25 biggest pro wrestling ‘what ifs’ of the past 25 years

8. What if Stone Cold had to retire after SummerSlam in 1997?

Since we’re already discussing Stone Cold Steve Austin, let’s keep the conversation running and talk about what happened at SummerSlam in 1997. At this point, Austin is really starting to make a huge name for himself. He had cut the famous “Austin 3:16” promo the summer before and WWE is starting to take programming in a new direction in an attempt to keep up with the nWo and WCW. Austin is a big part of the plan here as the fans are starting to connect, with the biggest moment in Stone Cold’s career coming at WrestleMania 13 in the best double turn in history in his match with Bret Hart.

Austin’s career is on fire at this point and he would go on to face Owen Hart at SummerSlam for the Intercontinental Championship. They’re putting on a solid match as expected until Owen attempted a piledriver and just botched it as Austin’s head was too far down and Austin just went numb. Hart knew something had gone wrong and stayed away for a while as Austin tried to regain his composure. Austin was booked to win the match and I will say that Owen was a true pro here, letting Stone Cold roll him up in the worst-looking pin I’ve ever seen to keep the result as it was supposed to be. The real result, however, was a broken neck for Austin, an injury that would give him problems for years and ultimately led to his retirement after WrestleMania XIX.

Austin would return to reignite his feud with Owen and in the process would deliver his first Stone Cold Stunner to Vince McMahon, setting off a series of events that would lead to Austin winning his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania XIV. But what if Austin had to retire in 1997? Again, we would have never gotten the Austin-McMahon program or anything else that we would get over the next five years. Who would have been put into Austin’s place on the card? Does The Rock get pushed quicker? Does Triple H get pushed quicker? Does someone else step up?