Forgotten Goodness 05.02.06: Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage
Posted by on 05.02.2006
The Hitman and the Macho Man come together in late 1987 and put on a wrestling clinic during Saturday Night's Main Event. A surprise, right? Two of the best wrestlers ever putting on a good match? Never heard about this match? There's a reason, unfortunately, but it's worth tracking down at all costs. Read on for details of a forgotten classic.
Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Saturday Night's Main Event
Nov. 28, 1987 (airdate)
Markout Memories: I got this videotape during the glorious summer of 2002, right before my senior year in college. I had far too much time on my hands and, in between drinking binges, I discovered e-Bay and started collecting a bunch of old wrestling tapes like the true wrestling geek I am. My favorite tapes were old Saturday Night's Main Events because, becoming a wrestling fan in the early 1990's, I basically missed out on the show. And while video stores would have pay-per-views and collections of select matches from these shows, I had never seen a classic Main Event so I started collecting them. This one tape has this show and the next show, which is basically a two-show storyline with Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy (Bundymania!) that leads into Andre the Giant taking the belt from Hogan at the first primetime Main Event in Feb. 1988. The WWF at this point, still basking in the glow of WrestleMania III, was hotter than Hades and right in mainstream America.
The Build: As the clips before the match help to illustrate, Savage took on the Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Title in October, hit the flying elbow and, at the count of two, Bret Hart broke up the pin. There were some post-match shenanigans with Honky Tonk shoving Elizabeth - talk about your no-no's in 1980's wrestling - and wailing Savage with a guitar. This was all leading to Savage vs. Honky Tonk at the Main Event where Andre beats Hogan. There's a whole back story there as Savage was supposed to win the title there, but ended up winning the big one at WrestleMania IV.
Behind the scenes, this match is very interesting. According to Bret Hart on his DVD and other sources, this match was basically Vince McMahon telling Bret to go out there and show him what he can do. It's practically fact that Bret was scheduled to get a singles push following WrestleMania IV, and then again after WrestleMania V, but it was shelved until 1991 because the tag team of the Hart Foundation, with Jim Neidhart, was still too over and too valuable. And with Hogan showing no signs of slowing down in 1988, it didn't make sense to break up that tag team for a singles wrestler with no chance in heck of being champion. So with all that said…
The Match: Pre-match interview with the Hart Foundation as the trio, with Jimmy Hart, run down Savage as Mean Gene is aghast I tell you that the guys tried to hurt Elizabeth. Jimmy Hart gets the line of the night about Savage getting smacked with a guitar - "He's lucky Honky Tonk doesn't play the piano." Vince calls the Foundation "creeps!" while Jesse Ventura defends their actions during a slow-mo replay of Elizabeth getting shoved down. I don't know why that is worse than Savage getting hit over the head with a friggin guitar.
Savage rebuttal time - "Oh yeah!" - and of course Scheme Gene asks Liz how she is. Savage has to butt in to go crazy Macho style. Lots of "Yeahs!" and that cool thing where he makes a fist with his pinky up to make his point. I love that. He works in his "vengeance is mine!" line twice. I appreciate Savage, of all people, telling Gene to calm down. "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Macho Man" and he's off. Elizabeth looks amazing, as McMahon compliments her…smile? The pre-match intrigue has Macho not letting Liz in the ring and the crowd is hot for Savage. Jimmy and the Anvil surround Liz, forcing Savage to jump out and defend her. On point, Ventura states this is going to be a distraction for Savage - that's quality heel commentary, explaining the illogical actions of the heels (in this case, attacking a woman) logically.
For no reason at all, then-Seattle Seahawks linebacker Brian Bosworth shows up. Honky Tonk, in pre-recorded comments, tells us he wants Bret to not destroy Savage because he's not done playing with him. Eww. And he's not done playing with Elizabeth either. Double eww.
We're off proper as Savage chases everyone around the ring. He grabs Bret and starts wailing on him outside the ring and whips him headfirst into the ropes. Already, the violence level is way above 1988 WWF standards and Bret is already selling an elbow injury. He comes in and Savage is back on him with elbows, punches and the Greco-Roman eyerake. The speed here is off the charts as they do a double reversal into the corner as Bret kicks the living crap out of Savage in the corner, then chokes him. You can feel the tension and this match just started. Good stuff. Ventura starts laying it on thick with the Bret love until Savage counters with a sweet kick and a big elbow.
Bret unveils his wicked spot where he stands on the outside of the rope, the opponent pushes him and he goes flying into the railing. In '95, he crashed through a table and updated the spot for the new era. Now Neidhart is challenging Savage as Hart is done on the outside. Double noggin' knocker! Savage to the top trying to hit Bret on the floor and WHAM! Bret gets him in the stomach with the megaphone. Oh man that was awesome. And now Anvil lays in the boots on the outside. This is beautiful heel wrestling, the crowd is pissed and believes Savage has no chance to win. It only gets better from here as Bret takes over inside. Notice we haven't had a resthold four minutes in? They rest as stuff happens - can someone tell the WWE wrestlers of today that? Savage is now in the tree of woe as Bret lays in the boots. True, there isn't a lot of actual wrestling going on but it's still good wrestling if that makes sense - this is pure psychology.
Wow, as soon as I wrote that Bret busted out a bitchin' piledriver for two and Bret, as you can guess, is not happy with the two-count. Crowd is desperately behind Macho Man - you think Vince saw the money in Savage at this point or what? Savage moves out of the way of Bret charge, pulls him by the hair and tossed him through the turnbuckles into the ringpost. Bret is down, Savage goes to the top and look at the crowd stand! Elbow to the face gets a close two-count and you can hear the excitement in Jesse's voice. Bret answers with a backbreaker as even Vince tells us how good this match is. Bret goes up and misses a second-rope elbow drop. This is just nothing but action and both men look spent. Savage does his own wicked spot, where he jumps over the top rope and drops Hart's neck on the top rope…that gets another close two. Savage is about to nail the ref and does the SWANK~! Holy Sh*t bump - where he gets backdropped over the top rope. Uh-oh, Savage hurt his leg. Anvil, in true Anvil form, is jumping up and down and cheering like a high schooler as Savage is in serious pain. He's just writhing around the floor - McMahon says this could be a "career-ending" injury.
As we go to commercial, the whole mini-injury angle was about as shootish as it got in the 1988 WWF. Savage takes off his boot and as the heels go to attack, the ref jumps down and swears - yes he cursed - that he'd ring the bell. I know it's not much, but when they come back from commercial, I guarantee you that the little marks at the time were convinced Savage had broken his ankle. McMahon, for the rest of the match, is pleading for the match to be stopped - a la JR during the Mankind/Undertaker Hell in a Cell minus all the "Damn's"
Savage crawls back in the ring and crumbles in the ring as he tries to put pressure on the left leg. The overselling here is perfect as Savage makes trying to get up a dramatic experience and now, go Macho, he asks Bret to bring it on. Like a champion, Bret goes right after the ankle and you can start to hear some gasps from those in the arena. Yes! Bret takes the injured leg and slams it against the post. McMahon is nearly in tears as Bret continues to attack the leg. Jesse, the man as always, gives not sympathy and says all Macho has to do is give up. Bret with a leg lock but Savage boots Bret BACK into the post shoulder first…Savage's does some minor offense and actually gets a two-count. Bret goes right back to the leg and the tension is dripping from the rafters right now. Jesse wants Bret to break the leg and busts out, heck yeah, a one-legged Boston Crab but Savage gets to the ropes.
This is a friggin clinic in wrestling psychology as Savage continues to sell the leg like a Wrestling God. Savage now retaliates with an eyerake, goes after Jimmy, but Bret counters with a slam, that Savage counters into a small package! What a finish… Savage wins by pinfall at 11:50 shown
As you can imagine, the crowd goes crazy as Anvil tries to attack but Savage kicks him away. Jimmy with the megaphone and he nails Bret! Place is going crazy (tm Vince) as the Foundation runs away. Savage continues to lay around the ring and sell the injury as Fink announces the winner to get Savage another sweet pop. No celebration though - wait, he's up and hopping around. Even Jesse has to give Savage some props as the duo speculates Macho may not wrestle for a year. Vince is really laying it on thick until Savage collapses in the aisle on the way back. Ricky Steamboat would be proud of that selling.
The 411-(****1/4): What a match! I knew I liked it but watching it again, I legitimately got into like I was watching it for the first time. This match has everything - solid wrestling moves, a bunch of top-rope stuff for the time period, some brutal use of the ringpost and a sell job by Savage that is unmatched. Any prospective wrestler should watch this match and watch Savage sell the leg - it's about as good as I've seen and the whole place bought it hook, line and sinker. The heat was good too, though it's tough to tell since it was edited, and fit perfectly within the storyline. They packed a lot into just over 10 minutes. I tend to judge matches by the pop the finish gets - when you get the "hands raised, crowd jumping" pop for a victory, you've put on a good wrestling match.
How It Vanished: This was forgotten because the WWF wanted you to forget it. If they wanted you to remember it, it would have been on those Saturday Night's Main Event compilation tapes that gave legendary status to matches like Big Boss Man/Hulk Hogan in a cage and the Brainbusters/Rockers tag team match. Simply put, Bret's singles push was delayed and this match, to my knowledge, was aired once and never really talked about it again. Those who have seen it have made mention of it but that's about it - I guess it has somewhat of a cult status. If Savage and the WWE ever patched up their differences, I'd imagine this match being on a Savage DVD and this wouldn't be forgotten anymore. Seriously, though, this match is awesome and I'd have to rank as one of the top ten of the 1980's in the WWF. Go out and hunt down a copy of this match if you can, download it somewhere, do something - it's old school, but it's good.
