WrestleMania 13 was a 1997 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 13th annual WrestleMania and was presented by PlayStation. The event was held on March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. This was the second WrestleMania held at this venue after the middle portion of WrestleMania 2 in 1986. It would also be the final WrestleMania with Vince McMahon on commentary.
Eight matches were held at the event, including one on the Free for All pre-show. The main event was a no disqualification match between The Undertaker and Sycho Sid for the WWF Championship, which Undertaker won following interference from Bret Hart. The main matches on the undercard were Bret Hart versus "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a No Disqualification Submission match with Ken Shamrock as the special guest referee, Legion of Doom and Ahmed Johnson versus Nation of Domination in a Chicago Street Fight, and Rocky Maivia versus The Sultan for the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
The event was attended by 18,197 who paid a total of $837,150 in admission fees, and drew a 0.77 buy rate. The event as a whole received mixed to negative reviews. However, the submission match between Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was highly praised, being called one of the greatest matches in wrestling history, as well as being cited as the beginning of the Attitude Era (due to the intense match style and the storyline double turn between the pair); This match was the inaugural "Immortal Moment" recipient of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2025.
Production
Background
thumb|The event was held at the [[Allstate Arena|Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.]]
WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. WrestleMania 13 was scheduled to be held on March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. The event was presented by PlayStation. This was the second WrestleMania in the Chicago metropolitan area, after WrestleMania 2 in 1986.
Storylines
The main feud heading into WrestleMania 13 was between The Undertaker and Sycho Sid, with the two battling over the WWF Championship. At In Your House 13 in February, Bret Hart last eliminated The Undertaker in the Final Four match to win the vacant WWF Championship. Their rivalry continued as Hart and Austin were the final two participants in the 1997 Royal Rumble match. Hart had originally eliminated Austin from the match, but Austin's elimination was considered unofficial because the referees did not see it, as they were busy attending to a brawl between eliminated wrestlers Mankind and Terry Funk. Austin would eventually eliminate Hart from the match, thus becoming the official winner, albeit controversially. John Canton of TJR Wrestling gave the event an overall score of 4 out of 10 and said that the show was "poor" and noted that the main event "sucked for the first 15 minutes, but the ending was okay".
Despite the lackluster reviews towards the event, the submission match between Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was highly praised. In 2007, it was placed #1 on IGN's list of Top 20 Matches in WrestleMania History, and described as a match that "launched an era". Thomas Golianopoulos of Complex Sports also ranked it at number 1 in his list of the 50 Greatest Matches in WrestleMania History, citing the match's six factors of storyline, innovation, psychology, finish, post-match angle, and fallout. Elusive of 411Mania described the match as "outstanding" and "that helped propel Steve Austin into the stratosphere and become the star of the late 90s and the early 00s", while also noting the double-turn after the match. John Canton called the match "wrestling perfection". It received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer and was also voted Match of the Year (1997) by readers of his Wrestling Observer Newsletter publication. Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers named it Match of the Year (1997). The submission match would also be the last time a WrestleMania match would receive a five-star rating until WrestleMania 39 in 2023 when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) on Night 1 and Gunther vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre on Night 2 both received a five-star rating. Hart would call it his favourite match, labeling it "a real masterpiece". Ken Shamrock would call it "one of the greatest matches in wrestling history", and Jim Ross called it the greatest match he had called at WrestleMania and the most "well-executed" match he had seen. The match would later be inducted as the inaugural "Immortal Moment" recipient of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2025.
Aftermath
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Bret Hart would continue their rivalry after WrestleMania, however Austin was now a babyface and his popularity would start to increase considerably while Hart was now a heel. The next night on Raw following WrestleMania, Hart cut a promo where he apologized to his Canadian fans, saying that he felt like he let them down by not actually getting Austin to submit, but Hart then cemented his heel turn by refusing to apologize to the American fans, chastising them for cheering Austin, even though Hart had won the match, while claiming that American fans didn't know what "true heroes" were. Austin would then interrupt Hart and argue that the fans cheered Austin not because he lost the match, but because Austin had refused to quit. Hart would eventually recruit British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Brian Pillman, and former tag team partner Jim Neidhart to reform The Hart Foundation, where Hart would continue to criticize American fans and claim that Canadian fans represented the proper "family values" that the Hart Foundation stood for. At In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker in April, Hart and Austin once again had a match in which Austin won by disqualification after interference from the rest of the Foundation. His reign lasted a total of 133 days which included battles with Mankind,
After losing the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at WrestleMania, Sycho Sid's push began to diminish greatly and after King of the Ring, Sid would quietly disappear from WWF programming. In reality, Sid would leave the WWF to focus on recovering from a lingering neck injury. After making a few appearances for Extreme Championship Wrestling in early 1999, Sid would eventually return to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in mid-1999 and continue to wrestle as Sid Vicious until he suffered a career-ending leg injury at WCW Sin on January 14, 2001.
The event's Hart/Austin match would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2025, receiving the WWE Hall of Fame's inaugural "Immortal Moment" award.