If we asked you “Who is Stone Cold Steve Austin’s greatest rival,” you’d say “Vince McMahon.” But if we repeated the question, specifying “Who is Stone Cold Steve Austin’s greatest in-ring rival,” you’d say “The Rock.” And you’re not necessarily wrong to say The Rock -- after all, their feud contained so many classic moments -- but what if Austin’s best rival is actually Bret “The Hitman” Hart? It may sound like sacrilege, but it might also be true.
With that in mind, we’re going to go ahead and make a strong case for the always-kind-of-underrated Bret Hart, but also acknowledge everything that made The Rock and Austin’s feud so irresistible.
10 Bret Hart: Their Feud Kickstarted the Attitude Era
WrestleMania 13 effectively marks the beginning of the Attitude Era thanks to the infamous double-turn in the Austin/Hart no-DQ submission match, where Hart not only wins, but continues to beat Austin senseless, turning him into a sympathetic hero and solidifying himself as a heel.
It’s a brutal, classic match that serves as a passing of the torch from the face of the New Generation Era to the face of the Attitude Era. Austin’s promo on Jake Roberts created a catchphrase, but his feud with Bret Hart created a superstar.
9 The Rock: Their Feud Defined the Attitude Era
On the December 15, 1997 episode of Raw is War, Austin -- after relinquishing his Intercontinental Championship to The Rock -- stole the belt back and threw it into a river. It was the first of many iconic moments of the Attitude Era, many of which involve Austin and the Rock.
We can’t forget Austin driving a beer truck to the ring and dousing Rock and The Corporation with brew or the Rock’s countless cartoonish sales of the Stone Cold Stunner, either. Rock and Austin were the standouts of the Attitude Era, and so their interactions proved to be the most memorable.
8 Bret Hart: Their Wrestling Styles Were Different
Steve Austin is a great wrestler, but he’s not what you’d call a technical wizard. He’s more about punching dudes, stomping dudes, and doing neckbreakers. Even in his WCW days, “Stunning” Steve Austin’s big finisher involved hurling guys at the ropes neck-first.
His two-fisted brawling style is completely at odds with Bret Hart’s submission-based mat game, which is what made their matches so exciting, especially with moments like Austin surprising everyone by using Hart’s own Sharpshooter against him in their WrestleMania 13 submission match.
7 The Rock: Their Wrestling Styles Were Similar
As far as their wrestling styles go, Rock and Austin generally fought alike. Both are strike-based wrestlers, but the big difference was that the Rock wiggled various parts of his body when he did his strikes while Austin peppered his moves with middle fingers.
It’s a great way to illustrate the differences in their personalities. You have the show-offy guy versus the more straightforward brawler, and the ensuing matches with all their rapid punch exchanges, huge lariats, and elbow drops perfectly fit commentator Jim Ross’ go-to description of hard-hitting matches being “slobberknockers.”
6 Bret Hart: Kind of a Square
He might have proclaimed himself “the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be,” but Bret Hart is one of the least cool wrestling stars there is, was, or ever will be. “The Hitman” was a sweet moniker, but Bret Hart is also just this straight-laced Canadian guy who gives goofy plastic visors to kids on his way to the ring.
Next to Hart, Austin was off-the-charts cool -- an edgy hellraiser who didn’t respect anything except beer and middle fingers. Once that guy set his sights on Bret Hart, the Hitman didn’t stand a chance of keeping the crowds on his side.
5 The Rock: Endless Charisma
Let’s be honest: The Rock is a serviceable wrestler, but nobody loved him for his wrestling abilities. We loved him for his boundless charisma, which would go on to make him one of the most likeable Hollywood action stars of the 21st Century.
In the Attitude Era, he was a great babyface and an even better heel, so much that his self-absorbed condescension made him the most hateable wrestler on the WWF roster. Pointing someone like The Rock towards a white-hot star-like Stone Cold Steve Austin is a perfect formula for a classic rivalry.
4 Bret Hart: A Personality Clash
As a submission specialist born from the grueling training of the Hart Family Dungeon, Bret Hart embodies virtues like professionalism, talent, and hard work.
Hart is basically Frank Grimes from The Simpsons, someone who’s had to toil to get to where he is today, and Austin is his Homer Simpson, except instead of being an incompetent oaf who’s failed upwards, Austin is a violent maniac who’s -- worst of all -- disrespectful. In other words, Stone Cold Steve Austin is the perfect foil for a straight-laced guy like Bret “The Hitman” Hart.
3 The Rock: A Different Kind of Personality Clash
Steve Austin and the Rock are both aggressive dudes with huge personalities, but in fundamentally different ways that made them great rivals. Of course a redneck brawler like Austin wouldn’t cotton to a narcissist like the Rock, who refers to himself in the third person and wears hideous nightclub shirts.
When The Rock joined The Corporation, he became a perfect enemy for Austin -- he already wanted to beat up the Rock, but now that he was aligned with Austin’s other foe, Vince McMahon, he really, really wanted to beat up the Rock.
2 Bret Hart: It Fed into the Austin/McMahon Feud
Aside from giving us some great matches between two of the greatest wrestlers of the ‘90s, the Hart/Austin feud perfectly set up Stone Cold’s feud with the boss of the WWF, Vince McMahon. The double-turn at WrestleMania 13 established Stone Cold as the top babyface in the company.
His rebellious nature then caused him to run afoul of McMahon, who strove to make Austin’s life difficult instead of flat-out firing his company’s biggest moneymaker. That dynamic turned out to be so influential WWE still attempts to replicate it today, and it wouldn’t have happened had Bret Hart not pummelled a bloody and barely conscious Steve Austin in 1997.
1 The Rock: Their Feud Ended the Attitude Era
Many consider 2001’s WrestleMania X-Seven one of the best ‘Manias in WWE history, but it also works as a nice end-point for the Attitude Era. The main event was Austin versus The Rock in a no-DQ match for the WWF Championship.
Not only was it a great match, but the finish was legitimately shocking. Vince McMahon helped Austin put away the Rock and then shaking hands with the man who’d been a thorn in McMahon’s side for nearly four years. If the Attitude Era was born with Austin’s face turn, then its end would logically be his heel turn.