One WWE Match You MUST Watch From Every Year 1984-2024

28. 1996 - Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs Bret Hart, Survivor Series

Dean Ambrose Bray Wyatt
WWE.com

There are some that consider Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin's Survivor Series match superior to their WrestleMania 13 showdown several months later, and while that's up for hearty debate, what's not is the frankly incredible quality of their first pay-per-view showdown.

Hart's only been gone half a year but he intentionally works this like an old warhorse to put across the full threat of the man he labelled the very best wrestler in the company ahead of return. 

King Of The Ring got Austin 3:16 over, but it didn't do much for Stone Cold himself until 'The Excellence Of Execution' came back to work, and this match was a celebration of their soon-to-be-iconic chemistry and the legitimately unstoppable nature of 'The Rattlesnake's rise. 

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett