Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect (WWF, 6-13-1993)

WWF King of the Ring, Dayton, OH

This is a request via Ko-fi. Before this match, they both have a promo at the same time with Mean Gene, who tries to stir some shit between them, then acts like he didn’t do it. Then they argue over whose dad beat whose dad back in the day, and Perfect mentions their famous SummerSlam ’91 match, where Hennig worked with a busted back and they managed to have a great match anyway. Perfect offers a handshake, but pulls it back. They were both babyfaces here, but Perfect as a babyface still always had a chip on his shoulder and a lot of arrogance.

Commentary is done by the team of Jim Ross, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan. JR mentions the Bulls-Suns NBA Finals that were happening at the time, comparing this matchup favorably. JR also speculates that Bret may have injured his left hand in his opening round KOTR match with Razor Ramon. Perfect had beaten Mr. Hughes in the opening round, also earlier in the night.

C&E start, goes nowhere. JR compares these two and their scientific styles to the more bruising styles of their fathers. Perfect with a waistlock, Bret gets the ropes and Perfect breaks clean. Side headlock from Hart. Wrenching away on it. Perfect with a forearm to the kidneys, sends Bret off the ropes, Perfect goes down on a shoulder. Bret off the ropes, Perfect goes for a hiptoss, reversed by Bret, and then Hart with a side headlock takeover.

Perfect with a headscissors, Bret maneuvers his way out and back to a side headlock. It’s rare that WWE has ever acknowledged history older than a few weeks, but they’re talking plenty about the SummerSlam match from two years prior. Perfect gets to his feet, backs Bret to the corner, and unleashes a knife edge chop in the corner instead of a clean break. Whip to the other corner is reversed, Bret hits a scoop slam, Perfect upkicks him away, they do that again in reverse, with Perfect hitting a slam and Bret upkicking him down. Bret with another side headlock takeover. Just lovely professional wrestling.

Perfect stands it up again, another shot to the kidney, and another. Bret off the ropes, goes for a crucifix and gets two out of it. Another side headlock takeover from Hart. They stay in that a moment, before Hennig again stands it up and fights out. Hart off the ropes again, crossbody gets a one count. Hart kicked out to the floor, but hits a shoulder from the apron and a slingshot sunset flip for two, then another beautiful headlock takeover.

Perfect trying for the hair, but he stands it up again. He’s a great technician being outwrestled at the moment. Perfect backs Bret to the ropes, then unleashes a hard knee to the gut. Again, he’s being outwrestled. He’s a good guy at this point in his career, but he has to do something. The King of the Ring is at stake. And Randy mentions Perfect’s “salty past.”

Perfect with a lovely standing dropkick, Bret rolls out to the floor while Perfect drops one strap. Perfect opens the ropes for Bret to climb back in, and kicks him when he does. Another kick to the ribs. Bret’s head slammed off the top turnbuckle, then a chop and a couple clubbing forearms from Perfect. More kicks to a downed Hart. Kneelift, cover, Perfect gets two.

Hart kicked in the ribs again, rolls to the floor again. Perfect with another chop, then smacks Hart’s face off the ring apron. Perfect rolls back in. Hart on the apron, Perfect with a right hand, then he pushes Bret off into the steel guardrail and onto some boxes. Hart holding his right knee. Perfect breaks the count, but Bret is struggling on the floor, writhing in pain.

Perfect pulls Bret back onto the apron and punches him again. Back into the ring, another kneelift, another two count. Hennig staying on the advantage, drops Bret with a right, and now climbs up to the top rope, waiting for Bret to get up, and he hits a flying dropkick. Not the prettiest, but Perfect wasn’t a flier. Two count, Bret gets his foot on the rope. Perfect removes it, gets another two count. Bret sent to the corner, hits hard chest-first, and Perfect covers for another two.

Perfect up top again, but Bret cuts him off this time and hits a superplex from the second rope. Cover from Bret, no leg hooked, a two count. Crowd really getting into this one, and commentators loving it. Bret kicking Perfect’s leg out of his leg, and now going for the figure-four, and he gets it! Right in the center of the ring. Bret cranking on the figure four, Perfect fighting through the pain. Hennig makes it to the bottom rope finally, and the hold is broken.

Back heel trip from Hart, then drops an elbow down and grapevines the leg, further working toward the sharpshooter. Perfect eyerakes his way out of the hold, digging further into his true personality. He always felt, as a good guy, like a guy fighting his nastier instincts. Perfect with a hairmare, sending Hart across the ring.

Sleephold from Perfect. Crowd trying to rally Hart. He’s got it on tight, though. Hart grabbing for the hair now — he’s no angel, either. Bret gets to the ropes, Perfect holds it through a count of four. Perfect’s knee gives out, he tries to slap it back awake. Another chop from Perfect, then he grabs another sleephold. Bret goes down quickly this time, still not fully recovered from moments ago. Perfect puts his foot on the bottom rope for a moment, but otherwise it’s a clean sleephold.

Crowd again rallying Hart. Bret gets up, and runs them into the corner, where Perfect’s head hits the top turnbuckle. Bret stumbles over, lifts Perfect up, and hits a big European uppercut. “He brought that from the Hart Family Dungeon!” Hart with a hair biel, and Perfect’s balls crash into the ringpost on the sliding fall. Inverted atomic drop from Bret, Russian legsweep, cover, two.

Bret with a quick legdrop. Side backbreaker. Hart to the second rope, the elbowdrop hits on the button. Cover, another two count. Bret goes for the sharpshooter, but Perfect grabs Hart’s fingers on the bad left hand from underneath, then stomps the fingers when Bret has to let go of the legs. Perfect goes for the Perfectplex, Bret fighting it off and blocking with his left leg. Hart suplexes Perfect, sending both crashing over the top rope to the floor.

Both men down, Perfect up quicker, and he scrambles back into the ring first. Hart struggles back in, too. Perfect can’t stand, but he gets up and executes an inside cradle for two, Hart reverses and gets the three count. After the match, Perfect is pissed off and rolls out of the ring. “That’s bogus! That’s bogus!” Perfect smacks the steps, then climbs back into the ring. He gets in Bret’s face, talking, but extends a hand. Bret shakes it, Perfect slaps him on the arm, and leaves Bret to celebrate his win.

Rating: 5/5. What a great match this is. Underrated if anything. One of the best in Bret’s career and maybe the best in Hennig’s. There’s history between the two, their styles in a way mirror one another, as to their backgrounds in wrestling and in life. They were two of the greats of their era, two of the great technicians of all-time, and they brought everything in this match, working it back-and-forth with a ton of spirit and a lot of character, particularly from Hennig. There’s just so much to sink your teeth into with this match, particularly if you care about the wrestlers, and I love them both. And they work the match as if it has the highest of stakes; KOTR was new as a pay-per-view concept in 1993, and we think of it now as just a thing, but the final was the main event of this show, and the whole thing was meant to be something taken very seriously. Add in a great commentary effort from a prime Jim Ross, plus Bobby Heenan and Randy Savage providing good color work, and you’ve got something really special. This is a match I can watch any time, a true personal favorite, and it was terrific to watch it again today. It might really be, like, top 25 ever for me. I love this match to death.