9 Highest-Rated WWE WrestleMania Matches According To Dave Meltzer’s Star System

If the ladder match was the making of Shawn and Razor, then this match launched an entire era as ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin emerged as the earliest incarnation of the character who would become the most popular and significant that WWE has ever seen.

And he did so in defeat! Never before or since has a wrestler gained so much from a single loss. Austin, face covered in blood, refused to tap to Bret Hart’s sharpshooter, instead passing out from the pain to give ‘The Hitman’ victory. But it was Austin who was the real winner, as he transformed WWE’s fortunes against WCW through the Monday Night Wars and eventually led the company past the one which Bret would leave for later that year.

The double-turn was a creative triumph, so perfectly pitched and enacted. Austin entered the match as the good-for-nothing heel, and left as a symbol of blue-collar hope. Bret came in as the clean-cut babyface and departed as the bitter veteran, cowardly attacking Austin after the bell, and retreating from a fight with Special Guest Referee Ken Shamrock.

Shamrock’s inclusion straight out of UFC added to the legitimacy of this contest, where the hatred felt so genuine that the submission stipulation, while not too imaginative on paper, ended up being the only fitting way to decide what felt like it was a fight to the death.

The match has been showered with accolades, including a 5-star rating from Meltzer. It has been 21 long years since WrestleMania had a 5-star match and we might have to wait just as long again before anything can equal what Bret and Austin conjured on this night.