5 WWE Superstars who broke their necks in the ring

#2. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin suffered a broken neck at WWE SummerSlam

Today in Wrestling History - Stone Cold Steve Austin breaks neck from an Owen Hart piledriver at SummerSlam 1997 pic.twitter.com/FCsIafoA6g

— The Firm WWE Podcast (@WWETheFirm) August 3, 2015

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin is a WWE legend. However, his career almost came to a tragic end at SummerSlam 1997.

Austin faced Owen Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. Towards the end, Owen botched a Piledriver and dropped Austin on his head, resulting in a legitimate broken neck and temporary paralysis for Austin.

Owen stalled the audience as Stone Cold managed to get some feeling back in his limbs to barely pin him for the three-count. However, the damage was done, and Austin was forced to relinquish the title soon after.

Jim Ross summed up the locker room's feelings on that fateful night :

"A lot of concern. And it’s gonna sound bad if I don’t say this the right way, but you’ve gotta be first and foremost concerned about a man’s health. But at the same time, you’re looking at the guy that you see is going to be, unless injuries bite him in the a**, is going to be the biggest we’ve ever had. And now that may be over just as he got started. Took him seven years to get to WWE. Territories, missed booking, underutilized in WCW. We all remember all those stories. But you know, you just thought, ‘Well, this poor son of a b***h is not gonna live his dream,'” Ross recalled.

Steve Austin after he broke his neck pic.twitter.com/HWyax0H9pG

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) April 19, 2021

However, Stone Cold quickly recovered from the injury and returned at WWE Survivor Series after a while. Austin continued to wrestle for a few more years but was forced to retire from the ring after more neck injuries haunted him.