9 Wrestlers Who Refused To Lose

Steve Austin's walkout from WWE is well-trodden territory (certainly on this site, and certainly by myself) but it is such a fascinating situation when looking at the walkout itself, the events leading up to it and the bitter aftermath. Yes Austin was burned out and beat up and unhappy with the general creative direction of his character and the company itself, but the straw that broke the camel's back was when Vince asked his biggest ever draw to do a random job on Raw, to a rookie no less.

That rookie was Brock Lesnar, who was getting the monster push in the hopes of making a star out of their (costly) investment. Brock was scheduled to win the King of the Ring, but he needed to qualify first and the belief was that it would make a hell of a statement by beating a former WWE Champion and King of the Ring winner in the form of the Texas Rattlesnake.

When Austin learned of the plans, he was pissed. He knew there'd be money to make by working with Brock Lesnar at a later date, once The Next Big Thing was more established, and didn't see sense in doing a job in some random tournament qualifier on free TV. He was a top star and he needed to be protected. When he was informed that the plans would not change and that he was expected to lose to Lesnar, he famously 'took his ball and went home', flying back to Texas and failing to appear as advertised.

He didn't appear on WWE television again for around eight months and retired from in-ring competition just a month after returning (doing the honours for The Rock at WrestleMania XIX).