McMahon went on the same show one week later and tried to play it off as well, saying Austin was making demands a big star would make but he wasn't producing like one. Kevin Kelly and Howard Finkel, the hosts, tried to roll with the punches and create a sense of kayfabe, but they were caught completely off guard by Austin being so forthright with his legitimate issues with how he was being treated. All would go on as normal over the next few weeks until Stone Cold gave an interview to Byte This where he absolutely buried the company for how they were using him and slammed the creative team for the direction they were taking his character. This drew the ire of the powers that be, of course, and Vince McMahon and company were starting to get more and more fed up with the entire situation.Īustin returned to Raw the next week to choose his side for the brand extension that WWE had just implemented. This was causing a great deal of strife for "The Rattlesnake" and he actually took an unplanned night off from the Monday Night Raw immediately following WrestleMania 18. Stone Cold ultimately ended up the fourth or even fifth match down on the card at 'Mania, a singles match against Scott Hall (who was just about out of the company for his various drug and backstage problems) that was given even less time than the women's championship match later in the evening. That match resulted in Hogan turning babyface and getting a run with the title after defeating Triple H, who had returned earlier in the year to much fanfare, enough that he won the Royal Rumble (over Austin) and went up to WrestleMania to defeat Chris Jericho (who beat Austin to retain his title at No Way Out). It probably would have been and it probably should have happened but because neither guy was willing to do any kind of job, clean or otherwise, to the other, Hogan ended up working with The Rock (and putting him over) instead. The initial idea was to have Austin and Hogan meet for a match at WrestleMania, thinking that would be the biggest money maker in history. So when Hogan came back and was given the spotlight over Austin once more, it was like pouring a pound of salt in a very old, and now freshly opened, wound. It turned out to be the best thing for him, as it indirectly helped lead to his escaping off to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to become one of the biggest stars of all time. In the beginning of the year, he found himself taking a back seat to the debuting New World Order (nWo) and its leader, Hulk Hogan.Īustin had problems with "The Hulkster" dating back to their days in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), centered mostly on the perception that Hogan had held him back within the company. He was still extremely popular with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fanbase but he was no longer being used as the company's number one draw. The year 2002 was a weird one for Stone Cold Steve Austin.
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