10. Owen Hart Breaks Steve Austins Neck, Shortening Austins Career
In the summer of 1996, Stone Cold Steve Austins popularity was still growing, with Austin 3:16 being the catchphrase of catchphrases. He was being groomed to become the WWFs #1 Superstar; but first he had to get past Owen Hart, in a match at SummerSlam 1996 for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Vince thought it would be a regular match. It was anything but Owen Hart executed a Sitting Reverse Piledriver, and Austin was 6 inches below the safe level, breaking his neck and becoming temporarily paralyzed. Austin managed to moan the words I hurt my neck. Dont touch me! I cant feel my feet". Though he managed to finish the match (with a broken neck, I dont think I can stress that enough), the damage was done. After getting surgery in late 1999, Steve Austin managed to power through and wrestled more or less on a full time basis until 2002. But by the time WrestleMania X8 came around, he was done. Austins frustrations caused him to leave the WWE. He would return, however, and have his last match at WrestleMania XIX against the Rock. Though he stuck around for 2003-2004 as the co-GM of RAW, he was no longer wrestling. That unfortunate botch shortened Austins in-ring career by years and years. Austin was a megastar, and yet his in-ring career ended after a respectable 15 years. However, there have still been people who have wanted Austin to have one more match, with some chanting Austin-Hogan at the latters induction during the 2005 Hall of Fame ceremony. Austin retired from wrestling in 2009, and he is never lacing up a pair of wrestling boots again. There will never be another megastar of his magnitude again, and many people still wonder what the WWE would have been like if Austin kept going for only a few more years. He could've had more great matches with up-and-coming stars like Randy Orton, CM Punk, John Cena, just to name a few. He could've given us some more great moments. But for now, we should nonetheless be glad that he was able to live the ring on his own terms, and that he's living life the way he wants to now.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
