10 Wrestlers Who Saw WWE As A Vacation
3. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Was there a sadder sight in WWE that Stone Cold Steve Austin f*cking around on that f*cking ATV wearing a f*cking toy sheriff badge selling f*cking nothing for f*cking nobody months removed from being told he couldn't ever work again?
Triple H didn't seem to think so. An infamous Raw face-to-face saw 'The Game' virtually p*ss his pants laughing at the state of it - had it fallen a little closer to WrestleMania he'd probably have shouted for Booker T to help clean him up. Ultimately - and somewhat in spite of the insecure World Champion's burial attempt - it was a case of everybody trying and failing to make the best of a bad situation.
Austin clearly didn't want to be out of the industry yet, and Vince McMahon's 2003 roster wasn't exactly overspilling with megastars. The Attitude Era's breakneck pace had done exactly that to 'The Rattlesnake's longterm prospects, but his turn as a ticket-selling off-air boypopper didn't exactly make for great television at the time.
His dignified WrestleMania XIX exit did much to repair a wide-open wound between Austin and a fanbase that felt betrayed by the ugly reveals from his personal life a year earlier. With far too little time to process his departure, this run picked at a scab not fully healed.