Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross who is currently working as a colour commentator in the All Elite Wrestling recently talked about the horrible injury of Stone Cold Steve Austin that he picked up at the SummerSlam pay per view event.
Add the SummerSlam pay per view event of 1997, Stone Cold Steve Austin depended the WWE Intercontinental championship against late great Owen Hart. During this match, Owen Hart attempted to hit a Tomb Stone Pile Driver on Austin and botched it. He dropped Austin on his head and as a result, Austin broke his neck.
Jim Ross Remembers Steve Austin’s Neck Injury From Summerslam 1997
The injury was so severe that Austin was forced to relinquish the Championship. He was forced out of action for a number of months but he made his return earlier than expected and he continued to do what he did best. Stone Cold Steve Austin went on to become one of the most successful WWE stars in the history.
It is believed that Austin’s career was cut short because of this vicious injury. This was the injury that indeed Stone Cold Steve Austin’s career. Austin worked for nearly six years even after this injury, but the horror kept on coming back in his life. As a result he had to retired from Professional wrestling in 2003. Even though at WrestleMania 38 he returned for one last match.
Jim Ross who is currently working as a colour commentator in the All Elite Wrestling recently spoke on his Grilling JR podcast where he talked about the horrible injury of Stone Cold Steve Austin that he picked up at the SummerSlam pay per view event. He said;
“That was so scary that night there in the Meadowlands. All the signs led to bad news – losing feeling and all these things, the delicateness of the neck and how that affects everybody. You can’t take a flatback bump well because of the sensitivities of the injury. So, it was a scary ass night, I can promise you. Steve was so despondent because I truly believe in his heart that his run was over.
“It was almost like cruel irony. Here’s a guy that worked all his life to get to WWE and get his break, he made it happen, and then all of a sudden, it looks like it was over. That was a very emotional night, to say the least. A lot of late-night phone calls and follow-up with the doctor and things like that, and trying to talk Steve off the ledge, so to speak. As he should be, he was looking at multi-million dollars of money out there floating around that he was gonna earn, and it was just one of those deals.”
“He was hell-bent to do whatever it took to keep his presence on television alive, and quite frankly, as fun as it was to call Austin’s matches and I called a ton of them obviously during that period of time when he was hottest, we didn’t use our best judgment there. Steve insisted that he be on television.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Let’s talk about it.’ There’s no talking about it. ‘I’ll be there Monday, and we’ll do whatever I gotta do.’ The fans, as I started to say, how much they loved watching Austin wrestle – they just wanted to see him. They wanted to hear him and his swagger and bravado and all that stuff.
“People lived vicariously through that. Getting Steve on television, it was good in a sense that it helped Steve and it helped the show and it helped the ratings, but it probably wasn’t the smartest thing we could’ve done. In hindsight, he should’ve taken some more time off, but he was insistent. It wasn’t an option, ‘I’m going to work, and I’m gonna entertain these people. I’m not gonna lose my spot.’”
H/T to 411 Mania for the transcription
