10 Wrestlers WWE Treated Terribly On The Way Out
5. Steve Austin
Steve Austin is obviously on better terms with WWE now than he was back in 2002, but this one still stings a little. In '02, a fried-and-frankly-f*cked-off Austin grew so frustrated with the promotion's creative processes that he decided he'd rather not be there. He ended up walking out before the 10 June Raw.
WWE decided to kick him when he was down.
Vince McMahon appeared on TV to tut-tut at Austin's decision, and announcer Jim Ross was used to suggest that Steve had "taken his ball and gone home". It was a sorry period, one made even worse when the company stopped selling all 'Stone Cold' merchandise or promoting Austin at all.
The shocking thing here is that Austin was the biggest star in the industry. He had been for years, but WWE wanted to send a message that nobody was bigger than the organisation itself. Regrettably, they did this by treating Steve like some over-the-hill hack who couldn't take the pressure anymore.
Later, WWE squeezed one more WrestleMania match out of him with The Rock.