Bret Hart vs Owen Hart (WWF, 3-20-1994)

WWF WrestleMania X, New York, NY

This is a request via Ko-fi. This is a match I’ve seen many, many, many times. WrestleMania X was a frequent rental for me from the Movie Zoo in Coloma, Mich., when I was a kid (88 cents a wrestling tape!), largely due to this match and the famous Ramon-Michaels ladder match. I was 12 in ’94, and I remember seeing those two matches on that tape and thinking, “That’s better than how it usually is. That was special.”

This match happened because Bret and Lex Luger had co-won the Royal Rumble in Jan. ’94, so there was no automatic No. 1 contender to Yokozuna, the WWF champion. Luger won a coin toss and got Yokozuna first, and the winner was to face Bret later in the night. But to make sure Bret didn’t have an advantage, having not wrestled previously in the night, he had to face his brother, Owen, with whom he’d had a falling out, with Owen kicking Bret’s leg out of his leg.

The ring announcer, who is not Howard Finkel, psyches everyone out with, “Making his way down the aisle, from CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA!” Mostly it serves to psyche out Vince McMahon on commentary. It’s Owen, not Bret, coming out first.

“Owen Hart, stepping literally from the shadows a moment ago. Is that an omen for his brother?”

They lock up, no one budges, and Owen takes it as a great victory. Fireman’s carry takeover from Owen, then a headscissors from Bret. Owen kips up and out. He celebrates again. Bret takes it all in stride. Waistlock takedown from Bret, Owen gets the ropes. Owen is incensed as he gets up. “GET HIM OOOOOFF!” That’s my OPINIOOOOON. Owen is all nerves and false bravado here.

Waistlock takedown from Owen, Bret runs it to the ropes and sends Owen flying to the floor outside. Owen is mad again. Back in, he slaps Bret right in the face, then backs down and ducks out as Bret comes toward him.

Hammerlock from Bret, drop toehold from Owen, then into a side headlock. Bret escapes, reverses into another hammerlock, and he drives a knee into the back and arm. Owen flips out, grabs a wristlock, and yanks Bret down by the hair. Bret points his finger at Owen, then kips up, reverses the wristlock, and yanks down twice.

Bret sent to the corner, up and over a charging Owen, rollup gets two. Armdrag from Bret into an armbar. “Let’s go, Bret” chant. Owen elbows his way out of the armbar, off the ropes, shoulderblock, off the ropes, Bret leapfrog, then a catapult sends Owen into the ropes, and a clothesline sends him back out to the floor.

Bret throws Owen back into the ring, then basically challenges him to sack up and get going. They shove each other, Bret smacks Owen this time, then rolls him up for two. Top wristlock from Bret, Owen reaching for the hair but not getting it.

Owen sends Bret off the ropes, leapfrogs, and hits a spinning heel kick. “Oh, no!” Vince exclaims. Vince was the worst at openly rooting for the babyfaces. Or the best at doing it. However you wanna look at it.

The fight goes to the floor and Owen is in control, scooping Bret up and ramming him into the post. Owen’s goal, as much as winning, is to hurt his brother, keep him from the WWF title match later in the show.

Back in, Owen with a headbutt, then he whips Bret hard to the corner. Bret hits back-first and goes down. Side backbreaker from Owen, then a camel clutch. Bret maneuvers it into just a chinlock, then elbows his way out. Off the ropes, over Owen, and Owen catches him with a belly-to-belly for two.

Headbutt again from Owen. Whip to the corner reversed, but Owen springs out into a crossbody, Bret rolls over for two, and Owen goes to the back, driving a knee into Bret’s spine and holding a chinlock. Owen goes for a slam, Bret falls on him for two, and Bret goes out to the floor to recover a bit.

To the apron, Owen grabs Bret and tries to suplex him in. Bret lands on his feet, but Owen hits a beautiful bridging German for two, then drops a leg on the back of the neck for another two.

Owen going for a vertical suplex, Bret counters with an inside cradle for two, but Owen is still in control, with Bret hurting. European uppercut from Owen. Lawler doesn’t like non-fist strikes. Owen with a tombstone piledriver! Big reaction for that, and Owen goes up top, missing a diving headbutt.

Bret takes over with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline for two. Owen off the ropes, Bret with a shot to the breadbasket, then a Russian legsweep for two. Side backbreaker from Bret, and he goes to the second rope, hitting the elbowdrop for two. Bret argues with Hebner about the count.

Owen’s kick to the gut is caught, but he hits the enzuigiri and goes for the sharpshooter. Bret blocks, reverses, and Owen flips him out of the sharpshooter attempt. Owen rakes the eyes, then rolls him up for two. Bret’s kickout is forceful enough to send Owen out to the floor, where Bret hits a slingshot plancha, but comes up clutching his bad knee.

Owen back in first, Bret follows, but Owen has separation to recover himself. Owen begging off as Bret limps in, but he’s playing possum. Owen goes to the bad leg. Vince is offended. Owen wraps the bad leg around the ring post. And again. And again. Bret up and can barely stand on the bad leg. Owen sees that and hits a dragon screw legwhip, then drops a leg down on the…leg. Owen staying on the leg.

“Let’s go, Bret” chant kicks up again. Bret’s shoulders go down for one. Owen drives his knees down into Bret’s leg. Dragon screw again. More leg work. Figure four from Owen. Vince actually calls the move! Bret eventually reverses the pressure and gets the ropes.

Owen drapes the leg over the middle rope in the corner and lays in with some kicks to the knee. Bret hits an enzuigiri this time, taking a page from his little brother’s book. Limping back into the fight, Bret lands a right hand, then a headbutt.

Owen whipped hard to the corner, takes it chest-first, and Bret drops a leg for two. Bret with a running bulldog, cover gets two again. Piledriver from Bret! He really had one of the best piledrivers you’ll ever see when he broke it out. Two count again.

Bret places Owen up top for a superplex, follows all the way to the top, and hits it! Two count yet again. Owen will not go away. Even Vince is giving him credit now. Owen misses a right hand, Bret gets a sleeper, and Owen mule kicks him in the nuts, with Hebner unable to see it due to his positioning. How convenient.

Owen goes for the sharpshooter, and he’s got it on! He’s got it center of the ring. Bret manages top push up and get a sharpshooter on himself, but Owen quickly has the bottom rope.

Owen reverses a whip to the corner, but Bret gets a foot up on the charge. Bret onto Owen’s shoulders, goes for a victory roll, Owen sits down instead, has the legs cradled — 1, 2, 3! Owen Hart does it! He beats Bret at WrestleMania!

Rating: 4.5/5. It lacks a bit of real punch and violence, but it’s a great wrestling match all the same. Bret sells the loss perfectly, Vince sells it great as a massive, actual upset, and Lawler on commentary does a good job hyping Owen for doing what he said he’d do: beat Bret clean, fair and square, at WrestleMania X. This match probably influenced a lot of what we see today, way more than a lot of bigger, more famous matches have, as you can see that modern wrestlers take a lot from the styles of the Harts, even if they have updated it, which is my nice way of saying that they don’t really get what made it all work the way it did. But things evolve and change, etc. I am a positive person.