10 Hall Of Famers Who Fell Out With The WWE

7. Steve Austin

Steve Austin Vince Mcmahon
WWE.com

The Texas Rattlesnake is a unique entry on this list for he’s fallen out with the WWE both before and after being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Austin famously fell out with the company when he "took his ball and went home" back in 2002 due to some concerns with the company's direction. The WWE publicly slated Austin in various quarters, such as on their Byte This internet show, and even had The Rock make a sly reference to the matter on Monday Night Raw as he played up the "get the F out" mantra of the day.

Of course, Stone Cold would make peace with the company and return for one final in-ring run, but he'd again butt heads with the WWE in years to come, such as Vince's organisation recently taking issue with some of the Austin-approved merchandise being sold on ProWrestlingTees.com.

Austin and the WWE seem to largely be in a good place with each other these days, but the extreme drive and determination of both Austin and Vince McMahon has often led to clashes between these two explosive personalities.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.