10 Genuinely Disturbing WWE Heel Beatdowns
1. Stone Cold Steve Austin Pulls Out A Chair For Lita
An act of unthinkable brutality that completely did away with nuance, Stone Cold Steve Austin's merciless steel chair assault on Lita was WWE's latest attempt to make it as clear as possible to his loyal fans that he was now the very very worst version of himself.
'The Rattlesnake' had struggled to transfer cheers to jeers since turning at WrestleMania X-Seven despite the company aligning him with career rivals Triple H and Vince McMahon, and having him bloody former best friend and fan avatar Jim Ross within days of his original turn.
Austin and 'The Game' had experienced more blowback than they'd anticipated after attempting to pull rank with fan favourites Matt and Jeff Hardy, but their nefarious assaults eventually left both brothers incapacitated. In a last act of blind heroism, Lita threw her body across boyfriend Matt's - a hail mary hope that Austin would leave them be.
With an almighty swing of a steel chair, 'The Bionic Redneck' launched a broadside at the prone back of the Team Extreme valet. Defenceless until she was motionless, Lita's limp frame peeled away from Matt's, at which point Austin continued the attack, stabbing at her ribs with the well-worn weapon.
Astonishingly, it still didn't really work beyond this single edition of Raw. But the audible shock from the audience on that night at least positioned him as the most heinous heel in wrestling history.