10 Most Notorious Stone Cold Steve Austin Urban Legends

8. He Was Protected By WWE After He Hit His Wife Debra

Story: Austin has had a great career, but there was a moment in his personal life that he wishes he could forget. On June 15, 2002, Austin's wife Debra was found bruised at their home in San Antonio. She was a WWE diva from 1998 to 2002. He's been married four times. Debra was his third wife. Two months later on August 14, Austin was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. This incident came at a time in his life shortly after he walked away from WWE, so this garnered a lot of attention obviously. In November 2002, Austin plead no contest and served no jail time. He was given probation for one year, fined $1,000 and had to do 80 hours of community service. He also couldn't drink alcohol for about a year, which was mentioned on WWE TV as well although they never said why that was. They divorced soon after the incident and Debra was never brought back to WWE. Following the Chris Benoit murders in 2007, she claimed that Austin was a steroid user that was having "roid rage" when he attacked her. Debra spoke out against WWE by saying that Austin beat her three times and claimed that WWE had put a gag order on her to prevent her from talking about it because it cost the company millions of dollars if people knew Austin was a wife beater. WWE never talked about Austin's situation in public. They could have paid her to not talk about it or maybe there was a court order preventing it. Abusing his wife is an incident that definitely hurt his reputation. Some fans lost respect for him for hitting his wife. He remarried in 2009, which was his fourth marriage. Why People Believe It: Since WWE never talked about it and it took Debra five years to say anything, it's possible that WWE made her keep quiet about it with a gag order. Should We Believe It: Yes we should. Austin hit her. She had bruises. She was likely paid money by him and perhaps even from WWE, who never brought her back to television. Sadly, she's a victim in all this that is pretty much written out of WWE history. With all of that said, the courts determined he shouldn't go to jail for what he did. Some people probably think he got off easy because he's a celebrity.