[1994-07-09-WWF-Nassau Coliseum, NY] Bret Hart vs Owen Hart (60-Minute Iron Man)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I was going to tough this out, but I just watched it not too long ago anyway and know where I stand on it. It's nowhere near as good as the Flair Ironman, since Owen spends the first half of the match stalling. It does pick up toward the end, but not enough to really make this more than just a solid match. And 60 minutes is way too long to invest to just get a solid match. I still believe this needed to go on the yearbook. It's one of the most famous fancams -- and it's two well-regarded guys going an hour in a well-regarded feud. But I don't really care to ever see it again, despite liking the other matches in the rivalry.

[Gregor]

It's kind of funny that the end of regulation is almost exactly the same as that of WrestleMania XII, although the fact that Owen is the challenger changes the dynamic a little bit. Still, it's not hard to imagine Owen griping that they shouldn't have made him break the sharpshooter before heading to overtime, or that they should have let Owen put Bret back in the sharpshooter to restart the match.

[Kevin Ridge]

First time seeing this. I thought Owen was going to stay outside the ring and take a 10 count. He barely got back in. Would have been a bizarre way to lose a fall. No falls between the two for the longest period of time. I think there should have been atleast one in the first 20 minutes. Owen picks up two quick falls on back to back figure four leglocks. Curious as to why they didn’t use the Sharpshooter. I may end up liking this more then most people. Agreed that it should have had an earlier fall but with these guys involved I was really into the whole thing. Owen has the sharpshooter on as time runs on but we go to sudden death. Hebner is awful completely missing a pin attempt by Bret. Owen gets another sharpshooter but Bret ends up reversing it for the win.

[Exposer]

I actually thought this was great. Owen stalling for the first half of the match is an extreme exaggeration but he does do it a bit too long. The story of the match is Owen stalling for the first 5-10 minutes, Bret gets in some flashy armwork for several minutes, Owen gets on offense and uses the sleeper as a base (I don't mind the sleeper as a base but it was come back to all too often during this portion of the match making it a bit boring), Bret gets a flash pin for the first fall, Owen gets on back on offense and works Bret's leg, Owen ties it up with the figure 4, Owen goes up by one with the figure 4 again (Kind of wish he would have used another move there), Owen is back on the leg but Bret has a comeback and ties it up, it's back and forth in the waning moments and Owen has the Sharpshooter locked in but time expires, and in overtime and Bret reverses the Sharpshooter into his own to retain the belt. Yeah, there were definitely some faults in this. Owen did stall for too long but not terribly long. The middle portion of the match was middling at times because the sleeper was used as the base all too often. The last 20 minutes and OT were very strong. This was a great match but not a classic. It's really awesome that this was able to be taped though because it's such a gem.

[soup23]

Good match that bordered on great at some instances and meandered in other. I enjoyed the limb work in this match but I wish more fire was shown. I will reserve my judgement of the SUmmerslam match until I watch but I am worried at the more cartoonish angle Owen is going in this feud. They should have spaced in a couple of more falls in the first 30 minutes and I think this would have flowed a lot better. Something I am glad I have seen but don't know if I will ever need to see again.

[PeteF3]

The stalling was a little much but the 40-60 minute stuff was pretty terrific. They definitely made you wait for that first fall, and despite the stalling I kind of liked that, as you had some neat false finishes before Bret finally goes up 1-0. The downside is they pretty much used up all of their near-fall spots in regulation. Once overtime starts this gets into just trading holds back and forth, making the stretch run a real anticlimax when it should have been the most balls-out portion. I liked the Flair match better but I will say this went from background noise to something to really pay attention to as the match went on.

[Bix]

Trivia note: This took place during the steroid trial right down the street from the courthouse, with various traveling wrestling reporters in attendance.