There’s an old saying that the back rules the man. Sylvester Stallone knows it, having undergone seven surgeries to fix a back problem that started with wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin and a stunt that went bad.
In the second season of The Family Stallone, Stallone talked about his battle with a back injury first sustained on the set of The Expendables. In the 2010 film, he was body-slammed by costar Steve Austin during a fight scene.
Austin threw the then 60-something Stallone against a stone wall. Stallone sustained dislocated shoulders and a fracture in his neck. As a result, he had a metal plate inserted into his neck and spinal fusions.
“I did stupid stuff. I was directing Expendables and, like an idiot, I’m doing take 10, take whatever, and I remember one slam, and I could actually feel one bang,” Stallone said on the reality series.
“Steve knew,” he added, admitting that he “never recovered” from the incident. “I never recovered from it. After that film, it was never physically the same,” he said. “So I warn people, ‘Don’t do your own stunts.’ ”