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- Was Steve Austin in the wrong for walking out on WWE in 2002?
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This is primarily more about his walk out on WWF/E in 2002 around King Of The Ring over not wanting to lose a throwaway match to Brock Lesnar on RAW on TV instead of a big PPV match. Austin might’ve been a draw from 1998-2001 but it’s not like Austin was going to be badly effected just to lose a match to a future superstar.
If we peruse the backstage track records of The Rock, Triple H and The Undertaker, those three have done their fair share of willingly putting others over and/or jobbing when storylines call for them to lose and do what creative says, so I think Austin was wrong for walking out on WWE and Vince for not wanting to put Lesnar over. Austin by then was far more egotistical than Rock, HHH and Taker. Austin was the WWF’s most protected top star and cash cow throughout the Attitude Era from 98-01, but it was time for Ruthless Aggression to happen by 2002-03 by cantering WWE around HHH, Lesnar and later Cena. 2002 was just the example of moment Austin walked out whenever things didn’t go his way. Austin’s legacy was already secure and cemented based on his Attitude Era work and drawing power alone, so what was Austin complaining about over losing a simple match to Lesnar? I wonder where Austin learned his habit of walking out whenever things don’t go his way from. Bret Hart took Austin under his wing and made him look a million bucks in the feud that did more for Austin’s career than Bret’s being the rising star to Bret’s manipulative and pouty veteran, while HBK walked out on the WWF whenever things didn’t go his way like faking injuries just to get out of jobbing championship belts. I think Austin learned that inexcusable habit from Bret and HBK, and Bret also wasn’t much better either. Bret and HBK were opposites of Austin in terms of being a top draw. Both were negative zone top draws and Austin at least was a cash cow for his time on top.
Take the reins of the Championship Belts.
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Endless debate. Both parties were in the wrong and both parties handled the issues with each other in the wrong ways.
Are you not....entertained!?
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It was unprofessional but I don’t hold it against him.
HH1 nobody on this board takes you seriously. nobody. do you understand me? - shycheesecake
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Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys?
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ssjmole posted...
Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys? CM Punk is also a crybaby too. He would’ve been given a WrestleMania main event headliner spot if it weren’t for his attitude problems and subsequent walk out. I never cared about Punk’s WWE Championship Belt reign from 2011-2013 or his Pipebomb promo as WWE had John Cena as the guy to look to when drawing fans in arenas, selling merchandise and making money. Austin was a proven cash cow for his time. He helped bring the WWF back from the ashes along with The Rock after years of having to watch the WWF mollycoddle Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and their backstage politics games that hurt the locker room morale. Once Vince regained control of his locker room, the rest is history, for the better for WWF. I can understand Austin’s situation dating back to his days in WCW where he was a hard worker, tried to be a team player, and was a favorite coworker for Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes and Sting before Eric Bischoff fired him once EB brought in Hulk Hogan, Jim Duggan, Brutus Beefcake, Meng, Randy Savage, Earthquake and other ex-WWF alumni from the Golden Era, while recuperating from an injury in 1995. Then somewhere along the way, Austin became a big time backstage politician and egomaniac to ensure himself he doesn’t have to relive his WCW experiences again. Austin got a big head when he first became a top draw, and Vince didn’t need another Hogan-esque control freak power play on his hands. Austin was given more leeway with winning his matches with Bret, HBK, HHH, Rock, Taker and even Ric Flair, in addition to being allowed to nix a potential WM18 match vs Hogan based on Austin’s personal dislike and hatred to Hogan as revenge for being pushed out of WCW in 1995 to the point that Scott Hall of all people had to be given to Austin as a WM18 opponent instead. And for Austin to be out of line and walk away from the WWF just after years of being catered to non-stop with considerable say in storylines and character just soured him a bit for me, but nonetheless, Austin’s run as a cash cow WWF megastar paid dividends for him for his time.
Take the reins of the Championship Belts.
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I agree with austin that it should be a bigger match than raw, but at the end of the day you are a talent and not the booker. It is pretty unprofessional. If some midcarder tried that it might negatively affect their career.
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guerrillakidney posted...
I agree with austin that it should be a bigger match than raw, but at the end of the day you are a talent and not the booker. It is pretty unprofessional. If some midcarder tried that it might negatively affect their career. If someone like Hall or Steiner tried to pull their set of antics, attitude problems and continued to be problem children like they were at WCWs final years, both of those guys would’ve gotten canned, sent packing never to be invited back again on account of their rotten backstage attitudes. Austin should be lucky he didn’t get sent packing by Vince in an instant without a blink like Hall and Steiner did.
Take the reins of the Championship Belts.
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Austin walking was unprofessional, but I completely see his point.
As you said, he was the biggest stars and cashcow of the previous era, passing the torch to potentially the biggest stars of the upcoming era. A throwaway match on an episode of Raw would have been a waste. Would have been like if hogan vs warrior happened on an episode of Main Event, or more accurately, it would have been like one of the instances WWE likes to mock WCW for: Hogan vs Goldberg on a Nitro (as awesome as it was). It's not like it was Billy Gunn refusing to do the job. It was Stone Cold. You lose the potential of a huge payday as well as a memorable ppv moment for the guy you're pushing as the next megastar.
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ssjmole posted...
Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys? Austin says himself he was wrong. Don't ignore facts to hate Austin's fans. Austin fans would agree with Austin.
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ITT ppl looking wayyy too much into stuff that they'll never be 100% knowledgeable about.
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Hall and Steiner weren't the biggest draws since Hogan like Austin was. I think Austin felt he was in a position to have more of a say on the direction of his booking much like Hogan did because of the level of starpower he had obtained.
Whether that privilege is warranted is debatable but if Austin felt like he was being undervalued not only in his booking but in the way he was being treated by management behind the scenes, there may something to that. It all depends on how you perceive what a top draws rights should be. Should he still have no real say and tow the company line like everyone else or should he be afforded the chance to have more of a say in what he does and how he does it because of who he is in the business. It seems like Austin felt disrespected by management, not because they wanted him to job but moreso because they weren't booking him in effective ways that were beneficial to anyone involved and because he was the biggest draw since Hogan he shouldn't have been put in such a position. Right or wrong, it's a situation that could have been prevented and could have been sorted without anyone walking out.
Are you not....entertained!?
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Snake posted...
Hall and Steiner weren't the biggest draws since Hogan like Austin was. I think Austin felt he was in a position to have more of a say on the direction of his booking much like Hogan did because of the level of starpower he had obtained. Austin tried towing the company line in WCW and he got fired for it when Hogan and Bischoff made him expendable in 1994-95. I see that as Austin being overprotective of his Stone Cold character and also not wanting a repeat of his time in WCW to happen in the WWF.
Take the reins of the Championship Belts.
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I think there was also the added pressure of the product's decline since the Invasion. There had to be some mentality going on that booking problems like Austin was identifying was a big part of the reason why business was down at that point which is why he got so frustrated to the breaking point. I don't think Austin feared ever getting fired but moreso that the creative direction the company was going in would continue to suffer.
Are you not....entertained!?
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Austin was just completely burned out mentally and physically. There were a lot of things going on and this is the straw that broke the camels back. It wasn't just jobbing to Brock on Raw, Austin was ready to leave one way or another.
Despite all my rage I'm still just a rabbit in a cage
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That was just more bad decisions from the WWE creative team during that period. Good thing Austin walked out. This is about the same time the quality started nose diving.
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Austin himself has said multiple times he was in the wrong so idk how this is even a debate.
Sign here.
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alphagamerXXL posted...
It was unprofessional but I don’t hold it against him. Yeah they gave him a bad idea, he texted poorly to it, and even he regrets it. But he was in a really bad place mentally, and besides the business is such a fucked up one that it’s hard to hold that against him too much. I’d feel worse for WWE if they treated their employees like real employees
Secretary to the B0$$
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n00bsaib0t posted...
ssjmole posted...Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys? Yes but difference is people on here scream they don't want punk back cause he quit yet accept back the woman beater who quit cause 'hes from attitude era" in not ignoring facts more defend Austin and ignore all his flaws but punk leaving bad. If reigns beat a woman irl everyone would call for him to banned
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In defence He was burned the fuck out and was booked kind of silly after Mania but taking his ball and going home and the whole Debbie mess weren't gonna win him brownie points.
I'll get back up for good this time and I ain't comin' down...
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OKThen posted...
ITT ppl looking wayyy too much into stuff that they'll never be 100% knowledgeable about. Is that not the essence of PWB? People take stuff they hear from "loldirtsheets" and spout them as fact all over the place.
7/10 for me means it wasn't really bad or really good, but resting somewhere in the middle. -hulkhogan1
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No, he was correct in not wanting to do it. You don't waste a match like that on a RAW. You build it up to a PPV.
So while it wasn't wrong to have somebody like Austin put over Lesnar, it would have been wrong just doing it on a random RAW like Vince wanted to do. |
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Suspiria posted...
No, he was correct in not wanting to do it. You don't waste a match like that on a RAW. You build it up to a PPV. They did it with Lesnar beating Hogan on SmackDown, and it was a huge shock.
Sign here.
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ssjmole posted...
n00bsaib0t posted...ssjmole posted...Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys? That's cute. Show me that these are the same people or shut the fuck up.
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n00bsaib0t posted...
ssjmole posted...n00bsaib0t posted...ssjmole posted...Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys? Show me where I said it was the same or shut up I'm just pointing out there's more hate for punk leaving than a woman beater gets
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We can't change the past or anyones notion of what happened. We aren't them.
Though, I will say, if that hadn't happened, WWE wouldn't be what it is today. So, accept what you got, don't play what if with what didn't happen. (Erryone was unprofessional, but generally loyalty to the company should override company loyalty to one person for one night. Everyone should be willing to do what the company asks most of the time, even if they disagree. You can stand up for yourself, and you can do that with discretion and persuasion, but walking out isn't cool, ever.) |
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ssjmole posted...
n00bsaib0t posted...ssjmole posted...n00bsaib0t posted...ssjmole posted...Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys? If they aren't the same people then you have no argument. Your post can be summed up as "different people have different opinions, that's how life works" if you're not claiming these are the same people.
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Let's just say I wouldn't blame anybody for walking out due to frustration at how utterly shit the creative is today, no matter how high or low on the card they are. Everyone is made to look like a total joke. Vince was tired of Austin, and Brock was his shiny new toy to play with. Austin was Woody and Brock was Buzz in Vince's eyes at that point, just like Austin was Buzz in Vince's eyes to replace HBK in 1998, and HBK was to replace Bret in 1996.
When you're on the road as much as they are, taking as many bumps as they are, being asked to make so many public appearances to put the company in this great light like they are, putting up with any hostility and politics backstage, and then the current level of creative is what you're getting in return for it all, I'd be majorly pissed off and burned out as well. They're now performing in front of arenas that are 1/3 full in what is alarmingly becoming a weekly basis from the looks of it. WWE couldn't be the WCW they've gone out of their way to criticize any more if they tried. Austin could see the rot beginning to set in even then and probably thought "Screw it, it's not worth it anymore. I'm outta here". I don't blame him.
Man is like a piece of cheese...
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n00bsaib0t posted...
ssjmole posted...n00bsaib0t posted...ssjmole posted...n00bsaib0t posted...ssjmole posted...Yes. Awwww but it's stone cold we can't hate him right? Unrelated note boooo than cm punk for walking out he's a crybaby unlike our Austin , right guys? Yes but I'm talking general overall. Like if a company did a poll "what TV shows do you like most" and say 80% said action it doesn't matter if people who like action like comedy ect... The data holds up if they say "people like action and not comedy" My point is a woman beater gets less hate from general fans than non women beating wrestlers like cm punk. That's the point people overlooking stuff cause a woman beater once drank beer is pathetic. If anything Austin deserves a lot more hate. The question asked is was he wrong? Answer is yes. It was his job. He should do it. He says he was wrong , WWE says he was wrong so both parties involved agreed he was wrong yet fans go "nah he was right" it's sad
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GameReviews posted...
Austin himself has said multiple times he was in the wrong so idk how this is even a debate.
Less is more.
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He was not wrong for not wanting the match on Raw, but he was wrong for not doing it and wrong for walking out. Why is this even a topic?
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It was unprofessional but understandable. His grievance with how the Brock thing was handled was legit. He wanted a real program with Brock that would have drawn many dimes but WWE wanted a throwaway match that meant nothing.
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GameReviews posted...
Suspiria posted...No, he was correct in not wanting to do it. You don't waste a match like that on a RAW. You build it up to a PPV. And it never should have happened. |
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OKThen posted...
ITT ppl looking wayyy too much into stuff that they'll never be 100% knowledgeable about. @OKThen Yoi just described the entire Internet
People would have you believe that the accusation of racism is more offensive than ACTUAL racism.
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I get Austin being frustrated and all but in n way should anyone be allowed to simply walk out
it rained the day i was born but i was the lightning on that storm
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Being professional isn't always the best route. Sometimes the wheel needs to be broken to level the playing field.
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- Pro Wrestling: WWE
- Was Steve Austin in the wrong for walking out on WWE in 2002?
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