Austins Lawyer gets stabbed by Ex

[Joe Kerr]

George Vrabeck is one terrific "defense" attorney. He'll go to the mat for you and -- even put his life on the line. Just ask wrestling superstar "Stone Cold" Steve Austin!

When actress Tess Broussard allegedly used a steak knife to try to make mincemeat of Austin at a Beverly Hills restaurant, Vrabeck stepped in and took the hit, say sources.

BLOODY BRAWL

The lawyer was stabbed in the forearm. As blood poured from the ugly gash, Austin's bodyguard handcuffed a screaming Tess to a railing.

Cops busted the beastly beauty and charged her with assault with a deadly weapon.

The August 4 showdown -- call it LegalMania -- is weirder than any wrestling event.

Austin, affectionately known to fans as "The Rattlesnake," says he was about to hand over a check for $1.5 million dollars to his ex-girlfriend Tess to "drop all claims and get out of his life" when she suddenly went berserk.

Even MORE bizarre, the 38- year-old model and actress claims the whole thing was a set-up -- that dutiful lawyer Vrabeck stabbed himself on his boss' orders just to make her look bad. (WHO scripts this stuff??!!)

Here's the blow by blow as Austin's camp sees it:

The 39-year-old grappler, his bodyguard and Tess met with lawyer Vrabeck, who was dining at Il Fornaio, says an insider.

"As they were about to give the $1.5 million check to her, Tess said to Steve: 'Why are we breaking up? We're having such a nice time!'

"Steve and Vrabeck both told her this is how it had to be. Tess then leaned across the table, grabbed George's steak knife and tried to stab Stone Cold with it.

"As she plunged the knife, the table, food, dishes and cutlery went flying, and Steve's loyal defender put up his arm to fend off the attack on Steve, while pushing him out of the way.

"When the lawyer fell to the ground on top of Steve, he didn't know he'd been stabbed. "Steve told him, 'Man, look at your arm! You're gushing blood!'

"Austin's bodyguard hauled off Tess and handcuffed her to a railing on the restaurant patio. Steve says he saw the knife in her hand."

Tess insists the lawyer stabbed himself "in the fleshy part of his arm where it wouldn't do too much damage," according to a pal.

But Vrabeck was treated at a hospital, and Austin's spokesman Allan Mayer scoffed that Tess' version is "just absurd."

Pws.com