10 Wrestlers Who Got Over By Losing
4. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Imagine if this version of Vince McMahon was tasked with booking the finish to the legendary WrestleMania 13 match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart.
Jesus H. Christ.
He wouldn't have booked a stipulation that demanded a decisive finish, for starters. Or he'd have just paid no mind to it, à la Hell In A Cell 2019. Austin would have rolled Hart up and left the ring suddenly. Or, alternatively, to "protect" Austin, Hart would have up and disqualified himself. Or perhaps Stu Hart would have distracted Austin, leading Austin to wear night vision goggles and beat him up the next night on RAW. Which seems awesome, actually. F*ck. Never mind.
Mercifully, thin pretexts with which to make a joke didn't exist in 1997, because the WWF was great then - so great that they got Steve Austin over as a prospective megastar by doing a job clean in the middle. He'd been dismantled strategically - the stipulation was genius, because there was no great shame losing in his opponent's domain - but Hart had f*cked him, too, by betraying his code as a sportsman.
Austin tasted his own blood, pain shooting through his joints, as he roared in anguish. Pro wrestling has never felt as real as it did in that climactic minute.
This finish gave the WWF so much to work with. Austin was made as the defiant, toughest babyface. Hart won, and embarked on the best character run of his career. He was the next WWF Champion, after the Undertaker, but Austin was the next top star.
That's what happens when any of this means anything.