[1994-08-29-WWF-Summerslam] Bret Hart vs Owen Hart (Cage)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I wanted to like this, and since I remembered nothing at all about this match, I was looking forward to it. But it was disappointing. I blame the WWF style more than I blame Bret and Owen. Pinfall/submission rules instead of cage escapes would have made for a much better match in this case, because they spent too much of this match climbing. There are a few mildly cool moments where they milk the drama of the escape really well, but not enough to really get into this. Incredibly repetitive match. I didn't even think this was that good, much less deserving of all of the praise it has received. I wish they had actually wrestled (or brawled, or something other than just endless teased escapes) more. This was way too long.

[Cox]

I remember even as a punk 15 year old kid who didn't know shit about wrestling, I hated this match for most of the same reasons Loss discusses above. WAY too much focus on cage escapes when the two of them wrestling could have had another terrific match like Wrestlemania X. I haven't seen it since I was 15, but even though my tastes have changed, I can't imagine my opinion on this one will have changed much at all.

[Frankensteiner]

This was such a great match. Re-watched this a few months back and still loved it. In fact, I would easily consider this a top 10 match in company history. They did a hell of a job keeping this logical and exciting at the same time. I also recall loving how well they built up to the big spots. Owen was a total brat, so trying to escape the cage and run away with the title really fit his character more so than trying to go toe-to-toe in the cage with his older brother.

[Loss]

It was logical for sure -- they were both trying to win -- but I was really bored. This was excruciating to watch, more so than any 60-minute draw I've encountered on any yearbook.

[Frankensteiner]

It was logical for sure -- they were both trying to win -- but I was really bored. This was excruciating to watch, more so than any 60-minute draw I've encountered on any yearbook.

I guess it might be a love it/hate it type match. I recall it placing pretty high on the SC WWF matches poll. I personally prefer this to the WM X match.

 

EDIT: After a little checking, it placed #14. Also got a #1 vote. I didn't participate in that poll but could easily see myself putting this at #1 if I had.

[Strummer]

I guess growing up mainly on the WWF style this match had us going crazy at the time. We were going batshit at all the teases and climbing spots. I was drenched in sweat by the time the match was over. My cousin and I were the only ones rooting for Owen and we loved the post match beatdown. I can remember him clearly saying "Yeah Bret won the match but what about NOW" This was the most fun period for me to watch wrestling with other kids/relatives. By 1997 or so most had stopped watching or didn't care anymore. 93-96 was the best as far as pure fun goes

[Marty]

This match to me showed that, as good as both guys are, 20 minutes is the perfect time for them, as WM showed. This went between 30 and 35...and felt even longer. It has its moments, but it's not that great a match when one of the things I remember more than anything is Bruce and Jim's bickering in the audience. Post-match stuff was very good, with very good use of Davey Boy.

[Kevin Ridge]

I grew up watching WWF cage matches so to me this was a great match. Yes, it doesn't have pinfall/submissions involved but as far as match based around escapes, I think Bret and Owen are fantastic. Back in 94, I had this match neck and neck with the WrestleMania one as two of my favorite matches. Over time, I have put the WrestleMania match higher than this but I still feel this holds up well. It doesn't have blood involved like typical cage match and they do kind of start the slow climbing a bit early into the match. I think if they kept it to the mat a bit longer to start there may not have been some of the repetitions later in the match. Bret and Owen do a great job using the cage, fighting each off repeatedly when trying to climb. Loved the drama with the escapes and can still remember when I saw this live the last escape attempt as both men climb down the same side of the cage battling all the way.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I'm with Loss. When I saw it live on ppv, I thought it was ok. I watched it again recently and was bored to tears. I never much cared for the big blue cage, and in a cage match I want blood and violence, like TA/ Tully.

[Exposer]

The first two-thirds of this was boring as hell with excessive attempts at an escape. I thought the final third was great and the finish was tremendous. The drama was great and there were some nice escape spots. Ultimately, this is a good match that is hampered severely by endless attempts at escaping the cage. This would have been far better if it was pinfall or submission with intense brawling.

[soup23]

A match where you either except the escape stipulation or don't and resent the match as a whole because of it. I thought for what they were presented with they did the best match possible. The escapes were at least dramatic and paced well and they did show glimpses of a real brawl within the match. Could they have had another all time classic match with a hate filled cage match? Possibly, but this was a still a strong effort that is just below the real elite stuff from the year for me.

[BackToBionic]

I watched this the first time around 97 I think and I remember not being too impressed with it, but I just rewatched it and it wasn't too bad, given the restrictions (ie: no blood) they had at the time. The commentary was minimal which was probably for the best

[Jingus]

I'm with Loss too. Way too damn long, and half the match seemed to consist of one guy sloooooowly trying to crawl out of the cage while the other guy was grabbing onto their foot and trying to hold them back. How is that "action"? WWF cage matches can be done perfectly well, as has been evidenced on many occasions, but this was ten minutes of good stuff ruined by thirty minutes of pointless filler.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

I love this match. I'd always ask myself why someone didn't just try to run out of the cage when I was watching WWF cage matches. That's exactly what Owen and Bret tried to do. Finally someone used common sense while stuck inside that big blue ugly cage!

 

The purpose of the match is to win, right? I suppose you could argue that it's a cage match and guys might want to try and bloody up their opponent and inflict permanent injury, but there's plenty of time to do that after the match is over. Trying to bolt out of the cage and get an easy win makes perfect sense and, IMO, made for a different and unique match.

[Guest TheGreatPuma]

I can't say enough about this epic, unique match in its captivation of me. It is pure magic and it is at the very top of my fav list for cage matches. It is definitely my fav WWF cage match. I'm glad it exists because I can't think of another match like it. This is yet another example of Bret Hart at his best. Owen rules too.

[BlueGuy]

A surprisingly boring match. Outside of Hennig and Austin, I think Owen is Bret's best opponent so the fact this match seemed so dull is frankly shocking. Nevertheless, I thought this match was boring when I watched it live and almost 20 years later that same feeling rings true.

[PeteF3]

I was prepared to slog my way through this, as my memories watching it live conform to most of what's been posted here. Imagine my surprise when I thought this actually was pretty good. Oh, calling it ***** or any kind of MOTY is batshit crazy even by '94 WWF standards, and the match definitely suffers from length. Steiners/Money Inc. and the Bret/Yokozuna matches are much tighter examples of how escape rules with '90s WWF PG limitations can be worked. Still, this had some great intense work in the beginning and better spots than I remembered, like both guys repeatedly diving for the closing door and both guys taking great crotch bumps onto the top rope. There are probably about 5 or 6 more attempted climbs and teases than there needed to be, even if the "near falls" are done quite well. A pretty insane crowd helps this tremendously. Throw in a terrific, JCP-style post-match with babyfaces trying to storm a padlocked cage, and all in all you have a match I ended up enjoying more than I expected.

[mprice]

Wow, I am much more in the majority than I realized. I have watched this match probably at least 5 times since I first saw it and I have had the same reaction.

 

This match just isn't that great, especially when considering how much I enjoyed Wrestlemania 10. I even thought the Action Zone rematch was better than this, though that finish sucked some kinda bad.

 

It wasn't the climbing and diving that got to me and made me cringe; it was just the sheer length of "these two have a non-bloody blood feud and it needs to be settled in an epic cage match where very little actually happens." I understand they were trying to go for an epic feel, but there seemed to be something intangible that was missing.

[Zenjo]

But it's so small!

 

It's a famous match that I've seen before and obviously the lack of height is very well known. So I thought that going in I was psychologically prepared for its minuteness. It must have been 15m before I started to somewhat come to terms with it. That's when I realised what a boring match was taking place.

 

If it had been a proper mesh cage that would've been okay as it's tough to climb. Pinfall or submission only would've been fine. But having a kiddies climbing frame and the open door as well. Anything longer than a 5m bout is a stretch in those conditions.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs Owen Hart - WWF Summerslam 1994

 

Remember thinking this was awful. Here we go...

 

First Half: Bret has strep. The first five minutes are pretty damn good. Owen jumps Bret. They have a great, heated slugfest. This is the natural progression from their technical classic at Mania. Let the fists fly! I really thought it was good as were the lunges for the cage door. I think building the match around actually winning which means to escape is fine and is quite logical. The problem was they were selling 5 minutes into the match like the match only had 5 minutes left. They had a pretty good slugfest so I get the extreme selling. The problem is they had TWENTY-SEVEN minutes left! So their selling was excessive was killing the momentum. Also Owen really didn't do anything all that heelish. Because they were constantly escaping, that meant someone had to stop the other from escaping which fucked up their selling. No one could build any sort of momentum because they were constantly escape->cutoff->other tries to escape. So there was no heat segment. I absolutely loathe when someone's entire body is out of the cage and they pull them back in by the hair. It looks so lame because the other had to clearly help get his legs over the cage in a safe way. I hope the second half is better, but don't see how it can be.

 

Second Half: Funny enough, the beginning of the second half was better. It helped that Owen went into cage three times. I thought they built to the escapes better with some more moves in between. Owen's piledriver was great. I also like how Owen cutoff Bret but crotched himself. Bret burst of energy with rapid fire punches was great. But God did they grind this back to a halt with like ten minutes left. Just aimless escape attempts. Nothing felt memorable. Until the superplex from the top of the cage that was badass, but that ruined by another blocked escape. What was the point of dueling Sharpshooters if the finish was just them both hanging over the edge of the cage and then Owen getting his foot trapped.

 

There was no hook. Really only the superplex was memorable but Hogan/Bossman has the market cornered on that. No heat segment. No way to build drama. Logical, yes. Dramatic, no. Boring and not worth the time. Way, way too long.

[Righteous River]

This was just an insanely exciting and dramatic match. I understand that a lot of people don't like the constant cage escape attempts but I am okay with it because this isn't a hate-filled, bloody, grudge feud. It is emotional and resentful but it is still based on competition. It is about proving who is a better wrestler and finding a way to outdo your opponent and be the first to escape the cage is a form of a technical battle in its own way. Some specific moments in this match felt like a petty brotherly squabble and that is exactly the point. So I commend the decision to do something unique with this match. It was extremely long but it didn't feel it because they kept the pace brisk, there wasn't blatant downtime, and the cage escape attempts were all built to or culminated in really creative ways. I love the violent cage match brawls as much as anyone but if you're going to do this type of match, it literally can't be done any better. (****3/4)