Steve Austin 'Loved The Finish' Of Roman Reigns Vs. Cody Rhodes At WWE WrestleMania 39

The decision to have Roman Reigns defeat Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 39 caused an uproar among wrestling fans but the booking to keep the belts on Reigns has been praised by the likes of Kevin Nash and Road Dogg.

Now, Stone Cold Steve Austin has supported WWE's booking, telling Sports Illustrated that you can't take the title off Roman Reigns at the moment.

"I loved the finish. I loved all of it. Roman is so good right now. The story was there - Cody coming back from injury, coming back into the fold after he left from AEW, and putting himself in the position he's in now, overcoming all this adversity as part of one of the most famous wrestling families that's ever been in the business, and trying to finish the story against Roman. I watched both nights of WrestleMania 39 very intently. To me, you can't take that belt off Roman right now. You want to get it to Cody somehow, someway, sometime - but now's not the time," Austin said.

The finish of the WrestleMania main event saw Rhodes connect with two Cross Rhodes and as he was about to hit his finisher for the third time, Paul Heyman distracted the referee before Solo Sikoa popped up on the apron and decked Cody with a Samoan Spike. Reigns then recovered and hit Rhodes with a Spear for the 1-2-3.

Austin added: "I kept asking, 'How are they going to do this?' To have Solo Sikoa, who has a great career in front of him, Jimmy and Jey Uso, who are just so badass, plus Sami and Kevin, Paul E., I love all those guys - they all played a great role. Roman is so hot. It just wasn't time to pass that torch yet. Just thinking about that finish, I thought it was definitely the right call. I loved the outside interference. You didn't know what was coming next. That spike to the throat, for me, it was money."

Rumours ahead of WrestleMania 39 revealed that Austin had been offered matches with Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and LA Knight for the Showcase of the Immortals. Austin has since revealed why he turned down the chance to come out of retirement again and wrestle at the show. Find out more here.