WWE Survivor Series: Ranking the 10 Greatest Matches

2) Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (1996)

There were no straps of gold on the line between these two men, except the opportunity to have a future shot for the WWE Championship. This was a young Austin who was still building on top of the infamous “Austin 3:16” promo about five months ago and this was going to be one of Stone Cold’s earliest tests.

On the other side of the squared circle, there was Bret Hart who was returning from a long break from the ring and had heard enough of Austin’s disrespect – vowing that by the end of the match, Austin would respect Hart. The match itself on paper could have been strange when having a brawler and a technician trying to mesh, but this was one of those moments where the two were able to work together so well.

In fact, there are many people who believe it was better than the memorable “crimson mask” match back at WrestleMania XIII. As the match progressed, we started to see that Hart was having to move away from the babyface tactics to beat someone like Austin and while he was successful, the two would meet again several times.

There have been comments where we were seeing the continued rise of Austin’s stardom and this was one of the feuds where he would continue to build on the momentum that led to him becoming one of the biggest names in the WWE’s Attitude Era after earning his spot against the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

Next: No. 1