Bret Hart vs Konnan (WCW, 11-19-1998)

WCW Thunder, Fort Wayne, IN

This is a rematch from the November 9 Nitro, where Hart got himself purposely DQ’d to beat Konnan silly with a chair. It’s also a rare Thunder appearance for Hart.

Konnan is out and does his little mic bit. Then, to show you how great the WCW production crew was, they play Bret’s old theme and not the one he’s been using for a good while by this point. Terrific stuff. Tony starts talking about high school football for some reason.

Hart starts with a knee to the gut and an elbow over the back of the head, then some punches in the corner, all to the midsection. Konnan spins him around and throws rights and lefts, then mounts and hits a 10-punch, followed with a LEAPING CROTCH CHOP. Oh the attitude! In my face! IN ALL OUR FACES!

Konnan lazily tosses Bret to the floor. I love Konnan’s body language. 90% of the time he looked like he wasn’t trying at all. Konnan with a forearm, then lazily walks Bret over to the steps and kinda throws him toward them. Konnan with right hands.

Hart just kinda gets up and starts yelling at fans. Boy these guys are really not invested in this main event here on Thunder in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hart back into the ring, Konnan gets caught following him. Right hands from Bret, knocking Konnan down on the apron. You know for a LONG time, I did not know the apron was the hardest part of the ring.

Konnan with a sunset flip from the apron. Stevie Ray sneaks in from behind and … kinda sorta touches Konnan with the “slapjack.” So Konnan is dead. Headbutt to the midsection on the dead Konnan. Hart gets the sharpshooter on and Konnan is dead so the match is over. Hart won’t let go. Then he does. Then he gets a chair. Konnan is still dead from being barely scraped by the “slapjack.” Hart looking to Pillmanize the ankle. He goes to the wrong corner and realizes he can’t jump that far, so he goes to a closer corner, then stands there and waits until Diamond Dallas Page comes in to beat him up as the show goes off the air.

Rating: 1/5. This was, all around, really atrocious. Bret and Konnan were both half-asleep for this match, which thankfully was only about three minutes long, and Stevie Ray clumsily missing his “slapjack” spot just completely took me out of Konnan being dead. It all became comedy at that point.