Similar to CM Punks walkout, Stone Cold Steve Austins sudden exit from WWE was due to a proposed storyline and match. Furthermore, Austins walkout created a phrase that would be used to describe Punk -- he took his ball and went home. Like Punk, Stone Cold had been slowly growing tired of his working environment for various reasons -- one of which was his troubled home life with Debra McMichael. In the lead-up to Austins departure, the superstar was not exactly quiet about his displeasures. On a May 2002 episode of Raw, the former WWE Champion derided the company for its creative direction and voiced his opinion that he was not being used the way he should have been during a phone interview. By the next month, Austin had decided he was done and no-showed the June 3rd edition of Raw. All of Stone Colds storylines were immediately dropped and he was consistently buried by both Vince McMahon and Jim Ross for taking his ball and going home. Reportedly, Austins reason for leaving was due to a proposed plan that would see him defeated by the then-up-and-coming Brock Lesnar. Stone Cold himself has admitted to the refusal to put Brock over -- kind of. A match was to take place on that June 3rd Monday Night Raw between Lesnar and Austin. The Texas Rattlesnake was to do the job clean for Brock, but flat out refused. According to good ole Stone Cold, it wasnt because of anything he held against Brock. Instead, he claims he was looking at it from a business perspective and it just didnt make sense. Why have such a potentially high-drawing and excitingly fresh matchup for free on television with almost no buildup? As evidenced by Brocks later feud with the Rock, there was money to be made with such a marquee matchup. Quite frankly, its hard to argue with Austins opinion that the match would have been a gigantic wasted opportunity. However, if thats how the former champion felt, there was surely another way to go about things. In the end, walking out didnt really accomplish much, as Austin returned to the company by 2003. Lesnar continued his meteoric rise to the top of the sports entertainment world.
Douglas Scarpa is a freelance writer, independent filmmaker, art school graduate, and pro wrestling aficionado -- all of which mean he is in financial ruin. He has no backup plan to speak of, yet maintains his abnormally high spirits. If he had only listened to the scorn of his childhood teachers, he wouldn't be in this situation.
