[1990-02-11-WWF-Wrestling Challenge] Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Probably the first singles match these two ever had. Kind of long and uneventful, and quickly breaks out into a Hart Foundation/Rockers brawl with a non-finish. I don't understand why the WWF - not exactly a bastion of babyface feuds at the time - always wanted to pit these teams against each other.

[PeteF3]

The action is pretty fun while it lasts though this is mostly inconsequential--almost no babyface match that wasn't a WM6 main event ever had a decisive finish in the WWF. A fun historical footnote.

[soup23]

First time matchup and sometimes wrestling history is funny because this is only 7.5 years until Survivor series but that feels like a lifetime from now watching this match. In contrast, it definitely doesn't feel like that much has changed since Cena first won the belt 7.5 years ago now. Basic matchup that eventually breaks down into a brawl. More here for historical purposes than as a standalone great match.

[Kevin Ridge]

The European uppercut/backslide reversal looked really smooth. Quick action paced match. Outside tag partners get involved. Too bad they didn’t get more time. Good addition in the yearbook setting as it’s the beginning 90’s wise of what happens between these two guys over the years.

[Cox]

Good action that felt like it was going somewhere but then we get the non-finish. It's always weird to hear Tony Schiavone calling a WWF match. He and Gorilla just don't work well together, probably because Gorilla is doing too much PBP when he should be doing color. Is this the only Shawn Michaels singles match that Schiavone ever called?

[Johnny Sorrow]

This reminded me of how Gorilla always put over Bret Hart, even back when the Foundation debuted.

[Laney]

Nice seeing the first match between these two, but it was uneventful for the most part. I disagree with the finish here since in my eyes it shouldn't have been a double DQ, Jannetty blatantly interfered and that was when the bell was rang. Bret should have rightfully won this match.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Could not agree with Soup more. Wrestling seems so stagnant now. It feels like the product presentation has not changed since 2003.

 

Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart 2/90 Wrestle Challenge

 

The Anvil does the world's most clumsy job giving Bret's shades to a kid. I hope he was not the ring-bearer at anyone's wrestling. They do some basic face vs face wrestling to prove they are equals. Bret busts out the sequence from their MSG match where Bret does a reverse atomic drop and hits a clothesline. Hey Bret misses an elbow too. Deja vu. Bret does his euro uppercuts into backslide sequence. Now they do Bret's backbreaker countered into a slam sequence. Bret is making Shawn look really good here, not a total knock on Shawn, but an observation. They fight over a vertical suplex in the ropes. Neither one wants to break. Shawn shoves Bret and Bret hits Shawn with a straight right. Marty gets on the apron and hits Bret with a straight right and it breaks down to a melee. It definitely presented an interesting angle on TV between two biggest face teams besides Demolition. At this point, the roster was way too babyface heavy and this shook things up.

[JerryvonKramer]

Very strange commentary team here.

 

I did like how heated things got just before the finish. Kind of interesting in a face vs. face setting. I wonder which team would have been more turnable at this time.

 

Interesting also that they were sort of booked as equals here.

[garretta]

Short but sweet match used to tease a Rockers/Harts tag feud more than anything else. As usual in these captain's matches (at least in the WWF), the partners interfere and the whole thing gets tossed. As some others have said, this probably wouldn't be on here if not for Montreal.

 

Tony and Gino are awkward together to say the least. If Tony had stayed in the WWF, it might have been best for Vince to move one of them to Superstars, where each of them could have paired well with Jesse. But we all know how likely it was that Vince would have given up the A show, so Tony would probably have been relegated to the Coliseum Video/Prime Time exclusives with Lord Alfred, since he didn't work well with Heenan in the WWF any more than he did in WCW. Gino turns semi-heel here just for the hell of it, claiming that he loves the tension between the two teams. Weird to hear from good old Uncle Gorilla.

[drew wardlaw]

I like the tags team workers in a singles match dynamic. Pretty even back and forth match. I'm not too familiar with the teams here, I know The Rockers are faces and I think the Hart Coundation was as well? I thought Jannetty was going to heel it up with the ref but it just broke down instead. I enjoyed this a good deal actually, neat piece of history.

[Badlittlekitten]

It was cool to see Bret and Shawn so early on here. Great action while it lasts and Shawn hits a beauty of a dropkick. They fight for a few minutes to a non-finish and like every Shawn/Bret encounter you're left feeling "Oh, what could've been".