Top 3 Reasons Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin Changed Wrestling Forever

WrestleMania 13 is remembered as one of WWF's weaker shows overall. But one match on that card — a bloody, no-disqualification Submission match between Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin — is credited with reshaping the entire wrestling industry.

On March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon outside Chicago, Hart and Austin fought in a match so violent and so perfectly told that it's still studied nearly three decades later. Here are three reasons why it holds that reputation.

1. It Was Built on Real, Accumulated Bad Blood

This wasn't a rivalry manufactured for a single pay-per-view. Austin spent months taunting a hiatus-bound Hart in 1996, hoping to provoke a match. When Hart returned that October, he beat Austin cleanly at Survivor Series. The two then became the final two competitors in the 1997 Royal Rumble, where a controversial, uncalled elimination allowed Austin to outlast Hart and win outright. Weeks later, Austin cost Hart the WWF Championship by blindsiding him with a steel chair mid-match. By the time WrestleMania arrived, the two had real, layered reasons to want to hurt each other — and it showed in every exchange.

2. The Match Delivered Genuine Violence, Not Just Storyline Drama

Austin blindsided Hart before the bell even rang, sending both men brawling into the crowd and trading blows with whatever objects were within reach. Once the fight reached the ring, Hart targeted Austin's leg with methodical precision, then whipped him face-first into the steel barricade, busting him open and leaving him bleeding for the rest of the match. Austin fought back through the blood, at one point wrestling a chair away from Hart and turning it against him. When Hart finally locked in the Sharpshooter, Austin refused to tap out — he passed out from the pain and blood loss instead, forcing special guest referee Ken Shamrock to end the match.

3. Its Ending Flipped the Wrestling Landscape Overnight — and Still Gets Recognized Today

After Shamrock awarded Hart the win, Hart kept attacking the unconscious Austin — and the Chicago crowd, which had backed Hart all night, turned on him in real time and started cheering for Austin instead. It's now regarded as one of the cleanest "double turns" in wrestling history: Hart left the arena a villain to a chorus of boos, while Austin, after nailing a defiant Stunner on a referee trying to help him, limped backstage to a hero's ovation. That single crowd reaction is widely credited with launching WWF's grittier, more rebellious Attitude Era.

The praise has only grown with time. IGN ranked it #1 on its list of the Top 20 Matches in WrestleMania History, and Complex Sports later called it the single greatest match in the event's history. Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave it a five-star rating — a mark no other WrestleMania match would match for 26 years, until WrestleMania 39 in 2023. Bret Hart has called it his favorite match of his career, describing it as "a real masterpiece." In 2025, WWE made it the very first match inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame under its newly created "Immortal Moment" award.

WrestleMania 13's undercard, not its main event, is where wrestling history was actually made. Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin didn't just steal the show — they helped reshape the entire industry that followed it.