10 Times WWE Totally Changed Its In-Ring Style
5. Bret Hart Vs. Steve Austin - WrestleMania 13
The most intimidating match ever to write about, for fear of disrespecting its profound brilliance and influence, Bret Hart and Steve Austin changed everything in March 1997 - even if it took some time before its gravity informed the events to come.
On a purely stylistic level, the structure and stipulation inspired much of the Attitude Era and the eras that followed. The scorching early brawling sequences (worked with incredible inspiration) put over the animosity at the heart of the rivalry, literally confronting the crowd with the decision they would soon have to make. This device was plundered by virtually every limited hardcore wrestler two years later. The pronounced submission element was a departure for the WWF, but Hart, a genius, orchestrated a molten crowd response without leaning on the pavlovian near-fall.
On a story level, the detail and artistry remains unsurpassed. Hart was so incredible at gradually turning - the imperceptible viciousness, the uncanny knack of revealing opportunism to be something that bit more sinister - that he and an equal Austin, with perhaps the greatest sell-job ever, told the impossible story.
Oddly, WWE rarely embraced its most powerful and effective choice - to book Austin to lose cleanly in show of unreal guts - instead opting in later years to contrive losses to the point of grotesque parody.