Why one of Stone Cold's matches at WrestleMania changed his career
Many would agree that Stone Cold Steve Austin was the face of WWE’s Attitude Era due to his demeanor in and outside the ring. He was one of the many WWE Superstars who were integral to the popularity of the company and the pro-wrestling scene at the time.
His Stone Cold Stunner was a crowd-pleaser as it created a massive pop from the fans and usually marked the end of a match. With the hundreds of in-ring battles he fought throughout his career, some stood out. One of them was his match against fellow legend Bret 'The Hitman' Hart at WrestleMania 13.
Bret Hart was already one of the promotion's biggest superstars at the time and was billed as one of the babyfaces in WWE. As for Stone Cold, his star was about to shoot straight to the top. Austin was billed as a heel during the feud, though fans were already rooting for him.
Here's how this match changed his career:
Bret Hart becoming the bad guy
Before their clash, Hart was seen complaining a lot about what transpired during his matches, and this didn’t go down well with the fans.
A case in point was his elimination at the 1997 Royal Rumble and his loss to Psycho Sid for the then-WWF Championship that same year. Both have the workings of Austin.
An instant classic
Bret Hart and Steve Austin went to war on this day in 1997.
A double turn that changed the course of WWE and one of the most iconic matches ever.
Austin: “It was the greatest match of my career." https://t.co/pbtn5xqkP7
Come WrestleMania 13, the two superstars engaged in an epic no-disqualification submission match as they threw everything at each other. The Hitman set his sights on Stone Cold’s leg. Hart performed an Irish whip on Austin into the steel barricade, leading to the latter getting that iconic red mask.
Austin got a second wind and launched a barrage of attacks on Hart. In the end, however, The Hitman caught him in a Sharpshooter. Stone Cold didn’t submit. Instead, he passed out, which resulted in guest referee Ken Shamrock stopping the match and giving Hart the win.
However, The Hitman didn’t stop there. He continued to attack the motionless Austin, which got him a ton of boos from fans. If it hadn't been for Shamrock taking him down, he wouldn’t have stopped the onslaught on Austin.
Not only did the fans witness a five-star match, but it also saw the two superstars undergo a double-turn, which pundits have deemed to have been executed to perfection.
Stone Cold Steve Austin looking back at his WrestleMania 13 match
Years later, both of them spoke about their ‘Mania match. For Stone Cold, it was a match that helped his career take off, and he owed part of it to Hart.
Speaking with Chris Jericho on his Talk is Jericho podcast, Austin touched on the topic of him donning that crimson mask at the tail end of the match. He would reveal how they (Hart and Austin) would execute it since, according to Stone Cold, there was no color policy in effect at the time.
True enough, the graphic sight of Austin with blood trickling down to his teeth complemented the world of pain he was enduring at the time. This is one of the reasons fans rooted for him. In line with this, it has become one of the most infamous images in WWE’s history.