10 rare photos of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin you might not have seen

#9 Career changing injury

A scary time for the Rattlesnake

Owen Hart almost halted the progress of the fastest rising star in the WWE when a botched piledriver led to Austin breaking his neck in the ring. It was during a match for the Intercontinental Championship at Sumerslam 1997 where the incident occurred.

I didn’t actually see it when it happened as I didn’t start watching wrestling until the start of 2000, but in watching it on home video, it was quite scary to see the effect it had on Austin. His head was way too low for the move and this resulted in him ‘spiking’ which essentially left him paralysed in the ring for a few minutes.

It’s a testament to Austin’s heart and his love for the business that he managed to get to his feet and roll up an Owen Hart who was distracting the crowd by winding them up at the ropes. Realising the severity of the situation, he took the 1,2,3 off the lazy roll up and Austin was helped to the back by several referees.

Here you see the neck brace in the background and Austin almost praying that his career would not be ruined by the injury. This was two years before he got a neck surgery to correct the break.