WRESTLING COLUMNS

Steve Austin Walks Out on WWE.
June 11, 2002 - By Brad Dykens

June 11, 2002 For the second time in four months, Steve Austin has walked out on the company that made him. apparently Steve Austin was once again unhappy with what he was presented by the WWE writers and simply stood up and flew home, abandoning the broadcast, resulting a quick reshuffle of the script for the evening.. Rumors are circulating that Austin was asked to do a job to WWE rookie monster, Brock Lesnar.. June 13, 2002 (Credit: WWE.COM) On March 18, 2002, the day after WrestleMania, without company approval and without notice, Stone Cold Steve Austin walked off the job and failed to appear at WWE's Raw show in Montreal. Stone Cold Steve Austin was advised by WWE management that this was unprofessional and unacceptable. After a two week hiatus, Austin returned to work. On Monday, June 10, 2002, Stone Cold Steve Austin again failed to appear for the scheduled Raw event in Atlanta, instead choosing to return home to San Antonio without notice and without company approval. Although Steve was unhappy with his character's creative direction, Steve made the personal and unprofessional decision not to report to work to address his concerns. Therefore, Stone Cold Steve Austin is no longer an active member of WWE's talent roster. June 14, 2002 (Credit: Ross Report) In the Ross Report earlier today, Jim Ross categorized the career of Steve Austin in the WWE as being likely over due to differences when it came to the creative direction of the company. Austin has not been fired by the company, nor will he likely be for reasons of avoiding allowing him to appear for a prospective start-up. But Ross categorized his walking off on Monday as ending his career with the company at his own hand and as a friend, said he couldn't understand why he used that method to protest the direction. June 15, 2002 The WWE did a piece on Steve Austin on tonight's edition of WWE Confidentail that pretty much buried Steve Austin as a person as well as a character on WWE television.. Paranoia amung fans continues to grow, fearing that this is just some elaborate reality-based storyline that the WWE came up with to get ratings.. However, at this point it appears to be 100% legit.. Vince McMahon & Jim Ross both commented on how dissappointed they were that their friend had made such an incredibly selfish decision to walk out on the company prior to last week's RAW.. Vince went as far as saying that the door was NOT open for Steve Austin to return, and JR stated that there are other WWE superstars ready to be elevated to the status Steve Austin had.. The segment was not at all flattering to Stone Cold and would not factor well with any negotiations that may currently be going on.. For the time being, it looks like Steve Austin's WWE career is over.. June 16, 2002 Sad unconfirmed rumors are circulating today of domestic abuse at the Steve & Debra Williams house in San Antonio, Texas.. San Antonio police report that there was a call to the Williams resident around 4AM last night.. Police were called to the home of Steve Williams (Steve Austin) at 4 a.m. last night when wife Debra called claiming she had been attacked. Steve was gone by the time police arrived, and saw Debra with a welt under her left eye and bruises to her shoulders and back. She told the police she was reluctant to call because of her husband's celebrity status but that things like this had happened before. This was reported earlier tonight on the KMOL News (NBC affiiliate) in San Antonio. San Antonio police would neither confirm nor deny the story because if it was true, they don't release names when suspects are still at large and no charges have been filed. According to the police report, they were called to the house and found the alleged victim at the front door crying with a large welt under her right eye. She said that she had been hit several times on her back and police found bruises on her back and her right shoulder. She said this occurred after an argument and then when she called police, he left the house. Debra refused medical attention and told police she was very nervous about calling them because of her husband's celebrity status. No word on weather or not the WWE Confidential segment that aired last night had anything to do with it.. June 17, 2002 (Dave Meltzer) It appears at the present time that Steve Williams is not in any serious legal trouble provided his wife doesn't press charges. In a strange irony, he may have done himself a favor by not returning to the house when requested by police early Saturday morning as he would have likely been arrested upon his return. Because the alleged victim of the simple assault has up to this point declined to press charges, the police aren't taking it any farther. Debra Williams has two years with which to press charges, at which point the case would be re-opened and police would continue an investigation using the evidence of her injuries gathered that morning. August 14, 2002 According to KMOL, the NBC TV affiliate in San Antonio, TX, Steve Williams (Austin) has been arrested on charges of spousal abuse. The charges stem from an alleged incident on June 15th. Mr. Williams has been released on his own recognizance. August 27, 2002 Steve Williams, also known as Stone Cold Steve Austin filed for divorce from his wife Debra on July 22, 2002. Williams is currently facing charges of domestic assault which allegedly occured in June.. October 9, 2002 Today is also the scheduled date of the Steve Williams (Austin) trial on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in Bexar County, TX. October 10, 2002 The San Antonio Express-News reports that the Steve Austin trial has been delayed until his attorney is ready to go forward with the case. Austin arrived at the County Court with his wife Debra and told reporters that he's glad that she was there to support him. Debra did not speak with reporters and gave them the usual 'no comment.' Austin's attorney asked for an additional 30 days to prepare. The new date has been set for October 24th. On that day there will be a hearing during which a trial date will be scheduled. Assistant District Attorney Scott Simpson notified Austin's attorney - Van Hilley - that he could call up to 15 witnesses for the trial. Austin faces a misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury after on June 15th he hit his wife at their home in Texas. He can be sentenced to a year in jail and pay a $4,000 fine. Word is Steve Austin has no desire to return to WWE at the moment and despite keeping himself in great shape hasn't even spoke to Vince McMahon or Jim Ross in months. The only WWE official Austin has kept contact with is Blackjack Lanza, a road agent that Steve is friends with. October 14, 2002 Steve Austin walked out of WWE in June after being asked to job to Brock Lesnar in a quickly booked match for Raw. Most of the reasons to do with Austin's departure had to do with his unhappiness with management and Vince McMahon, and their booking of his in 2002. There are now rumors backstage in WWE that another reason Austin walked out was that he was worried that Lesnar would actually shoot on Austin during the match. In addition to winning, Austin feared that Brock was under instructions to not work with Austin, and legitimately rough him up, sending him a message. While this might seem paranoid, some backstage do believe that it was a possibility. In light of the Bret Hart Montreal screwjob, Austin seemed to have first hand knowledge that something might go awry if he went through with the match. October 24, 2002 Steve Austin was in court today for a pretrial hearing in the misdemeanor assault case regarding his wife Debra. Barring a plea bargain, a trial date has been set for 12/3.

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