WWE: 5 best Survivor Series matches of all time

3. Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin – 1996

Everyone holds Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Submission Match from WrestleMania 13 in high regard. Some may argue for it being one of the best match in not only Mania history, but wrestling history. However, we cannot forget that months before they tore the house down on the Grandest Stage of Them All, these two future Hall of Famers collided for the first time at Survivor Series in a clinic of a match-up. It was their first onscreen PPV match to speak of.

The story was, essentially, Stone Cold (after just winning the King of the Ring tournament) had been tearing through the WWE roster and racking up wins left and right. However, ever since WrestleMania 12, Bret Hart had been away on business. Stone Cold continued challenging Hart and calling him out on the mic with the belief that his “Best There Is, Best There Was, Best There Ever Will Be” moniker, belonged to him instead. Upon his return, Hart finally accepted a match.

Their Survivor Series match was interesting because while it was a mostly technical match that suited Hart the best, Austin as a character (despite being a technical wizard himself at the time, as far as in-ring ability) was clearly trying to turn this into a brawl, which suited the Stone Cold character best. This match planted early seeds for their classic Mania bout whilst just being all around fantastic.