WWE: 7 Matches That Were Too Painful To Watch

5. Steve Austin vs Owen Hart - Survivor Series 1997

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9twRBEmrI Steve Austin was the hottest WWE performer in a very long time when he was dropped on his head by Owen Hart during their SummerSlam 1997 match. It was a Tombstone gone wrong because Owen dropped to his butt instead of his knees and in doing so he didn't protect Austin's head. His career was in jeopardy. Who knew if he would ever wrestle again? Austin realized he was one of the most popular guys in the business at the time and knew that he was on the verge of something special, so he rushed back to action three months after SummerSlam to get his revenge on Owen at Survivor Series 1997. While Austin was out, Owen was bragging about how he broke Austin's neck. The heat was very strong for this feud. Due to the fact that Austin was still seriously injured, the match was very short. They were really careful to make sure Austin didn't get hurt even more. He was a guy that WWE was banking on for the future, so it was smart to book it how it did. The match only went 3 minutes. The Montreal crowd was loud when Owen teased doing a piledriver. Austin didn't even take any back bumps during the match. Owen's offense was mostly cheap stuff that focused on other body parts and there was plenty of stalling too. A Stone Cold Stunner finished off Owen rather easily and he delivered even more Stunners after the match too. Austin won back his Intercontinental Title although he didn't hold it for very long because he was on to bigger things. Thankfully, Austin made it through that match fine and he was able to work a full time schedule for another two years. He had major neck surgery that saw him miss a year of action for most of 2000, but at least he was able to make it through the initial scare. If Austin didn't hurt his neck he likely would have been able to wrestle longer than 2003, which is when he retired. It's hard to know what could have been if Austin put in another 4-5 years of work, but we'll never know.