10 Wrestling Matches Built Around Botches

"Owen 3:16 says 'I just broke your neck.'"

SummerSlam 1997 was supposed to mark the next key step in Stone Cold Steve Austin's ascension to the main event. The Intercontinental title (a prestigious prize and stepping stone to the next level back then) was on the line with champ Owen Hart set to drop it to The Rattlesnake.

Embroiled in a heated, classic rivalry with The Hart Foundation, Austin was pencilled in to take Owen down convincingly with his Stunner finish. The incredibly slow, anaemic schoolboy he rolled him up with instead left many in attendance confused and disappointed in what had otherwise been a great match. The messy end stemmed from Owen Hart botching a piledriver, compressing Austin's vertebrae and causing a brief moment of paralysis. Strangest of all was Austin himself had injured Masahiro Chono with the exact same move and mistake several years prior.

Hart, now the champion once again, began boasting of the injury he'd dealt The Bionic Redneck while Austin continued prepping for a premature return from injury. Still in dreadful pain by November, Austin's rematch with Hart was a squash. The less than five minute beatdown served to both protect Austin from any physical over-exertion and punish Hart for injuring the promotion's soon to be golden boy.

The SummerSlam botch served not only to build their Survivor Series match, but as a key feature in several major Austin storylines including his highly acclaimed feuds with Vince McMahon and Triple H respectively.