10 Injuries That Shaped WWE History

Stone Cold was well on his way to becoming the beer swilling son of a gun who was happy to Stunner his boss when he broke his neck during a match with Owen Hart. He’d already cut the 3:16 promo and passed out to Bret Hart’s Sharpshooter at WrestleMania.

However, it was after said broken neck that Stone Cold Mania truly kicked off. It was a month after it, as Owen Hart was delivering a speech in Madison Square Garden, that Stone Cold hit the ring and took on Hart and five NYPD officers. Vince McMahon quickly tried to regain control and after a bit of back and forth with his employee ate the first of many Stunners. And hence, the Austin-McMahon feud was born.

A pretty lofty achievement for any injury but it wasn’t the only one that broken neck can claim. Steve Austin has been open in declaring that the injury forced a change of style. While he had already started adapting more brawling into his game, he had always been a proficient technical wrestler. However, the broken neck made that skill set harder for him. He was forced to revert entirely to his brawling techniques and it was this brawling style that would revolutionise wrestling, leading to a completely different main event style.

It’s hard to claim that any broken neck is a good broken neck. The truth is that Stone Cold was already on the up and may have become the household name he did either way. However, it was in the months following that horrific accident with Owen Hart that he became the wrestler we all know and love today.