10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (11 Oct)

4. What 'Starving' Steve Austin Told JR After Neck Surgery

Steve Austin Neck Injury
WWE.com

22 years before Goldberg restored his confidence at SummerSlam 2019, Steve Austin had his own morale (and neck) shattered in 1997.

The next few months were torturous for Austin, but he was determined to come back and enjoy the fruits of his labour, and told good pal Jim Ross he couldn't quit now. On 'Grilling JR', Ross revealed that Steve's mindset was all over the place by the time the WWF rolled on to the Badd Blood pay-per-view. There, Austin performed a simple run-in.

There was no way he was missing the show. Steve's star had been on the rise throughout '97, and he couldn't bear to see money years he had worked towards go down the toilet. So, whether it was foolish or not, Austin hurried himself back and kept himself in the public eye. That, he told JR, was something he owed himself for 'starving' in Memphis, struggling in WCW and beyond.

Austin bagged himself 5% of the net pay-per-view gross for showing up at Badd Blood, and his contract entitled him to make approximately $10,000 from the live gate too. Those were all paydays he desperately wanted, broken body or not.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.