10 Worst WWE Moments Of 2002

The pic above shows Steve Austin working a tag bout on Raw in January 2002. He wasn't happy back then, but things wouldn't reach boiling point until halfway through the year. Everything got on top of 'Stone Cold' that year. He didn't liked being shoved out of the main event picture, didn't like his WrestleMania X8 match vs. Scott Hall, and he generally hated where WWE's creative team wanted to take his booking.

Hours before the 10 June Raw went live, Austin "took his ball and went home". He'd been scheduled to wrestle newcomer Brock Lesnar in a King Of The Ring qualifier on the show, but that didn't work for Steve. Being fair to him, he had a point when he complained that throwing away a marquee bout like that with zero build up on free TV was a mistake.

Still, it was where WWE wanted to go with things, so there was a sudden disconnect between wrestler and office. Screw this, Austin offered - he flew himself home, and the company badmouthed him as unprofessional and selfish live on air. The sorry incident was a stain on the history of Steve's relationship with WWE, but they had to know a blowoff was coming.

He'd been miserable for months before storming out.

WWE's subsequent hatchet job on Austin was borderline 'Self Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior' levels, then he eventually returned to work in time for No Way Out 2003. Splice in awful reports of domestic violence back home, and 'Stone Cold' was hardly having a banner year for either his personal life or professional reputation.