The Rockers, Charles Austin, & a lawsuit?

[Deleted]

Hi all,

Reading on Marty Jannetty's wikipedia, I found that the Rockers hit a rocker dropper on a jobber named Charles Austin in 1990. Apparently, his neck was broken and in 1994, Austin won the lawsuit and received $26.7 million. Shortly thereafter, Jannetty pretty much disappeared from the WWF until 1996.

Anyone have any more information on this? Not to be morbid, but is there video? Or did it happen at a house show? Seems odd to not hear more about this one.

[Sam Hain]

I believe it was during a Superstars taping. Austin took the bump wrong and drove his head into the mat. He was fine afterwards, but couldn't wrestle any longer.

I don't believe there is video out there of it.

[Deleted]

wow.....I had never heard of this.+1 for posting!!!

[Chester McFisticuffs]

I remember reading a vague bit about it in PWI years and years ago. There was a pic of Jannetty setting it up.

[Emerald Enthusiast]

I remember seeing a long segment about the lawsuit on a newscast. What I remember most was Austin's claim that he never had any kind of a tryout or pre-match practice. Evidently, the WWF didn't bother with that kind of thing for jobbers back then. Austin cited some indy wrestling experience and he was signed for the taping.

There is video of the incident ( I saw it during this segment) but I don't think the WWF aired it. It was used in the court case, of course. Jannetty set up Austin for the Rocker Dropper. Austin was supposed to fall flat on his stomach but he said that Jannetty never communicated this with him. Instead, when Jannetty started the move, Austin pushed upward with his legs. When Jannetty came down, all of his weight and Austin's, landed squarely on Austin's face. It was hard to watch. Eyewitness accounts said that when Austin's spine broke, it sounded like a board being hit with a sledgehammer.

Austin made a partial recovery. He was able to walk with a cane but he became very weak and dependent, to a degree, on other people for his care. It was a sad story to be sure and it sounds as if the incident could have been avoided.

[Deleted]

Awesome info man...thanks! +1. I'm still honestly surprised the guy got something - one would think it kind of came in the job description.

[NAЯDO]

Thanks for sharing, I've never heard of such news.

[Emerald Enthusiast]

Aug 3, 2010 23:47:01 GMT -5 @rockstar2866 said:

Awesome info man...thanks! +1. I'm still honestly surprised the guy got something - one would think it kind of came in the job description.

No prob. I'm still surprised the the news media didn't jump all over this one, considering how they love to roast pro wrestling. Not much was written about the incident back then.

[Emerald Enthusiast]

Aug 4, 2010 0:02:15 GMT -5 NAЯDO said:

Thanks for sharing, I've never heard of such news.

I've tried to find the video of the segment on the 'net, but I can't. As I remember the story was covered by one of those news magazine shows that centered around salacious/scandalous news that didn't get attention from the mainstream media. It *might* have been A Current Affair or Hard Copy but this was '95 or '96, so some details are fuzzy.

[Beck]

Yup, Bret Hart talks about it in his book.

[carly1988]

Ive seen the match somewhere but Im not sure where. I thought it was on youtube but it probably has been taken off since. Charles Austin was actually my bonus question when I had my Marty Jannetty Rocker Dropper figure giveaway contest

[Gangrel-Brood]

I definitely remember seeing the match on here via Youtube, along with .gifs and all that good stuff.

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2010 9:02:00 GMT -5 Beck said:

Yup, Bret Hart talks about it in his book.

As did Shawn in his book.