With the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony right around the corner, there’s a lot to be excited about. On top of inductees like Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Michelle McCool, the Natural Disasters, and Lex Luger, WWE is also inducting a match for the first time, and it’s starting with a legendary and game-changing bout.
In March 2025, WWE announced that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Bret “The Hitman” Hart’s epic and bloody five-star classic from WrestleMania 13 would receive the inaugural “WWE Immortal Moment” Award to honor the iconic submission match that forever changed the landscape of wrestling. I, for one, think this is the perfect way to kick off the latest award, and I have plenty of reasons to back it up. Let’s break it down…
Steve Austin And Bret Hart's WrestleMania 13 Match Is Considered One Of The Best Of All Time
If you pull up lists of the best WWE matches of all time, a large portion of them will have Steve Austin and Bret Hart’s WrestleMania 13 submission match at the top. And, there are so many reasons for that. The physicality, the brutality, the way these two bitter rivals crafted and told a story in the ring (though the match did take over the ringside area and went into the capacity crowd at the Rosemont Horizon), is simply unmatched.
One of only four WWE matches that received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer in the 1990s (Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X, Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart at SummerSlam ‘94, The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at In Your House 18: Badd Blood are the other three), this fight had everything you’d want in a marquee bout at the “Showcase of the Immortals,” and then some. Top-notch wrestling, a captivating story, and a whole lot of blood have made this the stuff of legend.
The Brutal Submission Match Led To A Monumental Change For The Wrestling Industry
On its own, the WrestleMania 13 submission match is worthy of receiving the first-ever “Immortal Moment” award, but it’s everything surrounding the March 1997 spectacle that makes it so iconic. Taking place in a grey area between the New Generation and Attitude eras, Stone Cold and the Hitman helped push the company, and industry as a whole, towards a monumental change, one that would bring on perhaps the most successful era in wrestling history.
Vince McMahon wouldn’t drop his epic “Attitude Era” promo until December 1997, but this match laid the groundwork for everything that led to that game-changing moment. The double-turn (Hart was a face going in and left a heel, vice versa for Austin), the rawness, the sense of reality, and the sheer brutality of it all led to WWE presenting its wrestlers in new, and more dynamic, ways.
If King Of The Ring '96 Put Stone Cold On The Map, WrestleMania 13 Made Steve Austin A Top Star
For the past 30 years, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s iconic “Austin 3:16” promo has been seen as a landmark moment that made the “Texas Rattlesnake” one of the most impactful wrestlers of all time. Though it is true that the King of Ring ‘96 promo put Austin on the map, it was WrestleMania 13 that made him a top star in the company and would set the path for him winning his first WWE Championship the following year.
Austin’s all-time great WrestleMania entrance in March 1997, with the broken glass and powerful guitar track, set the tone for everything that would follow, a match that would put him on the “Mount Rushmore of Wrestling.” After 22 minutes of intense fighting and mayhem, Austin never tapped out, but passed out from blood loss, pain, and exhaustion after Hart put him in one final Sharpshooter submission hold. The legend of the “Toughest S.O.B in WWE” was cemented that night.
The Double-Turn Also Led To Bret Hart's All-Time Great Heel Run
Another reason Hart and Austin’s WrestleMania 13 match is so iconic is the fact that it kicked off one of the best and most shocking heel turns in wrestling history. After months of feuding with “Stone Cold,” the “Hitman” didn’t get a whole lot of satisfaction out of the victory after his opponent passed out instead of tapping out, so he took things to the next level. This vicious post-match attack turned Austin into one of the biggest babyfaces in the company and Hart into its most dastardly heel. But, this was just the beginning.
Throughout the summer of 1997, Hart, with his reformed Hart Foundation, became a super heel (except for in his native Canada, of course) and made himself one of the most interesting wrestlers on the planet. Yeah, it would all lead to the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” at that year’s Survivor Series, but that’s a completely different story.
Are There Better WWE Matches? Yeah, But Few Had The Impact Of Austin Vs. Hart
I’m sure a lot of people are wondering why matches like Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III, Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25, or even CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011 didn’t receive the first even “Immortal Moment” award. Each of those classics are considered some of the best examples of WWE’s style of wrestling, each made an impact on the industry, and each is burned in the memories of millions of fans around the world from multiple generations. There’s a case to be made for those, and others like it, but Austin vs. Hart is simply the best and most impactful.
Not to put down other matches on the WrestleMania 13 card, but when people think of the 1997 “Showcase of the Immortals,” this is the first thing that comes to mind, which is crazy because it wasn’t even the main event (that went to the late Sycho Sid defending his WWE Championship against the Undertaker).
All in all, WWE made the right decision by giving “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Bret “Hitman” Hart the inaugural “Immortal Moment” Award. Now it’s time to go back and watch the epic fight with my Peacock subscription before the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony kicks off on Friday, April 18th.
