10 Most Important Matches In The History Of WWE
5. Bret Hart Vs. Steve Austin - WrestleMania 13
Stone Cold Steve Austin, contrary to the simplistic, shorthand myth, did not become the next big thing in the immediate aftermath of this - arguably the greatest match ever witnessed on North American soil.
Bret Hart infamously entered the match as a face and emerged from it as a heel, with Austin's alignment shifting in parallel. It was an ambitious objective, and that it was met so successfully speaks to the preternatural talent of both men.
Austin wasn't an overnight sensation. The most incendiary angles (Mike Tyson pull-apart brawl) and rivalries (McMahon) of the decade propelled him into the mainstream consciousness. But it's impossible to imagine that his face turn, and subsequent trajectory as the most lucrative wrestling act since Hulk Hogan, would have resonated as it did without that indelible, heroic image of blood pouring from his forehead, trapped in but refusing to submit to Bret Hart's Sharpshooter, on that revolutionary night in Rosemont.
The content was as crucial to WWE as the result; the story was among the most absorbing and effective ever told, but the style in which it was fought - a crazed and bloody arena-wide brawl - revolutionised the in-ring language of the company and drafted the blueprints for the Attitude Era.