How Memorable Steve Austin WWE Angle Nearly Changed From Original Plan
One of the biggest WWE storylines that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin took part in nearly had a major change.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the unquestionable top star in WWE in the fall of 1999 when the company was on fire during the memorable Attitude Era. Unfortunately, Austin had some bad news when he found out he needed major neck surgery.
It was two years earlier at SummerSlam 1997 when Steve Austin took a Tombstone Piledriver from Owen Hart, which led to Austin’s head getting spiked into the mat. The broken neck injury nearly paralyzed Austin. Amazingly, Austin was able to return to the ring a few months later without having surgery and went on to win his first WWE Title at WrestleMania 14 in 1998.
On the night of Survivor Series 1999 in Detroit, WWE shot an angle where somebody ran over Austin with their car in the parking lot.
Tommy Blacha is a former WWE writer who was part of the team that came up with the angle to run over Austin with the car. While talking to Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Blacha revealed that he was nearly the guy who was run over because of issues with the stuntman.
“We got a call Saturday. ‘Austin hurt his neck.’ It could have been me, it could have been (Brian) Gewirtz, someone says, ‘How about Austin gets hit by a car.’ Great. Austin gets hit by a car, and we’ll do the show. Some stuntman is coming in.
I used to work at Joe Louis Arena as a kid, running hot dogs. ‘We should do it down here.’ ‘They’re doing construction. There is a chainlink fence.’ This is what’s great about wrestling. ‘Have them tear all that down.’ There is so much money and relationships with the arenas that you can do anything. The manager of the arena is there, ‘Do whatever the f**k he wants and they’ll pay for it.’
There is a stuntman, and they’re shaving his head. He came from California. We gotta get this early and then run the tape to the truck to play it like it’s real. ‘We need this long shot.’ This guy is like, ‘I need pads. I can’t do this like this.’
Vince was there, and I said, ‘If you don’t do it, I’m going to get a flannel shirt on and put padding on. I’ll do it.’ Vince goes, ‘It’s settled. He’ll do it!’ ‘Did I just talk myself into getting hit by a car?’ I guess I would do it, I don’t know. The guy did it, and it worked out great.”
When Steve Austin returned from his neck injury nearly one year later, it was revealed that Rikishi was the man who drove the car that hit Austin. After the Austin-Rikishi didn’t catch on fire, it was later revealed that Triple H put Rikishi up to it, so the Austin rivalry with Triple H took off from there.
Steve Austin And Bret Hart Match To Be Honored At WWE Hall Of Fame
It was announced by WWE that the legendary Bret Hart-Steve Austin WrestleMania 13 match will be honored at the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in what is being called the first “Immortal Moment” in WWE Hall of Fame history.
Steve Austin spoke about what it meant to be the first match inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
“It was a hell of a match and we knew it at the time, I think it was good that it was in Chicago because Chicago is kind of a stronghold for me but it would’ve worked anywhere with the fact that it happened with Bret The Hitman Hart.
There’s a couple behind-the-scenes stories that I don’t want to talk about but it was a hell of a match and it’s cool for people to still remember it damn near 30 years later.
Yeah, it means something to me because if it wasn’t for the fans, I wouldn’t be sitting here. So, the fact that match is relevant and it’s going into 2025 Hall Of Fame for matches and it’s the first match to be inducted, cool.
In addition to the Hart/Austin match, the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame will also feature the induction of Triple H, Michelle McCool, Lex Luger and The Natural Disasters tag team. The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place in Las Vegas on Friday, April 18th, after SmackDown that night.