10 Stupidest Decisions By WWE In 2005

3. Asking Steve Austin To Job To Jonathan Coachman

In April 2004, Steve Austin left WWE yet again, this time over differences pertaining to his contract and, to a certain extent, the creative direction of his character and the company in general. Austin had walked out of WWE before but he'd been established as an on-screen authority figure for about a year when he decided to pursue other endeavours post-WrestleMania XX. He returned to the company a year later at WrestleMania 21 as a guest on Piper's Pit. After that he showed up for the odd segment here and there, and come October 2005 WWE were making plans to book him in a match. Against Jonathan Coachman. Yup, Stone Cold's first 'match' since WrestleMania XIX was going to be against the pudgy announcer. WWE figured they could pop the buyrate for Taboo Tuesday by featuring Stone Cold in a wrestling capacity (not that he'd do much besides beat the holy hell out of the Coach and his cronies - strictly no bumps). Incredibly, WWE actually asked Austin to do the job for ESPN's finest, to which Austin promptly said 'f*** that'. He wasn't about to have his credibility ruined by suffering the 1-2-3 at the hands of someone like Coach, regardless of how much outside interference it took. Add in the fact that Austin was fighting for the honour of his good friend Jim Ross and he'd look like a double loser. It's something that certainly wouldn't have happened to the Stone Cold character in years gone by, but WWE were adamant that he lose. So, Austin once again said 'goodbye' to WWE and left the company, being replaced by Batista at the PPV. The Animal won in about five minutes, which begs the question - why were WWE so keen for Austin to lose? Their insistence cost them the services of their biggest ever draw, and he wouldn't be seen in WWE again until the March 18th 2006 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event.