This makes a lot of sense. Austin felt out of place during the invasion, and hey had no clue what to do with him afterwards until he went home. Then it's return for one match against the rock before hanging them up. From a storytelling arc, Austin selling out kinda makes sense then. They needed to explore his mortality in the ring more though to really flesh that narrative out though. I never thought about his injuries and his loss at no way out playing into it. Great find.
Edit: heel Austin gave us "what?!" So I'm glad it happened
. I use this whenever someone gets under my skin still