WWE will do anything to sell a t-shirt, a pay-per-view or even a magazine. They proved that when they spent a good ten pages chronicling the Steve Austin walkout saga of June 2002. WWE peeled back the curtain and detailed Austin's problems, from before WrestleMania X8 and the return of the nWo to his decision to board a plane and fly himself home. The piece included pretty harsh quotes from not only agents and writers, such as Michael Hayes, but also by Austin's fellow colleagues. Whilst many (such as Eddie Guerrero and William Regal) refused to pass judgement, others (D'Lo Brown, Chris Benoit and Hogan) called Austin unprofessional and said that they were let down. The worst part, however, was WWE's decision to detail Austin's domestic abuse incident from June 15th. Police were called to the home he and his wife Debra shared after she had called 911. According to reports, Debra had marks on her shoulders and back and 'had a noticeably large welt below her eye'. It was an ugly scene and only added to Austin's woes. But it had no place in a WWE-licensed magazine, and just came off as mean spirited. Austin needed to get away from the limelight for a while and by publicising his private life, WWE did him no favours and actually disrespected him. In no way would anyone condone what Austin allegedly did to Debra, but WWE should have stayed out of their business.
