1. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret The Hitman Hart WrestleMania 13
There isnt a single losing effort on this list that can hold a candle to Stone Cold Steve Austins performance in his Submission Match with Bret The Hitman Hart at WrestleMania 13. Its untouchable. That night in Rosemont, Austin and Bret beat one another from pillar to post as the attitude of the WWF fan-base was changing. The trash-talking, bird-flipping, Texas Redneck was starting to receive cheers from crowds everywhere. On the flip side, the morally sound Bret Hart was being called a crybaby for justifiably complaining about having been screwed out of the WWF Championship on several occasions. Late in the contest, Bret whipped Austin into the guardrail, busting him wide open. Austins bald head was squirting blood down the stretch and his strength was fading. After attempting to choke Bret with a cable, The Hitman resourcefully grabbed the nearby ring bell to crack Austin in the dome. That shot gave Bret the opening he needed to slap on the Sharpshooter. Austin, however, refused to give up, almost breaking the hold in the process. When Bret regained control, the blood loss had become too much and Austin passed out on the spot. He refused to quit. Fans loved him for it. That moment set the wheels in motion for the next several years where the Attitude Era would dominate the sports entertainment landscape. All it took was an unforgettable losing effort at WrestleMania to ignite the fire.
Eric Delgado has been writing about professional wrestling for five years and has been involved in the professional wrestling business as a performer for ten. He is also the former host of Steel Cage Radio and has an irrational love for The Ryback.
