WrestleMania 13: 1997 жылғы кәсіби күрес шоуы

1997 World Wrestling Federation pay per view event

WrestleMania 13 was the 13th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay per view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The event was presented by PlayStation and held on March 23, 1997, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. 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, 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. WrestleMania 13 was the second WrestleMania to take place in the Chicago metropolitan area, following WrestleMania 2. 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, and has been cited by some as the beginning of the Attitude Era.

WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship 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.

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 officials did not see it as they were busy attending to a brawl between eliminated wrestlers Mankind and Terry Funk. John Canton of The John Report 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 Hart and 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 a "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 Jimmy and Jey Uso on Night 1 and Gunther vs Sheamus vs Drew McIntyre on Night 2 both received the 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'd called at WrestleMania and the most "well executed" match he'd seen.

Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart continued their rivalry after WrestleMania, but Austin was now a babyface and his popularity would start to increase considerably while Hart was a heel. Hart recruited British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Brian Pillman and former tag team partner Jim Neidhart to reform The Hart Foundation. At In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker in April, Hart and Austin had a match which Austin won by disqualification. He spent a reign 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 and after King of the Ring, he began to disappear from WWF programming. In actuality, Sid quietly left WWF to focus on recovering from a neck injury. Sid eventually returned to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1999 and continued to wrestle as Sid Vicious until he suffered a near career ending leg injury at WCW Sin on January 14, 2001.