Austin Walks Out

I know Austin has brought this subject up many times since the incident (and has been a running joke here at the BOD), that being his walk-out from the company in 2002. The details are fairly well-known, but I wondered if we ever got any clarification on *why* Vince wanted to go that route with Lesnar vs. Austin as a throwaway KOTR qualifier on RAW. I recall the theory being discussed about Vince doing it as sort of a disciplinary move against Austin for his previous no-show after WM18 (although I don’t remember the details on that) as well as his pissy behavior at the time that peaked with his appearance on Byte This where he buried the company for their poor creative direction.

That said, what was the full story there? Punishment? Vince simply not seeing Austin as a top guy anymore (and let’s face it, he was stale by then)? Vince just being Vince?