How Stone Cold Steve Austin Nearly Became Paralyzed In 1997

It wasn’t an entirely clean ride for Austin as he experienced his fair share of injuries in a WWE ring. That saw him nearly become paralyzed from an almost devastating situation that could have changed his life forever for the worst.

During a match for the Intercontinental Championship against Owen Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s career took a scary turn in August 1997 at SummerSlam.

Things would take a devastating turn as Hart botched the piledrivers that saw Austin’s head and neck get pinned into the canvas below, causing a significant neck injury. The former WWE great recounted the event stating that he felt paralysis throughout his body for about a minute but somehow muscled through the match.

“Working a match with Owen Hart and we are working a gimmick. I am looking to give him a piledriver and he reverses out of it. Boom he goes down to his butt and I’m spiked in the mat and I am transic quadrapledric for about 60 seconds….As I am laying there on the mat, I tell Owen ‘don’t touch me I can’t move.’ So Owen starts buying time…When you’re paralyzed, it’s a sh**ty situation. I can’t move sh**. My arms are flapping around a little bit but my legs ain’t doing nothing.”

It occurred from a move that Austin didn’t want as he hoped to get the Tombstone piledriver, but Hart wanted that version of the move. The entire finish of the match had to be changed as Austin had to roll up Hart for a weak school pin because he couldn’t physically do anything else.

The move resulted in Austin being sidelined for around four months due to the injury before got medically cleared to return to the squared circle. The entire situation also played a part in him retiring sooner.