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Post by elliott on Dec 7, 2017 1:13:55 GMT -5
Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (Submission Match - 03/23/1997)
One of the few WWE matches that I have penciled in as a lock for my list. Yet another one of those "What the hell do you say about this?" matches. A match I feel like I could close my eyes and watch I've seen it so much.
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Post by Cap on Dec 7, 2017 20:33:55 GMT -5
Second
Ahhh. I was going to nominate this one and kind of wanted to be the guy for some reason. haha. This is one of probably 2... MAYBE 3... matches I consider for Best WWE match of all time. The Survivor Series match rightfully also gets a lot of love as well, but this one is still the better match to me and a true classic. This is absolute must-see cannon to me.
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Post by Grimmas on Jan 4, 2018 11:24:59 GMT -5
I probably don’t need to tell you anything about this match for you to picture it, it’s probably one of the most famous matches in WWF history. It’s bloody, it’s violent, it’s got a double turn down to perfection, and it’s a perfect way to end the initial stage of this all time feud.
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Post by stunninggrover on Jul 29, 2018 23:43:20 GMT -5
1997-03-23 Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin [Submission Match] (WWF WrestleMania 13 @ The Horizon in Rosemont, IL) *****
WrestleMania 13 was a very mediocre show, but, it featured this match… easily one of the top 5 greatest WWF matches ever (and arguably one of the top 40 greatest pro wrestling matches ever). This was a Submission Match with Ken Shamrock as the guest referee. It’s probably the greatest brawling-type match in WWF history. Great execution by both participants. Austin juiced. Bret won the match when Austin passed out in the Sharpshooter. This was a very important match. It was the match that was the start of Bret’s great heel turn and it marked the beginning of Austin’s legendary babyface run. So, this match was very different from their great November 1996 match where Bret was still a pure babyface and Austin was still a pure heel (and that November 1996 match was a more traditional pro wrestling match). 22 min.
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Post by Cap on Aug 6, 2018 20:25:33 GMT -5
From my rewatch write up on 7/28/2018 Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (I Quit Match – 3/23/1997) Current Rank: 37 Trending: Up Like I said above, I have sort of fluxuated on this match a bit. It has always been a top tier match, but when picking knits between great matches, my opinion of it has ebbed and flowed quite a bit. This is the first time in a very long time that I have really sat down with a critical eye to this match and I came away thinking this held up under scrutiny really well. I can’t express how impressed I am with what they were able to pull off here in terms of turning both men in such an emphatic way. I genuinely believe the double turn is legible whether you watch it in or out of context. This match has brutality, pace, creativity, execution, drama, and some of the most iconic visuals in all of wrestling. Austin’s performance, especially near the end of the match as he pushes for his final comeback and then ultimately falls victim to the sharpshooter, is fantastic. However, this really strikes me as a Bret Hart match. He caries the load with some of his best and most focused work. He keeps the pace with his brawling. He sells well and more than anything he heels it up in a way that forces the double turn. This match is high art and will probably creep up my list just a touch. Full post can be found here: gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/657/caps-watching-project-reports#ixzz5NS3761LP |
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Post by superstarsleeze on Sept 29, 2018 19:03:20 GMT -5
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - Wrestlemania XIII Submission Match
I tried to get all artsy with my review, but I didnt like it so lets re-do this. Watching it again.
First Half: Bret is such a great grinder. He has a great ring presence. I have said it before and I will say it again: theres nobody I rather watch work a control segment. He is so deliberate yet so engaging. Austin is such an underrater seller. He sells so big. The flailing and the energy. He is always coming back forcing Bret to cut him off. I loved how the knee was set up by Austin wanting to hit Bret with the steel steps, but when Bret defends himself Austin wrenches his knee against the other steps. It is such a organic way to come out of an injury from a chaotic brawl. Also, starting the five minutes outside the ring was genius it really set the tone that this was going to be brawl. Back the knee work, I LOVED THE STUNNER AS A HOPE SPOT! Austin could feel the match slipping away and just grabs Bret's head and stuns him. But it is a submission match so he cant get a pin. Great work. Everyone always talks about the double turn, but Bret was still over! The two biggest pops in the first half of the match were Bret's ring-post figure-4 and Bret attempting to Pillmanize Austin's ankle. Both great spots and I love how that leads to Austin hitting the home run swing with the chair on one leg while Bret is on the top rope. Great iconic moment.
Second Half: Austin goes on a mini-tear. I always liked the part where Austin tries different submissions (moss-covered three-handled family gradunza and Boston Crab). It shows Austin was trying to win the match even if he was out of his element. I love how demonstrative he is when he is applying the Sharpshooter. He is really inviting the crowd to get involved. Bret rakes the eyes. Then we go outside. The match kicks into high gear when Austin takes his bump into the timekeeper's table and is busted wide open. Bret just rocks this segment working the cut and then then attacking the knee with the chair. He is outdone and yes I said OUTDONE by Austin who sells this all like a million bucks. Austin hits a total home run here. Just when Austin looks completely out of it, he hits a field goal through the uprights and Bret crumples into a heap. My God that Austin come back is just full of piss & vinegar. Stomp a mudhole and the middle fingers! Wow they dont make like wrestling like they used to! Love the electrical cord choke as a possible finish for Austin only for Bret to ring his bell with the bell. Then it is the most iconic finish in wrestling history. We all know it.
This is Bret Hart's Five Act Masterpiece. Act One: Brawl Outside sets the mood, establishes this a fight. Act Two: Bret works the knee. We get the rhythm of the match and its a submission match and the Sharpshooter is always looming. Act Three: Austin's first desperation comeback with the steel chair. He tries to win the match with conventional submissions. Act Four: Austin is busted wide open. Bret beats the shit out of him and is almost taunting him in the way he is not putting Austin away and is instead dishing out excessive punishment like he is running up the score. Act Five: Austin, bleeding profusely, makes a furious comeback that includes nutshots, middle fingers and trying to choke out Bret with with an electrical cord, but Bret hits Austin with the ring bell. Then it all climaxes in that amazing moment that is seared in all wrestling fans' minds with Austin fighting through the Sharpshooter, blood squirting from his head, passing out from the pain. It is a boring selection, but there's a reason it is boring, this is the Greatest WWF Match of All Time. *****
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Post by Cap on Aug 12, 2020 12:40:21 GMT -5
Two years after my last rewatch for this... Comparing it directly to Misawa/Kawada From my rewatch project on 8/7/2020 Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (I Quit Match – 3/23/1997) Current Rank: 29 Trending: Even Not much to say about this match that hasn’t been said 100 times over. I know some people believe its over rated and I can understand that. I have said this before, but this is one of my most rewatched matches and it always lives up. It’s a match that is just better than the sum of its parts, put together masterfully and executed… dare I say… excellently. I compared this to Misawa/Kawada, two of the most high profile, praised matches from two of the biggest companies in in wrestling history. I wound up preferring this, but only slightly. As much as anything it’s the emotion of this match and my somewhat nostalgic connection to it. When it comes right down to it, I want to watch this match over and over, I have to very much be in the mood to throw on Misawa/Kawada. Full Post: gweproject.freeforums.net/post/8263 |
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Post by cactus on Nov 16, 2021 1:52:49 GMT -5
Even watching these two trade punches is elite-tier stuff. They brawl throughout the crowd and it feels organic. The crowd, who have been quiet all night, wake up as soon as the crowd brawling starts. Once their back in the ring, Bret starts his assault on Austin's leg. Austin sells this so well, flailing all over the place. Austin tries to keep with Bret, but Bret keeps cutting him off. After getting cut open, Austin doesn't have much more to give. He tries to choke out Bret with an electrical cord, but Bret wails him with a ring bell. All the weapon spots have meaning and aren't just used to add a nice spot here and there. Austin passes out in the Sharpshooter, and Shamrock calls for the bell. J. R's call of Austin never giving up adds a lot to his face turn. This is so much more than just a good blade job. I'm so glad this holds up. Arguably the best match in company history. ★★★★★
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Post by KB8 on Aug 26, 2022 13:02:12 GMT -5
I'm not really sure if there's anything left to say about this. 25 years is a long time and there haven't been many wrestling matches with more words written about them since they happened than this one, so I won't go on forever. The work itself was great. The heat, the way they built to the big moments, the paybacks and everything else. Even the early crowd brawling was decent. It's easy to say now when we know what Austin would become, but this really does feel like the moment where goes from "this guy has something special about him" to "holy shit this guy could go nuclear." That said, he wasn't quite there yet. He felt like next man up, but Bret still felt like The Man. Whether you think he WAS The Man, or if it was Michaels or whoever the hell, it doesn't really matter - what matters is that Bret worked this like there was no question that it was him, the LeBron to Austin's Giannis (or KD or whoever the hell you think). In some ways it was maybe the last true underdog babyface performance Austin had, even if he never technically started the match as a fully-fledged babyface. After he went supernova it never really felt like he was a true underdog. Didn't matter if he was in there with Undertaker and Kane, or Foley with McMahon and Patterson and Briscoe doing everything they could to screw him over, he was Stone Cold and had godlike momentum that couldn't be be halted. Bret was still above him in the pecking order at this point and he carried himself like someone who wasn't about to relinquish his spot. You could get all poetic and pretentious about symbolism and the story and the way they told it, and to be honest it's one of those matches that warrants it. Bret is sick to death of Austin and needs to be rid of him. Austin is a madman obsessed with making Bret's life a misery. You could say it was a matter of respect but I'm not sure it was, at least not for Austin. I don't think Austin respected anything and I don't think he cared about being respected, not by Bret, not by anyone. He wanted to win because Bret said he couldn't. Even bleeding buckets, locked in a hold nobody escaped from, that obdurance kept him going until he physically couldn't. In the end maybe never earned Bret's respect, but he earned the people's whether he wanted it or not. Maybe he went on and had himself a career after that.
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Post by makaiclub on Aug 27, 2022 15:30:57 GMT -5
www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ap2siEveryone should rewatch the match with Stone Cold's commentary, if you haven't already. It's been a while since I've done it myself but I remember his insight and personal views on the match and ways that he could've done things better, pointing out what was said or done at specific moments in the match, being utterly fascinating. He did commentary for a few other matches as well iirc. I just love it when wrestlers pick apart their own matches and who better than Stone Cold to do so. Plus he's so hilarious. Just his vocabulary alone make me chuckle.
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Post by mrjmml on May 4, 2023 19:48:30 GMT -5
The best match in the history of WWE, it escalates quickly and the ending is epic. A top 10 contender for me. Also MOTY.
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Post by puropotsy on Jun 27, 2023 22:01:11 GMT -5
One of the most important matches of all time and one of the best ones. After watching them both tonight I’d say I’m higher on the Survivor Series 96 match but this was incredible as well. I remember the write-up on it in Bret’s book showing just how well he understood psychology. Austin was on fire in this match and it is an all-time great example of someone getting over when losing.
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Bah Gawd
DUD
Omega/Naito G1 27 For Bombs, 6/9/95 & 6/3/94 for Drama, Okada/Shibata for Stiffness,
Posts: 14
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Post by Bah Gawd on Feb 3, 2024 19:54:33 GMT -5
Any match that is uncharacteristic of WWE (Kickouts, Focus on Polished and Clean in ring work, etc) is a certified banger. What a match that still holds up many years later.
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