WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin had been a top star of WWE and so was Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was pushed almost immediately after debuting and ran through half the roster. But former WWE Champion Steve Austin had turned down the idea of losing to ‘The Beast Incarnate’ on an episode of RAW and walked out instead.
During the Attitude Era, Steve Austin was the biggest star in WWE and was not in favor of losing to a rookie in a one-off match on RAW. He has stated that he wouldn’t have had a problem putting Lesnar over if the build was right and it served a storyline purpose.
Steve Austin was ‘punished’ for the incident
As per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Stone Cold was heavily buried and punished for walking out on RAW, primarily because the company did not have any competition. WWE doesn’t treat its top names like that anymore as they fear that the talent may leave for AEW.
”WWE suspended Steve Austin without pay in 2002 for refusing to come to TV for a match he was to lose to Brock Lesnar, but that came at a time when they were the only real game in town. They also buried him heavily, far more than would be the case here [Banks and Naomi’s walkout], which also was a terrible idea and shortsighted,” said Meltzer.
The aforementioned incident is similar to what Sasha Banks and Naomi did recently. The WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi recently grabbed the headlines when they took a huge step during RAW. There have been various sides to the story already reported, including that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions confronted WWE Chairman Vince McMahon over their issue.
WWE left that part out of their official narrative, but Banks and Naomi did have words with the boss. In the official statement from the company, it was noted that Sasha Banks and Naomi dropped their tag titles on the desk of John Laurinaitis and left the building. It turns out that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi reportedly won’t be fired.
Naomi and Sasha Banks were scheduled to be a part of a six-pack challenge on the May 16 episode of Raw. The match was to feature Naomi, Sasha, Asuka, Becky Lynch, Nikki A.S.H., and Doudrop. The winner was to get a shot at Bianca Belair‘s Raw Women’s Championship. The main event was altered as Asuka defeated Lynch in a singles match.
It has been recently noted on the latest edition of Friday Night SmackDown that Sasha Banks and Naomi have also been indefinitely suspended from WWE and had their WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles stripped.
