80-76%-perfect
Buy,Download, Or Stream WWE - Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be! Click Here
75-71%-awsome
70-66%-good
65-61%-poor
60-56%-awful
Buy,Download, Or Stream WWE - Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be! Click Here
1. THE HART FOUNDATION vs THE BRITISH BULLDOGS (July-13, 1985): Emanating from Madison Square Garden, this isn’t what you would call a classic bout between these 2 great teams, but it is a nice little preview of what they are capable of. The dynamic between the 4 men is perfect, with the Bulldogs struggling to contain the constant double-team maneuvers of their opponents, as well as the strength of The Anvil. DaveyBoy Smith plays the face in peril for most of the match, while the Harts (including Jimmy on the outside with his megaphone) do everything to keep Smith in the ring. I’ve seen better hot tags to Dynamite (where were the suplexes?), while the action here wasn’t as crisp as these guys would usually be. Still a great match, despite the disappointing draw result being called as the MSG curfew came up at the 13 minute mark. These guys easily had an extra 20 minutes in them, if not a lot more. WInners No contest. Match Rating 7.5/10.
2. THE HART FOUNDATION vs THE KILLER BEES (February-17, 1986-Initially, the structure of this match is actually quite a bit different to most Hart Foundation bouts, as The Killer Bees target & isolate Neidhart for the first 4 minutes. There’s some very good tag-team action here & it gets the crowd very much involved. Soon though, the Harts get on top & take control of Brunzell for what seems like an eternity. It’s a little too long for my liking & there are a few too many restholds. Although, it doesn’t seem to bore the live crowd in attendance, as they frantically anticipate the hot tag to Blair. It eventually comes & it’s an understatement to say that the action picks up from there. Blair does everything but get the 3 count as the entertainment picks up tremendously. It was worth the wait & I have to conclude that this was a very good match at the end of the day. This was despite the disappointing time limit draw result, even though I had the duration as 19 minutes (not 20. Winners it is a draw. Match Rating 8/10.
3. BRET HART vs RICKY `THE DRAGON’ STEAMBOAT (March-8, 1986): Emanating from Boston Garden, this is an early singles match for the Hitman which took place just prior to WrestleMania 2. In true heel form, Bret attacks Steamboat as the bell rings & gets the early advantage. But it doesn’t last too long, as the tremendously over Dragon takes control rather quickly. Ricky actually is the one to slow the pace down as he targets the left arm of Bret. But here & there, especially when or the other is running the ropes, these 2 show the flashes of brilliance (& crispness) that we know they are capable of. As the match settles in, there is some nice back & forth action, with Hart probably having the better of the offense (to the surprise of the fans). A referee bump towards the end leads to a short closing sequence where Steamboat reverses a pinning attempt & gets the victory at the 15 minute mark. The potential was there to see here as Bret showed great ability to wrestle a 15 minute match all by his lonesome against an over face. Isolated though, you know these 2 could do a lot better as the pace was initially a little too methodical & the bout didn’t play up to Steamboat’s strengths sufficiently. Winner RICKY `THE DRAGON’ STEAMBOAT. Match Rating 8.5/10.
4. BRET HART vs `THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN’ TED DIBIASE (March-8, 1989- Emanating from Odessa-Texas, this match took place after Bret had turned face & started wearing the pink & black. It should also be noted that there is no commentary during this bout. Bret gets the explosive start & attacks Dibiase as the bell rings, almost sneaking the victory once or twice. Quite entertaining to begin with as the Hitman seemingly has an answer for everything the Million Dollar Man throws at him. But a missed charge by Hart results in him getting winded & Dibiase taking control for minutes on end with his interesting mix of strength & technical wrestling that became his trademark in the late 80’s & early 90’s (although I personally preferred the slimmer & more athletic Dibiase of the early 80’s from what I have seen). Back & forth from that point onwards, with each man attempting to outdo the other while attempting numerous pinfalls. Despite Dibiase apparently being blown out (his heavy breathing is evident), these 2 somehow stretch the match out to a 16 minute duration, with Bret’s superior athleticism helping the match quality out the longer it progresses. This bout that ends in a double countout, is well put together, if not anything super special. Winner double count out. MAtch Rating 8/10.
5. THE HART FOUNDATION vs THE ROCKERS (April-28, 1990-From an episode of `Saturday Nights Main Event’, this is a non-stop back & forth entertaining match that simply never lets up from the opening bell. It proves the adaptability of The Hart Foundation & the potential of The Rockers. These 4 guys just go at it at a blistering pace. Hart & Michaels get a good deal of the action which obviously helps, but even Jannetty & Neidhart keep the action moving along at a great pace. Terrific stuff & not completely ruined by the Double DQ result at only the 9 minute mark, when Demolition run in & turn it into a 3 team brawl. WInner double dq. match RAting 8.5/10.
6. THE HART FOUNDATION vs THE NASTY BOYS (WrestleMania 7. March-24, 1991): The Hart Foundation came into this bout as the tag champs & without the management of Jimmy Hart, who had since moved over to manage Knobbs & Saggs (or Saggy Knob as I used to call them). I must admit that I was never a fan of The Nasty Boys. In fact, they pretty much constantly bored me. Just to prove it, they make Neidhart look like a quick technician here! Thankfully, this is quite well booked in that it uses Bret a lot & he pretty much carries the bout. Of course, he (& we) have to put up with the boring Nasty Boys offense in the meantime & that brings the match down a peg or 5! The hot tag is eventually made to Neidhart who cleans house. But in a flurry of activity, the Nastys use Jimmy’s megaphone & escape with the title win after 12 minutes. Not great, but could have been so much worse. Well booked & sufficiently entertaining. Winners and new wwe tag team champs THE NASTY BOYS. match Rating 7.5/10.
7. BRET HART vs `MR PERFECT’ CURT HENNIG (SummerSlam. August-26, 1991): Great start to this match for Perfect’s InterContinental Title, with some crisp & entertaining sequences of one-upmanship. Bret’s mentioning of Hennig’s back injury & those first few moments show what might have been if Hennig had stayed injury-free (both then & in later years)… Especially when Bret was on the top of his game as WWE Champion. That’s not to say that they didn’t deliver here, as they well & truly did. Just (pardon the pun) perfectly put together, as these 2 guys showed that you could have a great 15+ minute technical match. Great storytelling throughout as both men tried to outdo each other, leading to many exciting nearfalls & some great unpredictability. Bret kicked out of the PerfectPlex (which was surprising at the time) & went to work on Hennig. But to go with the flow of the entire bout, Perfect fought hard & kicked out of many 2 counts. The SharpShooter eventually got the job done though (if a little too quickly & anti-climactically) to win the InterContinental Title at the 18 minute mark. Great stuff from these 2 terrific wrestlers, although I’m certain that if timing & injury permitted, they could do even better. Winner and new wwe itc champ bret hart. Match Rating 9/10.
8. BRET HART vs `THE BRITISH BULLDOG’ DAVEY BOY SMITH (SummerSlam. August-29, 1992 From the SummerSlam that was held in England, this is my favorite match ever. It was very disappointing to see that DaveyBoy Smith’s hugely atmospheric ring entrance in front of his home crowd has been edited out of this DVD! Bret enters this main-event match as the InterContinental Champion. The British crowd are rather amazing, and make me wonder why we haven’t seen another ppv outside of North America since. Just the perfect mix of everything, these 2 put together an excellent combination of technical, power & psychological wrestling. This is arguably the bout that elevated Hart to main-event status & gave DaveyBoy Smith a significant push. 26 minutes in length & the final 7 or so is better than anything you will ever see. I think Bobby `The Brain’ Heenan best summed this up on commentary when he stated “Is there anything they haven’t done?” Winner Bret Hart. Match Rating 10/10.
9. BRET HART vs BAM BAM BIGELOW (April-24, 1993 This match is from a live event held in Barcelona-Spain & comes complete with Spanish commentary (I like the sound of the word “Phenomo” & the way they roll their “r’s”). Bam Bam’s priceless mix of strength & athleticism usually works very well with smaller wrestlers, but I’m not 100% certain that technical wrestling is his forte. For the first 8-10 minutes of this bout, he practically dominates & targets Bret’s back. But it’s way too methodically paced & only works in batches. A missed headbutt from the top rope gives Bret the chance to quicken the pace, while Bam Bam continues to work on the back. The bout is much more successful at this stage, but ends too quickly at just the 12 minute mark with the Hitman nicely rolling Bam Bam up with a victory roll from a headscissors position for the win. Winner bret Hart/ Match Rating 7.5/10.
10. BRET HART vs `MR PERFECT’ CURT HENNIG (King Of The Ring. June-13, 1993): This was the semi-final match of the annual tournament & the 2nd of 3 bouts that Bret wrestled on the night. The first couple of minutes of this match is almost identical to their SummerSlam ‘91 bout, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing! This isn’t entirely a duplicate of the match from approximately 2 years earlier though, as Hennig controls this bout a little more. Plus, he had obviously since learnt the art of the knife-edge chop from Ric Flair, as he uses it a fair bit. Being picky, the structure & psychology of this bout doesn’t quite work, as Bret hurts his knee on the outside & looks in all sorts of trouble. But then, only a couple of minutes later, he is on the offense & working on Hennig’s legs! When it finally evens out, Perfect goes for a couple of sleeper-holds, which makes sense for him to recover from his sore leg, but doesn’t exactly increase the entertainment aspect of this bout! Then, out of nowhere at the 17 minute mark, Hennig starts to attack Bret’s injured hand (from his first match that night)! A great suplex counter to the outside gets the crowd on their feet, and it’s quickly followed up by a roll-up reversal at the 19 minute mark to give the victory to Bret. Still a very good match, but wasn’t quite right storytelling & psychology-wise. Sufficiently different from their 1991 match, but not as good. Winner bret hart. match Rating 8.5/10.
11. BRET HART vs OWEN HART (WrestleMania 10. March-20, 1994
This was a strange feeling as we basically had a main-event opening a huge pay-per-view. Similarly to the match against The British Bulldog, there was a nice family storyline build-up here, although it was probably stronger in this match, as Bret & Owen weren’t both faces & the WWE really spent some time on this feud. Throughout this bout, there was a constant game of one-upmanship (especially on Owen’s behalf) that was just so entertaining to watch. In fact, it was so good that you almost couldn’t help cheer for some of Owen’s bigger moves during the match. They wisely didn’t go all out from the very beginning, instead choosing to gradually build up the pace and, for that matter the spots as well, as the match progressed.
A turning point occurs at the 13 minute mark when Bret hurts his knee on a dive to the outside. Owen perfectly targets it & fortunately keeps the moves (whether for impact or submission) coming at a good pace, rather than slowing the pace down. Nor does it take too long for Bret to make the comeback with a great variety of offense. A nice closing sequence sees a battle of SharpShooters followed by Owen’s unpredictable pinfall counter to a victory roll at the 20 minute mark. It’s a match that probably doesn’t scream out 10 out of 10 to some, but when all is considered (the feud, the storyline, the psychology, the crispness, the pacing, the structure, the entertainment & the unpredictability), it’s hard to rate it anything else. Both men come out of this match looking supremely good. Winner Owen Hart. Match Rating 10/10.
Disk 3
12. BRET HART vs OWEN HART (September-29, 1994 This match from White Plains - New York was televised on some show called `The Action Zone’. It was for Bret’s WWE Championship & took place after their cage match at SummerSlam (not on this DVD). Doesn’t quite have the same impact as their WrestleMania 10 bout (or the cage match for that matter), but it still has some great crisp action, terrific counters & reversals and good overall entertainment value. Two edits due to commercial breaks definitely don’t help the flow of the bout, but we still get to see 14 minutes of very good footage. Jim `The Anvil’ Neidhart gets involved on behalf of Owen, but DaveyBoy Smith negates him & eventually pushes Owen off the top rope to enable Bret to get the pinfall win. Hard to rate as it it’s a television match that obviously doesn’t stack up to the WrestleMania 10 or SummerSlam bouts, but it’s still very solid & definitely a good watch. Winner Bret Hart. Match Rating 8/10.
13. BRET HART vs HAKUSHI (In Your House. May-14, 1995 This was the first of 2 matches on the same night for Bret, as he was to face Jerry `The King’ Lawler later on. Hakushi was a pretty good & very athletic Japanese wrestler that the WWE brought in for about a year. Following a couple of early communication breakdowns that resulted in some messy looking wrestling, these 2 settled into a rather nice pace. I’m unsure that the bout made great use of Hakushi’s unorthodox offense, although we do see a nice Asai Moonsault & a couple of other very athletic moves. Not the perfect structure either as I would have preferred more back & forth action. I may be a little nit-picky though, as this was still a rather entertaining match, especially towards the end when both men worked very hard to win the fans over. The Hitman gets the win with a victory roll at the 14 minute mark. It actually felt longer than that, which is usually not a good sign, but this was still pretty good. Winner Bret Hart. Match Rating 8/10.
14. BRET HART vs KEVIN `DIESEL’ NASH (Survivor Series. November-19, 1995): This was a `No Disqualification’ match for Diesel’s WWE Championship (which he had held for 51 weeks!). The bout starts off predictably with Nash using his superior size & strength to overpower The Hitman. In fact, Bret spends basically the first 8 minutes running away from Diesel on the outside… very unsuccessfully, I might add! Bret turns the tide with some biting & eye gouging (yep, you read that correctly), and then predictably targets the big mans leg with precision offense. Obviously, this slows the pace of the bout down a little, but not so much that the match ever becomes boring. Bret then has the interesting idea of using a microphone cable to tie Diesel’s ankle to the steel ringpost. This leads to multiple chairshots to seemingly have the big man out for the count. But Nash eventually creates enough separation to enable him to untie himself & subsequently use that same cable to choke Bret. What follows is some decent, if awkward (due to over-selling), back & forth action, highlighted by Hart going through the Spanish Announce Table in a rather simple, yet very effective, spot. A little unbelievably, Bret rolls up Diesel soon after to get the pinfall victory at the 25 minute mark to win the title. Different type of `No DQ’ match that provides good variation & is quite entertaining. But it doesn’t match up to the April ‘96 `No DQ’ match that Diesel had with Shawn Michaels. Winner and new wwe champ bret hart. Match Rating 8.5/10.
15. BRET HART vs ‘THE BRITISH BULLDOG’ DAVEY BOY SMITH (In Your House. December-17, 1995 This match was for Bret’s WWE Championship & DaveyBoy Smith had recently turned heel & was managed by Jim Cornette. It should also be noted that Bret’s sister Diana, who was married to the Bulldog, accompanied Smith to the ring. Nice beginning to this bout, but the Bulldog then drags it down with resthold after resthold. It’s not until about the 9 minute mark that Bret thankfully gets in any great sequence of offense (including a nice piledriver). But DaveyBoy regains control after countering a superplex & attacking Hart on the outside (including busting him wide open). Back in the ring, the Bulldog gets multiple 2 counts with a piledriver, a vertical suplex, a press slam & a diving headbutt. He even throws in a Bow `N’ Arrow for good measure! What follows is some good back & forth action that is entertaining, despite being a little imperfect & not quite meshing successfully. DaveyBoy does hit a nice running powerslam on the outside, but back in the ring he falls victim to a superplex, which leads into many good nearfalls. Bret eventually gets the victory at the 21 minute mark with a rollup (he won a few too many of his big bouts that way!). There are flaws in this match & it doesn’t compare too well to their SummerSlam ‘92 bout. But these 2 eventually work so hard here that they win you over. Winner and sdtill wwe champ bret hart. Match Rating 8/10.
16. BRET HART vs `STONE COLD’ STEVE AUSTIN (WrestleMania 13. March-23, 1997): This was called a `Submissions Match’ which basically meant that you had to win by submission. It also had a ‘No Disqualificaion’ stipulation attached to it. Making his WWE debut as the referee here was former UFC Champion Ken Shamrock. This was a great feud that began when Stone Cold called out Bret while he was away from the WWE. This resulted in a very good bout at Survivor Series ‘96 & Austin subsequently cheating Hart out of a Royal Rumble win. Hart began the match as a face & Austin as a heel, but come the end of the bout, the tables would be turned as this was one of the best booked matches of all time!
These 2 are at it before the bell & the intensity is top notch. It doesn’t take too long before they are into the crowd & the last thing on their mind out there is a submission hold! Following a couple of spots involving the steel ring steps, the combatants are back into the ring at the 6 minute mark, at which time Bret precisely targets Austin’s knee. A Stone Cold Stunner out of nowhere stems the tide, but Bret everually regains control with a ringpost figure 4 leglock. Back & forth it goes as Stone Cold gets back on top with a couple of chairshots. This leads to the first attempted submission hold at the 12 minute mark, as Austin goes for a strange looking armbar followed by a Boston Crab. Back on the outside, Austin gets Irish Whipped into the steel guardrail & is busted wide open. Bret then attacks the forehead wound, before heading back to the knee. Despite all this, ‘Stone Cold’ gets a second wind & puts together some intense offense, before trying to choke the Hitman with an extension cord. But the nearby ringbell saves Bret & he quickly follows up with the SharpShooter. After almost 2 minutes of struggling to fight out of it, a bloodied Austin passes out & referee Shamrock calls for the bell.
Any questions as to whether this is a 10 out of 10 match is almost negated by that infamous perfect shot of Austin having blood dripping down his face while attempting to struggle out of the SharpShooter. But it wasn’t just the ending that was perfectly booked, it was almost the entire bout. The heated feud really came through, the action was intense, entertaining & rather original, plus a tremendous story was told. If anything, it could have lasted a little longer than the 22 minutes that it did, while it also could have possibly had a little more technical wrestling involved considering the participants. But that is very much nitpicking, I can assure you. Winner Bret Hart. Match Rating 10/10.
17. BRET HART vs THE UNDERTAKER (One Night Only. September-20, 1997 This ppv was actually a bit of an experiment, as it emanated from Birmingham-England & the partially split crowd actually made the bout quite interesting. It was fairly similarly structured to the SummerSlam match which happened a month earlier, but the big difference was that the earlier bout had Shawn Michaels as the Special Guest Referee. Thus, this match lacked a little unpredictability, plus HBK’s entertaining antics, in comparison. The bout was natural & solid, but over-long. It began with some nice intense moves that were full of impact. The psychology of the bout was ok, as ‘Taker targetted the chest of the Hitman with both blows & submission moves. In response, Bret predictably targets the phenom’s legs. This slows the pace down a fair bit, although the action is sufficiently constant. Towards the end, there are a couple of nice counters to the opponent’s finishers. But it all goes on for too long, as Bret retains the title at the 29 minute mark after he gets his neck caught between the middle & top ropes, and the referee disqualifies The Undertaker for continuing to attack him. A disappointing ending to a solid match. Winner by dq Bret Hart. Match Rating 8/10.
18. BRET HART vs CHRIS BENOIT (WCW Monday Nitro. October-4, 1999 This was the Owen Hart Tribute Match that took place at the same arena in which Bret’s brother lost his life. This bout is almost surreal & it really does take a lot of time to both the viewing & live audience to get into it. Because of this, I believe that Benoit & Hart opened the bout with more of a clinic, than a match. They are very technical & very respectful for the first 5 or so minutes. In fact, the first half of it’s 23 minute duration (excluding commercial breaks) is a little meandering, but technically proficient. But it’s just too difficult to ignore the crispness of the performed moves, as it is superb. It’s also great to see Benoit pull out a couple of moves here & there that he doesn’t do anymore (post neck surgery). From about the 10 minute mark onwards, we see some great counter & chain wrestling, as you would expect from these two. And they’re both very professional, as the competition aspect of the match does come into play very well. A tough one to rate because of the match circumstances, but definitely very good, despite the strange psychology & lack of a cracking pace. Winner Bret Hart. Match Rating 8.5/10.
Well that raps up another. I would give bret harts dvd a grade of 152.5/180 which is a 85 % which is my higest garde ever which means you need to get this dvd. Great dvd pick this up as soon as u cna. If u could tell me if my review was helpful or not i would appreicate that. Thanks for your time.
I got this from a forum that I used to post at; I no longer post there. Took me a little while to find this, but it’s a well written account of some of Bret’s matches that will be on the DVD.
Enjoy.
w/Jim Neidhart vs. The British Bulldogs
Every time these teams wrestled, they blew the roof off the arena. They were quite simply the two greatest tag teams the WWF had ever seen and they stole the show on a regular basis.
vs. Ricky Steamboat - Prime Time Wreslting 07/28/86
This match (taped in Boston on 03/08/86) was 15 minutes of fantastic scientific wrestling that was supposed to set up a match between them for Wrestlemania 2. This was the first time these wrestlers ever met in the ring, and they still reached **** and delivered the WWF Match of the Year.
vs. The Rockers - Saturday Night’s Main Event #26
While somewhat hindered by the incredibly lame and illogical finish, this was a fantastic match. The execution was nearly flawless, the reversals were amazing, the psychology was smart, and the action was intense. With another five to ten minutes and a decisive finish, this could have grown into one of the greatest tag matches of all time. Everything in this match looked so smooth without coming across as rehearsed or contrived and the frequent tags on the part of both teams helped build a smart match that was full of action.
vs. Mr. Perfect - Summer Slam ‘91
This was fantastic and still holds up as one of the greatest matches in the company’s history. The execution was very crisp, there were over a dozen false finishes, there were several smooth reversals, and the momentum shifts were downright incredible. These wrestlers were on the same wavelength throughout the entire match but not once did the match seem overly rehearsed. As good as this match was, both men were reportedly upset with its quality. Apparently, this match wasn’t nearly as good as their series of house show matches from 1989. That is almost frightening.
vs. Davey Boy Smith - Summer Slam ‘92
This contained every crucial element necessary for a great match. From a technical standpoint, this match was fantastic with smart psychology, fantastic reversal sequences, a plethora of moves, and dozens of false finishes. The “family feud” added an extra dramatic element as did the environment. The 80,000 screaming fans didn’t just pop for the entrances and high spots, but were actually white hot throughout the entire match. It is rare to see a crowd stay that hot for that long. This is, quite obviously, Davey Boy’s crowning moment and anyone who has seen this match will understand why Bret Hart was wearing his first WWF Championship within six weeks. This was the first WWF PPV without Hulk Hogan and there was a lot of weight on the shoulders of these two to deliver a solid main event. Needless to say, they more than met all expectations and put on what many consider to be the greatest match in the WWF’s history.
vs. Mr. Perfect - King of the Ring ‘93
The fact that they were both faces created a very different dynamic which accentuated Perfect’s will to win at any cost. When Perfect was unable to out-wrestle Bret, he decided to surprise him with a cheap shot. When Bret stayed in control Perfect finally decided to go after his injured hand. This showed a certain level of desperation, but also showed how important winning this match was. The execution was great, the pacing was great, the psychology was great, and the storytelling was great. Mr. Perfect’s attempt to take a page out of Bret’s playbook by “playing possum” was classic. This is your 1993 WWF Match of the Year.
vs. Owen Hart - Wrestlemania X
Owen finally stepped out of Bret’s shadow and earned the victory of his career here. This was the greatest opening match in WrestleMania history and one of the greatest Wrestlemania matches ever. The psychology was fantastic with both wrestlers being extremely focused with their plan of attack and both doing a fantastic job of selling their opponent’s offense. The execution, from the mat work at the beginning to the high impact moves in the middle to the pinning combinations at the end, was incredible. The numerous momentum shifts and countless near fall situations raised the excitement factor and kept the fans into the match from bell to bell. Add to this the storyline and character development and you have yourself a contender for Match of the Decade. You simply aren’t going to find many WWE matches that are this good.
vs. Hakushi - In Your House
This was a fast paced cruiserweight style match that really shows how flexible Bret was in the ring. Hakushi would have seen a lot more success if more wrestlers were willing to work his style.
vs. Diesel - Survivor Series ‘95
This wasn’t your typical Match of the Year contender, but it was fantastic nonetheless. The pace here is very slow, but is also very deliberate. Bret’s first real move (an arm wringer) didn’t happen until eight minutes in and the first near fall didn’t take place until about ten minutes after that, but the match never seems too repetitive. Diesel almost seemed like a vicious monster from an old horror movie here and his slow pace made him seem very confident of victory. Surprisingly, Diesel did a fantastic job of selling his injury after Bret got on the offensive. Bret trying to keep his distance from Diesel accentuated both Bret’s intelligence and the incredible threat that Diesel imposed. The finish is easily one of the most memorable in the company’s long history. The table bump that Bret took was unlike what most fans ever seen before and the fans were sure that Bret was finished after it. Bret collapsing while Diesel was trying to Jackknife him only to surprise him with a pinfall was downright shocking. I have seen surprise victories before and since, but none were as well executed or as surprising as this one was. Both men have a match to be proud of in this one.
vs. Davey Boy Smith - In Your House V
Davey was a lot more confident here than he was at Summer Slam ‘92 and took on a bigger role as he was in control of the offense for the most of the match. The two did an excellent job in playing off of their previous battles, but managed to put on a entirely different match than they had in the past. Bret’s blade job was pretty brutal for that era and it was rare to see so much blood in a WWF ring. Although the winner of this match should have been obvious, they were successful in making the fans believe that Bret could not defeat Davey. This did not have the atmosphere or the historical significance that their previous match had, it was still incredible and a very strong contender for Match of the Year.
vs. Steve Austin - Wresltemania 13
One of the most important matches in the history of the business and every wrestling fan should be required to see it. Bret is known for being one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time, but he is also clearly one of the best brawlers of all time. The intensity of this match is impossible to capture with words and it seemed as though Austin and Bret really hated each other. Technically, this match was a masterpiece but, as with most of Bret’s matches, where it really excelled was in its storytelling aspects. The psychology in this match was brilliant with Bret relentless in his attack on Austin’s leg, and Austin doing a perfect job of selling his injury. The finish was also brilliant and created a situation in which the fans were guaranteed to get behind Austin and make him their new hero. It is downright remarkable how this match managed to turn Austin face and Bret heel without ever being too obvious about it. Steve Austin had many great matches prior to this one, but this is the night that he became a legend. This match paved the way for the Attitude era.
vs. Undertaker - One Night Only ‘97
This was Bret’s last great WWF match and arguably Undertaker’s best performance ever. The psychology here was great and I was shocked at how well Undertaker sold his injuries. This match completely blew their previous match from Summer Slam out of the water and, without the story revolving around Shawn Michaels, Bret and Undertaker were given all of the spotlight. This event was a UK-only PPV, but Bret pulled a few strings and had it shown in Canada as well. Sadly, Vince McMahon decided to burry this match. He did this to piss Bret off but was really doing an terrible injustice to the Undertaker as well. This match is undisputed proof that Undertaker does not suck and, with the right opponent, he can achieve greatness.
vs. Chris Benoit - Monday Nitro 10/04/99
These two had a few very solid matches in the past, but they were finally able to achieve greatness with this one. This contained several references to Stampede Wrestling and was a healthy dose of nostalgia for anyone familiar with that promotion. What also made this match great was its learned psychology. Bret and Benoit both went for several moves that had been successful for them in their previous matches only to have them be countered by their wizened opponent.
I’d better stop there. Simply put, Bret was the most dependable wrestler in the WWF’s history and could always be counted on to deliver in the ring regardless of whom he was facing. He was completely flexible in the ring and always willing to build the match around the style of his opponent to accentuate their strengths. He could wrestle or could brawl, he was successful as a heel and a face, he could work tag matches or gimmick matches, and was able to play both the underdog or the experienced veteran. His execution was flawless, he had little wasted movement in the ring, his false finishes and momentum shifts were always well timed, and he was the greatest storyteller I have ever seen.
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