Cewsh: As part of an initiative to highlight the best columns and features being written on the forums here at Rajah, I’ll be bringing you regular columns from the best and brightest the forum has to offer. The first is Defrost, who you may recognize from our Japanese reviews. He breaks down entire feuds by looking at the matches that were had, and judges them as a whole. It’s neat, informative, and I hope you enjoy it.
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We’re so glad you could attend. Come inside come inside. Time to go to the fourth DRS2EBRaSAGG and it is out largest undertaking. A massive 8 matches taking a whopping 2 hours 39 minutes 16 seconds to watch. Took a few days. The subject of that marathon is the legendarily epic feud between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Subjectively it was a magnificent creative success. Objectively it set Steve Austin on the path to becoming the biggest draw in the history of Professional Wrestling. Now we, the royal we, set off on our, the royal our, own path to dissect what made this so.
Kuwait Cup 1996(Al Arabi Sports Club Arena)
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWF 9/14/96(Sun City Superbowl)
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Survivor Series 1996(Madison Square Garden)
To determine the #1 Contender for the World Wrestling Federation Championship
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
In Your House: Final Four(UTC Arena)
4Way Elimination Match/World Wrestling Federation Championship
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Undertaker vs Vader(w/ Paul Bearer)
Wrestlemania 13(Rosemont Horizon)
Submission Match w/ Guest Referee Ken Shamrock
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
In Your House: Revenge of the Taker(Rochester War Memorial)
Bret Hart(w/Owen Hart, British Bulldog) vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Raw is War 4/21/97(Broome County Arena)
Street Fight
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
In Your House: Canadian Stampede(Saddledome)
Hart Foundation(Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, Brian Pillman) vs Stone Cold Steve Austin/Hawk/Animal/Ken Shamrock/Goldust
When looking at these eight matches there are some very interesting dividing lines and transitions. Their first two, rarely seen, matches are easily seen as prototypes for what came at Survivor Series. Survivor Series has seeds for the kinds of matches worked afterwards. The roles of heels and faces are in flux over time which may mean less than one would originally think.
Their first two matches were shown on live TV. I am unsure as to where the first one was shown, the only tape is from a Coliseum Video where the match is joined in progress and Jim Ross is in mid sentence, and the second was a South Africa only telecast. You can see what Bret and Austin were working on in ostensibly House Show matches prior to everything coalescing at Survivor Series even if that was not in the cards at the time. Their first encounter was months before the famous Austin 3:16 promo. Hell it would be another three weeks before Ted Dibiase stopped being his manager. Their second match was Bret’s last contracted date and he had a huge offer from WCW. So even though Austin had already begun doing promos on Bret there was no guarantee that was happening.
The first match is basically Bret Hart vs Stunning Steve Austin. Which is very different than Bret vs Stone Cold. Austin immediately submits to the Sharpshooter in match #1. However, some things remain to the second match and then on to Survivor Series. What is interesting here is not only to see how spots make their way from House Shows to tv, but the added bonus here is seeing the evolution of the Stone Cold character. In the first match like I said he is basically Stunning Steve. He does his cheap heel antics you’d see in WCW. Some of this does continue over to their second match, but there is far less generic heel stuff and far more aggression. You don’t see begging off or the disingenuous hand shake for instance. You lose the petulant reaction to the crowd in favor of jaw jacking with them. By the time of Survivor Series the Stone Cold character is the one we know and love and already getting cheered. Watching the matches it is interesting what stayed and what went. The limb work on the arm of Stone Cold is present in the first three matches. As well as Austin cheaping his way out of a test of strength by sucker kicking Bret. A spot that would be subverted during the Canadian Stampede 10 Man Tag when Bret did it to Austin to a huge pop. Everything Bret did got a huge pop in that match. There is a cool spot in the second and third matches where Bret is set up for a suplerplex, but reverses it to a Gordbuster then comes off the top with his usual second rope elbow. This was a real high spot in the second match which was really nothing more than a high end House Show match. Good not great. Not as much put into it as Survivor Series.
There is one spot that deserves special discussion. A spot these two fell in love with. A spot performed in all eight of these matches. The dreaded Jawbreaker. In every match Bret Hart puts Stone Cold in the Sleeper Hold only to get his jaw broke. You’d think that after the first 7 times he would have learned his lesson. Nope. Jawbreaker.
Their Survivor Series match was not as good as I remembered it. There is a lack of focus on the submission story they seem to be booked to tell. Vince and Ross go on and on about Austin wanting to beat Bret via submission yet Austin never goes for any submission holds. Only near the end are there a few generic attempts before the famous finish of the Million Dollar Dream reversal. I’m not sure if Austin and Bret were unaware of plans, if they called it in the ring and it just happened, or they overpushed it to set up the finish, but it is major flaw. Obviously the submission theme carries on to Wrestlemania, a gimmick Austin was not in favor of, however there is another important thing that carried on far beyond that. Crowd brawling. Survivor Series starts out with the aforementioned arm work on Austin. Then Austin gets the heat with the Stun Gun until Bret makes his comeback. Bret makes his comeback by clotheslining Austin over the guardrail into the crowd. Bret torn down the guardrail and went after Austin in a brief flurry. This was expanded up at Final Four. A match that also was not as good as I remembered. The guys involved didn’t really seem to know how to work it. Kevin Dunn didn’t seem to know how to direct it. There is TNA level shit camera work going on in this one. Not to mention every elimination is over the top rope which I was not a fan of. Plus Taker botches the Stone Cold Stunner in an epic fashion. The crowd brawl in question is once again instigated by Bret Hart. This time though he does it to Vader clotheslining him over the guardrail. Which is sorta odd. One wouldn’t really expect Bret Hart to be manhandling Big Van Vader. Oh well. The apex of the crowd brawling, and the apex of the series, is at Wrestlemania 13. After Austin crotches Bret on the guardrail he clotheslines him into the stands and the first epic crowd brawl of the Attitude Era begins. I was under the impression that Austin changed his wrestling style, and being the top guy the promotion’s style, after his injury. Continually playing off his most famous match ala Keiji Mutoh as reference in the previous review. However, you see brawls into the crowd, or the stands in the case of the lightly attended Revenge of the Taker, from Survivor Series on except for on Raw which was more an angle than a match and Canadian Stampede could be looked at as Bruce Hart just being his normal jackass self. What’s interesting about that is that the style of the early Attitude Era could be mostly attributed to Bret Hart. The pure wrestler who was about to take off. I mean even Montreal starts off with a giant brawl. Going through late 1996-1997 you can see that the style given credit to Austin for leaves Bret shortchanged. He was the one that brought this out. It’s amazing the things you can learn.
At Survivor Series Ross and Vince were begging the fans to hate Stone Cold. It was sorta comical. Especially since MSG was into him. Obviously the payoff to the growing Steve Austin love was the greatest double turn in Pro Wrestling history at Wrestlemania 13. That match is one of the greatest of all time. Everything going on makes sense. Bret attacks the injured knee, more on this later, of Stone Cold. Stone Cold tries to beat the shit out of Bret and get the Sharpshooter on him, more on this later as well. There was some subtle stuff going on here. Austin finally nailing a superplex, a babyface spot, Bret using the eye rake Austin had been using to get out of the Sharpshooter, and Bret trying to Pillmanize Stone Cold. Bret gets the heat and Austin is making babyface comebacks which were great. Stunningly great, pardon the pun, given that Austin had never been a babyface ever. He was a heel in Dallas. He was a heel in WCW. He was a heel in ECW. He was a heel his entire time in the WWF. Hell he worked heel in New Japan too. So pulling off a babyface turn is even more of an accomplishment looking back on it. Although acting heelish was not a way to lose babyface cred at the time either. At Canadian Stampede The Hart Foundation do not work babyface. The crowd is head over heels in love with them. Other than a goofy angle taking Austin and Owen out this is a great great match enhanced by an amazing crowd. Pillman is great. Bret is great. The match flows and everyone is with it. Like I said the weird knee injury deal is the major issue with it.
Speaking of knees Stone Cold blew his knee out at Final Four when he was backdropped over the top by Undertaker. Bret attacks the knee at Mania. Vicious chair shots onto the knee brace. Busting out the figure four leg lock around the ring post. Then the famous bloody Sharpshooter finish. Revenge of the Taker is all about knees. Bret Hart once he gets the heat after Austin kicks the hell out of him in the early part of the match focuses on the knee. You get the normal everyday elbow drops on the knee and leg stretching and stomping and whatnot. You get the smashing against the ringpost. the figure four around it and many chair shots. All during this Austin keeps throwing brief flurries reminiscent of Ricky Steamboat. Steamboat’s theory of babyface selling is that a babyface has to be trying the whole time or look bad. He can’t lay there and get beaten on. That is how Austin works this which makes a ton of sense. His most common opponent in WCW was Ricky Steamboat. They feuded over every title in that company except the World Title. Bret rips the brace off of Austin’s injured leg and goes for the Sharpshooter. This turns out to be a big mistake because Austin is able to use it as a weapon and get Bret into the Sharpshooter causing the run in giving Austin his one win in this feud. After the match Austin bangs Bret’s knee with the chair and reapplies the Sharpshooter until he is torn off and Bret is carried away by Owen and Bulldog. This is a great and focused match. Austin is the babyface brawler and Bret is now a cheating wrestler looking to twist and turn the babyface’s weak point into something much worse. I loved the brace coming back to haunt Bret. I loved Austin getting Bret in the Sharpshooter. I loved that they were so good the match genuinely felt like they were trying to hurt each other. Of the 8 matches only their Wrestlemania match the month before is better which is amazing given that Bret had been a face for 9 years and Austin a heel his entire career.
The irony of Bret working over Austin’s bum knee is that Bret needed knee surgery. Their match the night after Revenge of the Taker is the angle that was to explain why Bret would be in a wheelchair for awhile. It starts off with Owen and Bulldog joining Bret in a Triple Team until Shawn Michaels runs in with a steel chair setting up Shawn and Austin vs Owen and Bulldog. Then Bret gets the chair to Pillmanize Austin ala Wrestlemania and misses and gets hit in the knee with the chair ala the night before. Austin opens up on Bret with the chair and then put Bret in the Sharpshooter which for unknown reasons causes all the refs to run out and throw out the Street Fight. It was a fun 8 minutes.
Eight matches and not a dud in the bunch.
Kuwait Cup 1996
Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin via submission with the Sharpshooter.
Star Rating: **
WWF 9/14/96
Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin via pinfall with a small package at 19:55.
Star Rating: ***1/4
Survivor Series 1996
Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin via pinfall with a bridging pin reversal at 28:36.
Star Rating:****1/4
Final Four
Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vader, Undertaker via last eliminating Undertaker over the top rope at 24:05. Bret Hart won the World Wrestling Federation Championship.
Star Rating ***
Wrestlemania 13
Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin via Austin losing consciousness while in the Sharpshooter.
Star Rating *****
Revenge of the Taker
Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Bret Hart via DQ when Owen Hart and British Bulldog interfered and attacked Austin.
Star Rating:****3/4
Raw is War 4/21/97
Bret Hart fought Stone Cold Steve Austin to a No Contest when a bunch of refs randomly run in at about 8:00.
Star rating:**1/2
Canadian Stampede
Hart Foundation defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin/Hawk/Animal/Ken Shamrock/Goldust via pinfall when Owen Hart school boyed Stone Cold at 24:31
Star Rating:****1/2
Average Star Rating: ***3/4
And that is a wrap on the most epic of all the DRS2EBRaSAGGs yet. Next time it will be back to a paltry three matches. Next time will also be the first trip to the NWA and that murky time called the 1980s. NEXT ON DRS2EBRaSAGG: Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat in 1989.