50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble

There's an altogether different side to that happy hug of Perfect-ion.

Steve Austin's career was a little all over the place by 2002. He'd turned heel in 2001 to mixed results, and it was obvious to everyone that fans wanted to cheer 'Stone Cold' like it was 1998. That was the problem. This wasn't '98, and the WWF wanted to move on and push others to the top of the tree ahead of Austin. He'd have his time again, but the 'Rattlesnake' might have to wait for it.

Austin walked out on WWE before a June 2002 episode of Raw. He’d been bitching about the creative process to anyone who would listen before that, and was visibly disinterested in his feud vs. nWo man Scott Hall heading into WrestleMania X8. Triple H was the go-to babyface hero during the 2002 Rumble, so there’s a chance Austin was already feeling jilted in January. Fans were still keen on him, but ’Stone Cold’ had to play midcarder for a while and that had to be frustrating.

Being ousted from the Rumble by the returning Mr. Perfect summed things up for him at the time. To be clear, there's no evidence that Steve had any issues with Curt Hennig, but he must've been wondering where any of this was headed. Austin wasn't used to being a directionless worker - he was accustomed to being the top priority for Vince in creative meetings.

Going from pulling the WWF wagon to sitting twiddling his thumbs in the back row had to be jarring. The 2002 Rumble sticks out as a possible penny dropping moment for Austin.