WWE Backstage (June 16th, 2020) - 5 Takeaways from this week's episode

#2 Bret Hart talks about Austin and Survivor Series '96

Hart and Austin

Before WWE Backstage each week, an event or Superstar from WWE's past is often featured on FS1 programming. This week it was Survivor Series 1996. It was at that event where one of the greatest rivalries in WWE history started as Hart and Steve Austin squared off.

Of Austin, Hart claimed that he had "wrestled Steve a few times before but never in big matches" and that he "was looking forward to working with Steve." The match at Survivor Series "was the first real consequential match that we ever had."

The former WWE Champion revealed that he thought Austin would "get a little nervous or anxious about working with me and it showed that he was going to come at me with everything he had." The Hitman thought that "he was still maybe finding himself a little bit" but that "it was one of my favorite matches that I had with Steve and on par with the one we had at WrestleMania 13."

Hart claimed that even while he was a member of the WWE roster, he saw something in Austin when the latter was elsewhere. Hart claimed that "he was always a guy that was coming up" and that Austin reminded him of Rick Rude as "a guy that was always trying to get better." The former WWE Champion also revealed that he was "mad that they let him go to ECW" but "a week later he was in a WWE dressing room."

Punk asked Hart about his "best dance partner" and if it was Austin. Hart felt that Stone Cold was "right up there with maybe a small handful of guys. Great chemistry with Mr. Perfect. I could have wrestled him in my sleep and had a five-star match." Hart also felt the same about HBK, saying that "you couldn't have anything but a great match with him" and that "Steve Austin was right on the edge of that."