The 34 best WrestleMania matches ever

#1: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (WrestleMania 13)

WrestleMania 13 is usually regarded as one of the worst. Despite that, it boasted this match. It's one of only six WWF/E matches to get five stars on Dave Meltzer's infamous rating scale. But the real reason why this makes the top of the list, and will never be topped, is because it was unequivocally the most important match in WWF/E history.

The WWF was reeling in 1997. With its nWo storyline, the greatest in wrestling history, spurring it on, WCW was crushing its competitor in the ratings war. It had been nearly nine months since Raw topped Nitro.

It would be a year before it would do so again. The man responsible for the turning of the tide a year later, which would ultimately save the WWF and drive its antagonist out of business, was catapulted to superstardom on the back of this match. WWE's global dominance can be traced back directly to it.

Following his "Austin 3:16" promo and King of the Ring victory, Stone Cold began taunting Bret Hart. The contrast between the upstanding Hart and the foul-mouthed Austin couldn't be clearer.

Austin would go on to cost Hart the WWF Championship and a Royal Rumble victory. To make it all even worse for the Hitman, he found that the crowd was slowly taking a liking to Austin, admiring his attitude.

Here was a man who appealed to the fantasies of the masses - he did what he wanted, when he wanted. It made him veer toward the dark side, as Hart decided that he needed to destroy Austin by whatever means necessary.

The match being a submission match was the perfect stipulation to follow this buildup. How could either of these men bear to submit to the other?

Before the bell even rang, Austin took Hart down, and within seconds the action spilled outside and into the stands. This wasn't a match. It was a war between two men that hated each other. Austin throwing a drink onto Hart was a fantastic statement of that fact.

Eventually, the action got back into the ring, and there, Hart took control. He methodically worked over Austin's knees, softening them up for the Sharpshooter. Ken Shamrock, the guest referee, asked Austin early on if he wanted to quit.

He got two middle fingers in response. A Figure Four on the ringpost followed, with Austin flailing in agony but refusing to quit, and the crowd went nuts.

That was the story told throughout. When Austin got in offense, it was usually only between long stints of Hart's offense. Even a Stunner didn't do much to keep the Hitman down, so determined was he to force his enemy to submit.

This would normally be a bit of bad selling, but it actually wound up adding to the story of this match. Even the camera work sublimely sold the brutal, personal nature of it, as we saw shots of a little girl covering her face, unwilling to watch the violence unfold, and Stu Hart in disbelief at what he was seeing.

The crowd slowly, but steadily, favored Austin, especially as he locked in his first submission hold. Hart soon got back into the match, taking it outside and busting Austin open on the guard railing.

We saw droplets of blood leaking all over the blue safety mat, and Hart continued his assault, attempting to open the gash up that much more and receiving audible boos in response. Chair shots to the knee followed hot on the heels of the action returning to the ring, but Austin escaped from an attempted Sharpshooter, showing one last sudden burst of offense, bleeding and stumbling though he was.

This last burst was stopped by Hart via a ringbell shot to Austin's head while the latter attempted to choke him out with a cable. Then came the Sharpshooter again. Austin refused to submit. Blood gushed out all over the canvas as he nearly passed out.

With the crowd chanting his name, he made one last valiant attempt to stay in the match, almost breaking out of the hold, and the crowd got even louder. His attempt was unsuccessful. He passed out in pain, and to cement the seismic shift that had just occurred,

Bret Hart assaulted Austin even after the match was over. The crowd popped for Shamrock breaking the Hitman's rampage up far more than for Hart in his victory, and the once-beloved figure was booed out of the building on his way back to the locker room. Hart even flipped a fan off, and received some middle fingers in return!

Austin, meanwhile, hobbled to the back with the fans chanting his name. The double turn was complete. Thus ended the greatest episode not only in WrestleMania history but all of WWE history. Nothing would ever be the same again.

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