3/16 : Is It In The Numbers?

Austin 3:16 says 'I just whipped your ass!'
-'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, King of the Ring 1996

Steve Austin's career was made during his coronation speech at the 1996 King of the Ring pay-per-view.

After disposing of the Christian, Jake Roberts, Austin humbled his rival with a speech which contradicted the holy message Roberts had been spewing in the weeks leading up to the event.

'Austin 3:16' became a household term. T-shirts were printed. And sold out.

Why is he going on about 3:16 today? I guess you are asking yourself. Let me explain.

As you are probably aware (if you have been reading this blog regularly) I have been under the possibly misguided impression that Steve Austin will make one final wrestling appearance at this year's WrestleMania. Word of a possible bout with Chris Jericho surfaced in 2008 and then acknowledgement that Austin would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on the eve of WrestleMania XXV added fuel to these rumours.

Austin had even appeared as the central figure in advertising for the event so I was waiting for things to kick off on TV.

And they hadn't.

Chris Jericho has been featured in plenty of angles over the past few weeks interacting with legends by attacking them verbally or physically. There had even been hints he would wrestle Mickey Rourke at the show in April due to the success of The Wrestler. Rourke was meant to have been signed up to appear as Jericho's opponent as a standard bearer for the legends of wrestling.

I'm going out on one final limb and stating that Jericho will face-off against Austin at WrestleMania and Rourke will be in Austin's corner.

If it's going to happen, tonight is the night to put the wheels in motion. Monday Night Raw is taking place from San Antonio, Texas - Austin's home state.

My theory takes a drastic swing if you consider today's date - 3/16. Hey, it's an American wrestling show - I've got to use the American dating system for my speculation!

Yes, I may be putting too much stock in the date and the venue for tonight's Raw but I am right in saying that whatever plans they have for Jericho at WrestleMania needs to be sorted tonight.

They can't drag it on any longer - if Austin is going to return for his swansong match this is the time to do it.

If I'm right, you heard it here first.

And if I'm wrong...