Today marks the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania 13, and therefore the 25th anniversary of the iconic submission match between “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

Remembered by many as the greatest Wrestlemania match of all-time, and the greatest double-turn of all-time, I’m curious: do you still feel that way? Do you agree or disagree with these sentiments?

A lot of wrestling has happened between now and then, so I’m wondering if any of your opinions have changed since watching that incredible match for the first time, whether you watched it live or revisited it.

Still one of the coolest moments ever and it blows my mind it's been 25 years. Like fuck man, I'm old.

Have ignored too many WrestleManias since then to know if it's still the best, but it's so good. Two wrestlers perfect for each other, two gimmicks perfect for each other, and everything about that match executed to perfection. Even something dumb, like Shamrock as the ref, really could have messed things up a little to a lot, and he was great in the role! It's fucking magic. Pulling off the ending like they did was nothing short of magic. Such an underrated tragedy that Bret was gone before another WrestleMania and they couldn't do it again on that (growing) stage.

Between this, Halloween Havoc, HIAC... 97 was a great year.

Mar 23, 2022 20:28:35 GMT RT said:

Remembered by many as the greatest Wrestlemania match of all-time, and the greatest double-turn of all-time, I’m curious: do you still feel that way? Do you agree or disagree with these sentiments?

Yeah, for the same reasons as Kilgore. Also, this...

Mar 23, 2022 20:36:52 GMT KING KID said:

Still one of the coolest moments ever and it blows my mind it's been 25 years. Like fuck man, I'm old

It's case as the greatest Wrestlemania match of all time has grown even stronger with me over time. It's the perfect example of two guys having the crowd bend to their will due to the storytelling aspect of that match. It's like watching an alien world compared to today's product.

I’m pretty much on the same page as all of you. While a handful of Mania matches have come close in the past 25 years, I don’t think any of them have surpassed it. Taker and Shawn came close a couple times. The Wrestlemania 20 main event did too. Even complete non-factor matches like Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins had their moment, but still couldn’t come close.

And I won’t even get started on the double turn. I can’t even think of another good double turn, let alone one that surpassed it.

I’ll admit, it has fallen down my “greatest of all-time” match list slightly thanks to NJPW basically being insane from 2014-2019, and AEW has given us a few bangers, but it might still be hanging on to my top 10. It’s just perfect from start to finish. Doesn’t drag, doesn’t waste a single second, just perfect.

It’s like when you go to your favourite steak house. You know the medium rare steak dinner is going to fucking rock. Sure, the linguini is good too. So is the chicken caesar. But you still order that steak dinner every time because you can’t miss.

One of my favorite matches of all time

My WrestleMania WatchThru project illustrated that this match stood head and shoulders above anything from inception through at least WMXX.

Definitely the best Mania match. If I was listing my greatest NA matches of all time, this would still be #1. Survivor Series 1996 would be pretty high too. ROTT is high quality, as is the RAW street fight/angle. While their number of matches is far less than some other rivalries, I'd have no problem calling it the best in-ring US feud, especially when you can add in the Canadian Stampede 10-man.

Like Kilgore said, it's a shame we didn't get a conclusion at Mania XIV with Austin finally getting his win over Bret. Although Austin/Tyson was the correct call to make Austin's coronation as big as it could be and douchebag DX HBK was better suited to that deal. Although now I'm thinking about a pure sports build based around the hatred and intensity of the rivalry. "Last year, the World's Most Dangerous Man was required to keep order between them and this year, we have The Baddest Man on the Planet". Bret teasing the pile-driver throughout. Tyson as guest enforcer stops the Hart Foundation from interfering towards the end.

The only slight criticism I could even make of the Mania 13 match itself, which I will immediately counter, is that it feels like they should have worked the SS finish into it. Austin gets Bret in the Million $ Dream, Bret kicks off the ropes but there are no pins here and you have the drama that can unfold from that. That would be a legitimate gripe if the goal of the match was different. But they were putting the exclamation point on the face/heel switch, so you don't want to put Bret in a position to get sympathy like that. And they were almost retconning it as if Austin didn't know any submission holds and would just pummel Bret into quitting instead, as he was becoming the ultimate badass.

You could argue it had the negative effect of influencing the Attitude Era main event trend of extended crowd brawling, but that was probably more so Owen Hart's fault for destroying Austin's neck.

This match was the start of the attitude era in my eyes.

Apr 18, 2022 12:16:36 GMT Strobe said:

Like Kilgore said, it's a shame we didn't get a conclusion at Mania XIV with Austin finally getting his win over Bret. Although Austin/Tyson was the correct call to make Austin's coronation as big as it could be and douchebag DX HBK was better suited to that deal. Although now I'm thinking about a pure sports build based around the hatred and intensity of the rivalry. "Last year, the World's Most Dangerous Man was required to keep order between them and this year, we have The Baddest Man on the Planet". Bret teasing the pile-driver throughout. Tyson as guest enforcer stops the Hart Foundation from interfering towards the end.

That's exactly right. It's the easiest fix to slot Bret into the Shawn spot AND keep Tyson. Vince playing a moralist disgusted by Austin's language and code of conduct can slot him into an alliance with Bret still doing a holier than thou gimmick. Tyson is just a merc taking Vince money, and is a natural antagonist to Austin, anyway. The Two Baddest Men are always going to be sizing each other up, wanting the other to know who is the baddest. It actually makes more sense than DX as the preferred alternative to Austin, DX who are arguably even more in the gutter. St. Bret is the best man for this role. Austin finally goes over Bret, Tyson punches Vince, WWF never looks back.