Bret Hart vs British Bulldog (WWF, 8-29-1992)

WWF SummerSlam, London, England

“Joey (Marella) gave Davey and me the rules, the three of us momentarily awestruck by the size of the crowd. We pushed off with Davey looking strong and serious. The crowd was ours and the bell sounded. At first Davey outmaneuvered me with simple and realistic wrestling, but after only a few minutes, he was breathing hard.

“‘Bret, I’m fooked,’ Davey panted as I had him clamped in a side headlock. ‘I can’t remember anything!’

“‘Davey, just listen to me. I’ll carry you.’

“Joey shot me a worried look. This would be the test of my career.”

–Bret Hart, Hitman

Before the match, Sean Mooney is with Diana Smith, the sister of Bret Hart, the wife of Davey Boy Smith.

“Yes, it is going to be difficult for me to watch. Bret and Davey Boy have always been fiercely competitive with each other. This, I’m sure, has enhanced their wrestling ability and helped them to become two of the greatest wrestlers in the whole world. And this match tonight is going to be the biggest match in their lives. And I regret that I may have been an obstacle in their path, but I am worried about what they’re going to do to each other. I’m afraid they’re going to destroy each other.”

Mooney says he knows she’s concerned, but asks who she thinks will win. “To be quite frank, I’m not concerned about who wins. I love Bret and I love Davey. The bond that we have with my whole family is greater than anything. It’s more valuable to me than anything. Nothing could ever replace that, not even the Intercontinental belt could ever replace that.”

We go to Howard Finkel. It is the main event of SummerSlam 1992.

“Rule Britannia” starts and 80,000 go wild as Lennox Lewis, before he became a world heavyweight boxing champion, hoists the Union Jack and leads Davey Boy Smith to the ring.

After Davey and Lennox hit the ring, Bret’s theme starts, and he starts a long, somewhat lonely walk to the ring with the Intercontinental championship strapped around his waist. He’s been the main IC champion for about a year, since beating Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam ’91, losing it briefly to The Mountie in Jan. ’92, before regaining it from Roddy Piper at WrestleMania VIII.

The bell sounds. Bret kisses the title belt, and goes out to hand his glasses off to a fan. The brothers-in-law circle, then square off. Bret shoves Davey a bit, and Davey shoves back harder.

Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are on commentary.

They lock up, Davey shoves Bret to the corner. They lock up again, Smith to a side headlock. Hart shoves Smith off, Davey steps over, Bret with a leapfrog, and then Smith hits Hart with a shoulder tackle, knocking the champion out to the floor.

Hart comes back in, staying calm. Lock up, Hart with a headlock takedown, into a headscissors by Smith. Out of that, headlock takedown by Bret, this time he holds the control.

Smith shoves Hart off to the ropes, Bret slides down on a backdrop attempt and gets two. Hart with a small package for two. Hart with another headlock takeover. The crowd, it goes almost without saying, is intensely interested, constantly making noise.

Smith counters to a hammerlock and drives a knee down into Bret’s arm and back. Hart stands up, elbows out of the hammerlock, and goes to a wristlock. Hart cranking on the wristlock. Smith rolls through, rolls back, kips over on his head, and reverses to an armbar.

Hart gets back to the feet, Davey off the ropes, catches Bret and slingshots him into the corner. Davey Boy back to the armbar. Hart stands up, but Smith lifts him in the armbar and drops him back down to the mat. Hart rolls back, Smith hanging on to the arm.

Hart sends Smith off the ropes, but Davey gets a crucifix pin for two. Back to the armbar from Davey Boy. We check in with Diana now and again.

Hart stands it up and slams Smith, but Davey Boy hangs on again and keeps the armbar on. Smith working on the wrist, then back to the armbar. Hart stands it back up, goes for the mouth a bit, and breaks out of the hold. He catches Smith coming off the ropes with a kneelift to the gut, and the crowd boos.

Hart with a kick to the midsection. Legdrop from Bret. Hart to a chinlock. Smith stands up and elbows out of the hold, but hits the ropes and runs into a stiff back elbow from Hart. More boos, then an elbowdrop from Hart. Hart with a reverse atomic drop, which Vince calls a “reverse piledriver.” Sure, Vince.

Hart sends Smith off the ropes. Davey Boy goes for another crucifix, but Bret drops him down and gets two, then goes back to the chinlock. You can see Bret whispering instructions into Smith’s ear — not blatantly, not like John Cena screaming spots like a rookie 15 years into his career, but if you know what to watch.

Smith up and sends Hart off the ropes. Bret with a shoulder tackle, off the ropes again, Davey with a leapfrog and then a monkey flip. Smith just sucking air in there. Headbutt from Smith, then he whips Hart hard to the corner. Hard to the other side, but then when Smith charges, Hart gets his foot up. More boos.

Hart in the corner, and he hits a bulldog on the Bulldog. Hart goes up top, not his usual territory, but it’s a big match. Bulldog catches him and slams him off, and now it’s Smith going up top, foreign territory for him, too, perhaps even more so. Davey dives off, but meets nothing but canvas as Bret moves out of the way.

Hart grabs Bulldog by the back of the head and slams his face into the canvas. Hart goes for a slam, Davey slides down and tries to run Bret to the ropes, but Hart dips down and Smith falls out through the ropes to the floor. Even more boos.

Bulldog struggles outside, and Bret slingshots out onto him, driving him down to the floor. Hart scoops Smith up and rams his back into the ring post. Bret in full control here, throwing Smith back into the ring and following after.

Hart with a whip to the corner, Smith hits very hard and bounces back, and Hart tags him in the back with a right hand, knocking Davey down. Hart with a Russian legsweep. “Neckbreaker,” says Vince. Sure, sure, sure, Vince. Two count.

Hart with a European uppercut, then another, then another. Straight right hand and a dropkick puts Smith down. Hart picks Smith up by the head, then backdrops him over to the mat. Hart with a cover for two.

Hart back to a chinlock. Smith slow to get up to his feet, but he does. Hart grabs him and sets for a suplex, and hits it, covering for two, and Hart goes back to the chinlock.

Hart with a headbutt, but Smith counters a European uppercut with a backslide for two. Hart up first and drives an elbow into the back of a kneeling Smith’s head. Hart follows up with a side backbreaker, staying on the advantage.

Hart to the second rope, and he hits the elbowdrop to the back of Davey’s head. Two count off of that. Hart with a right to the back of the head. We check in with Diana again. She is shaking her head.

Bret yanks Davey up by his hair and slams him down. The crowd boos, and Hart plays it up just a bit, subtly. Headbutt from Bret. Right hand. Snapmare, and back to the chinlock as Hart maintains control. “Now Bret Hart begins to dominate the tempo of the matchup!”

Out of that, right hand from Bret, another, he ducks a shot from Smith, and locks on a sleephold. Vince and Bobby are both convinced this is the end.

Smith down to his knees, and he crawls over and gets the bottom rope. Hart takes the full count, and then another count. Joey Marella lets it slide in the interest of competition. Smith off the ropes, and back to the sleephold.

Diana on the split screen. She’s full of nerves. She’s rooting for her husband, but not overdoing it. Her concern outweighs her rooting. Marella checks the arm. It drops once, twice, but not thrice. Smith stands it up, picks Bret up on his back, and drives him into the corner. But Hart goes right back to the sleephold for a third time.

Smih stands it up and drives him into the corner again, and this time Bret is down. They start trading right hands. Smith reverses a whip and catches Bret in a gorilla press, dropping him down against the ropes.

Hart to the corner, bounces out into a clothesline from Davey. Another clothesline. Cover gets two. Smith with a press slam! Cover gets two again!

“What a match,” Heenan says. “I don’t care who wins, but what a match!”

Smith sets for the big vertical suplex, holds it a bit, and drops Hart down. Another cover, arm draped over Hart’s chest, gets two. Hart whipped to the turnbuckles, and he hits chest first, going down hard. Davey covers again for two, but he remains in control.

Smith calling for the powerslam finish. He picks Bret up on his shoulder, has him there, and hits the powerslam! One, two, BRET KICKS OUT! “I can’t believe it!” Heenan exclaims. “Look at Davey Boy, he can’t believe it!”

Hart’s up but wobbled, and knocked out to the apron. “He can’t beat Bret Hart!” Heenan opines. Hart with a German suplex and a bridge for two. “Are you kidding me?!” Heenan is lowkey great on this call. He’s got no heel to root for, so he’s just putting over the effort without rooting.

Smith lifts Hart up to the top rope, dumping him there out of a suplex position. Smith looking for a top rope superplex, and he hits it! Cover gets two!

Hart reverses a whip to the rope, Davey ducks a shot, and they double clohtesline, both men down.

From the mat, Hart paws at Davey’s leg and sets for the sharpshooter from his back. He locks up the legs and turns Smith over, but isn’t fully sat into it — and then he is. Hart has the sharpshooter in, full and clean.

Smith struggles to crawl, but he gets the bottom rope. A nearly crying Diana roots from the crowd. Hart’s whip is reversed, he goes for a sunset flip, Davey sits down — 1, 2, 3, and Wembley explodes! Davey Boy Smith has done it!

After the match, Smith has the belt, no music playing, and Bret sits on the mat, having lost his title to his brother-in-law. Smith goes over to him, and Bret slowly gets up to his feet. Smith extends his hand, Hart stands up, and he goes to leave the ring, with the crowd booing. Davey turns his back. Diana is crying at ringside. Smith wants the handshake still, as Bret has thought better of leaving. Hart comes over, finally, shakes Davey’s hand, and the two hug. “Rule Britannia” plays again. Diana’s in the ring to hug her husband and her brother both. They all raise hands, Diana between the two, then group hug again. Fireworks go off around and above the ring at Wembley Stadium. 80,355 people go nuts as the show ends.

“That was my favorite match that I ever had, and I’m happy to tell you that, and I wouldn’t change that moment for anything.” — Bret Hart, 2006

Rating: 5/5. It is a carry job — that’s never been disputed, really. And it is perhaps the greatest carry job in wrestling history. In the end, Bret Hart willed his brother-in-law to one of the greatest matches in WWE history, maybe the best ever to that point. For years, I thought in my memory that this match was overrated BECAUSE it was a carry job. But it’s really not. Hart’s performance is that good. He had at least one better match, in my estimation, but he personally was never better than this. It’s an amazing job done by one of the greatest to ever lace up boots.