[1993-08-29-USWA-Mid-South Coliseum] Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler (Cage)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Clips of a cage match where Bret seems to be channeling Savage as a heel. Bret seems really comfortable in this role, even giving Lawler an awesome looking set of piledrivers. For someone who hates the style so much, he totally gets it. Probably the best match these two have had together, since it's really the only one where Lawler wasn't a cartoon character. I wish the whole match was available.

 

Owen Hart tries to climb the cage and interfere, but Jeff Jarrett comes out to stop him. Then, Giant Gonzales gets the key and to make this really weird, Bret and Gonzales double team Lawler. Gonzales ends up hitting Bret by mistake, giving Lawler a pinfall. (I guess since it's a cage match, it's no DQ.)

 

Bret continues the heel beatdown after the match, putting Lawler in the sharpshooter.

 

Bret doesn't need his case strengthened, but what we get of this match is seriously a worthy addition to some of his best performances, mainly because he paces the match so well and his stuff all looks really good.

[RWOOD]

Almost all of Brets appareances on USWA TV during this run are on Youtube. I spent the afternoon a while ago watching them (and the McMahon run delightfully titled "McMemphis") and it was a great deal of fun.

 

Lawler hulking up is fantastic.

 

Bret plays the heel role so damn well but I can't help but cheer him being Canadian and all ... Spitting on Lawler after he and Gigante get the heat is such a great touch to the match.

 

Even the clothesline that gets Lawler the pin is well done and the stoogy reaction from the big man here is something I wish could happen more in modern WWE. Finishes like this never look good anymore. He looks genuinely dumbfounded that he clocked Bret just long enough to make the suprise pin by Lawler look good. The heel beatdown at the end is also great foreshadowing for what is to come in this fued.

 

Great contrast to what was happening at the same time in the WWF. A lot more entertaining too. Kinda wish I was watching this stuff as a kid.

[Kevin Ridge]

We got that close to full Perfect/Lawler match so it disappointing this was edited as was. Bret was great in his role as the heel in Memphis. Ducking out of the ring to avoid Lawler. Doing the begging off spot which is funny in itself. Lawler had a great comeback with the punches. Owen and Jarrett get involved outside the ring as Giant Gonzales gets inside the cage! Him and Bret team up which is another good one with the high five. Lawler gets the pin off some miscommunication by the heels. We get the super Sharpshooter with Bret getting additional leverage with Gonzales pulling back on Hart to add more to hold.

[PeteF3]

Bret is having too much fun playing Memphis chickenshit heel. Lawler comes back and scores the pin thanks to blown interference from Giant Gonzalez. Okay, in a promotion that featured the Hart Brothers aligned with Bert Prentice and Paul Neighbors aligning with Vince McMahon, the team of Bret Hart & Giant Gonzalez may stand out as the weirdest duo of them all.

[soup23]

Pretty awesome match from the clips. Hart embraces his role head on and is a great heel stalking back as Lawler moves forward. The other thing I enjoyed about this was everyone trying to scale the cage with Hart and Jarrett. I didn't even mind Giant Gonzales coming in although that is a pretty severe let down from the Hart vs. Lawler stuff we have seen lately. Almost assuredly this would have been in my top 100 matches for the year if it was complete.

[garretta]

Forget Bret; this was the best I've seen Gigante look in his whole career. When did he actually learn what to do inside a ring? Seriously, I'd have loved to see him align with Bret in Memphis, then turn around and help Lawler the next night at SummerSlam. It wouldn't have meant much unless people had seen both matches, but it still would have been neat.

 

Bret was tremendous as the heel , and he looked better here than he did in his eighties heel run, which he should have since he was more experienced. What I liked most was that he actually wrestled ​instead of just doing heel cheating spots, which is probably more than we'll be able to say for Lawler after the SummerSlam match. His piledrivers in particular looked extra good; as Loss said, he understands the Memphis style well enough to know what a killer move that is in most matches, so he really put all he had into it both times he used it. Lawler's selling helped out too, as he really looked like he may have been too hurt to continue (although, of course, he would).

 

I don't really get having Owen and Jeff interfere so soon; they were going at it on the floor a good five minutes before Gigante's final interference, which was just plain too long. The cameraman seemed confused at one point as to whether he should pay attention to them or to Bret and Lawler in the ring, and I can hardly blame him. They should have had Owen lead out Gigante, do the spot where Gigante forced his way in and hit Bret, let Lawler get the win, then done a triple-team on Lawler until Jeff and someone else (I don't know who) could make the save.

 

Corey was at his usual worst. By the way, did you know that the time of the match was 14:39? That seemed to be all Corey could say while the beatdown on Lawler was going on, and it got to be excruciating. Lance gave the time once, maybe twice. So does Dave. Corey gave it at least four times because he had nothing else to add except for "I wish they'd get outta here!" Yeah, and I wish for a supermodel girlfriend too, Corey. Just shut your mouth if you can't say something constructive. And while you're at it, learn the difference between the Sharpshooter and a Boston crab. Surely you've seen enough WWF TV to know what Bret's finisher is called, and if you haven't, that's just one more reason why you shouldn't be commentating on matches which involve him. The one night they were able to use Dave, since it was a Sunday, and they either didn't think of it or he wasn't available. What a shame. I can't wait to see the Hennig match; I just hope that Corey doesn't ruin that one too.

 

One big match down with these two and one to go. Let's just hope Vince doesn't get too cute at SummerSlam; he's already damaged Lawler enough.

[ajtroma]

Corey wont get any better either. Who can forget when the Orient Express came in and he didnt know Kato's name, referring to him only as "That Big Guy"? Razor Ramon will end up defending the "International" title when he rolls in. Terry Gordy does a run-in during the USWA-SMW run and he literally has no idea who that is. The timekeeper can be heard clueing him in.
​Happy viewing.

[garretta]

Thanks a lot, AJ! (This time, that was meant as sarcasm. No offense.)

 

Seriously, I wonder how Corey got the job. Even if they wanted a black co-host for Dave, surely there was someone out there who was both black and ​a knowledgeable wrestling person.

 

I could understand the International/Intercontinental mistake......once. Same with Kato, although Corey should have made it his business to know about the OX. But not to know Terry Gordy in one of the places where he cut his teeth? Good grief. Maybe they should have had a different fan come out of the stands every week to co-host with Dave. Surely they couldn't have done much worse.