In June 2002, Steve Austin "took his ball and went home," leaving WWE over frustrations with the creative direction.
Austin and WWE would repair their relationship by 2003, leading to Austin's return at No Way Out 2003.
Speaking on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt looked back on No Way Out 2003 and Austin's return.
“I mean, Steve was just such a big star through the attitude era and he was also very well-liked, he was popular. I’m sure there were several people that disagreed with his decision, obviously of leaving at that time, but the thing I remember more than anything else is that people were happy to have him back and we were excited to have him back.
“They just did business, I mean because they knew it was going to be — they knew it would be a blow to them as a company losing Stone Cold Steve Austin who is this massive star, so I think they went into protection mode and they tried to put out their side of the story to try and minimize the damage.”
Austin defeated Eric Bischoff at No Way Out 2003. Hardy faced Billy Kidman on the show.
Elsewhere during the podcast, Hardy commented on working with Oba Femi. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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