until his return to the ring at SummerSlam.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Ringer Wrestling Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.