The Undertaker takes on "Sycho" Sid Vicious in a No Disqualification Match with the WWE Championship up for grabs. Bret "Hitman" Hart faces Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Submission Match with special guest referee Ken Shamrock. Mankind and Big Van Vader challenge Owen Hart & The British Bulldog for the WWE World Tag Team Championship. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley takes on Goldust and more!
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Wrestlemania 13 was a bit of a mess heading in. WWE Champion Shawn Michaels had been injured in February and forced to forfeit the title only days after winning it from Sycho Sid at the Royal Rumble. Bret Hart had then won a four man battle royal, last eliminating the Undertaker, to win the vacant title at In Your House 13: The Final Four in February. One day later he lost that title to Sycho Sid after Steve Austin knocked Hart out. The Undertaker was then installed as No.1 contender as he'd been the last man eliminated in the Battle Royal, while Hart would get his chance for revenge on Austin in a submission match. There was another chance for Hart though, six days before the event as he faced Sid for the WWE Title in a steel cage match. If hart won, he would defend the title in a submission match against Stone Cold, while if Sid won, he would face the Undertaker (who he'd already meant on RAW several times) for the title. Austin tried to aid Hart, Undertaker tried to aid Sid, and Sid won.And so, after a ridiculously complicated build up in which the title had changed hands three times in two weeks and had been defended 5 times in a month, Wrestlemania 13, an unprecedented, and given the build unsurprising, financial disaster for the WWE. Though it wasn't all that bad a show and did include, IMO, the greatest match ever to happen in the WWE.The night started off with a fourway elimination tag team match with the winner to be named No.1 contender for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The Headbangers (Thrasher and Mosh) won an overly long and not overly good match. Their opponents, in order of elimination, were The New Blackjacks (Bradshaw and Barry Windham:Windham was DQ'd for attacking the ref) Phil Lafon and Doug Furnas (Furnas was counted out), and The Godwinns (Phineas and Henry: Phineas was pinned after a senton cannonball from Thrasher).The match saw Rocky Maivia (later known as The Rock) make his first ever Wrestlemania appearance defeating the Sultan (later Rikishi) to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Rocky not really a great worker at this stage, passable match.Next saw the continuation of the rivalry between Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Goldust, with Helmsley getting the pin after his body guard Chyna, distracted Goldust by attacking his wife Marlena at ring side. The rivalry had been going on since the Royal Rumble. Ignore some of the myths, Triple H was going nowhere fast until he joined DX.Next match was the best one of the show so far as Own Hart and British Bulldog put their WWE Tag Team Titles on the line against Mankind and Vader. What you'd expect with a lot of brawling, the good guys Owen and Bulldog were able to retain their belts despite cheating from the villains, their rule breaking coming to nothing following a double count out.The next match was arguably the very best ever to happen in a WWE ring as Bret Hart kicked Steve Austin's ass all over the arena in a fantastic submission match. Hart turns heel inside the actual match, while Steve Austin was cemented as the hottest star in the company. The match was officiated by UFC star Ken Shamrock, who challenged Hart to a fight after he beat into an already unconscious Austin. Shamrock was not a bad wrestler, but never really reached great heights in the WWE through a two year run, eventually ending up back in the octagon.Next up saw the returning Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) teaming up with Ahmed Johnson against the Nation of Domination (Farooq, Crush and Savio Vega) to get a victory in a junk match. LOD, who were a great tag team in the NWA and had a mildly successful run with the WWE in the early 1990s, were well past their prime by this point. Hawk passed away a few years later.Brings us to our main event, which was six days in the making! Undertaker capitalised on interference from recently turned bad guy Bret Hart, to hit Sid with a tombstone and win the WWE Championship. This was not a very good match, but was hardly the train wreck some claimed, just a standard match with a muddled build.So somehow Sycho Sid got himself on the list of people who've been in the Main Event match at multiple Wrestlemania matches (He had wrestled Hogan in a retirement match at WM8). Steve Austin had fully arrived as a megastar, Bret Hart had gone to the dark side, and the Chicago crowd had seen one of the greatest matches of all time. Not a great PPV, certainly lacking in atmosphere, but hardly worthy of some of the criticism it's received as being the worst Wrestlemania ever.
The submission match between Stone Cold "Steve Austin" and Bret The "Hit Man" Hart was the best match of Wrestlemania 13. It put the high standards of all Wrestlemania's forever. The match involved a special referree Ken Shamrock, who is a submission fighter. Wrestlemania 13 produced a "double turn" as Bret Hart turned "heel" and Stone Cold turned "face" in the same match. Bret Hart rendered Austin unconscious using the Sharpshooter, while Austin was a bloody mess. We now get the famous close up of Austin bleeding while trying to power out. Austin trys to get out, but Bret refuses and locks it back on. Shamrock asking Austin if he gives up, but recognizing that Austin does not respond and suddenly with loss of blood, passes out from the pain. The famous picture of Austin being put in the Sharpshooter and with a bloody face, will forever be remembered as one of the greatest moments in Wrestlemania History.
This was a two match card. Fortunately one match changed the WWF which turned the promotion into the most sucessful period in wrestling at that time. Everything on the undercard barring the decent tag match between Hart/Smith vs Vader/Foley was so/so. The submission match between Hart-Austin is one of the greatest matches of all time. This was than followed by the street fight between NOD and LOD/Ahmed. The main event Sid Vs the Undertaker was alright, it wasn't the best and it shouldn't have been the main event. The main event should have been Austin & Hart, atleast check out Wrestlemania 13 for that submission match, you want be disappointed.
When Wrestlemania 13 came along in 1997 the Wrestlemania magic just wasn't there. It was mostly filled up with mathes no one really cares about such As Fatu Vs Rocky, Goldust Vs Triple H and Sid Vs the Undertaker. Sid vs The Undertaker was the worst main event in Wrestlemania history. The match it self was slower then a game of chess. Also there was no build up to the match at all. The only good thing about this Wrestlemania was the Bret "The Hitman" Hart Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin. What really should of been the main event. Austin should of won the world title at the final four PPV and become a baby face right after that. And then Bret should of beat Austin for the World title at this PPV. But keep the match just like it was in this PPV with Bret turning heel and Austin turning face.