Stone Cold Steve Austin is considered by many to be the greatest WWE star of all-time, but who was his greatest rival?
Part of becoming an all-time great in pro wrestling is the stories you craft and who you craft them with.
Stone Cold had a box office attaction with The Rock at three WrestleManias.
His feud with Vince McMahon arguably caused WWE to defeat WCW in the Monday Night Wars, with a little help from Mike Tyson.
His work opposite Shawn Michaels helped put him on the map as a major star in the industry.
But none of those men are his favourite – Bret Hart is.
In a coversation with Chris Van Vliet, the Texas Rattlesnake reveraled why The Hitman stands out above the rest.
“Bret Hart’s the best there is, the best there was, there ever will be,” Austin said. “Bret, I love working with that guy. We just had instant chemistry.
“He was a student of the game and a student of other promotions and he had seen what I was doing in WCW, the Stunning Steve Austin, and he knew his style and my style would work well together and it did.
“Just a trash talking heel that I was, and he was that steady workaholic, working babyface … I’m very thankful to that guy because he meant a lot to my career.”
Austin and Hart had one of the greatest matches in WWE history at WrestleMania 13 back in 1997. The finish included Austin passing out to Hart’s sharpshooter with a blood-soaked face – it’s one of the most iconic images in the company’s history.
That match was the first to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2025.
Although Hart is the number one, Austin did reserve some appreciation for his work alongside ex-WWE onwner Vince McMahon.
Back in the late 1990s, Austin was the renegade standing up to his power tripping boss, a story that helped WWE overtake WCW for the first time in 83 weeks in the ratings war.
“Vince, great chemistry,” he claimed. “He was the mastermind. I don’t know what he’s doing now, but that was a feud that transcended the wrestling business.
“And even if you weren’t a wrestling fan, per se, you were interested in being entertained.
“And so you would put on to see what this motherf****r from South Texas is terrorising his boss from New York City.”
The former six-time world champion, now 61, is one of the greatest money making attarctions in pro wrestling history, if not the greatest.
