Stone Cold Steve Austin was absolutely nowhere to be found during WrestleMania 33 and his presence was missed for sure. So much build up was given to The Undertaker’s last match that closed the night against Roman Reigns that things like an old legend were cast aside.

Curiously, the event was littered with part-time performers. John Cena, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Shane McMahon, Chris Jericho and Randy Orton all helped prove the point that the older eras of WWE programming still resonate with a large number of viewers in a huge way.

Still, the question of where the Texas Rattlesnake was remained. Recently on his own podcast, Austin decided to finally answer a question about his location during The Ultimate Thrill Ride this year and the answer was very surprising. He was selling his ranch.

NoDQ published his comments on how his relationship with the WWE is going right now after that answer.

Stone Cold said: “I will always be a part of the WWE. The WWE will always be a part of my life. Man, I’m in this thing for the rest of my life. That’s the relationship I have with the WWE. So there’s never been no heat, no this, no that, no whatever.

“I’m at a great place with those guys and I’m thankful for everything they’ve done for me, I’m sure they are thankful for the things I did for them. Again, I’m a WWE member for life.”

That answer should go a long way toward quieting the rumours that swirled around Austin last year when his contract with the company expired. From the sounds of these quotes, he will be around WWE events whenever they ask him to be for the foreseeable future.

His scheduling conflict with selling the ranch is one of those rare instances when you just aren’t able to make it even when you would like to be present for an event. There is nothing nefarious going on involving the popular Attitude era personality.

Dave Meltzer previously reported that WWE officials were unhappy with some of the content in his podcasts before and that’s why they no longer appear in video format on the WWE Network. A specific conversation with Dean Ambrose on an episode was mentioned.

On the August 8 episode of the show, Austin questioned Ambrose’s effort in some of the matches he participated in and WWE officials were reportedly not pleased with that tone of questioning along with offending talent.

Whatever the case is with those reports, from Stone Cold’s side of things, they are square. And that is the bottom line.