>>4845734It's way more complicated than that. This was at a time when Austin was being shoved out the door. His Mania opponent was Scott Hall instead of someone more high profile, they kept giving him shit to work with, and this was at a time when he was still their biggest star (along side The Rock).
Austin's thesis was absolutely correct: "I'm not first in line, I'm last in line."
To waste Austin-Brock on a KOTR qualifying match was just HHH and Stephanie fucking with Austin at a time when he wasn't having it.