During the latest Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross discussed Steve Austin’s upcoming appearance and working with Kevin Owens at WWE Wrestlemania 38.

J.R. doesn't think Austin will be wrestling despite rumors that WWE asked him to come out of retirement:

"It looks like Austin is not going to do anything at WrestleMania as far as wrestling in the ring. He and I have talked, but at the time we talked, he didn’t know what he was going to do and he didn’t sound overwhelmingly enthusiastic about it. People have to understand that Steve is a perfectionist. Even though he stays in great shape and he looks wonderful, especially for a guy his age, he looks great. He can do a photo shoot and it looks like that can be Steve from any era, but that’s the athlete in him. He likes to train, eat right, and all those things."

"If he was going to wrestle at WrestleMania, and this is just me talking, I would suggest that it should have been decided six months ago, not only to build a story to that crescendo in Dallas at WrestleMania, but to give him time to train better and have more peace of mind. You know he’s going to hand pick his opponent. Why wouldn’t you let him hand pick his opponent? If you’re the promoter, all you do is you want him on the card so he will sell tickets or Pay-Per-Views. I don’t have a lot of optimism for it. I don’t want to be a negative Nelly, but he’s not going to do it unless he thinks he can pull it off as something perfect, and I don’t know that he can do that even in my mind or his mind with only a few weeks to prepare for it."