On screen or off it, Stone Cold Steve Austin wasn’t a man you wanted to upset.
The WWE icon was portrayed as the beer-swilling, finger gesturing Texas Rattlesnake during the Attitude Era and beyond.
He won the company’s top title from Shawn Michaels in 1998 – albeit with a little help from Mike Tyson and went on to become one of the industry’s biggest figures.
Racking up Royal Rumble wins, WrestleMania main events and world titles aplenty, few in wrestling can match his career or accolades.
In front of the camera, Austin was a beloved character and a thorn in the side of authority figures, his rivalry with Vince McMahon being one for the ages as the two bitter enemies did all they could to outdo each other with every passing week.
Behind the lens, Austin was, at times, similarly prickly and was never short of casting his opinion or letting people know when they had rubbed him up the wrong way.
In the now 60-year-old, WWE owner McMahon had created one of his biggest all-times stars and, as such, the two enjoyed a largely close relationship – with its exceptions.
With the Attitude Era – and arguably Austin’s peak – on the wane in 2002, the wrestler memorably walked out on WWE. Critical and vocal of the company’s creative direction, he failed to feature on a planned show that called for him to lose a match to then-rookie Brock Lesnar, believing the bout to command a bigger platform than a King of the Ring Qualifying match on Raw.
Stone Cold was criticised on air by WWE and vanished for the rest of that year, eventually reappearing by 2003 – though maintained a regular dissatisfaction with storylines and creatives, wrestling his final match for almost two decades against The Rock at that year’s WrestleMania.
After serving as a special referee for a match between Lesnar and Goldberg at WrestleMania XX in 2004, the Texan took a year-long break from WWE appearances before a return in 2005 to hand out a Stone Cold Stunner to the entire McMahon family among others.
That November, storylines had reportedly called for Austin to wrestle once again against antagonist turned announcer Jonathan Coachman.
Coachman claimed recently that Austin was less than impressed with the pitch, considering a match with him ‘beneath him.’
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Staggeringly, ‘The Coach’ claimed the legend simply didn’t show up for the match – a decision that ended up costing him what could’ve been a huge payday.
He told The Coach and Bro Show: “We had a storyline where Vince wanted me because I was over as a heel [bad guy].
“I don’t care what anybody says. And a lot of the boys hated that because I was still the guy that came in as an announcer that they turned into a character.
“And so, Vince wanted me to face Stone Cold for a pay-per-view.
“Stone Cold, who I get along with great, no issues at all, decided it was beneath him to wrestle me. So he just didn’t show up.”
Counting the cost of the apparent stone cold move by Austin to not appear, Coachman bemoaned: “Back then, you would get bonuses, and probably for that match, I would have made 15 to 25 grand extra, and then I didn’t get that match.”
It was, of course, some 19 years before Austin did get back in the ring, battling Kevin Owens at WrestleMania in 2022.
Coachman’s career still featured many a highlight, not least a spine-tingling in-ring moment with The Rock.