Why didn't Stone Cold Steve Austin wrestle Brock Lesnar?

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Brock Lesnar would have been a legendary clash between two stars, but the WWE Universe never got to see this bout. As a result, it will remain atop the list of popular "what if" scenarios.

The Texas Rattlesnake is arguably WWE's most popular Superstar of all time; likewise, Lesnar remains one of the most dominant performers in WWE history. A match between the two was worthy of the WrestleMania stage, but WWE evidently didn't see it that way in 2002.

Following WrestleMania 18, WWE advertised a match between Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Brock Lesnar in a King of the Ring tournament match on RAW. Unfortunately, the bout didn't happen as advertised.

The night the match was booked for the red brand, Stone Cold refused to lose to Lesnar due to the lack of build-up prior to the bout. This controversy ultimately prompted Austin to walk out on WWE.

Years later, Austin explained why he was so against the match happening. He stated that he would have been happy to lose to Lesnar if the bout was built up properly, which wasn't the case for this scheduled contest.

"At the time they wanted me to fly down to Atlanta for Monday Night Raw and put over Brock Lesnar," said Austin. "It wasn’t time for me to do the favors yet for Brock in an unadvertised match in a tournament-style TV match whereas hey, man, I love Brock Lesnar, I’d lose to him any day of the week, but build it up so we can all make money off of it and it’s going to mean something."

"I was very protective of myself, maybe too much so," Austin continued. "But it took me seven and a half years to get there, so no-one was going to yank the carpet out from underneath my feet, not even Vince [McMahon]." (h/t TalkSport)

Although the former WWE Champion walked out on the company, he returned a few months later. In doing so, he kicked off his final run, which ended in a match against The Rock at WrestleMania XIX in 2003.

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Are Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar friends?

Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar are friends outside the squared circle. The pair have similar interests, including fishing and hunting. The pair went in-depth about these shared hobbies on the Stone Cold Podcast with Brock Lesnar on the WWE Network in 2015. Clearly, by this point in time, Lesnar and Austin had moved on from any issues stemming from their canceled match.

Would you have wanted to see Brock Lesnar face Steve Austin? Sound off below.