10 Wrestlers Who Refused Huge Matches
2. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Takes His Ball And Goes Home Instead Of Facing Brock Lesnar
In another case of knowing his worth and not wanting to throw away all the hard work he'd put in to getting himself to the very top of the mountain, Stone Cold Steve Austin once again refused to take part in what would've been a jaw-dropping encounter just for the sake of it.
Yet, while you could argue that at least the potential match with The Hulkster would've been given a substantial build in the lead up to the showdown, the polar opposite was pitched to the Texas Rattlesnake before a planned loss to a rising star by the name of Brock Lesnar in 2002.
Clearly feeling it was the wrong call to lay down for Lesnar in an unadvertised King of the Ring qualifier match on Raw, Austin no-showed the event and would disappear from WWE television until early 2003.
Austin has since stated that he loves Lesnar and would happily lay down for him on any day of the week, but he just wanted the company to maximise the money they could make off of such a riveting clash. Sadly, this poorly thought-out plan resulted in us never seeing the icons lock up in the squared-circle.