Charles Austin was little more than a wrestling enthusiast when his life was turned upside down by a freak accident in the ring during a WWE match in 1990.
With mere weeks of training under his belt, Austin, better known as Chuck, journeyed to a live event for the company then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
It was a decision that ended his career before it had really begun and left him with life-changing injuries.
At the time, Vince McMahon’s wrestling empire busily taped weeks of its various television programmes on the same night to arenas full of fans, one such show taking place in Tampa, Florida.
The inexperienced but eager grappler boldly approached company officials at the event and offered his services as a ‘jobber’ – the wrestling industry term for an enhancement talent whose job it is to lose in short order to established wrestlers to help improve their standing.
He was swiftly taken up on the offer by WWE, who paired him in a tag team with ‘The Genius’ – the brother of wrestling icon Macho Man Randy Savage – to take on the popular team of The Rockers, comprising Marty Jannetty and future Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels.
As was always the way with such matches, The Rockers were due to win routinely in a matter of minutes, but as the planned ending to the bout neared, tragedy struck.
Who or what was at fault for what happened next has been the subject of conjecture over the years, but what’s clear is that something went horrifically wrong as Jannetty set up Austin to receive the Rockers’ famed finishing move, the Rocker Dropper.
With his arm hooked, Austin was due to be lifted in the air with his head under Jannetty’s knee, landing flat on the canvas beneath. It was an established move the Rockers had performed safely many times prior.
On this night, though, Austin appeared to elevate too high, taking the move as if it were a DDT and landing brutally on the top of his head.
“When I hit the mat, I knew my neck was broken, that I was paralysed,” Austin later told American Journal.
He claims he told Jannetty he’d been hurt as he lay completely motionless in the ring, adding: “If you watch the film, he approaches me, he leans down to me and he tells me to roll over [in order to be pinned and finish the match].”
“I told him I couldn’t – ‘I think my neck is broken.’ And he proceeds to roll me over.”
Inexplicably, with Austin in a serious state, the match concluded with Michaels – seemingly unaware of what had happened – being tagged in to leap off the top rope onto Austin below.
More misery was to follow for a fearful Austin, who was left laying in the ring for 20 minutes before medical help arrived – reportedly due to the fact WWF matches in 1990 were classed as entertainment as opposed to sport, so not requiring the provision of emergency aid at ringside.
Having damaged three vertebrae, the stricken grappler was left paralysed from the waist down, later suing WWE and Jannetty.
WWE denied responsibility for the accident while Jannetty told the Court he thought his opponent was ‘selling the move’ in telling him he was seriously hurt.
Nonetheless, Austin was victorious in court, awarded close to $27 million – with Jannetty ordered to meet $500,000 of the sum.
After an appeal of the ruling by the sports entertainment giant, the case was finally settled out of court for $10 million.
The match, understandably, was never aired on WWE programming.
While initially able to regain use of some of his extremities, Austin as of 2015 was confined to a wheelchair.
The Rockers continued their rise in WWE after the incident, before Michaels went on to become one of the industry’s finest singles performers.
Jannetty’s career faltered by comparison, but he went on to briefly hold WWE’s Intercontinental title in 1993 after feuding with his former partner.
News Summary:
- ‘I knew my neck was broken’ – The tragic story of WWE rookie paralysed after move goes horribly wrong forcing million-dollar lawsuit
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