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[1993-12-15-WWF-Augusta, ME] Bret Hart vs Yokozuna (Cage)


Loss

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  • 4 months later...

I like the MSG match better, but this is easier to watch since it's pro shot. Glad we have both on the set so we can compare what they were doing on house shows to what was happening on Coliseum. Almost exactly the same spots, but the MSG match has a hotter crowd, and I'm not a fan of the Polo/Gorilla commentary team.

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  • 6 months later...

I like the MSG match better, but this is easier to watch since it's pro shot. Glad we have both on the set so we can compare what they were doing on house shows to what was happening on Coliseum. Almost exactly the same spots, but the MSG match has a hotter crowd, and I'm not a fan of the Polo/Gorilla commentary team.

Gorilla/Polo is the most entertaining commentary team of all time. In 2012, I'd rather listen to them than anyone. I'd probably rather watch a bad match with them than a good match with no commentary as a way to spend my time.

 

That said I'm not sure I'd really want to watch a good match with them, if that makes sense.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Not as good as the MSG one which was awesome. Going to be worth watching them back to back at some point. Crowd was hot for MSG show. Yoko was more of a monster in MSG match too. Too bad that show was not aired on MSG network. Monsoon/Polo are fine as an announce team if they are calling some squash or lower card match. They are not as good here trying to get over this match and are distracting.

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  • 1 month later...

Polo has some funny moments but yes, they're a better fit for a shitty undercard match than a well-worked main event like this. I also liked MSG better but this was really good, too. The "near-falls" at the door and the rather vicious brawling resulting from it were really awesome, and something that either didn't happen at MSG or couldn't be conveyed from the handcam.

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  • 2 years later...

I read over my review of the August MSG match just now, and that's helped me put this match into context. This one was decidedly worse, and it wasn't like the first one was too great either.

 

First of all, this was another example of what Corny derisively calls a "stumble, bumble, and fall" match from his man Yoko. Please, Vince, for the love of heaven, don't book this guy in any more cage matches. They emphasize how woefully out of shape and lacking in conditioning he is. Every time he goes to the mat, it seems like it takes him an hour to get up, which meant in this match that Bret had to constantly climb the cage instead of going through the door to try to win, since he would have made it out the door before Yoko could have stopped him almost every time he tried. Gino kept getting on his case about it, which made the whole thing stand out even more. What the hell is it your business how they get out, you big ape?

 

I don't usually agree with those who say that Gino makes himself look smarter than the wrestlers by pointing out mistakes that aren't their fault, but this is one case where that definitely happened. I don't know how he could have realistically avoided talking about how exhausted Yoko seemed throughout the match, but to blame Bret for being an idiot when all he's trying to do is save Yoko from embarrassment because he (Yoko) is almost too damn fat to step in the ring is just plain wrong.

 

The salt bucket stuff worked better with Lawler than it did with Fuji. How we ended up with Corny talking to Yoko before the match but not appearing at ringside I'm not sure; I thought he made all the TV tapings with Yoko. Anyway, the spot where Bret kicks Fuji away from the door really only pays off if Fuji's down for the count. To not only have him get up, but throw the salt in Bret's face twice was just plain ridiculous. I'd have rather seen the Quebecers or Levy interfere and maybe touch off a brawl with Owen to set up the Rumble match, though how that would have looked if the tape came out after Owen's turn I don't know.

 

Gino and Levy need work. I know they're trying anything and everything to replace Heenan, but some of Scott's asides audibly perplexed Gino, so I can imagine what they do to the audience. Danny Davis looks like Shemp Howard? Maybe he does, but is this the time to be mentioning it? On the other hand, he brought a sense of history to the table that wasn't often seen in the WWF at this time, as he recognized not only Fuji's past as a tag team champion, but also Gino's long-defunct team with Killer Kowalski. To hear names like Toru Tanaka and Mr. Saito on a WWF broadcast in December of 1993 is an unexpected and pleasant surprise. By the way, Gino really was ​a frequent challenger for Tanaka and Fuji during their first title run in the mid-seventies with a variety of different partners.

 

One thing Gino said that I found disturbing was when he declared that Bret should throw himself off the top of the cage to the floor the minute he got his second foot over the top of the cage. When Levy reminded him that doing that would almost surely mean broken bones for Bret, Gino replied, "Is the title not worth some broken bones?" No, Gino, especially if those broken bones leave you unable to defend it. He's been shooting from the hip for a while now, but not quite to this extent. The bad news is, it's going to get worse once he loses Joey and his health starts downhill. Maybe Vince made him WWF President after Jack Tunney left simply to get him out of the booth. After hearing things like that, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

 

Even though this match wouldn't be seen until the tape it made hit the market, if you look at things chronologically Bret's now officially out of the title picture. It's a miracle that he got a rematch this late, and now that he's lost to Yoko cleanly in a second cage match. he'll need to do something drastic to work his way back up the ladder. Fortunately for him, the Rumble's only a month away.

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  • 5 months later...

Agree with sentiment that MSG match is the best of the bunch but for a Colosseum release, this wasn't bad at all. I thought Fuji added a lot here as a nice change of pace and everything was positioned well for Yoko's strengths in this type of match and how he wasn't above taking shortcuts. Finish helps protect Bret as well. How many times was Gorilla going to call Yoko a beached whale? ***1/2 (7)

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-12-15-WWF-Augusta, ME] Bret Hart vs Yokozuna (Cage)

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