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[1997-11-09-WWF-Survivor Series] Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels / Wrestling With Shadows


Loss

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  • 2 months later...

I'm a big fan of this match. It's by far the best these two guys ever had together, which is pretty odd given that one of them knew that the finish would render everything before it irrelevant. Still, this is the only match they had that actually befits a super-heated rivalry. Shawn wasn't at Bret's level in 1992. In 1996, they tried to force a classic and couldn't really pull it off. By this time, they were both established at the top, and they wrestled like they hated each other.

 

Bret beating Shawn all over the arena at the start felt like something out of 1998 or 1999 WWF. It worked for me, especially with Jim Ross selling going into the crowd as dangerous to Shawn. It's awesome when it feels like one guy really does have home-field advantage. Shawn keeps trying to take the advantage with sucker punches and stuff like that (at one point he flings a referee into Bret), but when he gets the upper hand he rams Bret's head into the steps or goes for a piledriver - it's a good balance of looking like the sneaky heel but still showing that this is a hateful feud.

 

Shawn's time on offense might be a career-best from him. It's not outstanding or anything like that; he's just generally doing something interesting and keeping the crowd involved (for instance, holding up Bret's head right in front of the crowd and grinning like a jerk before punching him). Bret helps by doing a great job of selling his stuff, like the kicks and stomps inside the ring. Bret's aborted comebacks do a great job of building up the real one. He keeps going after the knee, and Shawn keeps going to the eyes in desperation to avoid it. Even the front facelock, a staple of boring Shawn offensive segments, doesn't last too long and gets a huge pop when Bret breaks out.

 

When Bret takes control and destroys Shawn's knee, it really does feel like he's going in for the kill. Shawn sells it well enough, but he messes up after the figure-four and switches the knee that he sells. A face comeback in a heated feud being a bunch of kneework doesn't seem like it would work on paper. It does work, though, I guess because it somehow fits Bret's persona.

 

If this had a finish, I'd probably think it was great. As it is, it's just very satisfying to see these two finally have a match that, at least until the end, worked like it was supposed to. I have no idea why one of Shawn's best efforts came out in a match that he knew was going to be meaningless. Even then, I thought Bret was better here. It feels like the most important thing in the world from start to finish, like all world championship matches should, although I can't tell if that's because the screwjob made it important. I'm pretty sure I like this match more than anyone else, but I guess that's why I'm posting about it.

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That was a great write-up Gregor, and there's not much I would add to that. These two tear into each other and brawl all over the place, having what I think is a hell of a match before you know what happens. The other thing I would add is that there is no way Jim Ross didn't know about this, because he's subtly burying Bret on commentary, specifically as it relates to his age. Everyone involved in this really looks terrible.

 

Then, we get Wrestling With Shadows footage recapping the match followed by Bret in the locker room. We get to see Hunter lie directly to Julie's face and we see Bret leaving the arena after punching Vince. Then we get the footage the WWF really wanted removed from this documentary at all costs, of Vince stumbling through the hall.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No Vince on commentary. Ross, “Bret Hart is older and coming in heavier than the challenger.” Hehe. I don’t know if Hebner screws up beforehand repeatedly trying to get the timekeeper to ring the bell. I'm sure he screwed up actually cause he sucks. Hey, there is Vince with a bunch of other officials as Hart/Michaels brawl outside the ring. Great start to the match and the highlight to me. Watching it live I was confused by the chants and the signs in the crowd about Bret and WCW. Shawn is so obviously in on the finish as his reaction is the worst acting job ever. Bret spits a good wad in Vince’s face. I remember the next day in school going on the the internet to find out what the hell this was all about as all these other kids in the computer room were busy playing Doom. Bret leaving WWF to WCW?!!! I thought was a massive defection much to WCW’s benefit.

 

Bret asks Shawn if he is in the know. Shawn swears on God that he wasn't a part of this set up. Dude, your day will come and you will have to give the big guy up stairs a real good explanation of using his name in vain. You can preach to be born again but saying it to him is a whole different level. Plus, I'm sure he was pissed off too at Shawn Michaels in 1997! Triple H is such a piece of garbage with Julie telling him that he was in on it and him lying and not being able to look her in the face. He looks like such a pussy standing there. She says he will get his some day which is not true now since he’s running the damn company. Julie should have punched him out. Crap, Doc Brown and Marty need to say fuck 1985, 1955 and 2015 and go to 1997 to drop shit on Hunter and Michaels. Assholes.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 5 months later...

I thought Shawn had the DX music here. We do get the backstage walk through and there is a certain tension in the air. This really feels like the merging of the New Generation and the attitude era with the set and old WWF logo compared to the attitude getting displayed. Shawn gets splashed with a drink on his way to the ring and just soaks it all in. Bret's face has such of look of let me get this over with. He has to walk a mile to get to gorilla and feels like he is already disconnected from the rest of the company. BreTT Hart #1 Canadian sign made me smile. The work here plays up the intensity and animosity between the two.

 

The finish is what it is and has been analyzed to death and I still am firmly in the camp that Bret didn't know shit based on rewatching this again. The match is very interesting to discuss due to it being overlooked to the watershed moment.

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  • 1 year later...

This is a crazy scene even before That Finish, with a long brawl into the crowd and to the entranceway and back before the bell even rings, and this crowd is about as rowdy as the audience in Halifax--like seemingly a few seconds away from mass-hopping the guardrails. Shawn going into the crowd like he did was certainly gutsy, if nothing else. There just seems to be a little bit extra viciousness to everything both guys do, and Shawn actually throws some great-looking kicks and stomps here--I agree this is one of his better offensive performances even though he did nothing spectacular. He just came off as a tough guy in a fight, which is how he should have been portrayed more often. Then That Happens, and just like on Memorial Day 1996, nothing will ever be the same again.

 

We then get the match from the Wrestling with Shadows perspective--Shawn is such a transparently lying scumbag in the locker room, and Helmsley can't even look Julie in the eye. Sadly, Julie's prophecy of what goes around comes around never really came to fruition, but now I'm almost kinda rooting for Kevin Dunn. Oh well, most wrestling promoters probably pulled shit as bad as this or worse--it just wasn't taped and broadcast internationally. Bret is self-satisfied for his knockout punch to Vince, and why shouldn't he be?

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  • 11 months later...

Here we have it; the most controversial match of the 90's. It gets forgotten that it was a pretty useful match as well. Shawn was awesome at inciting the Montreal fans who wanted to jump over the barrier and punch him. That type of behaviour had barely been seen in years. What a degenerate scumbag Michaels was. High energy and high intensity crowd brawling between two men who hated one another. It was as stiff as you'll ever find either man working. Once they finally got in the ring and started wrestling it lost some of the earlier momentum. They were moving towards the finish and then surprise, surprise. That they'd never fight again adds to its legacy.

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  • 3 months later...

Really good match before everything goes downhill. The entrances are awesome. I love when they used to follow the wrestlers through the curtain. WWE should bring that back. The pre-match brawl is great with Shawn bumping big & both guys beating the tar out of each other. One fan is literally hitting Shawn after he's thrown over the railing. Wild. Once the match gets going, it's pretty good with both guys choking each other with the Quebec flag. I liked Shawn's soccer kick to Bret's face. Nasty moment that's rarely seen out of him. Bret makes a nice comeback & gets a few near falls. Hebner takes a bump & Shawn eye rakes Bret. Shawn puts in the sharpshooter & the rest is history. Bret's facial expression seconds after the bell rings is one of the great images in wrestling history. Bret spits in Vince's face & Shawn snatches the belt. Montreal is left more confused than angry it seems. There are many fans who realize what's happening though & are beginning to throw things. Shawn & Hunter flee. The show fades to black about exactly a minute after the bell rang. They wanted to get this over with quick.

 

Back to Wrestling With Shadows & we get Bret going to the back & he's extremely upset. HHH lies to Bret's wife's face. We see Vince stumbling out of his office after Bret punched his lights out. Intense stuff. All parties are to blamed here really. I dislike Vince, Hebner, JR, Shawn, & Hunter more for their dishonesty. Bret should have put someone over. This feud having no finality & then Bret forfeiting the belt would have been terrible. No one looks good here, especially Vince.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1997-11-09-WWF-Survivor Series] Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels / Wrestling With Shadows

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