10 WWE Careers That Ended Too Soon Due To Injury
8. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
In 1997, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was on the fast-track to superstardom, having delivered his gamechanging "Austin 3:16 promo a year earlier.
Heading into that year's SummerSlam, Austin was on a collision course with WWF Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart, and was scheduled to win his first major championship but a freak accident would go on to change the course of professional wrestling forever.
During the SummerSlam match, Owen Hart hits Austin with a sit-out Tombstone Piledriver but Austin was just a touch too low down in Owen's grip and he was spiked right on his head. Austin has spoke at length about this injury and what followed immediately, and somehow he managed to scoop up Owen for the "sorriest looking roll-up" to win the Intercontinental Championship.
Austin was protected for over two years, wrestling less and less until he couldn't avoid surgery any longer and he was written off television in 1999.
While Austin returned in 2000 to a huge crowd reaction, his days were numbered and eventually his neck injury caught up with him, forcing him to permanently retire in 2003 following his third WrestleMania match against long-time rival, The Rock.