Bret Hart vs Kamala (WWF, 8-10-1992)

WWF, Huntsville, AL

This is a request via Ko-fi. This is listed as August 10, 1992 on the internet, but this match and August 10, 1992 don’t match up on Cagematch. HOWEVER, a further search reveals that the WWF taped Superstars on that date in Huntsville, so I am assuming this is from then. Makes sense. You can watch the match on the WrestleFest ’93 Coliseum Video on WWE Network.

Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes are on commentary for this Coliseum Video exclusive. Bret is Intercontinental champion, not long before he would win the WWF title for the first time.

Kamala bellows before they lock up. Bret to a waistlock, Kamala backs him into the corner to break that. Overhand chop to the skull from Kamala. Whip to the other corner, Hart moves on a Kamala charge, but Kamala just holds his belly to sell.

Bret with a wristlock and some right hands to the shoulder. Kamala shoves Hart into the corner, but he misses going after Bret again, and Bret goes right back to the wristlock. Kamala breaks again, then hits a scoop slam. Falling chop misses, falling double sledge misses, Hart hits a standing dropkick and Kamala teeters but doesn’t go down.

Hart back to the wristlock. Kamala gets the ropes to break, almost by accident. Kamala wants a test of strength, but Bret is no dummy. Kamala goes back to Kimchee for more advice. He still wants the test of strength. He’s daring Bret to come in for it, and dummy Bret will do it, the proud fool. Wait, no he won’t. More advice from Kimchee, who tells Kamala to put his free hand behind his back to sucker Bret in.

Mooney does a bit where he pretends to talk to the producers. Bret’s going to the test of strength — but eh’s smart, see, and blocks Kamala’s chop, then stomps his bare foot. He does that again. Kamala limping around. Bret back to the wristlock.

Chop from Kamala, Bret with shots to the big King Hippo gut of Kamala, Hart tries some shoulderblocks but eventually just runs into a thrust to the throat. Kamala jumps for joy, then hits a falling chop. And a standing chop to the chest. Kamala picks Bret up, off the ropes, Bret ducks a clothesline but runs into a bearhug, the worst move in wrestling, or so I’ve been told.

The bearhug is held, but Bret’s arm does not drop thrice. Hart bites his way out of the hold, but then runs into a spin kick from Kamala: Martial Artist. Kamala with a ……. tiddyhold. Look I dunno what else to call this:

That’s a tiddyhold, right? “Squeezing away on the chest now,” Mooney says. “That’s definitely a primitive move.”

No matter how you slice it, the tiddyhold appears to be effective. But Bret does fight back to his knees, Kamala squeezing his nipple the whole time, and then to his feet, still in the grasp of the purple nurple. Hart throws a right, Kamala blocks and then lifts him in a choke, throwing Bret to the mat.

Kamala BACK TO THE TIDDYHOLD, BABY! YEAH! Bret stands it up again, Kamala whips him off the ropes, Bret ducks a chop, KAMALA WITH THE LEAPFROG BASK IN HIS GLORY, Bret catches a kick and hits a Russian legsweep.

Champion and challenger both down. Bret covers, two count, but Kamala POWERS out, just launches him off his chest. Bret with rights to the gut, Kamala backed to the corner. Hart mounts and delivers the 10-punch. Kimchee shouting at Kamala, but nothing he can do. Kamala reverses a whip, runs into a boot in the corner. Hart with the clothesline from the second rope, cover gets two.

Kamala in the corner, Bret goes over and hits a monkey flip. Diving elbow from the second rope, now he’s setting for the sharpshooter. Hart’s technique has taken over. Kimchee comes in and gets whacked away, but that’s a DQ. Harvey Whippleman gets in, too, and they overwhelm Bret, holding him down for a big Kamala splash, but it misses and Harvey gets squooshed but good! Lord Al loses his shit! Kamala clotheslined to the floor! Hart wears Kimchee’s helmet-hat! Alright!

Rating: 3/5. Back in my youth, I played the DOS-based text wrestling simulator TNM7 for hours upon hours upon days upon weeks upon months upon years, and as you might guess from my Bret stanning, Hart was usually a top guy for me in my feds. One of the things I noticed over time was that no matter what opponent you gave Bret on the game, he would generally pull at least a respectable *** out of them. I set up a dummy circuit to try it with wrestlers of various workrate numbers and it proved pretty conclusively true. I’ve always thought, really, that this was Bret’s greatest strength as a performer, getting something better than usual out of anyone he faced. And this is the kind of match I’m talking about. Bret and Kamala worked the house show circuit for a bit around this time, and put together a good match. I like Kamala in general, but more as a character than a wOrKeR, y’know, but Bret drags a bit more out of him than anyone else really could. He is able to get the best possible out of just about anybody. THAT is as big a way to judge greatness, if not bigger, than how many stars someone has racked up over the years. You will never convince me that John Cena is a better worker than Bret Hart, even if Cena has more Official Great Matches by star ratings. I say this all the time and will always repeat it: greatness is not only revealed in great matches. A lot of guys of the 70s, 80s, and 90s didn’t work in the environment that allowed for constant 4* type matches like today’s wrestlers all over the world do. But when you watch what they do, whether it’s Bret or Ted DiBiase or Curt Hennig or Arn Anderson or someone else, what they get out of inferior workers, that speaks volumes to me.