10 WWE Matches That Made Wrestlers Quit
7. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Vs Brock Lesnar, Raw 2002
This match may never have actually happened inside of a WWE ring, but the idea of it was enough to make a WWE legend take his ball and go home.
Coming out of WrestleMania X-8, the first signs of Stone Cold Steve Austin being exhausted by the professional wrestling industry became apparent, with The Texas Rattlesnake no-showing the Raw after the Show of Shows. Despite returning to the company and continuing to appear on weekly television, the cracks were spreading beneath the surface.
A shoot interview shortly after, taking aim at the poor direction he felt WWE was heading in at this time, seem to set the stage for Austin's seemingly inevitable departure. Then, when told he would be doing the job for a young Brock Lesnar, The Bionic Redneck was done.
Austin thought it made zero sense to give away such a meaningful moment on free TV without any substantial build, so instead chose to go AWOL. Not for the first time on this list, an accumulation of creative frustration and physical exhaustion consequently led to a star giving McMahon the middle finger.