“Stone Cold” Steve Austin had an illustrious career filled with legendary rivalries and entertaining matches. Austin’s rivalry with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is very fondly remembered by all. Their rivalry made WWF(now WWE) globally famous. The Attitude Era was defined by their rivalry. They were 1A and 1B at that time, and fans were crazily behind them both. Stone Cold, though, never thought the Rock was the toughest wrestler to work with.
Austin bestowed that honor on Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Austin and Bret had a legendary rivalry between 1996-97. It made Steve Austin popular and Hart got to explore more sides to his character. It was a feud that made Austin “Stone Cold”
Without Bret Hart, there is no Stone Cold
Stone Cold never spares any praise for Bret Hart. Hart was one of the greatest and was the perfect candidate to get Austin over. Stone Cold has never won a match against Hart, yet the latter sold him like a threat. This was especially seen in the Wrestlemania 13 submission match between them.
Austin was equal to Hart in every possible way and didn’t give up leading to a double turn. Stone Cold credits “The Hitman” every single time for the WWE career he had. During the 2006 Hall of Fame ceremony, he praised Hart’s toughness. He said,
Bret is the toughest SOB to ever lace up boots in this business. I tell him all the time that I can never pay him back for what he did for me. Bret Hart put me on the map. He made Stone Cold Steve Austin. I had to do a lot myself, obviously, but that’s how important Bret Hart was to my career.
Hart was going to put over Steve Austin originally at Wrestlemania 14 but left the company after he received a lucrative offer from WCW. WWE didn’t match the offer and instead, did something more controversial.
The Austin Bret story remained incomplete without a finale. Despite that, Bret Hart put Austin on the map and made him the hottest thing in wrestling at that time.
Stone Cold reacts to his match getting inducted into the Hall of Fame
Stone Cold Steve Austin was recently asked about the induction of his WrestleMania 13 match against Bret “Hitman” Hart into the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame.
As revealed on Friday Night SmackDown (March 28), the epic submission match between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin from WrestleMania 13 in 1997 will be the first “Immortal Moment” that WWE inducts into the Hall of Fame.
Speaking at a recent signing with American Icon Autographs, Austin was asked if the induction means anything to him, to which he said:
Yes and no. I mean, it was a hell of a match and we knew it at the time, I think it was good that it was in Chicago because Chicago is kind of a stronghold for me, but it would’ve worked anywhere with the fact that it happened with Bret The Hitman Hart. There’s a couple behind-the-scenes stories that I don’t want to talk about but it was a hell of a match and it’s cool for people to still remember it damn near 30 years later.
Stone Cold continued,
Yeah, it means something to me because if it wasn’t for the fans, I wouldn’t be sitting here. So, the fact that match is relevant and it’s going into 2025 Hall Of Fame for matches and it’s the first match to be inducted, cool.
In addition to Triple H, Michelle McCool, Lex Luger, and The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon), Austin and Hart’s match is part of this year’s Hall of Fame class, which will be presented on Friday, April 18, from the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It has been revealed that Austin and Hart will attend the Hall of Fame ceremony. The Texas Rattlesnake will also be at WWE World in Las Vegas during the weekend of WrestleMania 41.
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