10 Worst Times WWE Wrestlers Refused To Lose
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin Refused To Lose To Brock Lesnar - Raw, June 2002
The day that Stone Cold "took his ball and went home".
The story throughout 2002 was that Steve Austin was getting frustrated with his role in the company, and felt that storylines for his character had become stagnant. Following underwhelming feuds in the first half of the year, Austin was pitched to work with the rapidly rising star of Brock Lesnar in the lead up to King of the Ring.
Austin was keen on the prospect of a brand new opponent, but was not at all happy with the company giving away a big money match that could have headlined any PPV on weekly TV, especially without proper buildup and, in his own words, potentially making the Texas Rattlesnake look weak. Austin no-showed Raw on June 10th and all his storylines from that point on were dropped, including a potentially great feud with Eddie Guerrero.
Stone Cold cited multiple reasons for his walkout of the company on top of the creative frustrations, including beef with some of the boys including Triple H, Scott Hall and The Rock, and a domestic incident with then-wife Debra. The job to The Next Big Thing was simply the straw that broken the camel's already fragile back.
Following his refusal to do the honours to Lesnar, the company verbally buried their star in the weeks following his walk out, severing all ties with him and Austin would not appear on WWE television for nearly a year. Things would eventually be smoothed over by the beginning of 2003, and he would return for one more round with The Rock at WrestleMania XIX.