Steve Austin and Bret Hart’s WrestleMania 13 match looked personal, but its power came from professional trust—not a documented private feud. They respected one another, faced a difficult submission-only format, and built a finish in which Hart won while Austin refused to tap. The crowd’s reaction helped turn Hart toward the villain role and Austin toward the hero.
What happened at WrestleMania 13?
At WrestleMania 13 on March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois, Hart defeated Austin in a no-disqualification submission match. Ken Shamrock served as special guest referee. WWE’s event archive describes Austin’s effort as gutsy despite the loss and frames him as an unlikely hero.
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The match’s significance lies in the gap between its official result and its emotional effect. Hart was the winner, but Austin’s refusal to submit made him the figure many fans sympathized with. The bout helped shift the audience’s perception of both wrestlers.
Were Austin and Hart really feuding?
The available accounts from the wrestlers point to mutual respect and trust, not a genuine personal feud. Austin later said, “We had 100 percent trust in each other, and 100 percent respect for each other,” in a WWE interview. Hart likewise praised their work together, saying in another WWE interview that their WrestleMania match and other work together were “as good as it gets.”
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Hart recalled that he had advocated for Austin before Austin joined WWF, and that Austin was one of the few people he told about the planned role reversal. Hart wanted to help Austin succeed. Those recollections make the match’s intensity less a story of personal animosity than one of performers coordinating a story they trusted each other to deliver.
Why was the rematch not their first choice?
Both men had reservations about the pairing at first. In a retrospective Sports Illustrated interview, Hart said he initially wanted to face Shawn Michaels again, while Austin wanted to work with someone new. Hart later described the WrestleMania story as initially “ice cold,” even though he and Austin had enjoyed working together before.
That creative reluctance is not evidence that the two disliked each other. It reflects the difference between a match-up a wrestler initially wants and the working relationship that can develop once the performers find the story. Their earlier Survivor Series match gave them shared history to build on, and Hart later credited their chemistry with helping them through the planning challenges.
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Why did the submission-only stipulation make the match hard to plan?
A standard wrestling match can build suspense through pin attempts and kick-outs. A submission-only match removes that familiar rhythm: there is no pinfall to interrupt a hold, so the performers must find other ways to create escalation and keep the audience invested.
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Hart recalled that the pair ran short of ideas while mapping it out: “The funniest thing about that match, and it will probably surprise people, is that we ran out of ideas when we tried to map out the match,” he told Sports Illustrated. In a separate account, he said their chemistry helped them trust the work. Shamrock’s presence also lent the bout a more credible combat-sports feel, according to Hart’s recollection in The Ringer.
Why did Austin pass out instead of tapping out?
Hart locked Austin in the Sharpshooter. Austin did not submit; he passed out under the hold, allowing Hart to win without making Austin surrender. The finish answered the central storytelling problem: Hart could get the official victory, while Austin’s refusal to tap preserved his defiance.
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That distinction mattered to the audience. Austin later recalled fans chanting his name and called the bout pivotal to his career in a WWE interview. The finish made the loss feel like proof of Austin’s toughness rather than a simple defeat.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How did the match change their roles?
The crowd’s sympathy tilted toward Austin, while Hart’s conduct increasingly placed him in the villain role. That shift is often described as a double turn: the match’s emotional alignment changed even though the result did not. Hart won the match, but Austin emerged as the audience’s hero.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchFor Austin, the match helped establish the connection with fans that would become central to his career. His later comment to Sports Illustrated—“If it wasn’t for Bret Hart, I don’t know that I would be having this interview right now”—captures how strongly he credited Hart’s role in that turning point.
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Where can you watch the match?
WWE announced in January 2026 that Netflix became the U.S. home for its library of Premium Live Events held before September 2025, including WrestleMania. The announcement is specific to the United States; check Netflix’s current listing for the exact event and regional availability. See WWE’s distribution announcement.
WWE’s 2005 announcement for WrestleMania: The Complete Anthology also lists the Austin–Hart submission match among the set’s contents: WWE’s anthology announcement. That confirms inclusion in the historical DVD set, not present-day retail availability.
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