“Stone Cold” Steve Austin has named who he thinks is his greatest WWE rival ever.
Steve Austin named Bret Hart as his greatest in-ring rival, crediting their chemistry and contrasting styles for elevating both men’s careers. Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Austin said no opponent matched what Hart brought out of him between the ropes.
“Bret Hart’s the best there is, the best there was, there ever will be,” Austin said. “We just had instant chemistry… 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 babyface. I’m very thankful to that guy because he meant a lot to my career.”
Austin added that while Hart was his best wrestling opponent, the biggest rivalry of his career was with Vince McMahon.
“Vince, great chemistry,” he said. “That was a feud that transcended the wrestling business… even if you weren’t a wrestling fan, you were interested in being entertained.”
Austin and McMahon headlined WWE’s boom period in the late 1990s, becoming one of the most successful storylines in company history.
Which Steve Austin Match Was Rated Highest By Dave Meltzer?
The Steve Austin match that Dave Meltzer rated the highest was his No Holds Barred Submission match against Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13, which got five stars from Meltzer. His next highest rated match was a tie for first place, as the 1992 WarGames match in WCW, where he teamed with Arn Anderson, Beautiful Bobby, Larry Zbyszko and Rick Rude as part of the Dangerous Alliance in a losing effort against Sting’s Squadron, which consisted of Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat and Sting, also got five stars.
His second-highest-rated match was his Three Stages of Hell match against Triple H at the 2001 pay-per-view No Way Out, where The Game defeated Austin in a match that Meltzer rated four and three-quarter stars.
