On This Day in Wrestling History, August 30, 1998, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin faced and defeated the Undertaker to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam in Madison Square Garden.
This wasn’t just one of the best matches in SummerSlam history and like many others, there’s a story that went on during the match that makes it even more entertaining.
It also gives an insight to some of the accidents we’re not always privy to.
Out cold
One of the best storytellers is Steve Austin, so it’s only fitting he shared his thoughts about the Undertaker accidentally knocking him out during their match.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the transcript.
“We were out there trying to work our ass off, and prior to that match, I’m not the toughest guy in the world, but I’ve never been knocked out in my life. And part of the match, I hit the ropes, Undertaker goes for a backdrop, I kick him in his chest, he’s going to straighten up and no-sell it, and when he does, the back of his big ass head hits me right under the chin. And, boom! Knockout blow.
“He flashed me. I went down on the mat. I was knocked out. I was only knocked out, maybe two, three seconds. All of a sudden, I’m laying on the mat on my back in Madison Square Garden. Don’t know where I am. The referee of that match was @EarlHebnerOfficial. He looks down at me and kind of has this little grin on his face. He goes, ‘God dang, boy! Are you alright?’
“I looked up at Earl. I said ‘Where am I?’
“He goes ‘God damn it, boy! You’re in The Garden!’
“So I get up and we continue the match. And one of my biggest disappointments in that match was that we were on our way to a hell of a match and I got knocked out. From that point on, I don’t remember the rest of that match!
“I remember laying on the table. I remember Taker getting on the top turnbuckle and dropping that leg. And I’m thinking, ‘We kind of talked about it. I don’t know if he’s going to do it or not, but I was going to stay there anyway because that’s what you do’. But all of a sudden, that’s one of the things I do remember about that match was Undertaker taking a courageous bump there and dropping that leg off that top turnbuckle. I’m like ‘Alright, this is going to be interesting.’ He lands. Everything crashes. We finish the match.” – Steve Austin, June 14, 2016
This was one of my favorite matches, but then many involving Steve Austin at that time were. It was so much fun because we didn’t know what was coming from one minute to the next.
It was the peak of storytelling in wrestling for many of us, and we hope to experience something like those times again. Until then This Day in Wrestling History is going to be a treasured one.
What are some of your favorite matches from the Attitude Era? Let us know in the comments below.
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