5 most shocking moments in SummerSlam history

#4 Owen Hart’s failed piledriver on Steve Austin

Hart’s piledriver to Austin would cut his career short years later

In the midst of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s feud with the new Hart Foundation, he took on Owen Hart for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam in 1997. During the course of the match, Hart would execute a piledriver on Austin, which he botched up and Austin landed on his head, severely injured his neck in the process.

Austin suffered a broken neck and was temporarily paralyzed as a result of the botch. Austin would pin Hart with a roll-up, securing the victory. However, because of his injury, Austin had to vacate the Championship in addition to the Tag Team Championship. This was the start of seeing Austin really transform to main event stardom, but the moment would prove to cut his stellar career short with Austin eventually retiring from wrestling in 2003.