[1997-03-24-WWF-Raw] Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Bret does one of the best interviews of all time, recapping the previous year's events and explaining his heel turn in convincing fashion. It's long, but it's worth every minute. It's official - Bret Hart is a babyface all over the world just as much as ever, but he's now a heel in the United States.

 

Shawn Michaels comes out and I think in some ways ruins this by shooting on Bret for not dropping the title to him without putting up a stink at Wrestlemania XII and calling him a mark. I love when Shawn says he never got bent out of shape about fans booing him and the single guy screaming "YOU ARE A LIAR!", which is sort of true after a few temper tantrums directed toward ringside fans who were heckling him in the previous year. The tension between the two is definitely there and that's the big point, but Bret is working an angle first and foremost and Shawn is venting first and foremost.

 

Anyway, this ends with Shawn telling Bret he's willing to fight if he wants, but Bret ends up jumping Shawn from behind.

 

Great segment, with Bret's portion being an all-time classic heel promo.

[soup23]

This is one of the all time great promos. In some ways, I think this created the template for the 20 minute raw opening. Bret takes his time getting to his final point but he had a lot to say and he felt justified so it felt integral instead of just killing time. Michaels comes out and mucks it up and I must say even now my emotions is to not cheer for either of these guys. The interaction between them to and the brawling felt justified and Bret has been utilizing the post figure four effectively.

[TheMike520]

This was one of my favorite promos of all time. I actually transcribed every word that was said for the review I wrote of this episode on Raw at the History of WWE years ago. If you want to read the whole thing, I'll copy and paste that below:

 

To start the second hour, JR introduces the Hitman, and it’s time for Bret Hart to speak his mind. Bret takes the microphone from JR and starts to speak while JR stands in the corner. Vince wonders if Bret will apologize for his actions last night.

 

Bret: “First of all, first of all, I want to apologize. I’d like to apologize to all of my fans over in Germany. I’d like to apologize to all of my great fans over in Great Britain. Actually, I’d like to apologize to all of my fans all over Europe, all over in Japan, and the Far East. I’d like to apologize to my fans in the Middle East, all the way as far down as South Africa and I’d especially like to apologize to all of my great fans in Canada. And to you, my fans right here across the United States of America, to you, I apologize for nothing.”

 

“You know, it seems really strange to me that no matter how much I try, that when I beat “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to a blood pulp, you know, I find myself, no matter how much I win, when I walk back to the dressing room, the way you American fans treat me across the United States of America, I feel like I lost. And you take a gutless creep like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and you beat him to a blood pulp, even though he knows, and you all know that he lost, you cheer him on the way back to the dressing room, like he won! You know, it didn’t just start right here, let’s go back to Wrestlemania last year when I was the World Wrestling Federation champion. When that belt was around my waist, where it belonged. You cheered on a pretty boy like Shawn Michaels and you allowed him to screw me out of the World Wresting Federation championship belt.” At this point, the camera shows Vince, who is sitting at the announce table and looks disturbed.

 

“I found myself sitting at home watching the WWF on TV in Canada and saying to myself, ‘The World Wrestling Federation needs a role model, they need someone they can look up to.’ Not somebody that’s got earrings all over himself and tattoos. Not somebody that poses for girly magazines. By the way, I don’t think it was a girly magazine, I think it was a gay magazine.” The crowd is chanting for Austin. “So I found this calling for myself to come back and set the record straight and clean up the World Wrestling Federation. So I came back in the Survivor Series and I beat “Stone Cold” Steve Austin there and I think I garnered a little respect. So then I find myself stepping in the ring with Sycho Sid and your hero, your pride and joy, Shawn Michaels, cost me the World Wrestling Federation championship belt. Nobody cared. Nobody did a thing about it. You people didn’t do a thing about it.”

 

“So they say ‘Oh, don’t worry about that. You can get in line with 29 other guys and you can go in the Royal Rumble.’ But being the man that I am, I got no problem fighting 29 other guys, so I went in the Royal Rumble and I won. I was the last legal man standing in the Royal Rumble. But again, everyone just turns their back on it. You somehow justify in your minds that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin won. You know, a better man, a better man would have quit. And maybe I should have quit and gone home.”

 

Vince at the booth: “You did Bret. That’s what you threatened.”

 

Bret: “I got Gorilla Monsoon and Vince McMahon on their hands and knees begging me to come back…. ‘Don’t quit! Don’t quit! Think of your fans.’” We see Vince again and now he looks disappointed. “Now, I thought of my fans, and I came back. So they came up with this idea for the Final Four. The winner of the Final Four will get a World Wrestling Federation title fight at Wrestlemania 13. That sounds good to me. I accept. I come back. And all of a sudden, your champion, your hero, Shawn Michaels, comes up with this life-ending… career-ending knee injury (Bret sarcastically wipes imaginary his eyes) and he forfeits the title so he can go home and find his smile. That’s okay. You people think that that’s just fine – I see everyone crying in the audience for that. You talk about me crying! So I go into the Final Four with the outcome now being whoever wins the Final Four will be the World Wrestling Federation champion. And who won the Final Four? I did. Right in the middle of the ring, I defeated three other guys in one night. I defeated Vader, I defeated “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and I defeated the Undertaker and I became the World Wrestling Federation champion for a fourth time. Then they come up to me and they go ‘Well, wait a minute. You don’t get to rest, even though you fought three other guys, even though you’re beat up and sore, you gotta go in and fight six foot nine Sycho Sid ands defend the title.’ And do you think I ran and hide? You think you went and found me forfeiting any titles? No. I put the title on the line and I took Sycho Sid and I tied him in a big knot right in the middle of the ring. And there he was in the Sharpshooter. After being booed all the way through the match by my American wrestling fans, you somehow justify – only in American you can do this – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin climbs right up on the ring and whacks me over the back of the head with a chair. Somehow, you justify that that is okay, that is acceptable in America.”

 

“So I ask, or as you see it, I cried, to Gorilla Monsoon. And I asked, and I begged and I pleaded, I said, “Give me “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Give me a match with this guy who seems to be making my life a miserable hell. So I get “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and they agree to a match, a submission match. And then they go, ‘Well wait, we even got some better news for you. We will give you Sycho Sid in a 15-foot high steel cage match and nobody will be able to interfere in that and you will be able to have your shot at the World Wrestling Federation championship belt, because we respect you.’ Well, in that match, outside interference played a big factor again. And somehow, for some reason, the Undertaker is out there, and he finds himself slamming my head in the door and costing me the World Wrestling Federation championship belt, for a fifth time! So I got one thing on my mind – after being screwed over by everybody in the World Wrestling Federation, after being abandoned by all of you good fans right here in the United States of America, I decided that I am going to go into this submission match with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and give him just a little bit of what he deserves; just a good old-fashioned ass whipping. And so when I do it, when I actually take that lousy stinking hyena, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and beat him to a bloody pulp, you somehow find it in your hearts to abandon me and cheer for him.” Vince: “The poison is spewing from Bret Hart.” Bret: “You know, I’ve proven myself so many times here in the World Wrestling Federation, and I’ve tried to be everything that you wanted me to be, but it seems to me that you don’t understand, you don’t understand what it means to have dignity, to have poise, to bring prestige to the World Wrestling Federation, to be a man that brings a little class because you’d rather cheer for heroes like Charles Manson and OJ Simpson and nobody glorifies criminal conduct like the American do. In the all the countries I go to around the world, they still respect what’s right and what’s wrong. Respect. Now that we’ve made everything really clear with ourselves tonight, it’s obvious to me that all you American wrestling fans coast-to-coast, you don’t respect me. Well, the fact is, I don’t respect you. You don’t deserve it. So from here on in, the American wrestling fans, coast-to-coast, can kiss my ass!” Bret hands the microphone back to JR, who has been standing in the corner for the past 12 + minutes listening to Bret unload.

 

All of a sudden, Shawn Michaels’ voice comes over the PA system. “Yo, Hitman….” and HBK makes his way into the arena. Shawn: “Let’s get one thing perfectly straight. You can come out here and say whatever you want about me. Everyone does. And you don’t have to explain to me or the World Wrestling Federation that you would never give up the WWF title, because no one knows better than me, or the WWF, that it takes a hand written note from the Lord almighty to get that belt from you.” Michaels makes his way to the ring. “But Bret, what you don’t understand, is that just because I come out here and choose to live my life openly and freely instead of putting on a façade, like you, does not make you a better man Bret. I am well aware of my faults – I can admit them up and down the line. As far as Steve Austin is concerned – Bret, I was there last night. He didn’t give up. All right? Now, I’m no fan of Steve Austin’s but he passed out, and even you have to admit – somewhere in there, there’s gotta be some of the old Hitman left, even you’ve got to admit that he is one tough SOB. Now Bret, I have tried and tried and tried to take the high round. Now, I am in no shape to wrestling, and I know, I know…. you’re tougher than me, blah blah blah blah blah…. the whole thing…. I admit that, that’s fine. I don’t have to be number one Bret, I don’t obsess, like you do. I do this because I like it. You do it because, in your mind, mark man, you really think all of this is yours. Now, what you need to understand, is that every time they reach into their pocket and pay money to watch you, me or anybody else, they have the right to cheer or boo anybody they want. Now, hey, hey, you don’t have to tell me…. They’re cheering me now, but they booed – they booed me before. But you didn’t see me get all bent out of shape about it. You wanna know why Bret? It’s because in this country, we have something that’s called, The First Amendment. And that, and that amendment allows us to live our lives they way we see fit, as long as it is causing harm to no one.” Bret continues to just stand there, glaring a hole through HBK.

 

Shawn: “If that guy there wants to stick a belly button piercing through his navel, he can do it whether you like it or not. If that girl over there chooses to go out with someone that you don’t approve of, tough titty said the kitty, cause she’s gonna do it. Now I don’t want to get on my high and mighty roller coaster here Bret, but you my friend have got to look at this. I’m in no shape to go, but if you wanna go, what the hell, let’s go now. You know something, we’ve got a saying in the United States of America, and it’s called, America: Love it or Leave it.”

 

Bret goes back over the JR, who is still in the corner, and takes the microphone back. “Shawn Michaels… Boy Toy. I think you should go back to the dressing room. Just get the hell out of my face.” At this point, HBK, who was about two steps away from Bret, takes a step closer to him.

 

HBK: “You know me, Bret. I’m not real good with authority. By the way, how’d you know I was in that girly magazine? You couldn’t help yourself, could you? You had to flip through the pages just a little bit!” Bret gives a mocking laugh and turns around to walk away. JR finally exits the ring, and HBK turns around as well. At this point, Bret Hart turns back around and goes right after HBK’s bad knee, from behind. Bret drags HBK to the ring post and locks the figure four on around the post! HBK is screaming as two referees appear to try and break the hold, but to no avail. All of a sudden we hear the sound of a headset hitting the announce table, followed by King saying “Where are you going, McMahon!” JR tells us Vince is going over to the ring post! Now Sycho Sid comes down and goes after Bret, who finally releases the hold and bails before Vince could get there. Sid challenges Bret in the ring, and Bret appears to accept, but at the last second, he turns back around and leaves. On his way up the ramp, Bret turns around and gives the finger the fans. Vince has returned to the booth. He says HBK is injured. We go to break. Total time of segment: 21 minutes. Take that “This is Your Life: The Rock.”

 

We return from the break with Vince discussing what we just saw. JR says he is a huge Bret fan and did not expect Bret to jump HBK from behind and go right after the knee. It was a dirty move. Vince agrees. King says HBK is hurt and shouldn’t have put himself in that position. Vince calls Bret confused. The announcers try and figure out why Bret has snapped.

[Kevin Ridge]

Ross introduces Bret as former WWF champion. Way to set the table. Wants to apologize to his European, Middle East, Far East and Canadians fans. Bret drops the big one in not apologizing to the American fans. Quick camera cut to Vince who has a very apprehensive look on face about Hart's promo. Just great. Bret lays out the most recent history of the problems he's faced. Bret talks about maybe a better man would have quit. Vince, "You did Bret". Hart talks about Shawn's career ending injury and wipes the tears from his eyes. Great. Bret thinks Americans value Charles Manson and OJ Simpson. Hart talks about respect and tells US fans to kiss his ass. I'm really hating Shawn right now. Well Michaels calling Bret "Mark Man" was funny. Shawn talks about fans booing him and that he didn't get bent out of shape. Survivor Series 96? Bret attacks Michaels after much to my pleasure. Great promo by Bret but it did sadly lead to WWF thinking they should lead every Raw off with a 20 minute promo. Those just weren't as captivating as this.

[Robert S]

The inconsistent censoring was a bit strange (at least to a European). "asskicking" is okay but "kiss my ass" is not?

[Kevin Ridge]

The inconsistent censoring was a bit strange (at least to a European). "asskicking" is okay but "kiss my ass" is not?

Putting your foot in someone's ass is okay but not pressing your lips to it.

[PeteF3]

Maybe my favorite promo ever, as Bret lays his entire October-to-present story on the line, and finds a way to indict the entire American wrestling audience on top of all the WWF wrestlers and officials conspiring against him. Shawn Michaels cuts one of the most delusional babyface promos all-time--"I have tried and tried to take the high road..." "I'm not OBSESSED with being number one..." "I don't get bent out of shape when they boo me..."--each statement more eye-rolling than the one before it. But even with the insider-y cheap shots, the venom coming from both guys feels real (because it is, of course). Bret declines to face off with Shawn then and there, but then cheap-shots him from behind and clamps on the ringpost figure four. A week after maybe the best segment in Raw history, they may have just topped it.

 

A very incidental bit: notice how Jerry Lawler, the man who's hated Bret more than anyone over the past 4 years, starts gradually seeing things Bret's way as the segment goes on. At first he's shitting on him, then about halfway through the promo he admits, "He's telling the truth, McMahon." By the end of the segment, he's declaring that Bret accomplished what he set out to do and placing blame on Shawn Michaels.

 

Vince, after the break: "Somehow he thinks this is what America deserves--that it's the era of the antihero of some kind. Bret Hart, ladies and gentlemen, is a confused man. And it's a tragedy." One of the deeper bits of commentary in Vince's career--this storyline really *was* a tragedy in the literary sense of the word.

[dawho5]

I loved this promo because of Bret's conviction throughout. And like most truly great heel promos, there is some truth to just about every part of it. Do the American fans really deserve to be run down that way? Probably not, but Bret has legitimate gripes with everybody else involved and the fans turning on him for it just ppisses him off more. And of course we get Michaels coming out and being as full of shit as ever. If watching October 1996 through April 1997 WWF while knowing about Michaels ridiculous backstage BS doesn't make you hate they guy, you must be a big Shawn fan. I won't hold that against anyone, but as much as Bret was doing everything he could to come off as a douchebag to the American audience while sticking to the facts, Michaels comes off as a douche for the simple fact that he is being the world's most giant asshole at the time. Otherwise, brilliant promo by Bret and definitely one of my favorite I've ever seen.

[Exposer]

Bret does a long recap of his comeback which never gets dull or boring. He's explaining himself & his actions. Giving the full story is important with such a major turn like this. Great promo. Bret has turned full heel here & blames the American fans for his problems. He's resentful for them cheering Shawn & Austin over him. I loved him apologizing to his international fans. Great touch. He also calls Shawn's "girly magazines," "gay magazines" in a funny moment. Shawn comes out & defends American fans while also rubbing alcohol in the wound trolling Bret on the "gay magazine" line. Bret's had enough & attacks Shawn's bad knee from behind. He puts on the ring post figure four & gets run off by Sid. Tremendous segment that sets the stage for the next year in WWF. Classic stuff.