10 Wrestlers Who Went To War With Vince McMahon

8. Steve Austin

Vince McMahon Bret Hart
WWE.com

Steve Austin was mighty pissed off in 2002.

The mechanisms in place to keep him over - strong booking, a long-term direction, an approach to promo segments that wasn't lame, patronising and damaging - had started to unravel under Stephanie McMahon's nebulous 'Hollywood' approach to her precious "writing". He expressed as much on Confidential - "piss poor" is how he described the abject state of a product plummeting in viewership - and was punished with a clean, unadvertised loss to Brock Lesnar.

That was the plan: Austin, apoplectic at the idea of burning through a pay-per-view main event out of spite, "took his ball and went home". The idea that his behaviour was unprofessional isn't inaccurate, technically, but it's rather like breaking a quarterback's hand because it wasn't the Superbowl. That is a preposterous analogy for a preposterous decision only Vince McMahon would make. Austin took his aura and went home.

Who won?

Austin didn't do the job, and got a pay day at the very next 'Mania, doing some transitional business - Austin to Rock to Goldberg - on the way out. Business that generated two pay-per-view buys, and not one TV rating.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!