10 Times WWE's Fake World Got Dangerously Real
4. WrestleMania XIX
Beyond a de rigueur ladder spot in a plunder brawl, no major stunt set-pieces were attempted at WrestleMania XIX. There was no Hell In A Cell match. Only one serious match was fought under a stipulation, for that matter.
And yet, WrestleMania XIX was one of the most dangerous nights in WWE history, and would have not unfolded as it did under current medical protocols.
Kurt Angle worked the main event with a serious neck injury for which he required fusion surgery (but opted for a minimally invasive alternative against the advice of WWE’s preferred expert Dr. Lloyd Youngblood). The issue was thought so severe that Chris Benoit was considered as a contingency opponent for Brock Lesnar (but, being 2003, not so severe that WWE went through with it). Angle wasn’t just endangering himself; he had minimal use of the left side of his body and may have hurt Lesnar, were it not for his unparalleled drive to do business. The great irony of wrestling is that the danger lurks where you least expect it. Lesnar almost badly hurt himself, but not as a result of Angle’s lack of strength. He under-rotated his match-winning shooting star press. Angle went into shock after the match, in which he was legitimately lucky not to die.
Steve Austin revealed on Talk Is Jericho in 2021 that - after his “heart wigged out” and he spent the night before in hospital - he was never medically cleared to compete against the Rock (!). He, too, in a separate matter, required neck fusion surgery.
WrestleMania XIX is considered the spiritual end of the Attitude Era, if not the canonical end.
How right that almost was.