- I'm like the star quarterback on the high school team,
and then this new kid comes to the school,
he's bald--headed, and he's got an attitude,
and he's a badass.
- I'd like to issue a challenge against one
Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
- What?
- They both had this incredible energy that they were two
completely different characters.
- If you put the letter S in front of Hitman,
you've had my exact opinion of Bret Hart.
- The way this is being presented,
it would really -- me off.
- He had to rise to that occasion.
- We'll see who kicks who's ass.
- If you liked Holyfield and Tyson,
you're going to love this.
- Do I know a whole lot of wrestling holds?
Hell no, I don't, but I'll beat the hell out
of you till you do say, "I quit."
- This is about athleticism, a hell of a fight.
- We're talking about two guys that can make really
small things mean an awful lot.
- Austin will not surrender.
- This guy's going to die on his hope.
he ain't going to give up, he ain't going to give up.
[crowd cheers]
- That's where you make Steve Austin.
- Without Bret, I don't think we got Stone Cold.
[music]
- This rivalry has just escalated into a war.
[crowd cheers]
- When two legends collide, their rivalry stays pinned
in our minds forever.
This is where we break down the legendary stories
behind the greatest rivalries of all time.
I'm Freddie Prinze Jr. and this is WWE Rivals.
[music]
Today we're going to discuss two men at very different points
in their careers and that is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
and Bret "Hitman" Hart.
- What an ovation.
Bret "The Hitman" Hart, he has done it all,
and continues to do it all.
- I feel like Bret Hart at that time was as
pure good guy as it gets.
- Especially, as a Canadian, I mean, Bret Hart is like,
"Let's give him the Walk of Fame.
Let's make this man our Prime Minister," he is it.
You want to talk about the most famous man in the world?
I feel like when you look at, especially, Canadian athletes,
growing up, it was Bret Hart.
- Thank you Bret.
[crowd chanting "We want Bret.
We want Bret."]
- Since he was born, he's been wrestling.
He knows it all, he really, really does.
- He never had a bad match.
I used to watch him every night.
We just watched and marvel about how great a wrestler he was.
- Man, in the mid-'90s, Bret was huge.
I think people liked him because he was almost like an everyman,
he wasn't over-the-top gigantic, but he had
this confident charisma.
He's just a cool guy.
- Unbelievable technical wrestler,
but also add credibility.
- I earned being an Intercontinental Champion,
I earned being a World Wrestling -- Champion.
- Bret Hart was the man.
He was the best guy in the WWE at the time.
- Bret took an enormous amount of pride in his performance,
that was who Bret Hart was.
- I'm the best there is, the best there was,
and the best there ever will be.
- Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
[applause]
- Bret Hart stepped up to be the perfect face of the company.
- I'm sure a pro wrestler such as yourself will appreciate all
the closet space, Hitman.
- In a lot of ways, I was in my prime,
just full of fire, and just wanted
to really prove myself everyday.
- I looked up to the guy, and he was lobbying
for me to come to WWE, way back in the day.
- "Stunning" Steve Austin,
United States Heavyweight Champion.
- I remember watching Steve Austin on TV.
I remember, and he's actually a really good wrestler.
I would like to wrestle that guy but, of course,
he was with WCW.
- I was a very big WWE guy when I was younger,
but I'd watched the old wrestling,
and then I got to see Steve in WCW,
what an incredible in-ring wrestler, he was.
- Picked him up, what's he going to do?
Whoa.
- I was like, "Oh, my goodness,
this guy's just not a good wrestler,
he's a phenomenal wrestler.
I hope he gets more opportunities to show that."
- I actually mentioned it to Vince, I said,
"Why don't you try to get Steve Austin from WCW?"
It was like somebody, maybe Vince or somebody,
he did the call, or it all might have been a coincidence,
but they called him and he showed up.
I remember, he was like, "He's in the dressing room."
I go, "There you are."
- I'm going to prove how good "The Ringmaster" is.
Brought in as "The Ringmaster" they never had any plans
for me to be a star.
This ain't your ring, this is my ring.
Yes, this is my ring.
- "The Ringmaster" was something that just didn't fit.
- It was good for someone who was good, but it wasn't good
for someone who had greatness written all over him.
- I think he started to realize that "The Ringmaster"
wasn't the future for him.
- I've been held back for years and years and years,
and this is a chance of a lifetime, man.
If you think I'm going to drop the ball,
you got another thing coming.
- Oh, that's cold.
- No, man, that's Stone Cold.
- Steve transformed himself within literally
a couple of months to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
- Black boots, black tightd , shaved the head, goatee,
steelyblue eyes and just talking trash.
I thought, "Damn it, this guy's pretty freaking cool."
- You're a piece of garbage.
You don't deserve to be in the same ring with Stone Cold.
- He was the baddest mug around.
He had a certain swagger about him,
he commanded the presence he when walked inside a arena.
- You could just tell he had that magnetism,
and it was a good vibe you were getting.
He was a guy you can easily really hate as a bad guy.
There is nothing going to hold Steve Austin back.
- Steve Austin is on a roll.
Look at the eyes of this guy.
- After I came up with the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin thing,
things started clicking.
You're looking at the next King of the Ring, "Stone Cold".
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was this badass,
walking to the ring.
- Austin is cold, calculating, and very, very focused.
- King of the Ring at the time was an annual WWE tradition,
that was a single elimination tournament.
[bell rings]
[crowd cheers]
It would see one superstar usually a breakout star
have the honor of wearing the crown in the WWE.
- One, two, and he's got him.
[bell rings]
- King of the Ring, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
- Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16,
Austin 3:16 says, "I just whipped your ass."
[crowd cheers]
- The Austin 3:16 promo, that was the shot in the arm.
- A light-switching moment for Steve like,
"Boom, this is the character."
- And that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so.
- Stone Cold had just won King of the Ring and had the famous
Austin 3:16 quote.
- The entire business changed that day in Milwaukee.
When he said that Austin 3:16 line, the next day we come out,
there's Austin 3:16 signs everywhere.
- I mean, the Austin 3:16 shirt was the most popular
shirt in the world.
Overnight, it felt like, as soon they released that shirt,
that shirt just sold out like that.
As a kid during that time period, of course,
you're going to get swept up in the whole excitement.
- Post King of the Ring, Austin's on fire-
- Steve, it's safe to say that Stone Cold is red hot right now.
- -but he's not quite there yet, he needs to get
to the next level, and in order to do that,
he has to wrestle someone who is already at that level.
What does Stone Cold do?
- I'd like to use this chance to issue and challenge against one,
Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
- What?
- He calls out Bret Hart.
- To be man, you got to beat the man.
Bret Hart was the man.
He felt like he wanted to test his will.
He's like, "I feel like I'm the man right now,
and who's been calling themselves, the man,
that's who I'm going for."
[crowd cheers]
- I'm the best there is, I'm the best there was,
and I'm the best there ever will be.
- We're talking about Bret Hart, The Hitman,
one of the greatest legends of all time.
- I know exactly who I'm talking about, son.
[crowd chanting "We want Bret."]
- Yes, we want Bret.
- I took time off after the Ironman match with Shawn.
- I've never seen two more determined individuals.
- Just training and preparing and thinking about whether
or not I want to come back, and I'm sure I will.
I think that somewhere down the line.
All that time is when Steve's transformed from The Ringmaster
and all that to Stone Cold.
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin started calling out Bret Hart
every single chance that he got.
- I spit on the life, the career,
and the family of Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
- As soon as Steve started cutting those promos,
our fans started using their imaginations about just how
good this rivalry could be.
- Let me make myself clear, if you put the letter S
in front of Hitman, you've had my exact opinion of Bret Hart.
On the night I cut that promo on Bret, where I said,
"If you put the letter S in front of Hitman,
you have my exact opinion of Bret Hart."
That was something that I thought of probably
before I went out there.
I didn't buzz it by anybody, because I knew it wasn't going
to fly if I pitched it to Vince.
That was something I came up with,
because it sounded cool, and it worked.
- It resonated because it was so disrespectful, [chuckles]
Because everybody's doing the math in their head.
They go, "You just said a really bad
thing about a really great guy."
- Man, it's pretty cool.
I wish it wasn't saying about Bret.
- Bret, if you ever do come back and I hope you do, son,
somebody's going to get their ass whipped.
You know, Bret, you know that I'm better than you.
- The fact that he was saying all these things about me
the way this is being presented, it would really -- me off.
- Mark my word, if Bret Hart does come back,
I'll kick the hell out of him.
When I said the things that I said, it -- the fans off.
That's what made it, and it became personal.
- No one had gotten that personal with Bret before.
He had to rise to that occasion.
- Bret's been out of the game for a while.
Everyone wants to know if Bret's going to accept this match.
- Please tell us what's in the future
for Bret "The Hitman" Hart?
By the way, welcome back.
- The one thing that's been missing in the World Wrestling
-- for about the last five or six months has been me.
- [laughs]
[crowd cheers]
- No doubt about it.
- Which is why I've decided to accept the challenge,
and in the Survivor Series, I I will face
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
[crowd cheers]
- He's like this brash, up and newcomer, and just like,
"Okay, let me show you who the man is though."
[laughs]
- We'll see who kicks whose ass in Madison Square Garden.
[crowd cheers]
- Everybody, are you ready for the Survivor Series
tonight on pay-per-view?
- My first high profile match was Survivor Series 1996,
Madison Square Garden with Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
Everybody talks about the best there is, the best there was,
all the other crap.
The excellence of execution.
Bret clichés are clichés, and an ass whipping is an ass whipping,
and that's exactly what you're going to get tonight
at the hands of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin,
and that's the bottom line.
I was feeling really good and really confident,
because I had a lot of steam on me.
I was getting over as a heel, and I felt good
about where I was.
- This man, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin could spoil
the comeback attempt of Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
- I do remember thinking, "Oh, no, this is a
genuine threat to Bret."
- It's a real funny feeling comes over you when they
hit that guitar shred, as his music starts,
it'll send chills down your spine and give you goosebumps.
[crowd cheers]
[Bret Hart's music plays]
[crowd cheers]
- "The Hitman" Bret Hart ready to electrify
this capacity crowd.
- I remember sitting in Madison Square Garden
waiting for that match.
Not only was it Bret Hart's return to the WWE,
but it was the biggest match that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
had ever found himself in.
- Stone Cold has an opportunity to make himself a real big name.
- I liked Bret growing up.
I'm going to say "liked".
I liked Bret.
I respected Bret's abilities, but I also respected
Stone Cold's ability.
- I automatically sided with Austin, because already
I was a huge Steve Austin fan.
I was not a Bret Hart fan.
Believe it or not.
- Steve Austin will say anything to you.
You can imagine the worst thing anyone could say to you,
that's probably what Stone Cold is doing to Bret Hart.
- Both had this incredible energy
but they were two completely different characters.
- If you like Holyfield and Tyson,
you're going to love this.
[music]
- It was just one of those classic type wrestling matches,
old school style match, and rip it up.
- Oh-oh, slugfest here developing.
- It takes off.
Whoa.
- I'd taken six months off.
That was a hard thing for me to pull off.
- How much ring rust does Bret Hart possess?
How long will it take for Bret to get in that groove?
- Oh, no.
- Austin, the poiny of the elbow driven into
the throat of Bret Hart.
- Bret had been gone so long, and I was really primed up
because I'd been on the road.
I blew him up in that match, and always something I was proud of.
- I know he blew me up, because I very rarely ever blew up.
He came pretty close.
I was getting a little parched at the end of it,
and that didn't happen very often.
- I can't believe Bret Hart's on his feet.
- You just count on your passion and everything
you've learned to carry you through.
When all else fails, just hit the other guy hard.
- -- was on and Bret had to get on his horse and perform,
and he did, as he always does.
- Look at this, Austin down.
- Both men are fatigued.
Both men are hurt.
This is a war.
- Ends up with me going for my old finish as The Ringmaster,
the Million Dollar Dream.
- Wait a minute, there's the Million Dollar Dream.
- He goes to the turnbuckle, kicks.
Over we go, roll up.
- One, two.
Unbelievable.
- Austin didn't let go of the Million Dollar Dream
and it cost him the victory.
- The Hitman is back.
- Didn't beat me by physicality, he beat me by outsmarting me.
- Look at Austin, he's not taking
his eyes off of Bret Hart.
This rivalry between Bret Hart and Stone Cold is far,
far from over.
- That particular match really elevated Stone Cold.
This puts "Stone Cold" Steve Austin right on the same
level as Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
- That was good for Steve.
I think that gave him some credibility.
- Guys like Bret, myself, and you are now considered
a main player in that, and so it's rewarding in that respect.
- It was a terrific match.
For Steve to get to that next level, he had to have that right
of passage, and walk through hell against some
great champion, and that was Bret Hart.
- I didn't have a foot in either camp.
I was a Bret guy because I love Bret's work,
but I also respected "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
For some reason, when that match happened,
I switched and I went and I was like,
"Mom, do you have a black vest or a gold chain I could put on?"
Because for some reason, something about that match made
me go all in on Stone Cold.
I think that was its purpose in itself was to legitimize
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
- Renee, was this moment from Stone Cold enough to break your
loyalty from the wonderful Bret Hart,
or are you still Bret Hart all day long?
- Listen, I'm not going to say that it broke
my loyalty to Bret Hart.
I love Bret Hart through and through,
but it did pique this interest of like, "Okay."
- At Madison Square Garden, it was the luckiest day
of your life making a comeback.
It was just a fluke that you happened to beat me, son,
because I was every bit better than you and you know it.
Things ain't over between us by a long sight.
- Wait just a minute, there's Steve Austin.
Oh, Austin.
- It seemed like every time I turned around,
I was getting jumped by Steve.
[bell rings]
- It happened. Bret Hart is hurt.
- The tension between Bret and Austin, it felt realistic.
- Look at that, that's low.
[bell rings]
- Bret Hart just got knocked out with that steel chair.
- Physicality just got that much more intense.
- Oh, no, he's got the sharpshooter over there.
[bell rings]
- It was so real, you had to believe it.
- This is going to take us to the Royal Rumble.
- Remember the object, to throw your opponent over the top rope,
and both feet must hit the floor.
- Stone Cold is beating up everybody.
He's clearing the ring.
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is picking them off.
- He sits on the turnbuckle-
- He's basically awaiting for the next individual to come out.
- -checks his watch and says, "Who's next?"
- He wants a place on the top rope.
Listen to his watch.
- I'm waiting.
I'm letting you know I'm waiting.
[crowd cheers]
[Bret Hart's music plays]
- Uh Oh.
Yes.
- You have that priceless facial expression.
- Steve was throwing everybody out of the Rumble,
and then I came in.
- One of the most priceless reactions that any wrestler has
ever had in the Royal Rumble.
Others have tried since then.
None have matched this moment.
- Now, it's serious because he's relatively had an easy time up
until that point, and now when he hears the music,
he knows he's in trouble.
- Well, this is hell, fire and brimstone
when these two get together.
- The 1997 Royal Rumble heating up.
Six competitors in the ring.
- The only way to get eliminated from a Royal Rumble match
is to get thrown over the top rope,
and have your feet touch the floor.
- Austin's been eliminated.
- During the match, Bret Hart eliminated Steve Austin,
but the referee didn't see it happen.
- Now, the referee didn't see it.
- Steve being the ultimate rule-breaker,
snuck back in the ring.
- Now it's over.
Oh, no.
No.
- While the referee was looking, he threw Bret Hart
over the top rope.
This was the first instance of Bret Hart starting
to feel cheated.
- I've been screwed by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
The Rumble really did turn that up a dial, and really cranked up
the heat between me and Steve.
- Uh-oh.
Bret Hart and Austin are going to get it on here.
What a brawl.
It's a fistfight in the aisleway.
You better get some security from the locker room.
- You want people to believe.
We made people believe.
- Look at Austin and Bret Hart fighting again.
- Every time you turned around, Stone Cold was right there
doing something.
- Wait a minute.
Now, Steve Austin.
Steve Austin has absolutely become obsessed with Bret Hart.
- I wish Bret was the one attacking Steve, [chuckles]
but it was such an exciting TV.
- The tensions between me and Steve were built up masterfully.
- They're trying to separate these guys.
- Bret Hart went through this period,
where no matter what he did, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
was right there on top of him, antagonizing him,
interfering in his matches.
- Austin's got a chair.
Oh, Austin-- Bret Hart got hit by a chair.
My God.
- The more it happened, Bret Hart started vocalizing
the fact that he felt he was being cheated.
- I'm sorry that I'm crying, but I think I've about had it
up to here with the lack of justice.
- The cool thing about this is I find a lot of people say,
"I was here and it brought me over to here."
All of a sudden, Bret Hart isn't saying
the hero character things.
He's starting to say things that make him sound entitled.
- Frustrated isn't a -- word for it.
This is --.
- He kind of started -- and moaning
a little bit in his promos.
All you want to do anytime you go in the ring
is cry like a baby.
- Bret Hart did uncharacteristically
become a whiner.
As much as we love Bret, no one loves a whiner.
- Everybody in that -- dressing room knows
that I'm the best there is, the best there was,
and the best there ever will be.
If you don't like it, tough --.
- Steve's a bad guy that's becoming such a cool badass
bad guy, that people are actually starting to like him,
and I've become this hero that's been on the shelf too long.
- Steve Austin goes out there in a black pair of trunks
and a black pair of boots, and gets the job done.
- I think the young fans, especially, got into that
anti-establishment mode, and there was nobody more
anti-establishment than "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
- No one can tell me that I can't be here.
Here I come full head of steam talking all that trash,
because I was so entertaining, people wanted to like me.
- Bret was still very much playing the hero,
but horrible things he was saying to the traditional hero
were really starting to catch on.
- Bret Hart on his best day can't lace my boots,
and I'm going to prove that to the world.
- Everybody picked up on it, and it did made it
that much more interesting.
- Ever since you came back, you ain't done nothing but cry.
[crowd cheers]
- I had a pretty good long run, and it's started to show that
they're getting tired of me being the hero.
You feel like a draft in the room.
What do you want?
Get the hell out of here.
Get that -- thing out of here.
I said get out of here.
[music]
- At my house in San Antonio about two weeks
before WrestleMania 13, I'm watching Raw,
and I know that the main event is Undertaker versus
Sid Vicious, and then I hear and in a submission match.
- Bret Hart, who will be in a submission match,
ladies and gentlemen, one-on-one with
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania.
- I'm like, "That's news to me.
Nobody told me the submission match."
I'm not a submission wrestler, so I was hot.
As far as a submission match, it's a bunch of bull.
- A submission match, there's no pinfalls.
Like Steve said, he didn't have any submission holds,
and I had the Sharpshooter, but that's about it.
- Nobody gets out of the Sharpshooter.
- I thought is a big obstacle to having a great match,
not an opportunity to have a great match.
He won't be able to scream loud enough the words,
"I give" in a submission match.
Little did I know that this was going to be
one of the greatest f matches of all time.
- There ain't nobody in wrestling who can make me quit,
and that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so.
- He's lost it.
Look at him.
- Oh, he just hit Hall of Famer Pat Paterson.
- In the build-up to WrestleMania,
we are simultaneously losing a little bit of our affection
for Bret "The Hitman" Hart-
- Bret Hart is trying to choke the life out of
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
- -while we are gaining admiration
for what Steve Austin is doing.
- This build starts to get a little out of control on the way
to WrestleMania, and just to make sure
that things are going to be done correctly,
they bring in the ultimate referee.
- My guest at this time is known in the Ultimate Fighting world
as the Most Dangerous Man in the World.
Please welcome to the squared circle, Ken Shamrock.
[crowd cheers]
- Shamrock is the closest thing to a pure warrior
that I've ever seen, the world has ever seen.
- The Submission Match, you will be the special referee
for that matchup.
- Oh.
- I am going to be a fair referee.
Whether Bret Hart likes it, or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
likes it, it doesn't really matter.
- Being who he was and how he refereed,
he was a big part of that match.
He really was.
I just hope that he calls it down the middle,
and I just hope he gets nice and close, so he can hear those
magic words, "I quit."
- I was happy to be wrestling Bret, but I was very surprised
that they named it a submission match.
I thought we were going to stink the joint out because
of the type of match it was.
You're almost setting yourself up for failure.
[music]
- The only question that remains is will the number 13
be lucky or unlucky for "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
tonight the submission match.
- You can damn well bet it's going to be an
unlucky number for Bret Hart.
Let me just say this, a submission match
is not my kind of match.
Do I know a whole lot of wrestling holds?
Hell no, I don't, but I'll beat the hell out of you
till you do say, "I quit."
- to think the key to the Steve Austin match was,
I had a lot of school fights in my life,
where I had to fight somebody after school.
A lot of times, it's just like pro wrestling.
It gets promoted all day.
- Do not miss out on the pay-per-view extravaganza
of the year, WrestleMania 13.
- I'm like the star quarterback on the high school team,
and then this new kid comes to the school.
He's bald head, and he's got an attitude.
He's a badass and it's like, you can just see this,
it's going to happen.
These two guys are going to crash.
I remember talking to Steve.
I said, "This is like a school fight."
- Welcome, everyone to WrestleMania 13.
Welcome to a jam-packed sold-out Rosemont Horizon in Chicago.
- Very fortunate to be working in my favorite building and the
work of all time, Rosemount Horizon.
The reason I say that with all due respect to
Madison Square Garden, is because of the wood ceiling.
In Rosemount, the acoustics are so good.
When you do something, you elicit a response,
and the way that acoustically shoots that response
down to you, you hear it.
You step on the gas, you're making decisions
based on that crowd.
- You talk about in-your-face, that is who
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is, and getting quite a positive
response from this capacity crowd.
A mixed reaction to a man who unquestionably has a legacy
here in the World Wrestling --.
As of late, that legacy has somewhat taken a turn.
- Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin spent months
building this story that culminated in a submission match
at WrestleMania with Ken Shamrock
making his first major WWE appearance as the referee.
- Steve Austin, is 6'2", 252, said,
"There's not a human being walking the face of the earth
that can make him say, 'I quit'."
I think I believe it.
- Look out. Here we go.
- Here we go.
[bell rings]
- As soon as Bret and I started going, I'm tuned into the crowd,
and so we've got them hooked right from the get-go.
- You can't be counted out.
You cannot be disqualified.
You've got to quit to end the match.
- We took them on a ride.
We brawled up.
- Oh, they're up in the stands with some 18,197 fans watching.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh my goodness.
They don't care where they take this thing.
- You're talking about two guys that could make really small
things mean an awful lot.
- These two men are battering each other.
[crowd cheers]
- If you're ever studying to be a wrestler, this is a match
you should check out, it is like a perfect match.
- Bret Hart is spinning months and months of frustration
on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
- We've all seen thousands of matches.
You only remember things that are really bad,
and the things that are really something special.
- Oh, there you go.
The "Stone Cold" stunner.
- Remember, pinfalls don't count.
- You can sense that something extraordinary is taking place.
- Whoa.
- Listen to this capacity crowd.
Austin won't give up.
- WrestleMania 13, it was like the fans started to change.
All of a sudden something Bret Hart would do, he'd get booed.
- Bret Hart now ripping that hamstring.
- And Stone Cold, he's getting cheered.
- Oh.
Austin said he was going to beat the hell out of Bret Hart,
and that's what he's doing right now with the help of some steel.
- I remember the monitors backstage being packed.
You were drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
- This is about athleticism a hell of a fight
between two great athletes.
- We're all just looking around, wondering amongst each other,
"How in the world is this thing going to end?"
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin coming outside
now with Bret Hart, here we go.
- The reason this match resonated the way it did was,
because I was damn good at what I was doing.
Bret was excellent at what he was doing,
and the chemistry just worked.
When we got there, we just have a conversation.
- This is about eleven o'clock in the morning on the day of,
wandered out to the ring and it's like, I remember sitting
on the apron of the ring going, "What are we doing?"
- Bret says to me, "You need to be bleeding."
I said, "You think?"
He goes, "Yes, you do."
- Austin's has been busted open.
Well, he is bleeding profusely.
- In '97, WWE was attempting to go no blood.
- I come up, the crowd sees how bad I'm bleeding,
and they just "Ooh", they lean in, right?
- Oh, he's busted bad.
- It just jumped off the screen because you were not seeing
it week-to-week on TV at all.
- Right on the injured knee, Bret Hart now is like l
an animal out of control.
- Steve absorbed an incredible amount of punishment,
but that was part of the Stone Cold character
take a licking, keep on ticking.
- Steve Austin is one tough SOB.
- There's a certain magic that comes out from two guys
that are just professionals.
I was trying so hard for Steve and myself
to do something incredible.
[crowd cheers]
- Bret Hart just rang of this bell.
- Bret finally gets me in his submission hold,
the Sharpshooter.
- He's almost got him.
- Sharpshooter.
He's got it on.
- When I put it on Steve and cranked it in,
it's like everyone knows that's the end.
Nobody ever gets out.
- This is Bret Hart's move.
- Who would blame Stone Cold if he gave up here?
- "Stone cold" Steve Austin, the blood pouring down his face.
He's screaming in pain.
[crowd cheers]
- The blood pours from that forehead of Stone Cold.
- Ken Shamrock asking him, s doe he give up?
- Steve, do you give up?
- No.
- Continues to resist the pain.
People are standing.
Can you imagine the pain that's rushing through Austin's body?
- I grounded my hands into the mat, and as I pushed up
and was straining, blood just started flowing out of my head,
and it ran down my cheek bin etween my teeth.
- Austin, trying to get one more rush of adrenaline.
- It's not a pretty sight.
- I'm thinking to myself, "God dang, this feels good."
- Come on, Austin, come on, come on, come on, and he was
just like, "Aah", he's just like blood crimson mess.
It's-- Oh, man.
- He's doing the impossible.
- Nobody has ever done this.
Nobody's ever broken the Sharpshooter.
- He did it.
He did it.
He just did it.
- Austin broke the Sharpshooter.
- Tipped me over, and I remember I tipped over
and I could feel the crowd just pop.
Like they just like, that's what they wanted.
They wanted him to win, and I could feel it.
I remember I'd push myself back up,
and I'd break their hearts when I put him back in the hold.
- Austin will not surrender.
He will not submit.
- That's where you make Steve Austin.
[crowd cheers]
- How in the hell, Austin is not giving up,
I can't understand.
- Do you give up?
- This guy's going to die in this hold,
but he ain't going to give up.
He ain't going to give up.
- Ken Shamrock stopping it.
Stopping it right now, that's it.
[bell rings]
- They rang the bell.
He passed out.
The guy never said, "I quit."
- Austin never gave up, but he passed out with the pain.
- He didn't quit, he didn't submit.
That gets you respect.
- Passing out from a submission hold, covered in blood.
- That moment and that finish is one of the most iconic images
maybe in wrestling.
- Oh, yes.
To be in that Sharpshooter, the blood pouring down his face.
That was just such an iconic moment.
- Austin arcing up, and the blood is on his tooth.
- The blood goes on his teeth.
- That's the moment where you can tell right there--
- The blood drop , on the teeth yes.
- We're yelling, the blood's on the teeth.
He's got his blue eyes.
It's just-- It's a perfect moment.
- It's a beautiful struggle of a guy fighting with all he's got.
- One of the most iconic pictures in the history
of professional wrestling.
- There is just something about that image
that has stood the test of time.
It symbolizes everything Steve was about.
You can beat him, but you can't stop him.
- What that did for me, the fact that, hey, man,
Stone Cold's this bad --, but he won't give up.
He might be a piece of -- and I don't like him,
but he won't give up.
They knew that I would go through thick and thin
through anything, and never ever give up,
and that's what the blood said at the end of that match.
- I have never seen a display of intestinal fortitude like we saw
with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
- That's what touches your heart.
When you see someone fight that hard and give
so much of himself.
Steve would've been a big star irregardless of that match,
but at the same time, that match was just so iconic
right from the moment it happened.
Such a beautiful, violent story,
and I think it was for sure the best match of my career.
- Wait a minute, what's Bret doing?
Come on, Bret, enough is enough.
[bell rings]
- Bret Hart then tries to go after Austin again.
- Ken Shamrock just took down The Hitman.
- I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, this is interesting.
Let's see where this might go."
- Ken Shamrock, stopping it, stopping it right now,
that's it.
[bell rings]
- This finish shows how tough and amazing Stone Cold is,
so Bret goes crazy and starts beating up the man who passed
out from the Sharpshooter, to the point where
Ken Shamrock has to break it up.
- Whoa, Ken Shamrock just took down The Hitman.
- You have this crazy face-off with Ken Shamrock from the UFC,
and are they going fight?
- Yes, come on, Hitman, let's see how tough you're now.
That moment was a turning point, a major turning point
in Bret Hart's career.
- Listen to this chorus of boos directed at Bret Hart.
- He just turned and walked away like a coward.
Oh, my goodness.
- Amazing storytelling to think of how when I walked out
to the ring, and I'm the hero, then I beat the crap
out of this guy, and leave him a bloody mess in the ring.
- These fans are livid at the absence of Bret Hart.
- I'm walking back to the dress room and you can see everyone
is giving me the finger.
It's like everybody was turning on me.
All I did was give this guy what he had coming.
It's kind of like, if people feel sorry
for the shark in Jaws.
- That point, Bret was just seen like such a bastard.
Like just, he kicks the guy while he's down.
- He's going to walk out of here on his own.
Man's man, I'll tell you that, whether you like him or not.
- Austin as the hero was well still getting up and walking
out of the ring.
I think that was like a really pivotal moment.
- Yes, that's true.
- He wasn't going to let anyone help him.
- No one could help him.
- The fans are focused on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
I'm getting the tingles in the scalp,
which tells me it was effective 25 years later.
It still makes my head tingle,
because you got to appreciate this guy, he's a warrior.
He is one of the best to ever do it.
[crowd chanting "Austin"]
- Because of the way the psychology of the match flowed,
I went in as the bad guy.
He went in as a good guy, by the time it was over,
he came out the bad guy.
I came out somewhat the good guy.
That is a double turn.
That is one of the hardest things to ever do
in the business of sports entertainment.
That night it was pulled off at perfection at WrestleMania 13.
- To take one guy, who's this Canadian hero,
and this total anti-hero and switch them,
make one a babyface and make one a heel.
It shows you how good these two guys were, and we were sitting
in the back watching this thing going,
"Man, this is Shakespeare at its finest."
- It was a piece of art.
If you talk about great WrestleMania matches
through the years, to me, I feel like Hogan and Andre,
Shawn and Taker, and then I think there's
Bret and Steve at WrestleMania 13.
- It goes back to what I keep saying is that,
it was like a school fight.
I remember at a particular school fight,
where there was one kid that was like a babyface and another kid
that was like a heel.
I remember the guy that was the babyface
end up winning the fight.
I remember in that fight going to school the next day
and talking to friends and stuff.
Everybody was on the bad guy's side.
Everybody liked the bad guy for losing and the good guy, the guy
that won, everybody stayed away from him,
and shunned him a little bit.
When I actually take that lousy stinking hyena,
"Stone Cold" Steven Austin beat him to a bloody pulp,
you somehow find it in your hearts to abandon me
and cheer for him.
I remember just thinking like, "Wow, it's so much similar the
psychology of it, was just amazing to see it play out."
All you American wrestling fans coast-to-coast,
you don't respect me.
Well, the fact is, I don't respect you.
- For Bret, it allowed him go into some territory
he hadn't been in, in a while.
Allowed him to be a bad guy.
- One of these days, I'm going to look down at your grave,
and it's going to say, "Here lies Bret "The Hitman" Hart,
that biggest piece of crap that
ever walked the face of the earth."
- For Steve Austin, it's like,
"All right, the sky is the limit."
- The Austin Era has begun.
Stone Cold's eight-year journey has been culminated
with WWE gold.
- Bret, as his foe really served as the person who allowed fans
to take Steve Austin to be just as good as he was.
- I thought it was sexy the other way.
[laughs]
- It's always nice to hear that.
We're actually pretty good friends, and we've always
been good friends.
- He's a good guy.
Hands down, I love him.
- I've had Steve text me and go,
"I'm watching our match WrestleMania 13 right now."
- Neither individual, I don't believe will ever
be the same after this match.
- I don't know how many times I've dug out that tape and
that match, and put it on, and I always walked out
of the room like I was the king of the world.
- Bret's one of the best I've ever worked with,
and the biggest thing with Bret and I,
is we always trusted each other.
It was a bond and a brotherhood.
From the bottom of the heart, I want to thank you
for everything that you've done for me and my career,
and I've always looked up to you, admired your work,
and it was always a pleasure to be in the ring with you.
- If you like Holyfield and Tyson,
you're going to love this.
- It was two of the greatest stars of their era at their very
best, bringing out the best in each other.
- This is a war.
- We were very compatible, went together like two plugs.
It was perfect.
- We brought out the best in each other
and it was reality based.
If you put the letter S in front of Hitman,
you've had my exact opinion of Bret Hart.
- Man, the fans were so into this rivalry.
They loved Bret Hart at the time.
They hated Stone Cold at the time,
and it lasted so long that it even switched over
[chuckles] at the end.
- I don't think anyone else around that time period
could have made Steve the way Bret did.
- Renee, did Steve pull you over to the dark side
when this story was over?
- Hell, yes, he did.
[laughter]
- Steve would've always been a a big star here
regardless of what happened with me.
But I'd like to think that I held the--
Opened the door for him.
- He was of paramount importance to my career.
Without Bret, I don't think you got Stone Cold.
Propose a toast to the best there is,
the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
Thank you for coming down to The Broken Skull Sessions,
and that's the bottom line, because Stone Cold said so.
Cheers.
- Cheers.