The Luckiest Break In WWE History
How would Steve Austin have made it to WrestleMania XIV in March had his neck not fallen victim to the errant tombstone in August? The path is simply too hard to plot. Between those two points alone, Bret Hart was screwed by the organisation en route to WCW along with Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart, best frenemy Brian Pillman passed away, Paul Bearer's Kane teases tortured The Undertaker all the way towards a 'Show Of Shows' scrap, Shawn Michaels went full megalomaniac IRL then karmically found himself one match from retirement with a badly injured back, and issues with Owen himself were due to conclude at the climax of of Austin's original triumph.
'The Rattlesnake' needed a new focus beyond The Hart Foundation to elevate his heat from red to white as he lay in wait to burst from the midcard as the Hulk Hogan replacement Vince McMahon had searched several years for, but even a company desperate to achieve it didn't quite realise how they'd happen upon his crucial next chapter.
Austin, for the want of a better phrase, was f*cked. His neck required significant surgical repair - the sort that would keep him off television for a year when he finally elected to have it - but this wasn't the time to even not be wrestling, let alone kept away from an audience desperate for his every last middle finger.
Fortunately, flipping birds was something he still had no problem with. Armed only with these and his trusty Stone Cold Stunner, he set about making an unbelievable best from his worst case scenario.
CONT'D...