SummerSlam Top 10 Countdown – By Michael Owen
No.5 (32 Points) Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (August 26th, 1991)
Bret Hart was part of the first annual edition of SummerSlam back in ’88 and would go on to be featured in every edition up to ’96. We hear the name ‘Mr. WrestleMania’ thrown about for various superstars but Bret hart is without a doubt ‘Mr. SummerSlam’.
This match took place on the fourth edition of SummerSlam and was for the Intercontinental Championship. Up until this point Bret was considered a mainstay in the tag team division within the WWF. Many people questioned if Bret could cut it without having someone in his corner and this was the night when all questions were answered, this was the moment at which Bret would step out the Hart Family shadow and begin his ascent into superstardom as a singles wrestler.
The match had a fast start with both men exchanging holds, Bret had an opportunity to lock in the sharpshooter early on but instead went for a stomp to the gut, Heenan would comment that Bret ‘knows that he he’s never gonna be able to put that on’. Roddy Piper disagreed with Heenan’s assessment by saying that Bret knew the timing for the Sharpshooter and also knew that he didn’t have him worn down enough yet.
Bret would continue to control the match and clotheslined Perfect over the top rope; Perfect took this as an opportunity to leave knowing that losing by count out would mean that he would remain champion. Hart had none of this and chased after Perfect and dragged him kicking and screaming back to the ring.
The match would turn at this point as Perfect would cheap shot Hart as the referee attempted to break them up in the corner. Perfect would control the match during this period, barring a couple attempted roll-ups from Bret that got the crowd going wild. The matched seemed to be over when Bret fell victim to the Perfect Plex but he somehow managed to gather enough intestinal fortitude to kick out at two. Heenan was going crazy at ringside claiming that nobody had ever kicked out of Perfect’s finishing maneuver.
Again the match would turn and it was once again Bret’s turn to dominate the action. He would hit Perfect with everything from a suplex to a backbreaker but Perfect would not quit. Bret began to attack Perfect’s legs in an attempt to weaken them and possibly set up the Sharpshooter. It would eventually pay off for Bret and he would finally sink in his signature submission finish only for Coach, who at the time was Perfect’s manager, to interfere and cause Bret to break the hold.
Perfect’s escape didn’t last long though and Bret caught an attempted leg drop and turned it into a modified Sharpshooter, he would flip Perfect over and pull back on the submission causing his rival to tap frantically in an attempt to be released from the hold. Bret Hart had become the new Intercontinental Champion. Bret would celebrate his win at ringside with his mother and father and there seemed to be a genuine family moment between The Hart Family clan.
An incredible match between two legends of the sport, which is why this match between Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect is No.5 on the Top 10 #SummerSlam matches here at TWM.
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