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Bruce Prichard On Having to Write Steve Austin Out Of Survivor Series ’99, When They Decided to Run Him Over

November 20, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Steve Austin WWF Image Credit: WWE

– On the latest Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard recalled the angle at Survivor Series ’99 where Steve Austin got run over by a mystery assailant. The angle was done in order to write Austin out because of his need to rehabilitate from injuries. It led to Big Show being inserted into the triple threat main event against Triple H and The Rock, where Show won the WWE Championship.

The angle played out with the infamous reveal that Rikishi ran down Austin, saying “I did it for the Rock.” Triple H was ultimately revealed as the mastermind behind the whole thing almost a year later on the November 6th, 2000 episode of Raw.

Highlights from the discussion, and the full podcast, are below:

On how the whole thing played out: “Well, the bigger issue is, we had gone as far as we could go and there was different prognosis, different diagnosis of, could Steve go, could Steve not go. And it literally went up until the last minute, where there was some hope that Steve would be able to perform in some capacity. And that we would still be able to have the match. And at the very last minute it was determined that we’re not gonna be able to have Steve in the match in any way, shape or form. That it just wasn’t going to work and we couldn’t do it. He was there, and it’s like, ‘F**k.’ Gotta do something to get rid of him. And this is was what they came up with. That if he was injured.”

On how when they they knew that he was out: “Probably the day before, or night before. I don’t think I found out until [the] day of, actually. But I don’t think anybody else found out until late the night before. And again, it was still on the ropes. Could go either way. And I think they finally made the decision late the night before. I didn’t know until the day of.”

On what the plan was for the main event before Austin was ruled out: “I really don’t remember. You know, again it’s one of those deals where you block out when you’ve gotta change course, you forget what the f**k you had sometimes. And you move on and go, ‘Okay, well we’re f**kin’ not going there, so this is an opportunity to get somebody else over and elevate someone.’ I honest to god don’t have a f**king clue.”

On if they’d already decided on a course of action by the morning: “No, I think it was decided throughout the day. And it was brought up in a production meeting, and several people had input into it from having a single match with Rock and Triple H to, ‘Is it a place for somebody else to be elevated,’ which is how Big Show got involved in it. There were a lot of suggestions that were bandied back and forth, but it was kind of one of those closed doors where only Vince is gonna know, and he’s gonna make the decision.”

On if there was a big plan for who hit Austin right from the get-go: “[It was] ‘We gotta get him off TV and we’ll figure it out later.’ I think there were a lot of assumptions it would be Triple H. There were a lot of assumptions it could have been Vince. There were a lot of names bandied back and forth, but at that point you didn’t know if Steve was ever gonna come back. Will there be a payoff to the story anyway? So it was, ‘Let’s get through the night and we’ll worry about all that other s**t later.’ That was the least of our worries at that point, what the f**k is the payoff. You’ve got a show you’ve got to get on, and you’ve got to do something.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something to Wrestle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.