WWE was riding a monstrous wave of momentum and mainstream appeal in the late 90s and the captain of the ship was Stone Cold Steve Austin. The foul-mouthed antihero was fired from WCW a couple of years prior and after a brief stint in ECW, Stunning Steve Austin rose through the ranks while working arguably the greatest character wrestler had ever seen.
Steve Austin was a rebel, a maverick who did things his way and acted in defiance of authority. After winning the world title from Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14, Austin carried the company, and WWE, the underdog to WCW in Monday Night Wars, found its footing and started a rating dominance that lasted until the demise of WCW.
This was all accomplished on the back of Steve Austin as his programs with the likes of Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and The Rock broke viewership records time and time again.
Unknown to most people at that time, by 1999, Austin was wrestling on borrowed time. The Texas Rattlesnake was hailed a brawler but the man was proficient at working a technical match early on in his career and his mat-wrestling was regarded as his bread and butter.
Austin Was Written Off To Have Neck Surgery
During a match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1997, a botched piledriver by Hart led to Austin injuring his neck, and as a result, he was forced to drastically alter his style and went from a mat-wrestler to a brawler. As a testament to his surreal toughness, Austin still showed up to events and took bumps but the wear and tear began to accumulate, and by the time his feud with The Rock boiled to a close, Austin was running on fumes.
Austin lasted towards the fall of 1999 and at the Survivor Series PPV, he was written off television in one of the most shocking segments in professional wrestling history. Survivor Series was set to be headlined by a Triple-Threat match between Austin, Rock, and Triple H but then something happened. During an interview with Kevin Kelly, Austin was assaulted by Triple H and the Rattlesnake fought back, visibly struggling to even throw punches as he was clearly under a lot of pain.
This led to Triple H running off and Austin gave chase and he ended up in the parking lot of the arena. This was where a car sped through and ran over Austin and he was put out of commission for the next several months. Someone had taken out the biggest superstar in the company and the foremost question was who did so?
Triple H was the obvious suspect as he had brought Austin to the parking but the vehicle was registered in the name of the Rock. The storyline was a running point of the show but it did not come to dominate the programming as the be-all-end-all angle. Rather, the build-up was slow and fans were given ample time to ponder over who could have done it and the slow burn continued for the next few months.
The Slow-Burn Angle Was Built For Months
Commissioner Mick Foley was tasked with conducting an investigation and Foley went ahead to confront a number of other superstars such as Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and the Rock. The mystery continued to fester and while fans were certain that Triple H would be the assailant as he had so much to gain from injuring Austin, the mystery attacker was revealed to be Rikishi.
While that was the end of the mystery, the storyline was far from over. The retribution of Austin, who had returned to programming, was a sight to behold. Stone Cold was already presented as a short-tempered badass but after getting run over by a car, Austin was almost possessed.
Before Foley ousted Rikishi as the man responsible, Austin was conducting his own investigation. This included interfering in matches and beating the hell out of people. The Rattlesnake was unhinged and with Riskihi being revealed as the mystery attacker, Austin found his target.
Austin got his hands on Rikishi at No Mercy and he proceeded to beat the life out of him without a shred of remorse. He did not even care about winning the match as towards the end of the brawl, Austin attempted to run Rikishi over with his truck and was only stopped from doing so by the intervention of the police.
The Angle Ended With Austin Versus Triple H
Some would say Austin buried Rikishi but the storyline had no other way to progress and while this came at the expense of Rikishi, the crowd loved second of the vicious beat-down. The heel got his comeuppance. That is wrestling booking 101.
The plot did get bogged upon the reveal that Triple H was the true culprit and the Game went on to feud with Austin in another epic rivalry of the Attitude Era so overall, the storyline finished on a high note.
The storyline was far from perfect but overall, the company did the storyline justice and fans were buzzing for new pieces of information on every episode of RAW. The question lingered on afresh for months and the beat down of Rikishi was sweet justice.
All in all, this was a serviceable storyline and an underrated gem. Compared to the mystery attacker of Roman Reigns debacle, this might as well be regarded as the greatest storyline ever. Comparatively speaking, of course.