Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2013 10:58:15 GMT -5
I apologize if this is a long read as much of this has been addressed in so many other threads but I feel it deserves its own place in the Classics Board.
1992
It's late 1992 and Vince McMahon is up to his neck in steroid trials and sex scandals. Many of his top talents have left to either WCW or were failing drug tests. Fresh off Summerslam 1992, Bret Hart is an upper mid carder who is reliable, safe, drug free and very popular worldwide. Vince approaches Bret and states "we've done everything we can with you...so now we are gonna put the world belt on you and you're going to have a long title reign". From there, Bret goes on to defeat WWF Champion Ric Flair at a house show in Canada for the belt. It's somewhat anti-climatic that the title changed at a house show. I'm not sure if they did it just because the show was held in Canada or if they were trying to boost house show attendance as they did the same thing with Backlund and Diesel approximately one year later. It can be assumed Bret was given the belt here because Hogan was filming movie/television, Ultimate Warrior was in and out of the company and Randy Savage was out to pasture. Bret goes on to defeat Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in his only PPV world title defense in 1992.
1993
Bret is considered to be a "champion defending against all comers" and the "most defending champion in history" by facing the likes of......Skinner and Papa Shango. Yeah, no big re-match with Ric Flair and no high profile feuds for Bret here. He goes on to defeat newly debuted Razor Ramon at Royal Rumble 1993 before losing to another newly debuted Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9. According to Bret, there was supposed to be 5 extra minutes in the match but Yokozuna was so blown up they had to end early. It's as shame as the match could have been so much more. Hogan decides to return and speaks with Vince about getting another run with the title to help promote his new Mr. Nanny movie. Vince caves in and Hogan ends up defeating Yokozuna in the same night in about 30 seconds. Bret was made to look like a fluke champion from the beginning. Bret goes on to King of the Ring and has a great match with Razor, the best match of his career with Perfect and an excellent match with Bam Bam Bigelow to win the tournament. Hogan makes ZERO appearances on Raw other than 2-3 pre taped interviews from a movie set and loses to Yokozuna under some bull sh*t finish where a fireball shoots him in the face and Yokozuna wins to send Hogan packing. It has been speculated that Hogan was set to face Bret Hart at Summerslam and photographs were even taken of them playing tug-o-war with the belt. Hogan then refused to drop the belt to Bret which led to them having a heated confrontation backstage. Hogan popped up in WCW a short time later while Yokozuna held the belt all through 1993 feuding with a re-packaged Lex Luguer which was a failed experiment to replace Hogan. Meanwhile, Bret was stuck feuding with...Jerry Lawler...yeah...Jerry Lawler and finished 1993 without a high profile PPV re-match with Yokozuna.
1994
Bret now starts to feud with his brother, Owen Hart, stemming from a match at Survivor Series 1993 where Owen was the only one from the team eliminated. Yokozuna feuds with the Undertaker and continues to hold the belt. Bret Hart and Lex Luger both win the Royal Rumble and go on to Wrestlemania X to face Yokozuna with Lex losing and Bret getting the victory and winning the belt. A great moment or Bret is when the entire face roster comes out at the end and hoists him on their shoulders in what you think would be Vince's way of saying "I'm sorry about last year, Bret Hart is now OFFICIALLY our guy". However, it wouldn't last as Bret has an excellent title defense against a new but popular Diesel at King of the Ring and then went on to continue his feud with Owen Hart for the remainder of 1994 (having a great steel cage match at Summer Slam) before losing the belt to...Bob Backlund...yeah...Bob Backlund who then goes on to lose to Diesel at 8 seconds on a house show. Vince literally does THE SAME THING to Bret two years in a row. Bret is again, thrown to the side for someone else to get the belt under bull sh*t circumstances. No high-profile re-match against Backlund for Bret here as Diesel has now become the man.
1995
Bret challenges Diesel at Royal Rumble which ends in a draw due to so much interference. No rematch takes place until MUCH later in the year. Bret goes on to FINALLY get a rematch with Bob Backlund at Wrestlemania 11 which is laughable and according to Bret, the worst match of his career. Diesel holds the belt during the entire spring/summer/fall of 1995 and has matches ranging from bad to awful against the likes of Sid, Mabel, British Bulldog and a slightly decent encounter with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania. Bret, however, gets suckered in to having absolute GARBAGE feuds with Jean Pierre Lafitte over a stolen ring jacket, a Japanese wrestler who doesn't speak in Hakushi, goes back to feuding with Jerry Lawler in a "kiss my foot match" at King of the Ring which leads to him facing with an evil dentist in Isaac Yankem at Summerslam. Some of these feuds produced good matches but were all beneath Bret Hart who should have been in top feuds and fighting for the title. Bret FINALLY gets a match with Diesel at Survivor Series in what is one of my favorite matches of all time. Bret defeats Diesel for his 3rd world championship. Bret then goes on to defeat British Bulldog in December in another 5 star match.
1996
After SEVERAL setbacks, injuries, controversies, failed drug tests, backstage issues, and more, Vince decides that Shawn Michaels is going to be his new star. Shawn wins the Royal Rumble while Bret has a match with Undertaker which is really just a way to kickstart a Diesel/Undertaker program. Bret goes on to face Diesel the following month which again ends in controversy as Undertaker comes up through the bottom of the ring and takes Diesel to Hell...or wherever that hole goes. Bret goes on to face Shawn Michaels in a 60 minute Ironman match before losing in overtime. Bret then decides to take time off during the summer/fall of 1996 to work on a television show, Lonesome Dove, and get some much needed time away from the business.
I don't feel the need to cover late 1996-1997 as I feel Bret was booked correctly and had a wonderful 1997 until Montreal. I wouldn't change a thing about Bret Hart in 1997. However, I feel the booking of Bret Hart during his peak babyface period was a joke. He was treated as second rate basically during the entire time. Hogan, Luger, Diesel and Shawn were all chosen over Bret before Vince realized what he had in Bret Hart was really the best thing for the business at the time. For Bret to be in those absolute BS feuds but still pulling out great matches in 1995 while Diesel was stinking up PPV after PPV in world title matches disgusts me. I agree Hogan, Luger and Diesel were all popular at their given times but Bret Hart should have been given the ball and allowed to run with it longer. Hogan NEVER should have won that belt at Wrestlemania 9. Luger should have continued his heel run and feuded with, still champion, Bret Hart in 1993. Also, Bret losing to Backlund was a joke. Sorry, but it was...if Bret was going to lose then it should have been to Owen who could then job to Diesel. I can actually understand the Shawn Michaels stuff in 1996 as Bret was taking time off anyway.
Just my two cents and opinions. Please feel free to leave yours. Thanks for reading! I know it was lengthy.
1992
It's late 1992 and Vince McMahon is up to his neck in steroid trials and sex scandals. Many of his top talents have left to either WCW or were failing drug tests. Fresh off Summerslam 1992, Bret Hart is an upper mid carder who is reliable, safe, drug free and very popular worldwide. Vince approaches Bret and states "we've done everything we can with you...so now we are gonna put the world belt on you and you're going to have a long title reign". From there, Bret goes on to defeat WWF Champion Ric Flair at a house show in Canada for the belt. It's somewhat anti-climatic that the title changed at a house show. I'm not sure if they did it just because the show was held in Canada or if they were trying to boost house show attendance as they did the same thing with Backlund and Diesel approximately one year later. It can be assumed Bret was given the belt here because Hogan was filming movie/television, Ultimate Warrior was in and out of the company and Randy Savage was out to pasture. Bret goes on to defeat Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in his only PPV world title defense in 1992.
1993
Bret is considered to be a "champion defending against all comers" and the "most defending champion in history" by facing the likes of......Skinner and Papa Shango. Yeah, no big re-match with Ric Flair and no high profile feuds for Bret here. He goes on to defeat newly debuted Razor Ramon at Royal Rumble 1993 before losing to another newly debuted Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9. According to Bret, there was supposed to be 5 extra minutes in the match but Yokozuna was so blown up they had to end early. It's as shame as the match could have been so much more. Hogan decides to return and speaks with Vince about getting another run with the title to help promote his new Mr. Nanny movie. Vince caves in and Hogan ends up defeating Yokozuna in the same night in about 30 seconds. Bret was made to look like a fluke champion from the beginning. Bret goes on to King of the Ring and has a great match with Razor, the best match of his career with Perfect and an excellent match with Bam Bam Bigelow to win the tournament. Hogan makes ZERO appearances on Raw other than 2-3 pre taped interviews from a movie set and loses to Yokozuna under some bull sh*t finish where a fireball shoots him in the face and Yokozuna wins to send Hogan packing. It has been speculated that Hogan was set to face Bret Hart at Summerslam and photographs were even taken of them playing tug-o-war with the belt. Hogan then refused to drop the belt to Bret which led to them having a heated confrontation backstage. Hogan popped up in WCW a short time later while Yokozuna held the belt all through 1993 feuding with a re-packaged Lex Luguer which was a failed experiment to replace Hogan. Meanwhile, Bret was stuck feuding with...Jerry Lawler...yeah...Jerry Lawler and finished 1993 without a high profile PPV re-match with Yokozuna.
1994
Bret now starts to feud with his brother, Owen Hart, stemming from a match at Survivor Series 1993 where Owen was the only one from the team eliminated. Yokozuna feuds with the Undertaker and continues to hold the belt. Bret Hart and Lex Luger both win the Royal Rumble and go on to Wrestlemania X to face Yokozuna with Lex losing and Bret getting the victory and winning the belt. A great moment or Bret is when the entire face roster comes out at the end and hoists him on their shoulders in what you think would be Vince's way of saying "I'm sorry about last year, Bret Hart is now OFFICIALLY our guy". However, it wouldn't last as Bret has an excellent title defense against a new but popular Diesel at King of the Ring and then went on to continue his feud with Owen Hart for the remainder of 1994 (having a great steel cage match at Summer Slam) before losing the belt to...Bob Backlund...yeah...Bob Backlund who then goes on to lose to Diesel at 8 seconds on a house show. Vince literally does THE SAME THING to Bret two years in a row. Bret is again, thrown to the side for someone else to get the belt under bull sh*t circumstances. No high-profile re-match against Backlund for Bret here as Diesel has now become the man.
1995
Bret challenges Diesel at Royal Rumble which ends in a draw due to so much interference. No rematch takes place until MUCH later in the year. Bret goes on to FINALLY get a rematch with Bob Backlund at Wrestlemania 11 which is laughable and according to Bret, the worst match of his career. Diesel holds the belt during the entire spring/summer/fall of 1995 and has matches ranging from bad to awful against the likes of Sid, Mabel, British Bulldog and a slightly decent encounter with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania. Bret, however, gets suckered in to having absolute GARBAGE feuds with Jean Pierre Lafitte over a stolen ring jacket, a Japanese wrestler who doesn't speak in Hakushi, goes back to feuding with Jerry Lawler in a "kiss my foot match" at King of the Ring which leads to him facing with an evil dentist in Isaac Yankem at Summerslam. Some of these feuds produced good matches but were all beneath Bret Hart who should have been in top feuds and fighting for the title. Bret FINALLY gets a match with Diesel at Survivor Series in what is one of my favorite matches of all time. Bret defeats Diesel for his 3rd world championship. Bret then goes on to defeat British Bulldog in December in another 5 star match.
1996
After SEVERAL setbacks, injuries, controversies, failed drug tests, backstage issues, and more, Vince decides that Shawn Michaels is going to be his new star. Shawn wins the Royal Rumble while Bret has a match with Undertaker which is really just a way to kickstart a Diesel/Undertaker program. Bret goes on to face Diesel the following month which again ends in controversy as Undertaker comes up through the bottom of the ring and takes Diesel to Hell...or wherever that hole goes. Bret goes on to face Shawn Michaels in a 60 minute Ironman match before losing in overtime. Bret then decides to take time off during the summer/fall of 1996 to work on a television show, Lonesome Dove, and get some much needed time away from the business.
I don't feel the need to cover late 1996-1997 as I feel Bret was booked correctly and had a wonderful 1997 until Montreal. I wouldn't change a thing about Bret Hart in 1997. However, I feel the booking of Bret Hart during his peak babyface period was a joke. He was treated as second rate basically during the entire time. Hogan, Luger, Diesel and Shawn were all chosen over Bret before Vince realized what he had in Bret Hart was really the best thing for the business at the time. For Bret to be in those absolute BS feuds but still pulling out great matches in 1995 while Diesel was stinking up PPV after PPV in world title matches disgusts me. I agree Hogan, Luger and Diesel were all popular at their given times but Bret Hart should have been given the ball and allowed to run with it longer. Hogan NEVER should have won that belt at Wrestlemania 9. Luger should have continued his heel run and feuded with, still champion, Bret Hart in 1993. Also, Bret losing to Backlund was a joke. Sorry, but it was...if Bret was going to lose then it should have been to Owen who could then job to Diesel. I can actually understand the Shawn Michaels stuff in 1996 as Bret was taking time off anyway.
Just my two cents and opinions. Please feel free to leave yours. Thanks for reading! I know it was lengthy.
ing Sid and Mabel). Especially when you factor in that Diesel had essentially won the title from a jobber (at the time) in an 8 second match that no one saw. Plus turning him face really hurt his badass character. 96 Tweener Diesel was one of the best wrestling personalities ever.
