Let's Discuss Why Owen Never Apologized For Breaking Steve Austin's Neck

[Henzo]

Owen was kind of a dikk

So was Eddie

All these guys were. Let's not kid ourselves.

 

[Psychosis]

I think it was Owen playing a prank on Austin that went wrong.

Technically it wasn't a broken neck but a spinal cord injury.

His doctor said:

"He was a paraplegic for about a minute,"
"The film of the bout is frightening. He couldn't stand. I think it's a wonder he wasn't quadriplegic or dead on the spot."

Austin on the incident:

"My match with Owen was set for SummerSlam 1997, on August 3, 1997, at the Meadowlands Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. By then, Stone Cold was really catching fire with the fans.

I was told that I was going to win the Intercontinental belt back from Owen on that night. The stipulation to my challenge was that if I couldn’t beat him and win, I was going to have to kiss his ass. We really built that up on TV as a major deal. It was another simple, easy-to-understand story line. So the day came and I was talking to Owen in the back, and we were throwing a few things together for the finish of the title match.

I said to him, “Well, what about if we do that thing where I come in for the elbow and you rotate your back around and pick me up upside down and give me the Tombstone Piledriver? Then you cover me and I’ll kick out right before the three-count.” I added, “Now, Owen, I don’t trust just anybody to do a piledriver to me, but you can do it, right?”

And he said, “Yeah.”

I said, “You’re going to go to your knees, right?”


And he said, “No, I’m going to drop to my ass.”


Then I said, “Well, you need to go to your knees, right?”


And he said, “No, I drop to my ass.”


That’s two times I said that. And I was thinking, I’m dealing with Owen Hart, brother of Bret Hart and son of Stu Hart. I guess he knows what he’s doing. He’s ribbing me about dropping to his ass instead of his knees.

Owen was a hell of a technician. When he assured me I’d be okay,I took his word that I’d be okay. I didn’t think twice about it. I had mentioned my concerns to him twice. But in an inverted Tombstone Piledriver, done the way Undertaker does it, it’s always knees, not ass.

So I figured, Owen’s got it, he knows my concern. I had asked him twice about it, and that was the big spot in the match.

When I came out that night, boy, people were ready to see Stone Cold Steve Austin do the Stone Cold Stunner on Owen for that title belt. The match went along and it was a good match, the right style of match for that year. It was a solid wrestling match. We were going through some things near the end that could be finishes, but they weren’t. The crowd was really into all the false finishes. After that we wrestled for another five or six minutes, the idea being to lead into a Stunner.

Eventually, he set up the piledriver spot. I spun Owen around and he landed on his feet. Then he picked me up, upside down, and WHAM—he dropped straight to his ass. There was simply no room for me to protect my head.

If you watch the videotape, my head’s about six to eight inches below his ass. I weigh 250. He weighed 225 or thereabouts at the time. But with the jump up and the impact down, man, I got spiked headfirst into the mat hard as hell."

That’s one of the things that’s going to turn you into a quadriplegic quicker than anything, like what happened to Christopher Reeves. It’s called axial load. It’s not a whiplash thing, but a major impact blow to the spinal chord—BOOM.

I remember when it happened, I was going to kick out on two and a half or two and three-quarters. I was going to sell the piledriver, but I was going to kick out of it at the last second. When my head hit the mat, it was as if a big gong went off in my body.

When stuff like that happens, people usually go unconscious or get all groggy. I stayed razor sharp the whole time, and it was like I had super hearing. My legs straightened up, my arms bent up and my hands were frozen.

I remember kind of picking my head up from the mat and telling the referee, Earl Hebner, “Tell him not to fukking touch me, I can’t move.”

Earl got up and told Owen, “Don’t touch him, he can’t move.”

I said, “Tell him to buy me some time.”

Earl told him that, so Owen started chanting to the crowd, “Now he’s going to have to kiss my ass!” He was buying me the time I needed. A minute or a minute and ahalf went by, and I finally started to get a little bit of feeling back in my limbs. My shoulders and my interior delts were on fire. It took everything I had to bend my legs and try to get into a crawl position, but I couldn’t crawl on my hands because I couldn’t use my hands yet.

Still, we had to get to the finish. And I had to win.

So I was crawling around on my elbows and I told the referee, “Rollup for the win.”

He told Owen what I had called, and the next thing that happened was I did the worst-looking rollup in wrestling history, because I couldn’t use my limbs. Somehow I managed to hold Owen on his back and get a three-count out of it.

I meant for that to be the end of it, but Owen kicked right out after three. Why? To make himself look strong, like he was barely beat. That kick-out hurt me like hell too, and could easily have injured my neck further.

I should have lain there and gotten medical attention, but it didn’t happen that way. It was one of those deals where it was a highly anticipated match. There were a lot of 3:16 shirts out there that night, a whole lot of Stone Cold fans.

Owen rolled out of the ring, defeated, and left. But as I rolled over on my back, I knew that I was completely screwed up.

I had wanted to get the match over with the right way, and theonly reason I called for the rollup rather than just laying there and let him beat me, was because of the kiss-my-ass stipulation. By finishing the match the way it was supposed to go, I was doing everything I could to be Stone Cold Steve Austin.

All the referees came out to the ring and it took three of them to pull me to my feet. I got my arms around them and they tried to hold me up and hand me the title belt, but my legs were dragging and I could barely walk.

The feeling was starting to come back in my feet, so I knew that I could walk a little bit. I took my arms away from the refs and held the belt up, and acknowledged the crowd. Then I walked out, but my legs were really dragging.

I got to the back and I was visibly shaken. The whole thing just scared the crap out of me. As they got me onto a stretcher, I just wanted to know what the hell had happened.

I had told Owen, “I don’t trust just anybody to do a piledriver on me,” but I got planted on my head. It had happened. My shoulders were absolutely on fire. My front delts wouldn’t stop burning. That goes with the kind of injury I had.

Another strange thing is, Owen still continued to use the sitout tombstone after this incident..

 

[My Girl is Bow Legged]

Piledriver has to be the dumbest move in wrestling history. shyt seems tailor made to cripple people

 

[Konnan]

I think it was Owen playing a prank on Austin that went wrong.

Technically it wasn't a broken neck but a spinal cord injury.

His doctor said:




Austin on the incident:

Another strange thing is, Owen still continued to use the sitout tombstone after this incident..

Real fukk boi shyt

 

[HereWeGo2]

I don't know why Austin thought that Owen was kidding, or why people think that Owen did something wrong by sitting down.

Go back and watch the Bret and Owen matches. They both do it that way to each other. That's how they do piledrivers.

So it seems like Austin misunderstood Owen, and thought he was just fukking around, when Owen was really straight up telling him how he does it.

Owen's wife seems to think that Owen didn't cause the injury, and that it was a long-term injury of Austin's coming to a head. Owen was under the same impression, so I guess that's why he didn't apologize (though he should have):
http://books.google.com/books?id=tGul5smCdxkC&q=Austin#v=snippet&q=Austin&f=false (click on page 106 & then read page 107 too)

Maybe Owen felt that by apologizing, that would have been an admission that he did something wrong, when he really didn't feel that he did. He still should have checked on him, but I almost get the impression that Owen had hard feelings toward Austin, thinking that he was blaming the injury on him.

The wife also mentions that Owen had a personal dislike of Austin. Doesn't surprise me. I remember Bret mentioning that Diana Hart & Austin were flirting backstage. At one point. Diana insinuated that Owen had pushed for that relationship. Somewhere in there Diana mentioned that Debra started acting weird around her, and mean to her.

It wouldn't surprise me if Owen soon realized that Austin was a cad, and may have resented him for it, because it involved his sister as well as his close friend, Debra, whom he also treated like a sister. Who knows if Austin was abusive back then, but if Owen was privy to that regarding Debra, that may have caused even more of the dislike.

Most interestingly in all of this, Bret lamented the fact that he hadn't heard from Austin when he suffered the stroke, as well as when he lost Owen. He wasn't saying it angrily...more like sad, because he really liked Austin, and seemed saddened and surprised that he hadn't heard from Austin. He had a tone of really missing Austin. You could tell that he really considered Austin a friend. This was in Bret's Off The Record interview around 2002 or 2003.

Austin insinuated in his book that he thought that Owen did it on purpose. Everyone says that Austin was really paranoid anyway, so putting this all together, I think that in Austin's paranoid state, he started making the assumption that Owen did it on purpose to get Austin out of the way for Bret, and therefore he started resenting Bret. That's why he stopped talking to Bret after Bret left.

He seems to have gotten over that aspect of it, as he and Bret seem cool now. He still seems angry about Owen, though.

 

[Rain]

That shyt was scary as hell

 

[mrken12]

I think it was Owen playing a prank on Austin that went wrong.

Technically it wasn't a broken neck but a spinal cord injury.

His doctor said:




Austin on the incident:

Another strange thing is, Owen still continued to use the sitout tombstone after this incident..

Most of Owen's pranks (at least the ones I heard of) usually didn't jeopardize someone's health. I don't think it was a prank.

 

[Konnan]

I don't know why Austin thought that Owen was kidding, or why people think that Owen did something wrong by sitting down.

Go back and watch the Bret and Owen matches. They both do it that way to each other. That's how they do piledrivers.

So it seems like Austin misunderstood Owen, and thought he was just fukking around, when Owen was really straight up telling him how he does it.

Owen's wife seems to think that Owen didn't cause the injury, and that it was a long-term injury of Austin's coming to ahead. Owen was under the same impression, so I guess that's why he didn't apologize (though he should have):
http://books.google.com/books?id=tGul5smCdxkC&q=Austin#v=snippet&q=Austin&f=false (click on page 106 & then read page 107 too)

Maybe Owen felt that by apologizing, that would have been an admission that he did something wrong, when he really didn't feel that he did. He still should have checked on him, but I almost get the impression that Owen had hard feelings toward Austin, thinking that he was blaming the injury on him.

The wife also mentions that Owen had a personal dislike of Austin. Doesn't surprise me. I remember Bret mentioning that Diana Hart & Austin were flirting backstage. At one point. Diana insinuated that Owen had pushed for that relationship. Somewhere in there Diana mentioned that Debra started acting weird around her, and mean to her.

It wouldn't surprise me if Owen soon realized that Austin was a cad, and may have resented him for it, because it involved his sister as well as his close friend, Debra, whom he also treated like a sister. Who knows if Austin was abusive back then, but if Owen was privy to that regarding Debra, that may have caused even more of the dislike.

Most interestingly in all of this, Bret lamented the fact that he hadn't heard from Austin when he suffered the stroke, as well as when he lost Owen. He wasn't saying it angrily...more like sad, because he really liked Austin, and seemed saddened and surprised that he hadn't heard from Austin. He had a tone of really missing Austin. You could tell that he really considered Austin a friend. This was in Bret's Off The Record interview around 2002 or 2003.

Austin insinuated in his book that he thought that Owen did it on purpose. Everyone says that Austin was really paranoid anyway, so putting this all together, I think that in Austin's paranoid state, he started making the assumption that Owen did it on purpose to get Austin out of the way for Bret, and therefore he started resenting Bret. That's why he stopped talking to Bret after Bret left.

He seems to have gotten over that aspect of it, as he and Bret seem cool now. He still seems angry about Owen, though.

That's where I gotta say he was a ho

Step to that man in the dressing room or out in the streets not in the ring where he's trusting you with his body

I remember seeing that RAW where they were interviewing eveyone and let them say goodbye and Austin was pretty much the only one that wasn't on it aside.from Undertaker

 

[mrken12]

That's where I gotta say he was a ho

Step to that man in the dressing room or out in the streets not in the ring where he's trusting you with his body

I remember seeing that RAW where they were interviewing eveyone and let them say goodbye and Austin was pretty much the only one that wasn't on it aside.from Undertaker

Didn't he go out to the ring and just give a toast for him?

Edit: Found the clip.

 

[FreshAIG]

I've known times when people made a big mistake and was so embarrassed they didn't want to face the person they did it to. No excuse because Owen definitely owed an apology but it's something I've witnessed before

 

[dbp]

I don't know why Austin thought that Owen was kidding, or why people think that Owen did something wrong by sitting down.

Go back and watch the Bret and Owen matches. They both do it that way to each other. That's how they do piledrivers.

So it seems like Austin misunderstood Owen, and thought he was just fukking around, when Owen was really straight up telling him how he does it.

Owen's wife seems to think that Owen didn't cause the injury, and that it was a long-term injury of Austin's coming to a head. Owen was under the same impression, so I guess that's why he didn't apologize (though he should have):
http://books.google.com/books?id=tGul5smCdxkC&q=Austin#v=snippet&q=Austin&f=false (click on page 106 & then read page 107 too)

Maybe Owen felt that by apologizing, that would have been an admission that he did something wrong, when he really didn't feel that he did. He still should have checked on him, but I almost get the impression that Owen had hard feelings toward Austin, thinking that he was blaming the injury on him.

The wife also mentions that Owen had a personal dislike of Austin. Doesn't surprise me. I remember Bret mentioning that Diana Hart & Austin were flirting backstage. At one point. Diana insinuated that Owen had pushed for that relationship. Somewhere in there Diana mentioned that Debra started acting weird around her, and mean to her.

It wouldn't surprise me if Owen soon realized that Austin was a cad, and may have resented him for it, because it involved his sister as well as his close friend, Debra, whom he also treated like a sister. Who knows if Austin was abusive back then, but if Owen was privy to that regarding Debra, that may have caused even more of the dislike.

Most interestingly in all of this, Bret lamented the fact that he hadn't heard from Austin when he suffered the stroke, as well as when he lost Owen. He wasn't saying it angrily...more like sad, because he really liked Austin, and seemed saddened and surprised that he hadn't heard from Austin. He had a tone of really missing Austin. You could tell that he really considered Austin a friend. This was in Bret's Off The Record interview around 2002 or 2003.

Austin insinuated in his book that he thought that Owen did it on purpose. Everyone says that Austin was really paranoid anyway, so putting this all together, I think that in Austin's paranoid state, he started making the assumption that Owen did it on purpose to get Austin out of the way for Bret, and therefore he started resenting Bret. That's why he stopped talking to Bret after Bret left.

He seems to have gotten over that aspect of it, as he and Bret seem cool now. He still seems angry about Owen, though.

I dunno how much of that I buy. First of all, you can watch the tape and clearly see Austin's head is too low. The way he reacted after, it was obvious he was really hurt. That's cop out bullshyt to for Owen to think Austin was faking or that the damage had been done. Even Bret in that OTR interview you referenced said he thought Owen was wrong for how he handled that situation.

 

[ThankUBasedBret]

:smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen::smugowen:

Owen 3:16 Says, I just kicked your leg out of your leg!

 

[Capitol]

TSC Nicknames jumping the shark

@SirMo Poo Gay? c'mon dawg

 

[Da King]

Didn't he go out to the ring and just give a toast for him?

Edit: Found the clip.

Probably wanted to give Owen the middle finger salute on the inside