10 Times WWE Disrespected Stone Cold Steve Austin

1. The WWE Confidential Hatchet Job

Austin walked out of WWE on June 10th, 2002 before he was scheduled to lose to Brock Lesnar live on Monday Night Raw. Austin had been unhappy with the creative direction of not only his character, but the entire company, for months. He was burned out and drinking hard. The proposed Lesnar loss was the straw that broke the camel's back. He had a right to be p***ed off, in many people's opinion. Austin had been WWE's biggest star and was being phased out. His character was being watered-down. He was also performing with serious neck, knee and back injuries. He needed a break. To his credit, Austin said that if he could do it again, he would do it differently. WWE would probably like to do things a little differently, too, especially with respects to the portrayal of the Austin walkout on the June 15th 2002 episode of Confidential. Over thirty minutes of the one hour show were dedicated to the walkout and it featured long, frank interviews with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon. McMahon said that Austin had committed 'perhaps the only impardonable sin in the business', that he had let the fans down and owed them an apology. Jim Ross was also pretty hard on his friend, but less vitriolic than Vince. Overall, it was a typical knee-jerk reaction. WWE reacted way too quickly to the situation and ended up saying some things they shouldn't have said, at least not in the public setting. To top it off, WWE sent The Rock out on the next episode of Raw to thank the fans for making him a star and vowing never to leave them while instructing anyone not dedicated to the WWE cause to 'get the F out'. Totally disrespectful. It's a surprise that Austin came back at all after this.