WWE Hall Of Famer Kevin Nash Looks Back On Effects Of Stone Cold Steve Austin Injury

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is one of those transcendent wrestling stars that just about everyone knows, so it's safe to say he's done pretty well for himself over the course of his career. But Austin's momentum could have easily been derailed in summer 1997 after his match with Owen Hart left him in a bad way. During the match, Hart botched a tombstone piledriver, compacting Austin's head into the mat, leading to temporary paralysis and subsequent neck issues that would plague "The Rattlesnake" for the rest of his wrestling days. Kevin Nash shared an interesting theory on "Kliq This" about the ripple effects of Austin's 1997 injury, and how it may have affected another massive star to emerge from that era: The Rock. 

"If Steve doesn't get hurt, I don't think Rock hits the f***in' heights that he does," Nash said. "Like everything happens for a reason, because, basically ... I mean, not to be a d***, but Rock has came out and said that when he sees something that gets over, he takes it. When Steve went down with the neck injury, f***in' Dwayne took a lot of f***in' Steve's s*** and incorporated it into what he did. And lo and behold, Steve comes back."

The Austin versus Rock feud led to some of the most entertaining programming during the Attitude era and headlined two WrestleManias, so how much water Nash's comments hold is up for debate. But what is true is that it's not unprecedented for wrestlers to borrow from each other. A recent example is LA Knight, who's drawn criticisms for borrowing too heavily from both Austin and Rock, and even long before that, "Macho Man" Randy Savage adopted his iconic "Ohhhhh yeah!" catchphrase from 1970s star Pampero Firpo.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Kliq This" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.