During the WWE RAW show on June 10, 2002, Steve Austin famously announced his departure from WWE. Austin had been dissatisfied for a number of months with the creative direction taken by both the company and his character. The final straw for him was when he was asked to lose to Brock Lesnar in a King of the Ring qualifying match that was taking place on that night’s show.
During a recent episode of his podcast, “Something to Wrestle With,” Bruce Prichard discussed the event in question and looked back on it.
“It was more Steve was going to have to come to us. JR was working hard. He was working real hard on it. Vince’s feeling was Steve walked out. Steve left us, we didn’t leave Steve. If and when Steve wants to come back we’ll listen”.
