It had been some 12 months separating Steve Austin's fluke wins against Yokozuna and Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1996 and 1997 respectively. The 1:52 battle with the sumo star hadn't even made the show proper in comparison to Austin's near-20 minute semi main event the following year, but his incredible progress up the card wasn't even reflective of the vast ground he'd covered en route to certain coronation at 1998's WrestleMania 14.
A long way from his legendary "Austin 3:16" King Of The Ring acceptance speech, 'The Rattlesnake' stealing one from the oversized Yoko after his weight pulled the top rope down on a Banzai Drop attempt wasn't exactly a glorious summer follow-through. Fortunately, his Winter/Spring series with Bret Hart became arguably the most important series in company history. Their WrestleMania 13 encounter inarguably the most important match.
A famous double turn on the night was the product of months of careful tinkering of both men, and the summer selection of wild brawls between Austin and the revived Hart Foundation stable spoke to WWE's vast overhaul in quality. It was important something did - ticket sales and pay-per-views were unremarkable whilst WCW still hammered them in the weekly ratings war. Austin's trajectory required patience and inch perfect planning to pull off.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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
