Appearing on Busted Open Radio on Thursday, WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin expressed his feelings on the decision for Roman Reigns to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39, saying that Cody Rhodes beating Roman that night would not have increased his popularity, as he didn’t believe the time was right for the title to change hands.
“I just think it was so storybook, it would have been so cliche to put the belt on him. Has he earned the opportunity to be there? Yeah, but would he have been the right guy, right now, trying to take out Roman Reigns? I just think not. Roman is so on fire and so money right now. Cody’s going to be there. To me, it made me respect Cody more.”
Rhodes was a heavy favorite to defeat Reigns at WrestleMania, but reports came in after saying that Roman was always meant to retain at the event.