Steve Austin Talks Walking Out On WWE In 2002 Over Brock Lesnar Finish, Regrets, More

Recently on The Steve Austin Show, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin interviewed Raven. Among other things, Austin and Raven talked about Austin walking out on WWE in 2002 when he refused to job to Brock Lesnar in a cold match on Monday Night RAW.

Austin said that he was in a hotel room in Columbus, Georgia when he received a telephone call from Jim Ross.

"Back in the day, I was drinking a lot of whiskey, and then [Ross] laid out the finish for me and I was laying in the hotel room." Austin continued, "I said, 'if that's creative, I ain't going to be there' and he told me to call Vince [McMahon]."

Austin said that he called McMahon and they spoke at 2 a.m. McMahon laid out the same scenario for him that Ross did.

"I said to him, 'so that's what we're doing, huh?' and he goes, 'yep'. And I was thinking [he would say], 'well, yeah, unless you don't like it, Steve' and he didn't say that, so I'm just like, 'oh really? Okay, then F- you!' and that's when I took my ball and went home and that big smear campaign started."

Austin admitted that he was difficult to work with at times because he would reject ideas from creative, but offer no alternatives or solutions. Accordingly, Austin did not offer any alternatives to the proposed finish of the RAW match against Lesnar.

"I was always a reasonable guy. I was always going to put a guy over when it was time to, but if I didn't like the finish, I would say, 'no, F- that. We're not doing it', and I'd leave the room. I would never offer a solution, and so, sometimes, I was a little bit hard to work with from that respect," Austin said. "The fact that I couldn't dispute the finish was a valid point, but I didn't dispute it. I just said, 'F- you.' I didn't even say that. I kayfabed [McMahon]. I said I was going home. It was a walkout."

Although Austin believed himself to be reasonable with respect to WWE creative, he said that some of the ideas were very bad.

"Sometimes the finishes were just so ludicrous it was unbelievable." Austin added, "some of the times I was so amazed with the things they wanted to come up with. I was like, 'are you kidding me? I mean, come on, man!'"

Austin expressed regret over the incident insofar as he and Lesnar were and remain friends and he wanted to work with Lesnar.

"I knew Brock was money back in the day when I first met him! And me and the guy are friends! We've always been friends! But it's like, that wasn't a good business decision!"

Also, Austin stated that he did not handle the situation very well and it is something he wishes he could redo.

"I handled it in the worst way I could by saying that's when I effectively quit and I was gone for six or eight months or whatever it was. But, hell, it was basically career suicide for almost anybody! I lost a lot of money. The company lost a lot of money. It was just a bad part of my life that I handled in a horrible fashion." Austin added, "I blew that one and it was on me."

To listen to the entire podcast, click here.

Source: The Steve Austin Show