10 Terrifying Wrestling Bumps You've Totally Forgotten
6. Steve Austin Risks His Neck For A Perfect 10
Forgotten, or simply never seen unless you've gone deep into the Peacock/Network archives watching every edition of SmackDown from 2001 just to see the back-end of a dissolving Chris Benoit push, this blue brand banger between Champion and Challenger has understandably been expunged due to the eroded legacy of the latter.
Away from just how physical a ripper the whole thing was is a rather unique subtext that if anything did too much to put over Steve Austin's IRL respect for the 'Rabid Wolverine' than it did get their story over ahead of a King Of The Ring triple threat also featuring Benoit's partner Chris Jericho.
Deep into an enthralling war, Austin was grasped tight and driven neck-and-back first into the mat with a brutal german suplex. In and of itself, this was amazing based on how little 'The Rattlesnake' had been willing to absorb blows in that area since the 1997 tombstone that nearly ended his run before it going. That he took the same punishment nine more times, consecutively, was unbelievable.
Literally so, by the finish.
The 10 suplexes were only the set-up to the set-up to a cheap win for Austin, but were undoubtedly the contest's calling card in the six years where such a thing was still discussed just for the quality of its content.