... that THIS happened.
I was actually at that show, as a fan. My sister and my friend Bill and I sat in the very last row of the upper deck of the Continental Airlines Arena. I was wearing the Austin 3:16 shirt I'd purchased earlier in the day at the SummerSlam Beach party out in the parking lot, and I remember when this happened during Austin's match, I could tell immediately that something was very, very wrong.
I can't even imagine what was going through Vince McMahon's head on commentary as he watched his meal ticket suffer what could have very easily been a career-ending injury.
It should be pointed out for the record that during Austin's injury hiatus, he became more over than he'd ever been -- with minimal physicality and without really wrestling a match for months and months.
Sadly, the neck injuries mounted, leading to his yearlong hiatus from 1999 to 2000, and then his permanent retirement in 2003. One can only wonder what Austin would be doing today had this unfortunate twist of fate never happened.
Hopefully more than the "ring entrance, middle finger, say 'hell yeah,' Stunner, drink beer" formula he's repeated ad nauseum for the past five years.
Comments (9)
Amazing to think of how Austin's career would have turned out had he not broken his neck then. It's logical to assume he would never have had to retire when he did due to all of the injuries. Plus, all of the trickle down effect with guys like Rocky and HHH during the period he was out (2000).
It's eerie because that same spot happened years earlier with Austin and (I think) Chono in Japan (check youtube). Austin did the sit-out tombstone and Chono's neck was seriously injured.
Wow, what a weak roll up. I know he was injured, but damn that doesn't even seem believable.
"Wow, what a weak roll up. I know he was injured, but damn that doesn't even seem believable."
I would like to know what you would've done in this situation. Oh wait, you probably would've been dead.
Why do I get the feeling he called for the end of the match sooner than was planned with that weak roll-up?
Granted, I didn't see Austin at all before mid-late 1999, but this doesn't seem like something he would do unless something was really wrong and he felt that things had to go as planned since he could still move.
just more proof Owen was a professional. yes the roll up was weak, but he knew what was supposed to happen. and jesus, you have to give it up to austin for even standing up and saluting the crowd with the title. insanity ... and yes, i did watch the japan clip. agreed it looks like austin called this move and probably should've know better.
just more proof Owen was a professional. yes the roll up was weak, but he knew what was supposed to happen. and jesus, you have to give it up to austin for even standing up and saluting the crowd with the title. insanity ... and yes, i did watch the japan clip. agreed it looks like austin called this move and probably should've know better.
Man i remember this. I watched it live on PPV. the minute it happened it i jumped out of my chair and scream "He's dead!"
I still don't understand how you compact you neck like that and still walk out of the ring.
Taz Did the same thing in ECW. It was Sick.
For the record, legend has Austin did not want Owen to land on his ass while doing the Piledriver. Instead he wanted an Undertaker style Tombstone. It is very likely he had learned from the Chono incident and did not want to suffer the same fate. It's a shame Owen did not respect his wishes. A rare, but costly, misstep for an otherwise great ring technician in Owen Hart.
I've heard the story a 1000 time. Austin called for a tombstone. Didn't know what a tombstone was. They talked about it before the match. Owen said, " I just Plop on my ass." And Austin thought he was ribbing him, So he didn't correct him.
If Austin had be set up for a normal Piledriver his neck should have been fine but he was set up for a tombstone and his neck and head are lower then normal.