Why Bret Hart Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin Transformed The Wrestling Business

Ranking wrestling matches is a subjective game, with debate rightfully wide open on the greatest of all time. In WWE alone, there are several regular contenders for the crown, with iconic battles between Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker, CM Punk and John Cena and other legendary contests scoring highly.

Hart/Austin is held in equal regard, but stands far above its contemporaries in how incredibly vital it was to the future of the entire company, and the industry at large. The stage the above icons worked on was rebuilt by 'The Rattlesnake' and 'The Hitman'.

Though showing glimmers of a turnaround, WWE was still trapped in a downward spiral of dismal television ratings and stagnant buyrates at the start of 1997, especially in comparison to a rampant WCW that continued to reap the benefits of their transcendent nWo storyline less than a year removed from Hulk Hogan's historic heel turn.

Then Bret Hart and Steve Austin had this match.

It took time to translate the bout into the wider tonal shift Vince McMahon desperately needed to embrace, but every commercial or creative pivot from that point on can be traced back to WrestleMania 13. It's patient zero of the Austin formula, of the specific tensions that drew out the conflict in the first place and the ones subsequently enacted in the match. It's the go-to angle from an era plunged into chaos that ended up producing solid gold. It rebuilt rock solid foundations from relative rubble.

WWE shouldn't have blown their monopoly. But this match is responsible for them ever having one.