Steve Austin has admitted in the years since that he was wrong to walk out of the WWE in June 2002. The Texas Rattlesnake had been frustrated with the creative direction of the company (and his character) for months and, when creative asked him to job to rookie sensation Brock Lesnar, clean, with no build or reason, it was the straw the broke the camel's back. In WWE's eyes, Austin had committed the cardinal sin of the wrestling business. He had walked out without explanation, leaving WWE to revise plans and hastily prepare for an Austinless future. They even sent The Rock to the ring on Raw to take a few shots at Austin. No, Vince was not happy with Austin's actions. He took things a step further when he dedicated an entire episode of Confidential to burying Austin and his decision to 'take his ball and go home'. It was a total smear campaign and showed just how quickly the WWE and Vince in particular could turn on a wrestler when they felt they had been wronged. The WWE fans still loved Austin, who hadn't been able to tell his side of the story yet. He was their hero, the man they had cheered above all others throughout the Attitude Era. And here was Vince calling him and ingrate and claiming that he would never work for the WWE again. It was an unnecessary knee-jerk reaction (of course Austin returned months later) and a big f*** you to the fans.
