Bret Hart vs Fit Finlay (WCW, 7-13-1998)

WCW Monday Nitro, Las Vegas, NV

This is it: the lone match ever between Bret Hart and Fit Finlay. Bret’s one night removed from a DQ in a TV title match with Booker T.

C&E start, Finlay shoves Hart to the ropes. Hart breaks sort of aggressively. They lock up again, Finlay to a side headlock. Bret pushes Finlay to the corner, then lands shots to the gut and an elbow to the head. Bret choking him.

Hart rakes the eyes across the top rope, kick to the gut, and a headbutt. Eye rake. Finlay pops him in the fucking nose, then rips him with a European uppercut. Finlay more than happy to play rough with Hart. Big forearm knocks Bret down for a quick count.

Hart backs into the corner, Finlay hits him with an overhand forearm. Sadly this is hour one so I have to listen to Larry Zbyszko ramble about Hollywood Hogan. Anyway, Finlay with a short arm lariat and a hard kneedrop.

Finlay drags Bret out to the floor, another European uppercut. Hart with a low blow to turn it around. Bounces Finlay off the steps. Hart rams Finlay into the guardrail. Back into the ring. Side backbreaker from Hart. Hart grabs the legs, drives the head down into the midsection. European uppercut from Bret. Finlay drills him in the nose again. Goddamn it I love Finlay.

Finlay with a scoop slam, elbowdrop is on point, and now he’s got a hard chinlock. Hart with a shoulder to the gut in the corner, then another, then a right hand to the stomach. Finlay whipped to the other side, but gets a boot up on Bret’s face. Finlay with another short lariat for two.

Finlay off the ropes, Hart drills him with an inverted atomic drop and a running clothesline. Finlay gets the ropes, Bret yanks him off and hooks the sharpshooter. Center of the ring, sat in deep, Finlay taps out.

Rating: 4/5. This is four and a half minutes long and every second of it rules. You can honestly feel Bret having a good time here, laying in the shots with a wrestler from the same sort of school he was from, no worry about anyone’s egos or anything, just a tight few minutes of hard-hitting wrestling between a couple of masters. They never did meet again, which is an absolute shame, but Hart’s destiny and more importantly his paycheck was higher up the card, it is what it is. If they’d ever gotten even 10 minutes, they’d have produced a MOTYC with no question.