10 Bizarre Wrestling Epics That Didn’t Live Up To The Hype
5. Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs Eric Bischoff (WWE No Way Out 2003)
1163857The second of two sort-of dream matches on WWE's loaded last stop on the road to WrestleMania XIX, Stone Cold Steve Austin's return to the company paid off the first of several times Vince McMahon used his television show to humiliate Eric Bischoff for the years he knocked his product into a cocked hat.
"Hat" being the operative verb in this case - Austin's return was soundtracked by a maddening Jim Ross, returning to the booth after a dispute with Bischoff centred around his quest to re-hire 'The Rattlesnake'.
Clearly mindful that this shouldn't be considered a true return match, Stone Cold didn't even wear his actual gear. Sporting his jhorts over the knee braces long before John Cena made the style choice inadvertently iconic, Austin didn't so much wrestle 'Easy E' as he did bully him in front of a braying hoard.
The match hadn't been promoted efficiently. Jim Ross wasn't commentating properly. Stone Cold couldn't wrestle proficiently. Something felt deeply wrong about the entire situation - something that wouldn't truly emerge until Austin's panicked hospital trip 24 hours before the year's 'Show Of Shows'.