Bret Hart on passing the torch to Steve Austin: “I wasn’t going to let Shawn Michaels and Triple H take that spot from him”

While speaking to Dominic DeAngelo, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart reflected on what led to his WrestleMania 13 submission match against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in 1997…

“We wrestled at Survivor Series that year, or a few months before. I did that match as a one-off. We didn’t wrestle again until maybe the next year—give it time and space between us. Once you wrestle, you can’t just wrestle again a few weeks later and then again a few weeks after that. So all of a sudden, it felt like we were being thrown together because Shawn Michaels ‘lost his smile’ and all that stuff, and forfeited the belt. That wasn’t planned or supposed to happen—it was news to me at the time.

With Steve, I just wanted to deliver a really good story for him because I wanted him to be the guy. I knew he was going to be the guy, and he deserved to be the guy. I wasn’t going to let Shawn and Triple H take that spot from him. I wanted to pass the torch to Steve.”