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By Andrew Ravens
Contributing Sports Writer
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Steve Austin will not be appearing at Monday Night Raw on 3:16 Day, and he explained exactly why. With Raw taking place on March 16 at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, speculation had built throughout the week that the Texas Rattlesnake might show up for the symbolically loaded date in his home state.
According to WrestleVotes, discussions had taken place between Austin and WWE management, with several people inside the company expressing hope that he would appear on the broadcast. Austin had not made an appearance on Monday Night Raw since 2020's 3:16 Day, which ended up taking place at an empty WWE Performance Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Austin addressed the situation directly in an interview with TakeDown on SI on March 16, 2026, confirming he would not be at the show.
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"Man, they should tune in because they love WWE and Monday Night Raw," Austin said. "But I'm out. I'll be a few days out from that race — the race I'm talking about with my racing career — and we're trying to get that car ready. We're working our asses off. So yeah, I'll be hunkered down in a garage out here in BFE Nevada, trying to get this buggy ready — a side-by-side utility vehicle — to race this grueling 250-mile race with everybody else I race with. I want to get out there and put my own show on out there in the desert."
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The comments effectively close the door on an appearance that WWE fans had been hoping for since the date and location lined up so cleanly. The March 16 Raw was already shaping up as a significant show, with World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer, Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar among those advertised.
Austin's WWE appearances have been rare since his last in-ring performance. He returned to the ring at WrestleMania 38 in 2022 to defeat Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred match, ending a nearly two-decade absence from sanctioned competition. His most recent live appearance for the company came at WrestleMania 41, where he drove an ATV to ringside and announced the event's official attendance figure. That same weekend, his legendary submission match against Bret Hart from WrestleMania 13 was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as the inaugural entry in the Immortal Moments category.
Austin is already confirmed for WWE World 2026, the fan convention taking place during WrestleMania week at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where he is scheduled for autograph and photo sessions on April 18 and 19. His presence in Las Vegas for WrestleMania 42 week suggests his absence from the Raw roster is circumstantial rather than a sign of any wider disconnect from WWE. For now, though, Austin's focus is on the desert — not the squared circle.
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