40 Years Of Fascinating WWE WrestleMania Facts (Part 2)
8. WrestleMania 13: Best Of All Time, Worst Of All Time
No, that's not a cruel takedown of the disparity in quality between the two advertised big singles matches on the WrestleMania card, though one could be forgiven that Sycho Sid's alleged mid-match accidental defecation was a dirty protest having had to live through the stinker he was having with The Undertaker.
The WWE Championship match wasn't much to write home about at all, but mostly because it didn't stand a chance of living up to the standard set by Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart. Entire articles about that match exist, and it took a number of years for its influence to truly be felt. Especially in its immediate aftermath, because the fewest people in WrestleMania history paid to watch it live.
It's a (correct, but) subjective take that Austin Vs Bret was the best WWE match ever, but an objective one to confirm that WrestleMania 13 drew the lowest buyrate in the history of the show.
Just 237,000 households bought the event, down from previous record-holder 290,000 the year earlier. But those 237,000 saw Steve Austin become a made man, continued to watch, told their friends, who told their friends, and nothing was the same again. WrestleMania XIV pulled 730,000 buys, reflecting the biggest jump in numbers between shows since WrestleMania V shattered numbers in 1989.
WWE was about to get Hulk Hogan/Randy Savage big all over again, and by 1998, new Hulk Hogan Stone Cold Steve Austin had his Macho Man waiting in the wings...