The Aftermath Of Steve Austin's Controversial WWE Walkout

There is no one wrestler as synonymous with WWE as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, despite his initial start in WCW as "Stunning" Steve Austin, but things within Vince McMahon's company weren't always smooth sailing for "The Texas Rattlesnake." Despite being a huge draw for the then-WWF during its "Attitude Era" and holding the WWF World Heavyweight Championship multiple times, Austin once got so fed up with his booking and WWF's creative that he walked out of the company and wouldn't return for months.

Austin's frustrations seemingly started with his heel turn at WrestleMania 17 in 2001 where he aligned himself with McMahon. It was poorly received by fans after the pair had such a successful feud and Austin has often spoke about how he regrets the turn, and once said it was "the worst call he ever made." While Austin begrudgingly worked through the heel turn, it was "Stone Cold's" booking in 2002 that pushed him over the edge.

He wasn't booked in a strong way ahead of WrestleMania 18. He was initially set to face Hulk Hogan, who had just re-joined WWE with the New World Order after WCW shut its doors, but neither man reportedly wanted to lose the match. Former WWE Head of Talent Relations Jim Ross said in a 2020 podcast that Austin was convinced that he and Hogan's styles in the ring were like oil and water and Austin just didn't feel the chemistry.

Hogan went on to face The Rock on "The Grandest Stage of Them All" and "Stone Cold" was kept far away from the main event in a match against nWo's Scott Hall. Austin was frustrated enough to no-show the following "Monday Night Raw" and even trashed his creative publicly on the former WWE.com show "Byte This."

The final straw for Austin came in 2002 when he learned he was going to lose to Brock Lesnar in a King of the Ring qualifying match. Austin has since explained his walkout wasn't due to him not wanting to lose to the "Beast Incarnate," he just didn't want to waste what he thought was a big match on free television with no build toward it. Austin appeared on an episode of "Pardon My Take" back in 2020 and said he didn't show up to the show following the call about putting Lesnar over because it "wasn't time for him to do the favors yet" for Lesnar in an unadvertised TV match. He went on to say he loved Lesnar and he'd lose to him any day of the week, but wanted the build-up to the match so both men could have made money from it.

Austin walked out before the June 10, 2002 episode of "Raw," which was infamously acknowledged on TV by a number of stars, including The Rock. The following week, McMahon addressed the situation and cut the now-iconic promo where he said Austin "took his ball and went home."

This time, Austin didn't just walk out of "Raw" and WWE for a week, he remained off the show and at odds with the company for almost an entire year before a fellow WWE Hall of Famer reached out to him to patch things up.

It was former Head of Talent Relations Jim Ross who gave Austin the Lesnar news over the phone that led to his walkout, but it was also "Good Ol' JR" who helped to bring Austin back to the company. Ross reached out to Austin by sending him a postcard, and "The Texas Rattlesnake" was so touched by the simple gesture, he decided to give Ross a call. Ross asked Austin if he would be willing to meet with McMahon to air out their grievances and Austin was receptive. 

"Stone Cold" went back to WWE for his final full-time year in the ring in 2003 and apologized to the fans in an interview with "WWE Raw Magazine" early in the year. He said he regrated causing inaccurate speculation about any alleged grudges he had against other talent. Austin also revealed in 2014 that McMahon had fined him $650,000 when he returned, but he was able to talk him down to $250,000. His farewell match came at WrestleMania 19 in a loss to The Rock, and it would be his final match for 19 years.

He made appearances for WWE throughout the coming years, including as an on-screen authority figure almost immediately after his in-ring retirement. "Stone Cold" came out of retirement to face Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38 in a surprise main event match in Austin's native Texas. Owens challenged Austin to a No Holds Barred match, after getting him to the ring under the ruse of an interview, and Austin accepted. He defeated Owens with a Stone Cold Stunner. He made another surprise appearance on night two of the event to drink beer with McMahon following the former boss' impromptu match with Pat McAfee, then hit him with one more Stunner before toasting, and Stunning, McAfee.