12 Most Shocking WWE SummerSlam Moments Of All Time
1. Owen Hart Breaks Steve Austin's Neck
In terms of landmark moments in the career of an all-time great, Steve Austin's sickening injury at SummerSlam 1997 can probably be regarded as the most shocking incident in the storied history of the pay-per-view. It led to Austin being regarded as a legitimate badass, and perfectly bridged the gap between his face turn at WrestleMania and push to main event mega-stardom.
A botched tombstone sitout piledriver saw Stone Cold dropped on his head by Owen Hart, resulting in a legitimate broken neck and (temporary) paralysis.
Knowing that he was unable to win the match on the fly (as the Rattlesnake would have had to kiss his buttocks as per the stipulation), Owen carefully succumbed to a blatantly weak roll-up.
Austin was forced to vacate the Intercontinental Championship he won as a result, and probably retired early as a direct result of the injury - but in terms of character development it was, ironically the best thing that could have happened to him.