10 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Marty Jannetty
6. How Much The Chuck Austin Case Cost Him
11 December 1990 would go on to become a pivotal date in Marty's career. That night, he and Shawn teamed up to face The Genius and enhancement worker Chuck Austin on a WWF Superstars taping. Things went badly wrong when Chuck landed poorly during a "Rocker Dropper" spot, and wound up paralysed.
Austin’s legal team sued the WWF, Marty and Shawn Michaels for $10m. He was eventually awarded $24m, but appeals dropped the number back to 10. The WWF was found to be 90% responsible, Austin 5% and Jannetty another 5%; Shawn involvement was waived in the end.
Jannetty had to pay 5%, which would be $500,000 in total, and it's believed most (if not all) of that sum was deducted from royalty earnings. There's an interesting moment on the doc as Marty says Shawn “can step in sh*t and come out smelling like roses".
In fairness, the spot that hurt Chuck had nothing to do with Michaels. He wasn't even in the ring!