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Austin lost and regained his title in a feud with [[Kurt Angle]] that many fans enjoyed, partially due to Angle being put over by Austin as a legitimate threat. Austin lost the title to Kurt Angle at [[WWE Unforgiven#2001|Unforgiven 2001]] before regaining it on the October 8, 2001 episode of ''RAW''. As the Invasion angle dragged on, it was ultimately decided to bring the plot line to an end with Austin and a group of ECW and WCW wrestlers facing the Rock and a group of WWF wrestlers at that year's [[Survivor Series#2001|''Survivor Series'']]. Austin and his team lost and that was the end of the Invasion angle. Austin would hold the WWF Championship for another month before losing it to Chris Jericho at [[WWE Vengeance#2001|''Vengeance 2001'']]. Jericho beat both The Rock and Austin consecutively in that night winning the World Title and later the WWF Title and combining them to create the [[WWE Undisputed Championship|WWF Undisputed Championship]].
By 2002, Austin's spot as top face in the WWF was not as secure as it had been in previous years, as Triple H was set to return from injury. At the time, Vince McMahon had re-signed [[Hulk Hogan]], [[Scott Hall]] and [[Kevin Nash]] for a storyline that would bring the [[New World Order (professional wrestling)|nWo]] back. They feuded with Austin and The Rock. At [[WrestleMania X8]] Austin defeated [[Scott Hall]], but was angered by the fact that he was becoming an increasingly mid-card wrestler. He then no-showed for the next two weeks. It should be noted that the original plans at WrestleMania X8 were for Austin to face Hogan and the Rock to face Scott Hall. Austin did not want to face Hogan and had plans changed{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
Austin returned on the April 1, 2002 episode of ''RAW'', the first of the new "brand extension" era. The show was centered on which show he would sign with. Ultimately, he chose ''RAW''. Austin's last appearance was on June 3, 2002, when he defeated [[Ric Flair]] in a match where Flair would become Austin's servant. The angle wasn't furthered because Austin had decided to walk out again on bad storylines that were presented to him by the creative team. This time though, he wouldn't return for almost 9 months.
Austin appeared on and off as 2004 began, culminating in him being the special guest referee for the match between [[Brock Lesnar]] and [[Bill Goldberg|Goldberg]] at [[WrestleMania XX]]. Then, on [[April 17]] [[2004]], WWE put out a press release on their website claiming that Steve Austin and WWE were unable to settle long-running contract disputes and had again parted ways. This was reportedly over a contract dispute about WWE's control of Austin's non-WWE projects, such as [[film|movies]]. Austin could thus no longer use "Stone Cold" to promote himself, as that name is trademarked by WWE. Austin had to correct many people in interviews to ensure they did not refer to him by that moniker. Another issue that may have influenced WWE in its decision is Austin's recent history of domestic violence incidents, which WWE saw as tarnishing their popular image.
Steve Austin made his first appearance on WWE TV in a year on [[April 3]], [[2005]] at [[WrestleMania 21]]. Austin was interviewed by [[Roddy Piper|"Rowdy" Roddy Piper]] in a "Piper's Pit" segment and then Stone Cold Stunned both Piper and [[Carly Colon|Carlito]]. Austin appeared at the WWE-promoted [[ECW One Night Stand#2005|One Night Stand 2005]].
Bored and run down, Austin began to create problems backstage as the WWF rehired [[Eddie Guerrero]] for Austin to feud with, while prepping Austin for a feud with [[Brock Lesnar]]. However, Austin was vetoing any matches that would result in him losing and ultimately walked out of the company when the writing staff wanted Austin to lose to Brock Lesnar. This act was at first viewed as unprofessional and in a negative light by fans. But viewpoints changed when Austin later explained that he thought hot-shotting a victory did no favors to either side, as it made Austin look weak losing to a rookie, and didn't give Lesnar a proper stage for such a big win over a star of the magnitude that Austin holds.
At ''WWE Homecoming'' in October, Austin again returned to ''RAW'', delivering Stunners to all four members of the McMahon family. An angle including [[Jim Ross]] being fired led to a match in which Austin agreed to face Ross's replacement, [[Jonathan Coachman]], at ''[[WWE Cyber Sunday#2005|Taboo Tuesday]]'', with the stipulation of Ross regaining his announcing job if Austin were to win, and Austin losing his own job if he lost the match. However, Austin went against his word, backing out on an agreement to wrestle the match, and once again walking out on the company after storyline disagreements. To explain away his failure to appear at ''[[WWE Cyber Sunday|Taboo Tuesday]]'' Vince McMahon said on ''Monday Night RAW'' that Austin had been involved in an accident, thus preventing him from competing. A substitution for Austin was made in the form of [[Dave Bautista|Batista]], who faced the Coach along with [[Leon White|Vader]] and [[Virgil Runnels III|Goldust]], brought in to generate some last minute interest in the match. The stipulation was dropped due to Austin not competing.
Austin later publicly stated that at the time, his anti-social attitude behind the scenes were the result of him dealing with chronic knee and neck injuries that had never properly healed. Further fanning the flames amongst Austin's growing number of detractors was a well-publicized domestic dispute incident between Austin and his wife [[Debra Marshall|Debra]], which led to his evasion of the police. Austin served probation time for the offense, and has not discussed it publicly since.
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In February 2003, he returned to WWE at ''No Way Out'' in a short match against [[Eric Bischoff]]. Austin was finally defeated by The Rock at [[WrestleMania XIX]], which would ultimately become his last official match in WWE to date. The night after on ''RAW'', Bischoff "fired" Austin on medical grounds, however he was brought back by [[Linda McMahon]] as the "Co-General Manager" for ''RAW''. The move to the role of "Co-General Manager" was a way to keep Austin on-camera while limiting Austin's in-ring performance. On the [[November 16]], [[2003]] edition of ''RAW'', Austin was "fired" from ''RAW'' as the result of a stipulation in a match at [[Survivor Series (2003)|Survivor Series 2003]] where Austin's hand-picked team of wrestlers failed to beat Eric Bischoff's team of wrestlers. Austin quickly returned to WWE television before the end of 2003, when he was part of a WWE [[Christmas]] special taped live in front of U.S. troops in [[Iraq]], posing as Santa Claus and stunning Mr. McMahon. He finally came back on ''RAW'' on December 29, 2003 as its "Sheriff".
==Wrestling facts==
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