Former WWE writer Tommy Blacha recalls the story of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin being run over by a car.
Steve Austin was supposed to compete against The Rock and Triple H for the WWE Championship at WWE Survivor Series 1999. However, he would be taken out of the match after being run over in the storyline. The Big Show would later replace Austin and capture his first WWE Championship that night.
Former WWE writer Tommy Blacha reflected on the angle when he appeared on a recent episode of Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho podcast. Blacha reveals that they got the call the night before the event that Austin's neck issues would require surgery and that he would be taking some time off. Blacha recalled how the whole angle came together, putting together the shot and working with a stuntman.
"We got a call Saturday. ‘Austin hurt his neck.’ It could have been me, it could have been Gewirtz, someone says, ‘How about Austin gets hit by a car.’ Great. Austin gets hit by a car, and we’ll do the show," he said. "Some stunt man is coming in. I used to work at Joe Louis Arena as a kid, running hot dogs. ‘We should do it down here.’ ‘They’re doing construction. There is a chainlink fence.’ This is what’s great about wrestling. ‘Have them tear all that down.’ There is so much money and relationships with the arenas that you can do anything. The manager of the arena is there, ‘Do whatever the fuck he wants and they’ll pay for it.’ There is a stuntman, and they’re shaving his head. He came from California. We gotta get this early and then run the tape to the truck to play it like it’s real. ‘We need this long shot.’ This guy is like, ‘I need pads. I can’t do this like this.’ Vince was there, and I said, ‘If you don’t do it, I’m going to get a flannel shirt on and put padding on. I’ll do it.’ Vince goes, ‘It’s settled. He’ll do it!’ ‘Did I just talk myself into getting hit by a car?’ I guess I would do it, I don’t know. The guy did it, and it worked out great."
Rikishi would eventually be revealed as the person who hit Austin with the car. As we all know, He did it for The Rock.
Tommy Blacha once wrote for Conan O'Brien and used a line from Conan for The Rock. Learn more about that here.
Learn more about what Tommy Blacha had to say about the romance angle between Mark Henry and Mae Young here.
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