8 Wrestlers Steve Austin Refused To Lose Against

2. Brock Lesnar

In one of the most famous refusals to lose a match in the history of the business, Steve Austin vetoed the idea of losing to Brock Lesnar on an episode of Monday Night Raw. Sure, Austin may have handled this in the wrong way €“ after all, we€™d constantly hear about how he took his ball and went home €“ but he was totally justified in raising his concerns. Austin was the highest-drawing superstar in the history of the business in terms of being the top star at the peak of the wrestling boom, and the plan was for him to lose cleanly to the recently-arrived and still green Lesnar in an unadvertised TV match. Stone Cold has gone on record to say how he would€™ve done the honours for Brock if the build was right, but to just have this as a throwaway match for free on regular Monday night programming seems absolutely ridiculous. Austin reacted badly, there€™s no disputing that, but he certainly had valid reason to have beef with this proposal. It€™s just a shame that the Texas Rattlesnake€™s reaction here led to him taking a leave of absence and that he never got to actually have a match with Lesnar.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.