6 Wrestling rumors we hope are true and 6 we hope aren't: Plans for WrestleMania 36 main event revealed, Drew McIntyre 'ends' former US Champion's in-ring career?

#3. Hope isn't true: Vince McMahon making 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin lose to Brock Lesnar as a punishment

There's the famous story of how 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin walked out of WWE after being told to put over Brock Lesnar. His issue was that he wanted it done on a PPV with a build, rather than have a throwaway match.

The disputes led to the end of his WWE run until 2002 and Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio revealed that Austin being told to lose to Lesnar was punishment for a comment he made in an interview criticizing the creative process in WWE:

Breaking Vince Russo and Jim Cornette update HERE.

No, no, no, it wasn't even hyped because it was a punishment thing it was not like a storyline, it wasn't like something was built up the week before. He had said that creative s***s and they are like, nobody says that publicly, not even Steve Austin, and that's how they punished guys then.

We hope this isn't true because it all seems so petty in hindsight. Austin, however, has expressed regret over the way he walked out of WWE.

About the author

Rohit Nath is a content writer from Bangalore, India. A former full-time employee of Sportskeeda, Rohit was a part of building Sportskeeda's WWE section in its rapid growth. His work has been featured in both Sportskeeda and Wrestlezone.

Some of the big names interviewed by Rohit are AJ Styles, Jinder Mahal, Jimmy Uso and Sasha Banks. Some of his popular weekly features include RAW Preview, "X things Subtly told us" and "Wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't".

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Edited by Prasen Moudgal