9 Real-life feuds between Vince McMahon and WWE legends

#4 Stone Cold Steve Austin

Like Hulk Hogan in the 80s, Stone Cold Steve Austin helped WWE reach a wider audience in the late 90s. The Attitude Era was built upon The Texas Rattlesnake and eventually helped WWE beat WCW in the Monday Night Wars.

In the early 2000s, Austin had to make way for a young and promising talent in Brock Lesnar, who was ready to rule the world. WWE wanted Austin to put over Lesnar on RAW but the WWE Hall of Famer felt that it wasn't a good idea and walked out on the WWE.

This hurt Vince McMahon professionally and personally as he had developed a good personal friendship with Austin, while the latter was also one of his most prized assets.

Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon's son, revealed how Vince felt after Austin walked out on the WWE.

"The guy (Austin) that was drawing the houses and everything was built around. So when you have that much equity at stake and you have your number one player in there and that's the one who draws money all of a sudden say, 'I'm out,' well, it's very devastating, obviously, to everyone else underneath and everyone felt it, just like, 'wow', so specifically, you let a lot of people down."

"Vince was hurt professionally and personally because you guys had been building a good relationship. If you guys did have a disagreement, you'd settle it quickly and talk about it."

He returned to the WWE the next year but had just a few matches before retiring for good. His differences with McMahon were resolved and Austin makes occasional appearances in WWE.