100 Greatest WWE Matches Of All Time (Ranked)
57. Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (Survivor Series 1996)
Austin 3:16 says you must watch this match too.
Countless fans rightly gush with praise for the pair's more famous WrestleMania 13 brawl. WWE even inducted that into the Hall Of Fame shortly before WrestleMania 41, but Steve Austin and Bret Hart also worked wonders inside Madison Square Garden around five months before achieving immortality in Chicago. Their Survivor Series 1996 match was one of the best ever.
Number one contendership for the WWF Title was up for grabs between these heated rivals. They were perfect for one another. Hart was a technical wizard who was beginning to show some harder/meaner edges as he motored towards an unthinkable heel turn, and Austin hadn't slowed in-ring due to a piledriver gone wrong at SummerSlam 1997 just yet.
He was more like his old WCW self here, but was also experimenting with more of an emerging kick and punch style (“WWF main event style”) than before. 'Stone Cold' was still using Ted DiBiase's old 'Million Dollar Dream' submission finish too, and that'd come back to haunt him as Bret lifted from his WrestleMania VIII bout vs. Roddy Piper for the dreamy conclusion.
No-one who had enjoyed both matches gave a hoot about that. The quality was far too high to be splitting hairs and moaning about copycat finishes. Besides, it had been four years or so since 1992's genius spot with Piper, so Hart could get away with a repeat by '96.
Warm yourself up for another 'Mania 13 revisit by seeing two masters of their craft produce a slow-burner that threatened to get nasty. World class work.