[1994-05-07-WWF-Yokohama, JAP] Bret Hart vs Randy Savage

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

So based on the Savage bio in the WON, we know the backstory is that Bret and Savage wanted to do a long, classic match since they never really had the chance to face each other, and they were told by the road agents the day of this show that it wasn't to be, and that they only had about 15 minutes for their match.

 

And this is pretty disappointing as a result. It feels like the build toward a strong match, but there's no payoff for it. I like the pacing, but it didn't have enough time to play itself out. Also, the match isn't really aggressive enough to get over in Japan the way it should.

 

The big highlight is the guy filming mocking WWF catchphrases in his Japanese voice.

 

"Haha, UNBELIEVABLE!"

[Kevin Ridge]

A lot of mat based work early. Savage gets in a couple flying smashes. Don’t get why WWF was sticking him in the background at this point. With their lack of star power, I feel like he still could have contributed more in 93-94. Slow pace to start so it feels like they are going to have a long match. But they go to the finish part of match too soon. I wanted to like this match more with the guys involved so it is a big disappointing.

[Matt D]

I'm biased on this match. It's the only thing I watched the day Randy died. I hadn't seen it before and it seemed like a really natural thing. I like what was there as they were really trying, but yeah, it's a pale reflection of what could have been I guess.

[Exposer]

This could have been so much better. It was good for the time they were give but nothing really got kicked into gear. It was a solid match but only a flash of what could have been.

[soup23]

Disappointing match sprinkled with some cool moments. It was nice to see Savage heel it up.

[FLIK]

Guess i'm alone but I loved this match. I suppose if a heavy action, high impact match is what you wanted then I can see how you wouldn't dig it as much but I loved this for the story/psychology of Bret being the better man forcing Savage to get more & more desperate with his tactics.

[PeteF3]

This actually starts of pretty promising. The matwork is well-done considering matwork is almost the precise opposite of Savage's forte. And Savage's escalating aggression is cool to watch. But the match kind of dies off after that--Savage's control segment isn't particularly compelling and the ending is pretty out-of-nowhere, though Savage doing a clean tapout isn't something you see that often. These guys do win over the Japanese crowd but it's basically a WWF house show match with Japanese-style audience responses. This would be an acceptable house show match after the conflict at MSG in the Savage/Lawler match but the WWF's first independent main event in Japan probably could have been better.