[1998-05-17-WCW-Slamboree] Randy Savage vs Bret Hart

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I was digging this match for the most part, but there's no excuse for the overall lack of heat compared to Jericho-Malenko and even Benoit-Finlay. Nice work from Bret to build to a sharpshooter but the finish was total crap with Elizabeth pretty much just running in because she was needed as a plot device, but not having any type of clear motivation for running in at all. Hogan shows up to almost no reaction and helps Bret win. Hogan couldn't even hit the right leg during his run-in, even though Savage had a brace on and everything.

[Childs]

This was mostly a good match, with two guys who had an understandable beef fighting like they actually disliked each other. Bret was always good at communicating his desire to hurt an opponent without stepping outside the bounds of a normal wrestling match. And he did that here with his focused work on Savage's knee. I could've done without Piper entirely, and the Hogan stuff didn't really work because the motivations were still so unclear (and not in an intriguing way). But this at least got close to a vision of what WCW could've been around this time--big, established stars producing solid matches with some nonsense thrown in.

[soup23]

This isn't the type of match that hurts each candidate for GOAT status but it is not a great match and really doesn't feel as special as it should. An underrrated tidbit of 1998 is that Savage has been in the semi main or main event of each PPV. Bret does do a good job at conveying hate withing the confines of the match but Piper was useless and Elizabeth begins her perpetual role of just being there when they need her. Good to see Bret at least get the win but there is still no rhyme or reason of why he is aligned with Hogan. (***)

[Superstar Sleeze]

Randy Savage vs Bret Hart - Slamboree 1998

 

Man, this show was in Worcester, c'mon Dad, why didn't we go? Can't bitch too much he did take me to Boston Brawl in January that year and that was one helluva show. On paper, this show does not seem like much, but hell this was pretty entertaining. It was not as good as their SNME 1987 match, but compared to pretty much all the other main eventer vs main eventer matches this was a MOTY. Savage's knee is clearly messed up as he has a giant brace and his usual mobility is gone, which means that chaos is lost in a match that really needed that to take it over the top. I liked the both of them using heel tactics early and was glad that Savage did not do his usual babyface match where he takes heat immediately. The brawling was not the best ever, but it is good stuff. What worked so well was that Hart's formula meshes so well with Savage's babyface formula. Hart works on top in such a compelling fashion and Savage is so great at selling the knee. Hart looked so crisp with his strikes and that piledriver. I loved Savage's comeback with the one legged suplex. Then hitting the elbow drop, but injuring the knee. That was a great nearfall. I was surprised that the Northeast was not more into Hart. Things went into overbooking hell with Elizabeth (WTF) and Hogan (well at least that makes sense). Piper sucks. Hart wins by submission or maybe DQ, who knows, but finishes aren't that important in 98 WCW. The match was pretty good thanks to both's just natural charisma. ***1/2

[PeteF3]

Buffer intros the first participant as "The Hitman, Bret." Spectacular. I thought this was incredibly disappointing performance by Bret--his work over the knee is pretty good and Savage sells it like a champ, but he's WAY too involved with the crowd like a 1993 WWF heel phoning it in at a half-empty house show, to the point where even the announcers call him out on it. The knee work is the best part of the match but the finish sucks. Savage reverses the Sharpshooter which should be sold as a monumentally gutsy moment, but no one notices because all the attention is on an incredibly pointless run-in by Elizabeth. I'm remembering *far* less about 1998 WCW than I thought I knew so I would have bet money on a Liz turn here, but she just serves to be in the way and Hogan does the actual run-in to give Bret the win. I'd love to know the hoops and backflips that WCW brass and top guys surely went through to explain away why the Vanilla Midgets were all so over and this match wasn't. I'm sure the Midgets did too many moves and burnt the crowd out. A not-terrible but not-good match--they were on their way to salvaging this with some hot near-falls and a gutty Savage comeback only for this to go off the rails again.

[TravJ1979]

Agreed this is a weird match. I think this is one of Bret's few good performances in WCW, but Piper does take this down. I've eluded to it in the past, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but something about Piper in WCW is just annoying. It's something to do with his idea of what he thinks the fans view him as. The Dudley's and Larry Zbyszko have the same quality.

[DR Ackermann]

This is framed like its a hate filled brawl between Savage and Hart but they don't wrestle it like that. It winds up as another apathetic, faux-intense Bret Hart snoozer. I will give Savage and Hart their due. Both guys emote well here. The camera gets some close shots of Savage laying in some nasty-looking punches and choking Hart with his boot. It feels intense in the moment. The problem is in the space between the moves. Hart's deliberate pace sucks all the emotion out. It descends into Hart just running through his offense and ends with a nonsensical finish. There is almost always a disconnect between what Hart thinks he's doing and what he actually does. That goes for the majority of his promos as a face and his work in the ring. At one point Savage comes back and hits his elbow drop but only gets a two-count and the whole thing somehow feels uneventful. This is Austin-Hart Lite with the uninspired crowd brawling and (lack of) hatred that supposedly warrants a special referee.