With the 2025 WWE Corridor of Fame ceremony proper across the nook, there’s loads to be enthusiastic about. On prime of inductees like Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Michelle McCool, the Pure Disasters, and Lex Luger, WWE can be inducting a match for the primary time, and it’s beginning with a legendary and game-changing bout.
In March 2025, WWE introduced that “Stone Chilly” Steve Austin and Bret “The Hitman” Hart’s epic and bloody five-star traditional from WrestleMania 13 would obtain the inaugural “WWE Immortal Second” Award to honor the long-lasting submission match that eternally modified the panorama of wrestling. I, for one, assume that is the right strategy to kick off the newest award, and I’ve loads of causes to again it up. Let’s break it down…
Steve Austin And Bret Hart’s WrestleMania 13 Match Is Thought-about One Of The Greatest Of All Time
In case you pull up lists of the perfect WWE matches of all time, a big portion of them can have Steve Austin and Bret Hart’s WrestleMania 13 submission match on the prime. And, there are such a lot of causes for that. The physicality, the brutality, the best way these two bitter rivals crafted and informed a narrative within the ring (although the match did take over the ringside space and went into the capability crowd on the Rosemont Horizon), is just unmatched.
One among solely 4 WWE matches that obtained a five-star ranking from Dave Meltzer within the Nineteen Nineties (Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X, Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart at SummerSlam ‘94, The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at In Your Home 18: Badd Blood are the opposite three), this battle had all the things you’d need in a marquee bout on the “Showcase of the Immortals,” after which some. High-notch wrestling, a fascinating story, and an entire lot of blood have made this the stuff of legend.
The Brutal Submission Match Led To A Monumental Change For The Wrestling Trade
By itself, the WrestleMania 13 submission match is worthy of receiving the first-ever “Immortal Second” award, however it’s all the things surrounding the March 1997 spectacle that makes it so iconic. Happening in a gray space between the New Technology and Angle eras, Stone Chilly and the Hitman helped push the corporate, and trade as an entire, in the direction of a monumental change, one that will convey on maybe probably the most profitable period in wrestling historical past.
Vince McMahon wouldn’t drop his epic “Angle Period” promo till December 1997, however this match laid the groundwork for all the things that led to that game-changing second. The double-turn (Hart was a face getting in and left a heel, vice versa for Austin), the rawness, the sense of actuality, and the sheer brutality of all of it led to WWE presenting its wrestlers in new, and extra dynamic, methods.
If King Of The Ring ’96 Put Stone Chilly On The Map, WrestleMania 13 Made Steve Austin A High Star
For the previous 30 years, “Stone Chilly” Steve Austin’s iconic “Austin 3:16” promo has been seen as a landmark second that made the “Texas Rattlesnake” probably the most impactful wrestlers of all time. Although it’s true that the King of Ring ‘96 promo put Austin on the map, it was WrestleMania 13 that made him a prime star within the firm and would set the trail for him successful his first WWE Championship the next yr.
Austin’s all-time nice WrestleMania entrance in March 1997, with the damaged glass and highly effective guitar observe, set the tone for all the things that will comply with, a match that will put him on the “Mount Rushmore of Wrestling.” After 22 minutes of intense preventing and mayhem, Austin by no means tapped out, however handed out from blood loss, ache, and exhaustion after Hart put him in a single last Sharpshooter submission maintain. The legend of the “Hardest S.O.B in WWE” was cemented that night time.
The Double-Flip Additionally Led To Bret Hart’s All-Time Nice Heel Run
Another excuse Hart and Austin’s WrestleMania 13 match is so iconic is the truth that it kicked off probably the greatest and most surprising heel turns in wrestling historical past. After months of feuding with “Stone Chilly,” the “Hitman” didn’t get an entire lot of satisfaction out of the victory after his opponent handed out as a substitute of tapping out, so he took issues to the following degree. This vicious post-match assault turned Austin into one of many greatest babyfaces within the firm and Hart into its most dastardly heel. However, this was just the start.
All through the summer time of 1997, Hart, along with his reformed Hart Basis, grew to become a brilliant heel (aside from in his native Canada, after all) and made himself probably the most attention-grabbing wrestlers on the planet. Yeah, it will all result in the notorious “Montreal Screwjob” at that yr’s Survivor Collection, however that’s a totally totally different story.
Are There Higher WWE Matches? Yeah, However Few Had The Impression Of Austin Vs. Hart
I’m positive lots of people are questioning why matches like Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III, Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25, and even CM Punk vs. John Cena at Cash within the Financial institution 2011 didn’t obtain the primary even “Immortal Second” award. Every of these classics are thought of a number of the finest examples of WWE’s fashion of wrestling, every made an impression on the trade, and every is burned within the reminiscences of tens of millions of followers all over the world from a number of generations. There’s a case to be made for these, and others prefer it, however Austin vs. Hart is just the perfect and most impactful.
To not put down different matches on the WrestleMania 13 card, however when folks consider the 1997 “Showcase of the Immortals,” that is the very first thing that involves thoughts, which is loopy as a result of it wasn’t even the primary occasion (that went to the late Sycho Sid defending his WWE Championship towards the Undertaker).
All in all, WWE made the precise resolution by giving “Stone Chilly” Steve Austin and Bret “Hitman” Hart the inaugural “Immortal Second” Award. Now it’s time to return and watch the epic battle with my Peacock subscription earlier than the 2025 WWE Corridor of Fame ceremony kicks off on Friday, April 18th.