Ever since the beginning of the year WrestleMania fans have been eagerly speculating about who the biggest names will be at this year’s WrestleMania 29. Of those names, it was widely believed that Stone Cold Steve Austin would face CM Punk in the ring, for a match that would be the final showdown between these two notorious enemies. Now though, Stone Cold has publicly denied these rumors, or any others linking him to WWE’s biggest event of the year. For 2013 at least.

When it was announced a couple of weeks ago that it would be the Undertaker taking on Punk, fans were disappointed that they wouldn’t see the Punk/Stone Cold rivalry come to a head once and for all. Still though, they clung to the hope that Steve Austin would still be making an appearance in New Jersey this year, until this past weekend when he squashed any chance of that happening either.

“I’ve had many questions concerning WrestleMania 29. The decision has been made that I will not be WM29 and that the bottom line,” he wrote on his Twitter account on March 21.

The decision was most likely due to practical reasons than anything else. It was just this past summer that Austin had surgery on his knee, and he’s just gotten over the rehab for that surgery as well.

That being said, Austin’s knee is likely to be completely rehabilitated next year, and by that time it’s also likely that Austin will be itching to get back into the ring. And that always renews hope for a Punk/Stone Cold matchup for WrestleMania 30 next year!