Really fun Curt Hennig performance, upping the surliness and playing subtle heel in what's probably my second-favourite WWF performance of his. He wasn't down for the sportsmanship at all and had no compunction about pulling hair or throwing pot shots, all with a scowl on his face. He was getting yoinked into those headlock takeovers almost side on at points and made it look like Bret was just snapping him over. The more frustrated Perfect got the quicker he tried to run at him after each takedown, but Bret was ready every time and just used that momentum to corral him with another headlock, a man entirely unperturbed, at the peak of his powers, who knew he could weather any storm even if he only had 30 minutes to do it. The first transition effectively being a knee to the gut maybe never had the impact behind it that you'd want, but the fact it was a cheapshot meant it at least progressed the story of Perfect being willing to take a shortcut or two. They progressed that again in a few cool ways, the first being when Perfect held the ropes open for Bret to get back in the ring only to kick him in the guts when he was halfway through. They upped that another step later on when Bret wound up on the apron so Perfect just smashed him off and into the barricade (where Bret cracked his knee on a crate that apparently wasn't supposed to be there). The work on Perfect's leg after the comeback doesn't last too long, but it let him take his bumps on the top of his head after every leg kick and then they rolled out the figure-four, which plays on a bit of history between Perfect and Flair (which Heenan sort of touches on on commentary). The stretch run is really good, nothing elaborate but tight and focused and very much in line with the best Bret Hart matches. Perfect tries to rip Bret's head off with a nasty looking sleeper hold and then Bret seems to realise he should stop playing nice and about uppercuts Perfect into another dimension. There are some neat subtle selling moments from Perfect as well, like when he trips as if his leg gave out after Bret breaks the sleeper, then of course we get the finger-bending as Bret tries to apply the Sharpshooter. And any match with finger-bending is at least worth three and a half stars prolly. I thought overall Bret was just the right sort of foil, something he was always great at and I don't mean that in a backhanded way either, but this was a Mr. Perfect show and probably his last great match.
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