WWE icon Stone Cold Steve Austin makes controversial CTE statement amid backlash to Vince McMahon

WWE icon Stone Cold Steve Austin has made the controversial claim that he does not believe in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

CTE is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated head injuries that can cause severe mood swings, depression, and other cognitive impairment.

This comes after shocked former WWE boss Vince McMahon dismissed the idea that former wrestler Chris Benoit suffered from ‘roid rage’ or CTE when he killed his wife, 7-year-old son and himself in 2007.

Austin, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, said in a Netflix documentary about McMahon’s career that he is “not a CTE guy.”

He explains: ‘I worked there for a long time and once fell on my head. I got a concussion there.

Austin was involved in the storyline that ended with Donald Trump shaving McMahon’s head

‘But other than that, I don’t remember having many concussions in professional wrestling.

“And my opinion has always been that if you’re wrestling and you get a couple of concussions, you’re probably doing something wrong.

“I’m not a CTE guy…I just don’t believe in it.”

Before former NFL players went public with their conditions, CTE was commonly associated with boxing.

Several well-known players who committed suicide were posthumously diagnosed with the disease.

In 2023, researchers at Boston University discovered the degenerative brain disorder in 345 of the 376 former NFL players they studied.

Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez was diagnosed with a severe case of CTE.

Hernandez committed suicide in prison in 2017 while serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of semi-professional footballer Odin Lloyd.

In the Netflix documentary, a shocked McMahon was also questioned about Benoit, who authorities say strangled his wife Nancy and son Daniel in their Georgia home before hanging himself.

While a precise explanation is still elusive, two compelling theories emerged in 2009: Benoit suffered from drug and alcohol problems or he had CTE, a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated head injuries.

McMahon (right) dismisses the idea that Benoit (left) was battling CTE or roid rage in 2007

McMahon, who promoted Benoit to the WWE, dismissed both theories.

“There is no connection between steroid use and what happened to Chris Benoit,” the former WWE CEO told Netflix.

“People are flawed. Chris went crazy. It happens in every life form and everything, so that’s the only thing I can learn from it.”

Steroids were found in Benoit’s home after the tragedy, but authorities rejected claims that “steroid rage” played a role in the murder-suicide.

McMahon found the CTE argument even less convincing.

“This doctor came up with this ridiculous explanation of, ‘Okay, this is why Chris Benoit did this,'” McMahon said. “There was some kind of trauma to his head and there was stuff shown where Chris was diving off the rope and hitting someone in the head.”

As McMahon claims in wrestling jargon, Benoit did not sustain a head injury from jumping off the top rope.

“That’s a complete job,” McMahon said. “It looks like there’s damage, but there’s not. We know what we’re doing, we’re not hurting each other.”

However, in 2009, examinations by Benoit’s family revealed that his brain was so severely damaged that it resembled that of an 85-year-old.

Also in 2009, Benoit’s doctor, Phil Astin, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally providing prescription drugs to patients.