The Luckiest Break In WWE History

Yes, this is an article discussing the neck injury suffered by Steve Austin at the hands of Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1997 and yes it feels like ground that's had its mudhole stomped and walked dry in the 22 years since that fateful night in New Jersey, but wrestling's butterfly effects and "what ifs" are so endlessly thrilling the longer the age.

The Steve Austin of 2019 is still a protected entity because he's carefully picked his spots when to return and what exactly to do. That Steve Austin learned those tricks from the Steve Austin of two decades earlier but only two years on from having his career terminated. That spot can still be viewed in freezeframe, slow-mo or real time depending on your propensities and perversions, but each one captures the flashbulbs of audience cameras sparking off at SummerSlam 1997.

This literal flashpoint was a keepsake before it was a collector's item in the minds of those snapping happily away, but those eagle-eyed amaeteur photographers almost caught Austin's lights going out for good.

"Tell him not to f*cking touch me" was 'The Rattlesnake's only initial message to referee Earl Hebner before he somehow regained enough strength to pull off the improvised pin, but everybody there had to be acutely aware of how devastating those seven words stood to be for the entire state of the company, let alone the man and his match collapsing in front of their very eyes.

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