I've always liked this more than the Wrestlemania match and on another re-watch I still do. I've probably watched it every year for the last seven years, always with the intention of writing about it for some project or another, and every year it holds up and every year I write zero words about it. Every year the same things stand out as being great and every year there'll be at least one new cool thing I hadn't picked up on before. I've participated in several best WWF matches ever polls over the many years I've been talking about wrestling on the internet and this match is always near the very top of those lists. No matter how my tastes shift, no matter what I look for in the wrestling I watch, this match always gives me what I want.
The assertion that this is the closest the WWF ever came to a classic NWA World Title match feels pretty dead on. The first few minutes especially feel like a window into another world where Bret was 10 years younger and worked Jack Brisco in the Omni. I've always loved how they thread elements of escalation through it as well though, to the point where it has an almost 90s All Japan-ish quality. It's pretty much a perfect example of "anything you can do, I can do better", which obviously fits with the theme of Austin being obsessed with bettering Bret 'The Hitman' Hart. They also work in paybacks and revenge spots in really clever, interesting and believable ways (with JR hitting every point on commentary, in what might be his best WWF call ever). They have the early work around armbars and hammerlocks, first with Austin working everything like you'd expect, mean-spirited and venomous, before Bret takes over and shows him how to really do it, wrenching violently on arm-wringers and even mouthing off on Austin at one point. That early hold-working was some of my favourite stuff in the match and it's because they made it feel important, like the sort of thing that could make a difference the longer the match goes, nothing perfunctory about it whatsoever. When they have their first punch exchange Austin wins it pretty handily because he's fuckin Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret hasn't stepped foot in a ring in nine months, though even if he had it wasn't to throw punches with Stone Cold Steve Austin. When they go back to that later it's Bret who wins the exchange and it feels like he's scaled a mountain, even as bruised and beaten as he was. The hotshot allows Austin to take over for his first run of offence and it leads to some awesome work around Bret's chest and throat, then later once Bret manages to make a sustained comeback he hits his own hotshot, which in turn feels like a genuine momentum-swinger. Austin tries to hit a suplex from the top early and Bret drops him face-first off the ropes (and follows up with a killer TOP rope falling elbow drop), but Austin one-ups him later by going back to it and hitting a monster superplex. Bret comes out on top of an exchange on the floor in the first half by smashing Austin into the barricade, then towards the end Austin pays him back by slingshotting Bret across the announce table. It was a theme that ran through everything and it was always great.
Austin was also a machine from start to finish. It's one of his best performances and every time I watch this match I'm sort of taken aback by how good he is in it. I thought Bret was great too, a man who'd been out of action for months, at points almost struggling to keep his head above water, but Austin was mesmerising as a man determined to drown him. That stretch of work after the hotshot was tremendous in how laser focused he was on trying to crush Bret's trachea. By the end that had morphed into him basically working over Bret's entire upper body and my favourite spot of the match might've been the Texas Cloverleaf --> whip to the buckles --> Bret's leg giving out leading to him crashing into the post and about wrapping himself around the thing. And of course Austin immediately goes after Bret's lower back with the bow and arrow. Tonnes of really neat little touches throughout as well, which is hardly surprising given the participants. Things like Austin hitting the Stunner but taking an extra second to pull Bret away from the ropes, allowing Bret to kick out and leaving the possibility dangling there about what if he'd covered him right away, which naturally sets up moments in future matches. The Cloverleaf and bow and arrow are great in a broader sense because they're not moves he ever really used, so you can tell he's having to go above and beyond for the occasion. Then he digs ALL the way into his pockets for something he might've otherwise left in the past...only for Bret to call on a counter from his own history. Austin was right on the cusp of being at the top table, but Bret wasn't about to give up his own seat there just yet. A fantastic match and maybe the best either of them ever had.
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