All of this done already as I've been watching this DVD for the past month since around New Year's Eve time, so here it is....

Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart vs. Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid - MSG 7/13/85

Match goes to a draw once curfew happens at around 13 minutes. Just a really good match that leaves me wanting to get more Bulldogs/Harts matches. Nice power/speed vs power/speed story, along with great face spots from the Bulldogs and good heel work from the Harts. Plus Jimmy Hart is one annoying prick . ***1/4.

Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart vs. B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell - MSG 2/17/86
This match went to a 20 minute draw, yes 20 minutes and it was amazing. This used the classic US style of tag team wrestling to perfection. Brunzell was a really good face in peril, the Harts were again cheap heels and Blair got the hot tag for a pop etc. Plus, the opening was perfect with Brunzell not being able to with Neidhart's power and Neidharts laughing in his face cause Brunzell can't budge him. From watching these two matches, Neidhart is actually underrated, he never once stunk up anything during either of these matches. And if you find him no selling his leg a little bit before he tags Bret in this match, it goes along with his character anyway. ***1/4.

Bret Hart vs. Ricky Steamboat - Boston Garden 3/8/86
Good decision to give this match 15 minutes. Had they pushed Bret as a singles wrestler soon aftter this, this match would've been the perfect setup. Steamboat just lets Bret get his spots in and he sells the right amount eventhough Bret was still apart of the Hart Foundation. There's this spot where Bret gives Steamboat his running right hand to the gut off the ropes, and aftter that Steamboat falls all the ring selling it. Steamboat during his time in the WWF in 85-88 always let the youngsters get some of their spots in which made this match special eventhough Bret wasn't doing anything in the singles area. Hell, Bret had Steamboat pinned for a ten count after the Hart Attack clothesline but the ref was down. Really good match, one of the first great singles WWF matches Bret had. ***1/2.

Bret Hart vs. Ted DiBiase - Odessa, TX 3/8/89
This turns out a bit better than their match on SNME 4/91, as it was given more time and it had a little bit of story worked into it. Bret gets in a few a near falls in the beginning, DiBiase gets pissed and throws Bret into the ropes with an irish whip after a reversal for trhe transition. DiBiase takes the offense with a few restholds before Bret comes back with flurries of offense and this leads to them taking it the outside, which results in the the double countout at around 16 minutes. It begun a little slow, DiBiase rested a bit too much but overall it was good. ***1/4.

Hart Foundation vs. The Rockers - SNME 4/28/90
This has been overrated over the past couple of years but it's still good. No big story in this one except it's two of the top teams in the WWF trying to contend for the tag titles held by Demolition. Good speed/double team vs power/technical work in this match. Bret, Jannetty and Michaels do all the fast stuff while at a certain point they let Neidhart come in and do his spots. Good but not better than Hogan/Warrior at all, btw they fuckin blur out Jesse Ventura's commentating during this one :angry: . ***.

Hart Foundation vs. Nasty Boys - WrestleMania VII 3/24/91
Probably the best match the Nasty Boys ever had in the WWF during their time there. Bret lets them control the match and he does the hot tag routine to Neidhart which didn't turn out well since the Nasties did bad on the offense. All they did was do that badly executed clothesline to Bret behind his back as the transition and the camel clutch before Neidhart tagged in. Bad finish in this as well as Neidhart gets knocked out with Jimmy Hart's motorcycle helmet for the pin. Bret sells good in this at least, it's not his fault that the Nasty Boys weren't good. **.

Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect - SummerSlam 8/26/91
This match has actually become underrated over the past year or two. People love the match from 93 and rightfully so, but they forget about to good this is and how much it played off this match. Tremendous of risky bumps that Perfect takes in this match, great miltiple stories in this ("returning the favor" with the hair pull/turbuckle spots, Perfect taking his liberties when he's in control, Bret coming back with anger, and of course Bret's hard work/career vs Perfect's IC title). Just a great a match that hasn't been getting enough love in recent years. ***1/2.

Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith - SummerSlam 8/29/92
Not much to say about this hasn't already been said. But it's Bret's greatest performance and the 1992 WWF MOTY. It's amazing how simple headlock spots can determine the the way a match will continue ;) . ****1/4.

Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow - Barcelona, Spain 4/24/93
Good match, just Bam Bam takes a little long to readjust between spots but that's expected. Bam Bam was great worker for a man of his size and Bret knows exactly how to work this match with him. Bret does his great selling of his ribs in the middle of this match before he comes back to win this match with an inverted sunset flip from Bam Bam's shoulder at around 12 minutes. ***.

Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect - King of the Ring 6/13/93
Doesn't need much explanation. One of the best matches in company history, and one of the best matches to make a match with originally no backstory coming into it, into a great match with a backstory of Perfect coming close to going back to his former ways etc. ****1/2.

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart - WrestleMania X 3/20/94
Another match that doesn't need too much explanation. Great brother vs brother story, great work by Bret being the brother who's relunctant to fight, great work by Owen playing the jealous brother who wants to overcome his superstars older brother etc. The finish always bothered me as it was a bit too sudden but this is still definately one of the best matches in US history. ****1/2.

That's it for disc 1, and disc 2, next post.

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart - White Plains, NY 9/29/94
This is from the world premiere of Action Zone, a show that almost no one unfortunately, but anyway this is the last title defense for Owen. Bret takes control off this match early, works a bit of the Bret/Owen formula from the Mania match into it (hair pull, shoving contest then a slap etc) and tries to end this one quick by going for a few nearfalls in the beginning till Jim Neidhart makes his way to the ring. This is when Neidhart trips Bret as he was coming off the ropes which gives Owen the offense. Bulldog comes down too once this happens to evens up the odds. Owen tries wearing down Bret with a bunch of restholds (camel clutch, reverse chinlock etc) before Bret does a mini-comeback by breaking out the chinlock and beating Owen up in the corner. Bret tries whipping Owen in the the turnbuckle but of course Owen reverses it and Bret does his classic front turnbuckle bump. He gets up to a dropkick by Owen, this puts Bret in the other corner where behind the ref's back Neidhart beats up Bret's knee in the turnpost. From then on Owen does good knee work and Bret sells it great. There's also a few spots where Neidhart keeps helping Owen like putting Owen's leg on the rope after Bret dropped a front elbow drop on him and holding Owen's leg when Bret was trying to do a superplex. But the finish comes right after that when Bulldog gives Owen and Neidhart payback when Owen gets on the top rope but Bulldog pushes him off onto the top rope and into the ring for the pin by Bret. Good payback finish for all of Neidhart's interference, very, very well worked story and a great 15 minute match. The second best Bret/Owen match I've seen, better than the Slam cage match. The best match in the DVD so far behind Bret/Bulldog from Slam, Bret/Perfect from KOTR and Bret/Owen from Mania. ***3/4.

Bret Hart vs. Hakushi - In Your House 5/14/95
This is from the 1st IYH show and the first of the two matches Bret had that night, the second against Lawler. But this is the opener and the opening sequence is good as they show off Hakushi's unique style with the cartwheels etc. It's good that they continue to show it off like with Hakushi's diving headbutt and his asai moonsualt on to Bret. But generally, Hakushi's control work was boring and he's didn't choose a particular story to work with instead of showing off his unique style. This match does have a good flow to it and a smart opening but not too much story other than them using Hakushi's style. Finishes good with a victory roll from Bret. ***.

Bret Hart vs. Diesel - Survivor Series 11/19/95
It seems like people don't like this match too much anymore. Personally, I love it. Bret works a smart story with Kevin Nash who was always very limited. First thing he did, was work in a slower pace in order to time Nash's offense perfectly. The next thing he does is work in smart spots like blocking Diesel's jacknife powerbomb by grabbing his leg, before biting his arm and face and raking his eyes too. Making it clear that he's pulling out all the stops in this no holds barred match. After this, Bret goes straight to work on Nash's leg which is so smart because of the obvious size difference. And Nash actually does a good job at selling, the best I've ever seen him do. Fast foward to Bret tying Nash's leg over at the post which is so intelligent, that it's crazy. The next transition after this happens once Diesel gorilla slams Bret off the top and unties himself from the post. After this, Diesel gives Bret a side slam, and guess what, I forgot to mention the great psych out games at the beginning with both of them untying the turnbuckles. It just so happens that Diesel irish whips Bret into the EXPOSED turnbuckle. You knew sooner or later Bret would do his fast speed turnbuckle bump, but it goes back to beginning especially this time. Diesel then tries to hit a snake eyes on Bret in that same corner but Bret rake his eyes to save himself.

After this he brings back the Hart Attack clothesline all the way back from the Hart Foundation days. Diesel still kicks out, gets up to the ropes, and this is where Bret does another clothesline on Diesel which knocks him to the outside. Just before he tries a plancha and Nash moves out the way in time. This shows that Nash is still the game, and still has his senses. He still shows it once Bret tries to get back in the ring, and pushes the ropes back, causing the infamous table spot. This is where Nash brings in his good facials, and Bret sells like a king. Nash brings Bret back in to try and do a powerbomb but Bret slumps down selling the table spot. Nash tries to get Bret back up to do another powerbomb, but Bret quickly gets Nash in a small package to get the win. This great match ends with a great possum pin, what a great finish and a smart one too. This match is just plain fuckin smart, it's hard not to appreciate that. Both men did a great job, but moreso Bret of course and he brings a lot of shining smart spots that make so much sense. Perfect match to turn Diesel heel, and make Bret champ again. It's just too bad that the build behind Bret's title reign this time was all about getting Shawn ready. That just made Bret a transitional champ, but it's okay. I prefer this to Nash's match with HBK from '96. Just a really great match that's becoming underrated. ***3/4.

Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith - In Your House #5 12/17/05
Just to start, this match obviously has a lot to live up to as they're match from '92 was a classic of course. It starts off with Davey showing his power, by pushing Bret in their lockups. Then Davey shows off his speed and agility by doing some cool acrobatics before pulling Bret down by his hair to get out of an armlock. This is where they start to find a pace to work at. And one of the things I like about this match is the great pace it's being worked at. Davey manages to stay afloat on offense and show his power and quickness more throughtout the match which was the smart thing to do in order to make Davey a threat as the match went on. Of course Bret does his job at selling in order to help Davey out. They also work in a story where every now and then, Bret will outsmart Davey or just beat Davey in terms of speed. For example, Davey gives Bret an whip to the ropes, he dodges down, and Bret sees this so he just stops gives Davey a mean piledriver. Whenever this happens, Bret will be in control, but this all changes once Davey drops Bret right onto the ropes when Bret is setting him up for a superplex. This is also where Davey clothesline Bret right into the steps. This is where Bret does that MEAN bladejob, before Davey rolls back into the ring and break the count before throwing Bret into the post. After that you can clearly blood on the floor padding. From there, Davey picks up the with a whip to the turnbuckle, a piledriver, the stalling superplex, gorilla press slam, scoop slam with a diving headbutt to the back all to nearfalls. He then puts a bow and arrow but Bret quickly reverses it and almot locks in a sharpshooter but Davey powers out it quick.

Davey continues to mount the pressure until Bret dodges a clothesline, and Davey goes flying over the top. Bret then hits a plncha which begins a great comeback with his blood as an added bonus. Bret then tries something off the apron, but Davey catches him and hits the running powerslam on the outside which ends Bret's flurry. This keeps putting Davey over as threat especially with the blood as an added bonus. So Bret's bladejob turned out to be a great addition to the match. After Davey takes the padding off the floor, and attempts to suplex Bret, but Bret blocks twice and hangs Davey on the rail. This spots that Bret still had his senses and the blood gives it more meaning. This pretty much solidifies Bret's comeback. Davey does a sick head bump after Bret whips him into the corner, before they do a sick superplex. Basically, Bret's comeback is filled with hot spots with the blood again as an added bonus. Including another dead smart spot with Davey doing an inverted sunset flip on Bret just he did in '92 when he won. But Bret quickly counters into a pin for near count cause he knows Davey beat him with it last time. Davey has one last chance to get the won once before he runs into a boot by Bret before La Magistral for the win. Goddamn, what a fuckin match. I've never seen where bloods adds to it soo much. The pace of this was amazing Bret lets Davey do his thing this time and it works this time. I don't know which match I prefer this or Slam, but they're on about the same level. ****1/4.

Next post....

Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin - WrestleMania 13 3/23/97
Well, not too much to say about this that hasn't already been said. But yeah, a great match with 1) them beating eachother down but enough in order to maintain their control for good amount of time, 2) Bret teasing his heel turn by being so vicious throughout, and it ends with of the perfect blowoff finish, 3) Bret bringning in the wepons instead Bret who is supposed to be the more "technical" of the two, 4) the crowd brawling, some people say it lasted too long but hey it doesn't matter with a match of this proportion with this kind of feud and 5) of course one of the best finishes in WWE history. The only big problems I have with this match is Austin completely no-selling his leg after all of Bret's work on it with the chair, stomping etc. It's probably the best handled match in the company's history and it's my favorite match from WWE. ****1/2.

Bret Hart vs. Undertaker - One Night Only 9/20/97
Wow, I never expected this to be this good. This has to be one of the top three best Undertaker matches. They both work together to stucture this match well, with well timed spots like Taker using the exposed turnbuckle on Bret that Bret himself exposed and him actually working on his heart area for a minute after that. Taker also goes for Bret from the beginng and take the match to the ramp taking out some anger from the Slam '97 incident with HBK. Bret brings his usual smart leg formula against Taker, Taker brings the facials and manages to still sell it great while getting on his feet at a certain point in this one. The pace was just fine especially since it was almost 30 minutes but it never dragged on too much. The finish wasn't good, but hey, they had to keep both Bret and Taker strong around this time. ***3/4.

Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - Nitro 10/4/99
This is still a good match, there's really a build on offense in this match. I don't remember the last time I saw a match that literally built up with the offense. It started off with a good feel out process in the beginning then it built more into punches/chops in the corner which meant the intensity was building. Good work on Benoit's back by Bret, but they totally forget about it before they go back to it for the finish. But anyway, beautifully built match with a good finish. ***1/2.

If I had to put the matches on Bret's DVD in order, it'd had to go like this...

1. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin - WrestleMania 13 3/23/97
2. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart - WrestleMania X 3/20/94
3. Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect - King of the Ring 6/13/93
4. Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith - In Your House #5 12/17/95
5. Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith - SummerSlam 8/29/92
6. Bret Hart vs. Undertaker - One Night Only 9/20/97
7. Bret Hart vs. Diesel - Survivor Series 11/19/95
8. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart - White Plains, NY 9/29/94
9. Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect - SummerSlam 8/26/91
10. Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - Nitro 10/4/99
11. Bret Hart vs. Ricky Steamboat - Boston Garden 3/8/86
12. Bret Hart vs. Ted DiBiase - Odessa, TX 3/8/89
13. Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart vs. B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell - MSG 2/17/86
14. Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart vs. Davey Boy Smith/Dynamite Kid - MSG 7/13/85
15. Bret Hart vs. Hakushi - In Your House 5/14/95
16. Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart vs. Marty Jannetty/Shawn Michaels - SNME 4/28/90
17. Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow - Barcelona, Spain 4/24/93
18. Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart vs. Brian Knobbs/Jerry Saggs - WrestleMania VII 3/24/91


And one last thing, .....GET THIS FUCKIN DVD!

I think I've rated everything ***+ except for the last one I listed. WWE DVD's aren't gonna get better than this, and this is probably the best one they've done.


Seriously, get this or you don't already have it. The only things missing I think are the Piper match, the first Austin match, the 10 man tag from Canadian Stampede, the 1-2-3 Kid match from July '94, the HBK match from Series '92 and the Savage match from the 11/87 SNME. Anyway, GREAT DVD.

Nice review, and thanks for going through the work of all 3 discs instead of half-assing it by having someone else do 1 of them. My only complaint is the rating for the Foundation/Nasties. Maybe it's me, but that was a pretty good match, and one of the Nasties best ever. *** at least. :D

Nah, Nasties were too bad on offense for it to go higher than that. Bret just made a mistake by letting these guys do their thing. Bret was good on selling for their badly executed offense but that's it. To tell you the truth, Neidhart actually saves the day with the hot tag being made. That match would've been a lot better had the Nasties even just tried to do double team moves behind the ref's back instead of working the camel clutch on control.

Good point. I'm going by the Coliseum Video version, which clips out about 3-4 minutes, so maybe cutting out more Nasty Boy offense made it better.

Dude, no offense I like your review...............but to only give the Bret/Benoit Nitro match ***1/2?

You've got to be kidding me.

That's a great rating. It's a very good match, just they completely forget the back story they were trying to develop in the beginning. It's a good thing they go back to it for the finish but they weren't supposed to blow it off like that. Plus, during the middle of it, it dragged a bit.

Ooh, I over-looked that. You crazy, fool! I should review all of these matches myself, since I have them all without buying the DVD. :D

If anything, just get the DVD for the story as it's great.

I think that is one of the more commonly overrated matches out there. I think people get caught up in the emotion of Owen's death and what-not, but to me, the match itself was nothing special.

Comparing it to anything WCW was doing at the time, it was special. I won't say it's a 5-star classic, but it was a great match in a year that had very few of them in the big 2.

Eh... if it were $20, I might, but $27-30 for a documentary is a bit too much for me. There's literally nothing on the bonus features that I don't already have. It's a great DVD in general, but for completionest, not as much.

I agree, it's not the classic everyone has always said it was. It's a very good match, but it's still has it's problems.

And Scrooge, I got it for $25.99 on Amazon, it's well worth the cash, plus you can see these matches in DVD quality etc.

DVD quality is just an over-used phrase to try and screw people out of more money. The match is the same if it's VHS and DVD. Seeing it perfectly cleaned doesn't make a great match better. I can understand with old movies that are digitally remastered from shit quality, but wrestling is wrestling.

$27 + S&H is still too much for a 2 hour documentary. I won't even buy a great 2-disc DVD set for my favorite movies if it's that much.

Here's 5 reasons why I got the DVD.

1) Christmas $$$

2) I had a lot of these matches on the PC

3) It's Bret Hart

4) Some of these matches I hadn't seen before (Bret/Steamboat, Bret/DiBiase, Harts/Bulldogs, Harts/Bees)

5) A lot of these matches I wanted to see again (Bret/Davey II, Bret/Taker, Bret/Perfect KOTR etc..), and oh yeah, it's Bret Hart.

I lied... there's 1 math I've never seen: vs. Undertaker from ONO. Damn Coliseum Video clipped it out. :angry:

First off, definitely don't get it for the Taker match. I wasn't even feeling ** on this. I was bored as hell sitting through this 30 minute airhorn-fest.

Secondly:

I'm just a bit puzzled here. You talk about this match being underrated and falling recently, and then you give it one of the worst underratings I've ever seen for it. I'm not kidding when I say I would have a hard time not calling this match *****. It is perfect (pardon the pun) to me in every single way, and it has stood the test of time (I'm sure I've seen it at least 25 times in my life) including from when I watched it live on PPV as a 10 year old, all the way up to when I watched it on the DVD set in October. Just my two cents.

Oh, and I picked it up for 19.99 at Best Buy on the day of release.

***** is a bit too much, I think. I'm not the most generous person ever, but I gave it ****1/4. I liked the KOTR match a bit better, mainly because I love the "face who used to be a heel starts acting like a heel to win" aspect of the match, and gave that a 1/4* boost above from SSlam '91.

Back to the comment of underrating it then jipping it with ***1/2... yeah, agreed. That's below the average rating most people give it (****, it seems, is the most common).

Yeah, I would agree that my rating is a bit over-generous. I think alot of it stems from my sentimental value with that match. It remains one of my most vivid matches from my childhood, and I've loved the finish for ages. Still one of my favorite finishes, period. The match is just so crystal clear to me. Hennig's hair fro-in out. Bret rips Hennig's singlet halfway off. The kicks to the back of the knee near the end of the match. Coach?

Hell, even with the completely historically insignificant presence of The Coach down there, I love this damn match.

But yeah, I agree I overrate it...yet maintain my rating. :)

It's understandable. Some matches have sentimental value for everyone.

Example of mine: Warrior/Hogan. It's neither mans best match (although high on Warrior's), everything was booked to the exact moment in great detail weeks in advance, and it featured very little wrestling. But it was the first WM I ever saw, and featured my two favorite wrestlers, so that's why I'm more generous with rating it.

Most of those matches that also fall in that category for me seem to lose their lustre over time. But not Perfect/Hart.

Some others: I loved Savage/Warrior WMVII growing up, and still do, but when I went back to watch it, I was left a bit disapointed. Flair/Savage from WMVIII has held up pretty well. Bulldog/Bret from Wembley in 92 just looks atrocious to me now. Bret/Owen from WMX definitely holds up, superbly. Rumble 92 is another I loved, and it still rocks pretty hardcore.

I also quite enjoy that Hart Foundation/Nasties Tag Match from WMVII, but might also be benefiting from Coliseum Editing.

I might push it up to ***3/4, but what I meant by the match being underrated, is how people talk about it in comparison to their other matches mainly KOTR. But to me, that rating is great. The match is still in the top half of the DVD, but there's obviously a few more matches I like better. And rewatch Bret/Taker, it's a smartly structured, great match.

Yeah, I worried that I might've just been burnt out on Bret's formula by the time I got to Taker/Bret. I literally watched everything in succession when I got the DVD. So I'll have to go back and give it another try sometime. It just felt so lumbering to me, and the non-finish sure didn't help.

I remember a few years back I did a review of both the KOTR Bret/Perfect match and the Summerslam one to see which one I thought was better. Before doing it I would have said Summerslam easily, until after I watched them both. The KOTR match is WAY better though. It gets more time, is better structured and even though both guys were face in the match they STILL made a storyline for the match. Just an overall better contest than the Summerslam one which ends up being more HISTORICALLY significant of the two.

I thought that the matches were a good selection and that The Bret Formula (aka "Five Moves of Doom") wasn't too prevalent.

Although he does hit the corner "THUNK" quite frequently... but I love that spot!

I enjoyed watching the Bret DVD cause I didn't have to see 8 million chops.

That's one thing that bothers me today. People are too lazy to string together a match without transitioning EVERYTHING with chops. The biggest offender: Your Bible Thumper and mine, Shawn Michaels.

Yer' right...I'm actually rooting for the return of the transitional chinlock. Or.... (I can't believe I'm saying this)... the BEARHUG!

Well, plus lets face facts here. It's easier to learn how to chop than it is to punch. AKA every guy that chops like crazy can't punch for shit.

Bret never really had a formula, he only had when it came down to the finishing stretch of most of his matches of course. Besides that you're only guranteed to get that front turnbuckle bump that Bret likes to do, and that's a great spot so it doesn't matter. And watching every match in one day is not smart. Fuck even watching it over a month is a little exhausting.

Maybe this is just me, but I find forearm shots to be much more effective than punches and chops, and are easier to fake than punches.


Cologozazoo makes a good point: There's no way in hell I can watch that much wrestling in a row, especially of the same person. Remember when I made my Kane comps? I was screaming "through hellfire and brimstone" all day and giggling like a 'tard... more than usual.

Tell that to RVD.

Seriously though I agree with the forearm argument as I'm a puro fan at heart and they hardly even punch over there....

I forgot about RVD. Jesus, that guy should just kick to sticking. I mean stick to kicking. He can't throw punches or forearms. I hate to see his chopping abilities.