- It's looking more and more likely that Steve Austin may once again be finished working with Vince McMahon and WWE.
According to one report, Austin and his attorney were in the middle of contract renegotiations when on Friday, Austin's lawyer tried playing hardball and McMahon resisted.
Austin couldn't have picked a worse time to be problematic to Vince, even if it isn't interpreted as such to others, but with the domestic abuse stuff going on, WWE is said to be extremely upset with Austin over the matter, especially at this crucial time.
"Stone Cold" was absent on RAW on Monday despite the fact that the show was in his hometown of Texas. We'll keep you updated on any progress in this story.
- Various reports have been making rounds with regards to Steve Austin's absence from RAW, and his status with WWE. The below report has the full information straight from backstage, and covers all the issues.
For the past few weeks, WWE has been negotiating a new contract with Steve Austin. Austin recently hired a non-wrestling, high-powered lawyer for representation, so the negotiations have been quite intense. Although the lawyer is not used by many other wrestlers, he is familiar with the various contracts of other superstars, so definitely had his homework done, and came in with tough preparations for the negotiations.
Reports indicate that this was the most aggressive process WWE has seen in a long time. Since buying out WCW, WWE has had almost full control of most negotiations, so the fact that Austin's lawyer was playing hardball was certainly unexpected and unusual.
As reported, Austin's lawyer and Vince got into a huge argument on Friday, and the meeting ended very badly. This was in addition to the fact that WWE was upset over the domestic incident, so Austin's status with WWE is not the most favorable right now.
Apparently, the main issue was that Austin wanted more control over what outside projects he could partake in, and Vince would not budge. As with The Rock's early acting jobs, Vince wanted a cut of Austin's profits; plus, in Austin's case, wanted complete control over what Austin did outside of WWE.
The latest word is that no new talks are scheduled between WWE and Steve Austin, but if that changes, we'll be sure to provide the latest news!
Credit: PWInsider.com & WrestlingAttitude.com