Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid (WWF - 7/1/1994)

Arguably the best WWF RAW match ever. Also, arguably the best Sean Waltman match ever. Bret Hart was great in the role of the babyface champion and 1-2-3 Kid was great in his role of babyface underdog. I really like the pacing and overall psychology of the match. Bret worked like a veteran champion and made sure the Kid would get his spots in at the right time to get the Kid over as an underdog who has a chance of winning the title. I'm pretty sure this will be in my top 100.

Best Bret as NWA Touring champ, best 1-2-3 Kid match ever such a good plucky underdog. Love watching Bret on offense.Not going to make the list but this match rules.



WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 7/11/94



Bret was simultaneously the best babyface and heel in the WWF between 93-97. Nobody worked a better heat segment on top than Bret. His offense is pristine as it is brutal. Those European uppercuts were just rocking the hell out of Kid. He was blasting him the whole match his kicks were great. I don't know if Bret, who is an excellent offensive wrestler, ever looked better on offense than here. He absolutely looked unstoppable. The Bulldog at the end was ferocious. Kid was selling like a million bucks and really timing those hope spots well. I loved how Bret was squashing those flash pinfall attempts. From the outset, I just didn't think Kid had a good strategy. You want to grind with Bret? I just don't think that's wise. Bret's facial reactions to this were great. The way he was like who does he think he is with those takedowns. Give Kid credit he was staying with Bret and Bret was having a hard time escaping the holds. Obviously I am talking kayfabe here, but I just don't see this as a winning strategy against Bret. Flash pins and kicking Bret's head off were way better chances to win this match. You see Bret bury the knee deep into the abdomen. I love the kneelift. It was a great one. See how Bret regroups, causally stomps the abdomen. He has totally taken the wind out of the Kid's sails. Great selling by Kid. This is that heat segment I was talking about. The restart with Bret saying Kid's foot was on the ropes was a great way to keep Bret babyface. The Kid's comeback was great because it all started with kicks to the head. Spinwheel kick, jumping back kick and dropkick all to the head. He really knocked Bret for a loop. The legdrop off the top was a great nearfall. The crash and burn off the somersault splash was great. You knew these high risk moves would backfire and they did. The superplex reversal by Kid into a pinfall was a great last gasp even though I have seen this match like three times before, my eyes popped for that. Kid goes hard into the turnbuckles ass first on a dropkick. GREAT BUMP! Great piece of psychology. AWESOME BULLDOG BY BRET! The press slam off the top was stupid but with this being such a NWA World Title match it was cute to see Bret do the Flair spot. Bret catches Kid off the top with the Sharpshooter. Not the best way to get to the finish, but a great finish nonetheless.



Incredible match. Bret is ruthless and kicks so much ass. Kid is all heart, all guts. Selling and just throwing his body out in reckless abandon. Bret withstands that one big push from the Kid and lets the Kid make the mistake after mistake at the end. Eventually is able to wrap up the victory, but not without some close calls. Bret Hart has looked amazing in these 90s matches. ****1/4

Just watched this for the first time since 1994 and wow, it held up well. Awesome match. As SS says, restart did a great job of keeping Bret face.

The last time I watched this I thought it was a top 20 WWE match ever. That was over a decade ago and many a match has happened since then, but it still feels right up there as one of the very best in company history. It's also one of my all time favourite Bret Hart performances. He was fucking tremendous in this and about as surly as I've ever seen him without outright heeling it up. Actually, Bret as babyface ace operating with shades of grey is maybe my favourite Bret in general. Kid takes him over at the start with an armdrag and Bret flashes this great look of "I guess he's more than just somersaults then." His European uppercuts were outrageous, cutting across Kid's jaw and cheek with just enough restraint that it wouldn't be considered taking liberties, and he hit one falling elbow to the back of the head that could've blinded Waltman. That those first uppercuts came in response to Waltman's early gambits made them even better -- it was Bret asserting the control that made him champion, but there was maybe some frustration laced through it, the sort of thing you'd see Tenryu do to a Koki Kitahara. The Kitahara comparison also works in that Kid about took Bret's head off more than once, especially with the spin kick that sent him over the ropes. Bret's control segment leading to the foot on the the ropes finish is good stuff, a nice Chapter 2 to the Chapter 1 of Kid catching him off guard early on. It was mostly standard fare, but Bret will make a basic chinlock look like an ordeal and he was cranking the hell out of this thing. Everything after the restart is next level and about as good as any stretch of 10 minutes in 90s WWF. Kid was throwing the kitchen sink at Hart, trying to give him brain damage with wheel kicks and running dropkicks, taking progressively bigger risks culminating with the senton to the floor. He even hit a powerbomb! Then he crashes and burns on a top rope senton, going to that particular well once too often, so Bret crosses the wee lad's eyes with a forearm shiver that topped everything else he'd thrown. When Kid tried the missile dropkick you knew Bret had it scouted and sure enough there was no getting out of the Sharpshooter. I 100% bought Savage giving them the standing ovation unprompted at the end. Really just a great face v face match, maybe the closest thing WWF had in the era to an NWA champ being run close by a young challenger.

It's intersting to think about because he was such a bad babyface tag worker & Babyface Hart Foundation vs Another Babyface team were always huge let downs. But as a single he's got this and the Piper match which are two of his best. Bret's a weird one.

I watched this fairly recently and also noticed that Savage was on point in this match. He was in a two man booth here and I typically remember him being in a three man booth, so maybe that helped.

This is a classic of course. I am not going to list it but it is worthy of consideration for sure.

I wish there were 10 more Bret matches like this.