Bret Hart Vs Steve Austin And The Survivor Series Caught Between Eras

Survivor Series 1996 might be best remembered for the debut of The Rock, but it should be remembered for an all-time classic between two wrestling icons.

In 1996 the WWF was in a very weird place. Even by pro wrestling standards, which are stunningly high on the unconventional scale, things had gone off the rails.

The company had more in common with the Wild West than anything produced by Bruno Sammartino and Buddy Rogers. And while it would be unfair to say that its future hung in the balance, it was stumbling towards a crossroads that owner Vince McMahon seemed determined to ignore and plow straight through.

McMahon had purchased the company back in 1982 and set about starting a revolution. This saw the ruthless promoter reshape the entire wrestling landscape by taking the WWF national and blowing apart the established territory system. Nothing summed up the McMahon revolution more than when he purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling in order to land its timeslot on TBS in 1984.

With the expansion, McMahon crushed promotions that went back generations. But from his point of view, the territory system was dying and many of its promotions were hemorrhaging money. This created an opportunity for someone to step forward and take the industry kicking and screaming into the future. The truth was, McMahon wasn’t about to die wondering.

But despite the incredible success that followed, by 1996, the industry was on the verge of passing him by.

The previous year had been a disaster on many levels, summed up by Mable winning the King of The Ring tournament. Fans hated the result, pretty much every match on the card, and showered the ring with “ECW” chants. The event did a lowly 150,000 buys on pay-per-view — the lowest in company history by a significant margin.

Kevin Nash as World Champion also wasn’t working, either in the ring or at the box office, but McMahon pushed on regardless. By the end of 95 and into 96 there had been some effort to modernise, but it paled in comparison to what ECW was already doing and what WCW was planning. A fact brought into stark focus in May when Nash and Scott Hall left for Atlanta, before rocking the industry with the launch of the nWo.

Instead of a ringmaster, the WWF needed a spark, and luckily it was about to get it.

Steve Austin’s Time Has Come

It’s tempting to look back on this period solely through the lens of Bret Hart and where his WWF career ultimately ended up. After all, within a year of his match with Austin, Hart was gone from the company after one of the most explosive incidents in wrestling history. But that would be doing a huge disservice to Austin and the run that made him a legend.

WWE lore states that the grizzled Texan won the 1996 King of The Ring, delivered his iconic Austin 3:16 promo, and a superstar was born. However, the truth is a little more nuanced. Following KOTR, Austin’s march towards the main event was more of a stumble — and it was through no fault of his own.

His new-found momentum as Stone Cold (A moniker he adopted in March) was routinely checked by an indecisive McMahon who continued to view wrestling storytelling as good vs. evil. But Austin was finding enormous success by blurring that boundary, and his boss didn’t know how to deal with it.

As noted by James Dixon in Titan Shattered, while watching Raw at home, Austin noticed some of his more impressive moments hadn’t made the final edit. When he confronted McMahon, Austin was informed he’d been censored because he was supposed to be a heel, and he was getting babyface reactions.

Despite his employer’s best attempts to slow the progress of the man who would go a long way to saving his flailing company, Steve Austin got himself over through sheer force of will. Not that a match on the SummerSlam pre-show against Yokozuna particularly helped his cause.

By the time his match with Bret Hart was confirmed in October, Austin had been laying the groundwork for the rivalry for several weeks. Shortly after that SummerSlam outing, Austin began taking aim at Hart while crossing paths with real-life friend Brian Pillman. After Austin destroyed Pillman’s already injured ankle with a steel chair on Raw, he confronted his rival at his home two weeks later, on the famous “Pillman’s Got A Gun” episode.

The stunt is one of the more controversial in WWE history and saw McMahon fully commit to shaking things up. While complaints flooded the USA Network, the WWF boss finally realised it was time to lean into a more adult product. Thanks to Austin who had been largely left to his own creative devices when it came to his Stone Cold character the tide was turning. But McMahon wasn’t so much about to shoot himself in the foot as take a machine gun to his lower extremities. The only problem was, it would take another 12 months for him to realise the true extent of the damage.

Bret Hart And The Contract That Broke The Camel’s Back

In contrast to Austin, who was looking to make himself a main event star, Bret Hart’s journey to Survivor Series was about securing his legacy, both financially and as an in-ring performer.

The former World Champion had spent much of 1995 frustrated. Matches against the likes of Bob Backlund and Jerry Lawler weren’t exactly creatively fulfilling, with his “Kiss My Foot” Match against the latter a particular low point. But things got worse before they got better as a match against Isaac Yankem, DDS at SummerSlam proved.

However, by the end of the year, Hart was World Champion again, only dropping the title Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XII. After WrestleMania, The Hitman went on hiatus, and wouldn’t return to Raw until October. But while it appeared to most fans that Hart was simply resting his aching body after 12 grueling years on the road with the WWF, he was wrestling with a decision that had the potential to change his life.

Hart had actually become a free agent in July owing to a unique clause in his contract. The wrestler-friendly piece of fine print meant that he could give 90 days’ notice at any point in his contract, leaving him free to negotiate elsewhere. As such, Hart felt his hiatus after WrestleMania had started that process.

Keenly aware of what Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were now making in WCW, Hart decided it was time for a chat with Eric Bischoff — even if he had no real desire to switch. During their September meeting, Hart said he’d consider a move to Atlanta for whatever Hulk Hogan was making, plus one penny, knowing full well the answer would be no. Once Bischoff had gathered himself he asked again for something he could work with. This time Hart requested a $3 million per year and a lighter schedule than the WWF’s notorious grind.

The pair then went their separate ways, but Hart was delighted two days later when he received an offer for three years and $2.8 million per annum, complete with a lighter schedule and even acting work. Stunned at being offered something so close to what he’d come up with, Hart returned to McMahon to inform him of the offer. A slightly rattled McMahon told his star he couldn’t match WCW’s offer, to which Hart told him to make him the best offer he could.

That offer was a remarkable 20-year agreement that broke down into three sections. For the first three years, Hart would be paid $1.5 million, and then $500,000 for the next seven years as an advisor. For the remaining ten years, Hart would become the ‘Babe Ruth of the WWF’ and pocket $250,000 per year in the process. Content, Hart, and McMahon shook hands.

However, the WWF’s head honcho was immediately hit with buyer’s remorse and was deeply uncomfortable with the terms he’d just promised. The first contract sent to Hart featured different terms to what had been agreed, so he didn’t sign it. Incredibly, the second contract sent over was even further removed from the handshake deal. As Hart grew more irritated, he reached out to WWF’s Head of Operations in Canada, Carl De Marco, who gave McMahon a nudge in the right direction.

In the hours before the October 21st, 1996 episode of Raw went live from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, McMahon and Hart signed on the dotted line. On the surface, it seemed everyone had got what they wanted. Hart was back in the fold, and being very well paid for his services, and for his part, McMahon had kept one of his biggest names away from WCW.

But in truth, the contract was the beginning of the end for The Hitman in the WWF. Less than a year later McMahon told Hart he was breaking the deal as he could no longer afford it, and even publicly admitted he was “sorry” he signed it in the first place.

Showtime – Survivor Series 1996

The 1996 Survivor Series was a perfect encapsulation of the stylistic power struggle raging war inside the brain of Vince McMahon. The WWF was changing, but old habits die hard. Although there were positive signs, the card was a strange mix of veterans going nowhere, and younger stars suffering under terrible gimmicks.

Yokozuna, Jake Roberts, Jerry Lawler, and Jimmy Snuka were several years past their best, while The Sultan, Billy Gunn, Jesse James, Justin Bradshaw, and Hunter Hurst Helsley would need some major changes before being positioned to make a meaningful impact. Even the ball of walking charisma that is The Rock was presented in the blandest way possible on debut.

Then the less said about the Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon experiment the better.

For an industry built on the back of over-the-top theatrics, Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin went against the grain. Admittedly, in no other walk of life would a man dressed in pink be considered understated, but Hart’s clash with Austin was a masterpiece built on subtlety. Arguably no two performers in history have applied themselves more to making details matter.

When Austin walked out to a thunderous reception from the Madison Square Garden crowd, there was no doubt the WWF faithful had their new chosen one. While Hart entered to an equally impressive ovation, it was impossible to ignore the fact the crowd’s loyalty was now split.

The match itself was a real slow burn, the two wrestling soulmates teased and taunted as the crowd crackled with expectation milking the tension for all it was worth. Hart took control of the first portion of the match, looking to grind down his rival with surgical precision. But when the pace quickened it was Austin in the driving seat. In contrast to the polished artistry of Shawn Michaels, Hart, and Austin battled with a gritty realism. The Texan in particular, wrestling like a man possessed. This wasn’t a performance, this was a fight.

The match eventually spilled out into the crowd and across the Spanish announce table, still a rarity at this point in 1996. Back in the ring, Hart planted Austin with a Piledriver but was unable to grab the win. After he chose to climb to the top turnbuckle Austin hit back with a huge Superplex, but it was The Hitman who grabbed Austin’s legs into a pin. Again, Austin kicked out. Emphasis on “kicked.” With every pin and submission, there wasn’t even a hint of cooperation.

Into the final stanza, Austin laid Hart out with the Stone Cold Stunner — a move he’d been given by Michael Hayes in the lead-up to King of The Ring after the former Freebird lifted the move from John Laurinaitis, but the former champion kicked out. He became the first person to do so in the process. Almost in disbelief, Austin continued his feverish assault, looking for a Texas Clover Leaf before settling for the Million Dollar Dream. With Hart on the verge of breaking down, he kicked his feet off the turnbuckle, flipping over to finally pin Austin’s shoulders to the mat as he refused to relinquish the hold.

While the flashy Shawn Michaels was undoubtedly McMahon’s choice to lead the company, the smashmouth Hart and Austin had been chosen by the people. A microcosm of the philosophical indecision engulfing the company.

As Jim Ross waxed lyrical about the contest on commentary, Austin locked eyes with his rival as he departed. There were no theatrics, only an admission that his desire to hurt Hart had cost him the match, but behind those steely blue eyes was an acknowledgment that it was mission accomplished.

Steve Austin would later claim that he owes a huge debt to Bret Hart, in large part due to this match, and there’s no doubt he was the proverbial ‘made man’ as he arrived backstage. In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer awarded the match four and a half stars, before commenting that Austin was “a wrestler who should be on top for years.” Little did he know how true that statement would turn out to be.