‘I think I’m dying’ – WWE was in chaos after Stone Cold Steve Austin heart scare on eve of WrestleMania
Stone Cold Steve Austin wrestled his last match before retirement at WrestleMania 19, but it very nearly didn’t happen at all. The iconic performer may have laced up his boots one more time at WrestleMania 32 in 2022 to fight Kevin Owens but, for all intents and purposes, the Rattlesnake’s in-ring career came to a close decades prior. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were top-tier rivals in WWEWWE.com In truth, a frightening turn of events almost meant Austin never got to have that landmark showing against The Rock in Washington, the third bout of their epic Mania trilogy. The two rivals – two icons of the industry – had already locked horns at the show of shows in 1999 and 2001 and wrote the final chapter in that storied rivalry when The Rock finally got his hand raised. And while the emerging Hollywood sensation went out in a blaze of glory that night, Austin’s tale was one of far greater woe. The Attitude Era phenomenon was struggling with nagging injury issues resulting from a broken neck suffered in a match in 1997 and had been at odds with WWE creatively for some time – even walking out on them over a pitch to lose to Brock Lesnar. Preparing to meet one of his biggest ever on-screen enemies one last time at Mania, though, Austin’s troubles deepened. Having felt discomfort and trouble with his reflexes in a gym work out the day before the show, Austin later became aware something was deeply wrong. “Damn, I think I’m dying,” the brawler wrote in his autobiography. “I’m getting off the elevator [the] night before WrestleMania XIX and my heart’s beating so hard it feels like it’s going to crack a rib and jump out of my chest.” Having battled his work and health issues in the months and years before hand, Austin also juggled divorce as his personal life also entered turmoil. Now, faced with the likely end of his WWE tenure, he was desperate to perform, but felt his body was letting him down. He was able to trace some of his present predicament to a large amount of coffee and energy drinks consumed the Friday before WrestleMania but, hours later, was convinced he was in a dire predicament with his heart racing. He went on: “I’ve been fatigued in matches before, totally out of gas and winded, but this is scaring the hell out of me. I’m sure I’m having a heart attack.” Performing at a high level in WWE took its toll on Stone ColdWWE The third WrestleMania match between Rock and Austin was under threat a night earlierWWE Having left his hotel door open, the multi-time world champion is able to flag down a passing colleague who in turn alerted medical personnel – soon the star’s room is swarming with concerned medics, and he’s taken out of the hotel, in front of waiting fans, and loaded into an ambulance. As ever, Austin’s mind remained on his work. He wrote: “I’m thinking, Jesus, Stone Cold against The Rock at WrestleMania in Seattle. That’s tomorrow, for crying out loud. But I don’t think I’m going to be wrestling The Rock at WrestleMania. Right now, I’m a helluva lot more concerned about just stayin’ alive.” “I curse myself for my bad habits of drinking all those high-energy drinks and so much coffee every day. I rarely drank any water. I was just such a big bundle of nerves, with my health and everything else on my mind going into this match, plus my not wanting to stink the joint out. And now it’s all just caught up to me bang!” The situation is serious enough for WWE boss Vince McMahon to dash to the hospital to check on his biggest star and, thankfully, under the attention of doctors, Stone Cold’s heart rate and condition improves. With no choice to rest, his mind begins to drift – to, of course, The Rock. “After everything that I’ve done with this company, and everything this company has done for me, I want to do business with The Rock,” he insisted. “I want to do it right. The Rock is going to beat me, and I want him to do it right in the middle of the ring. He’s done a lot of stuff for me in my career, and vice-versa, so that has to happen. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Austin was beaten at WrestleMania 19 and has only wrestled once sinceWWE Thankfully, Austin was able to recover sufficiently to perform the next day, and at some level, too. Their match the following night has gone down as one of the best in WrestleMania history, earning it a spot in WWE’s Top 50 just this week. It ended up being the now 60-year-old’s last in-ring action until his 2022 return. His outing with Owens was arguably even more impressive given the near 19-year gap and that, too, netted a place in the Top 50. Austin won that match with Owens heavily praised for his part in it. Owens had been due to feature in a high-profile match with Randy Orton, but the match was shelved due to a real-life injury that’s set to keep the Canadian on the sidelines long term.
Stone Cold Steve Austin wrestled his last match before retirement at WrestleMania 19, but it very nearly didn’t happen at all.
The iconic performer may have laced up his boots one more time at WrestleMania 32 in 2022 to fight Kevin Owens but, for all intents and purposes, the Rattlesnake’s in-ring career came to a close decades prior.
In truth, a frightening turn of events almost meant Austin never got to have that landmark showing against The Rock in Washington, the third bout of their epic Mania trilogy.
The two rivals – two icons of the industry – had already locked horns at the show of shows in 1999 and 2001 and wrote the final chapter in that storied rivalry when The Rock finally got his hand raised.
And while the emerging Hollywood sensation went out in a blaze of glory that night, Austin’s tale was one of far greater woe.
The Attitude Era phenomenon was struggling with nagging injury issues resulting from a broken neck suffered in a match in 1997 and had been at odds with WWE creatively for some time – even walking out on them over a pitch to lose to Brock Lesnar.
Preparing to meet one of his biggest ever on-screen enemies one last time at Mania, though, Austin’s troubles deepened. Having felt discomfort and trouble with his reflexes in a gym work out the day before the show, Austin later became aware something was deeply wrong.
“Damn, I think I’m dying,” the brawler wrote in his autobiography. “I’m getting off the elevator [the] night before WrestleMania XIX and my heart’s beating so hard it feels like it’s going to crack a rib and jump out of my chest.”
Having battled his work and health issues in the months and years before hand, Austin also juggled divorce as his personal life also entered turmoil.
Now, faced with the likely end of his WWE tenure, he was desperate to perform, but felt his body was letting him down.
He was able to trace some of his present predicament to a large amount of coffee and energy drinks consumed the Friday before WrestleMania but, hours later, was convinced he was in a dire predicament with his heart racing.
He went on: “I’ve been fatigued in matches before, totally out of gas and winded, but this is scaring the hell out of me. I’m sure I’m having a heart attack.”
Having left his hotel door open, the multi-time world champion is able to flag down a passing colleague who in turn alerted medical personnel – soon the star’s room is swarming with concerned medics, and he’s taken out of the hotel, in front of waiting fans, and loaded into an ambulance.
As ever, Austin’s mind remained on his work.
He wrote: “I’m thinking, Jesus, Stone Cold against The Rock at WrestleMania in Seattle. That’s tomorrow, for crying out loud. But I don’t think I’m going to be wrestling The Rock at WrestleMania. Right now, I’m a helluva lot more concerned about just stayin’ alive.”
“I curse myself for my bad habits of drinking all those high-energy drinks and so much coffee every day. I rarely drank any water. I was just such a big bundle of nerves, with my health and everything else on my mind going into this match, plus my not wanting to stink the joint out. And now it’s all just caught up to me bang!”
The situation is serious enough for WWE boss Vince McMahon to dash to the hospital to check on his biggest star and, thankfully, under the attention of doctors, Stone Cold’s heart rate and condition improves. With no choice to rest, his mind begins to drift – to, of course, The Rock.
“After everything that I’ve done with this company, and everything this company has done for me, I want to do business with The Rock,” he insisted.
“I want to do it right. The Rock is going to beat me, and I want him to do it right in the middle of the ring. He’s done a lot of stuff for me in my career, and vice-versa, so that has to happen. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Thankfully, Austin was able to recover sufficiently to perform the next day, and at some level, too. Their match the following night has gone down as one of the best in WrestleMania history, earning it a spot in WWE’s Top 50 just this week.
It ended up being the now 60-year-old’s last in-ring action until his 2022 return. His outing with Owens was arguably even more impressive given the near 19-year gap and that, too, netted a place in the Top 50.
Austin won that match with Owens heavily praised for his part in it.
Owens had been due to feature in a high-profile match with Randy Orton, but the match was shelved due to a real-life injury that’s set to keep the Canadian on the sidelines long term.
