Bret Hart Admits He Was 'So Unenthusiastic' Headed Into WWE Hall Of Fame Match

Bret "Hitman" Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin are going back into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, as their seminal WrestleMania 13 Submission Match will be the first WrestleMania match to be inducted into The Hall as an "Immortal Moment." In a new interview with "The Ringer Wrestling Show," the former WWE Champion had high praise for the encounter.

"I knew that night, when I walked back to the dressing room, that that match with Steve Austin was -and it was hard to say that to myself- was the best match I ever had," Hart admitted. The former WCW World Heavyweight Champion felt the match was "flawlessly" carried out. "It's almost like it was divine. There's so many little things about that match that make it stand out."

Despite Hart thinking the match tops his lengthy resume, the WWE Hall of Famer was not happy heading into the match, citing the many changes that came due to then-WWF Champion Shawn Michaels "losing his smile," vacating the title, and throwing the main event into disarray. Hart says that McMahon had promised Hart a rematch against Michaels from the previous WrestleMania, but the changes led to him ending up with Austin.

"I was so unenthusiastic about the match...I just thought it was a little early to be back with Steve again," Hart said, also frustrated with the confining stipulation. Hart felt the storyline was as well built as it could be, but he still arrived at the Rosemont Horizon (now known as the Allstate Arena) certain that the match was going to be bad. "I remember saying to Steve 'What do you got for submission holds?' and he didn't have very many."

Faced with a dearth of submission holds from Austin, Hart says he had to come up with a less-than-traditional story for the pair's submission contest.

"It's kinda like 'Jeez, what do we got here? What are we gonna do?' And I think it forced us to dig a little deeper, think a little bit on a different level," Hart said. "When I was a kid I watched a school fight between the most popular guy in the school...and then this new kid came to school. He was kinda dark, moody, but you could kinda see the collision coming."

Hart says he befriended the two students, which gave him a unique perspective on their eventual clash.

"I remember kinda going as a fan, watching the fight. It was a good fight and it went back and forth but [the popular guy] ended up really doing a good beatdown on the guy and beat him but [the new guy] fought heroically and lost."

Hart told Austin the story of the fight and the two immediately clicked, adding layers and layers to the story which would eventually become the match fans know and love today. 

"The most important part of that fight was that the next day, the guy that was the babyface, nobody talked to him," Hart said, "and the guy that lost the fight, everybody was his friend now...because he lost so nobly."

The match ended up playing out exactly like that, with Austin becoming a new star in defeat, after passing out to Hart's submission hold.