Due to his injuries and health status, Bret had an insurance policy that wouldn’t let him take any bumps in a wrestling ring, or be struck anywhere around the head. And Vince McMahon was … Vince McMahon, not the most technically gifted to put it mildly.
So their 11-minute struggle of a match consisted of Bret beating down Vince for 95% of the match, going way too long and sucking the life right out of the crowd. This should have been a very quick squash with Bret humiliating Vince, finally getting his revenge after all these years and making him tap out to the sharpshooter. Instead, we got a bizarre set-up where the entire Hart family were involved: firstly Vince brought them out on stage and said he had paid them off to screw Bret, only for Bret to reveal the family were in cahoots and had been on Bret’s side all along. On the night the match was then made a lumberjack match with the family surrounding the ring.
Babyface Hart toyed with McMahon throughout the match, beating him up, hitting him with a wrench and having his family members all gang up and get involved too. It got awkward, it got confusing, and it was a real disappointment. They could have got the brief heat on Hart with a low blow, then Hart’s offence could have been short, to the point and impactful. He was wrestling Vince remember, a 64-year-old non-wrestler. Bret was a former multi-time WWF champion and a returning legend. It didn’t have to be obvious that Vince wasn’t allowed any offence in the match, they could have disguised that much better with a short match. But with his interfering family around ringside, he needed 11 minutes to put poor old Vince away. A real let down in what have could have been a special moment and a nice send-off to one of WWF’s all-time greats.
Recommended matches:
- Macho Man Randy Savage vs The Ultimate Warrior: WrestleMania 7
- Bret Hart vs Steve Austin: WrestleMania 13
- Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker: WrestleMania 26
Next week we will look at the third and final episode of our Last Week in Wrestling WrestleMania specials as I count down a top 10 from a whopping 21 different WrestleManias.