Goody Bag II: Iron Men

 
WWF Title Iron Man Match: Bret Hart v Ric Flair: From January 9 1993 in Boston, right at the tail end of Flair's first WWF run. Feeling out process to start, with Flair playing mind games, and Hart trying to avoid getting outfoxed. Ric suckers Bret into a cheap shot in the corner, then whips him to the other side, before taking him down in a hammerlock. Flair uses the ropes at will as he grinds various arm holds on, then takes Hart into the corner for some chops. Bret fights him off and tries a ten-punch, but Ric counters with an inverted atomic drop. Elbowdrop misses, however, and Hart reverses him into the corner for a backdrop. Figure four on the challenger gets a few two counts, but Ric gets the ropes to save himself. He bails for the apron, but Bret brings him back in with a vertical suplex, and adds a pointed elbowdrop.

Twenty minutes in, and the Hitman goes back to the figure four, but this time Flair rakes the eyes to block. Hart wisely rolls to the floor to avoid Ric capitalizing for a fall, but the count is growing, and he's forced in - still blinded. That allows Ric to pounce in the corner, and he tosses Bret over the top to try for the countout again. Bret beats it in, so Ric whips him into the ropes with a crisp backelbow for two, then hits a kneedrop - hurting his own leg due to the earlier figure four. He tries another one anyway, but Hart dodges, and immediately capitalizes with a figure four! Flair gets the ropes, so Bret drags him back after breaking, and hammers the knee. Leglock wears Flair down some more, but Ric goes to the eyes again, and dumps the champion to the floor. Love Ric's mastery of the psychology of multi-fall matches. The strategy backfires when Hart comes back in with a slingshot sunset flip, but Flair manages to block, and he dumps him again. The tenacious Hitman beats the count again, but with less zeal than before, and Flair is ready with a side suplex for two. Clothesline, but Hart has the presence of mind to duck it, and surprises Flair with a quick rollup at 27:17. Ric begs off in the corner, suckering Hart into a leveraged pin for two, but that just pisses the Hitman off. Sleeper, but Flair escapes with a kneebreaker, and he starts furiously working the champion's leg. I can see why Flair's psychology annoyed Hart. He spent the first twenty minutes working the arm, and now he suddenly switches to the leg. It's not necessarily poor psychology, but I can see why it would annoy a guy like Hart, who generally liked to pick and part, and then laser focus on it for the duration. Figure Four, but Hart blocks, so Ric snapmares him over, and hits him in the leg with a chair as Bobby Heenan distracts the referee! Figure Four with the ropes for leverage evens the score at 35:00. As noted, Flair is a master of this match types psychology, and he shows us why - going right back to the hold to pick up a second fall at 37:40! Flair now in the lead, and he doesn't change strategy - continuing to mercilessly pound the leg.

Forty minutes in, and Flair dumps him to the outside, but gets impatient waiting for the countout, and he follows with a chair! The referee stops him this time, and Hart beats the count, but Flair is ready and waiting with a kneebreaker. That shifts right into another Figure Four, but Ric gets caught using the ropes, and is forced to break before garnering the submission. Bret can barely stand as Ric keeps throwing bombs at the knee, then props him up in the corner for some chops. Leveraged pin gets a few two counts, but Bret starts slugging back at him in the corner, and a ten-punch flops Flair. The leg slows Hart down as he hits a Russian legsweep for two, and a well executed vertical suplex gets two. Hart keeps coming, so Flair pops him downstairs with a mulekick for two, and whips him chest-first into the corner for two. Hiptoss, but Bret counters with a backslide for two, so Ric goes to the eyes again. Can't keep a good cheater down! Criss cross goes Flair's way with a sleeper, but Hart fights out after two arm drops, so Ric drops the still battered champion with a chop for two before he can recover. Hanging vertical suplex is worth two, and an elbowdrop gets two. Ric goes up, but Bret manages to slam him down - aggravating his knee in the process. That allows Flair to go to work with chops in the corner, but Hart pulls down the straps, and hits a backdrop! Bulldog gets two, and a backbreaker sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Superplex gets two, but it's enough to damage Flair enough so that Hart can apply the Sharpshooter to even the score back up at 55:03. Heenan passes Flair a set of brass knux as they continue into the final five minutes, which Flair tucks away for safekeeping. Hart with an inverted atomic drop, but Flair rakes the eyes during another superplex attempt, and slips on the knux as the official checks on Hart. He lays Bret out with them for a dramatic two, then applies the Figure Four to finish this guy off! Hart gets the ropes quickly, and with time winding down, Flair desperately tosses him to the floor to try for the countout. Bret fights in with a slingshot sunset flip for two, but he's too battered to follow-up, and Ric hits another kneebreaker. Hart clings to the ropes to try and block a Figure Four, but a vicious Flair drags him off. He goes to apply it, but Hart deftly counters with an inside cradle at 59:42. With seconds to go, time expires, and Hart retains 3-2. The first twenty minutes were pretty much all feeling out process, but it really picked up in the last two-thirds. As great as this sounds on paper, the actual match was pretty disappointing. The problem with the Flair/Hart matches in general is that their styles tended to clash too much for them to ever have any blow away great matches with each other. Hart was much more of a 'plan it out in advance' style wrestler, while Flair had that old school 'call it in the ring as you go' mentality. This match was clearly Flair calling the shots (to Hart's annoyance, since he was the champion) throughout. Guys like Bret don't really plug into the Flair formula, which tends to work best with either a strongman (like Luger or Sting) or a high flyer. They're both great wrestlers who were still at (or close to) their peaks as workers when they wrestled each other, but their styles just clashed too strongly. That's not to say that it was 'bad,' just disappointing more than anything else. *** ½

WWF Title Iron Man Match: Bret Hart v Owen Hart: From July 9 1994, at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, in front of a tiny crowd. Owen annoys his brother by stalling and complaining of everything from hair pulls to unclean breaks through the initial series of lockups. That goes on for about ten minutes before segueing into a feeling out process, with both guys reversing each other through hammerlocks. Bret dominates his younger brother on the mat with an armbar, and when Owen tries criss crossing, Bret is ready with a crucifix for two. They trade wristlocks, until Owen tries a fireman's carry, but ends up getting countered to a mat-based headscissors. Owen keeps escaping and trying a side-headlock, but Bret keeps countering back to the headscissors to annoy him, then drops a leg to subdue his little brother for an overhead wristlock. This is all very basic stuff, but they're doing it well, and keeping the crowd engaged throughout. A hiptoss sees Owen bail back to the outside for more stalling, but he charges Bret after nearly getting counted out - only to get taken down with a drop-toehold into another armbar.

Twenty minutes in, Owen escapes with a knee, then pounds Bret in the corner to setup a pair of cross corner whips. Straddling ropechoke gets two, and a snapmare sets up a camel clutch. Bret escapes, so Owen shifts down to a chinlock instead, but Bret starts escaping THAT too, so Owen hangs onto a side-headlock. Bret wrestles to a vertical base and counters to a standing overhead wristlock, but Bret forces him back down for another chinlock. Again, super basic stuff, but not boring, as they don't just sit there in the holds, but are constantly reversing and shifting to keep it engaging. Owen blocks an escape with another mat-based headlock, but Bret keeps rolling back into pin attempts. Bret slugs free, but runs into a backelbow for two as he does, and Owen takes him right back to the chinlock. Bret escapes, but runs into a belly-to-belly suplex for two, and it's back to the chinlock. Okay, I know I said they're doing a good job of keeping it engaging (and they are), but we're thirty minutes deep now, and this need to pickup a bit. And I guess they agree, as Bret escapes, and this time counters a knee with a schoolboy for two. Owen quickly pounds him to keep control, and hits a neckbreaker for two, then adds a legdrop for two. Backdrop, but he telegraphs it, and Bret counters to a backslide for two. Owen desperately tries to cut him off with a reverse chinlock, but Bret hits a sunset flip for two, and unloads a few turnbuckle smashes and European uppercuts to take the pep out of his brothers step. Cross corner whip is reversed, however, and Owen goes up with a missile dropkick for two. Another legdrop leads to another belly-to-belly, but Bret tries countering to a rollup, so Owen dives forward to send the champ crashing out of the ring! Owen goes after him with an axehandle off the apron, and he rams Bret's back into the edge of the ring a couple of times out there. He leaves him out there to take the countout, but Bret fights to the apron, so Owen tries to suplex him back in, but Bret escapes. He tries a bodypress, but Owen dodges, and Bret crashes into the ropes hard, in a nice bump. That allows Owen to try a sunset flip, but Bret drops down to counter in a cradle at 36:00. Owen goes back to stalling as they resume, but Bret forces him to engage, and pounds him in the corner.

Forty minutes in, Owen escapes a standing side-headlock with a kneebreaker, and he wraps his brother's leg around the post a couple of times for good measure. He's pushing the referee's limits there, so he brings it back in, and wraps Bret's leg around the middle rope, wrenching. Owen kicks at the knee before taking him down with a corkscrew legwhip for a leglock, but Bret counters into a cradle for two, so Owen lets off, and punishes him by beating on the leg in the corner. Another corkscrew legwhip puts Bret down for a modified figure four, but the Hitman escapes with a desperation headbutt. He can't follow-up, however, and Owen pounces right back to the leg with a figure four! Bret reverses and gets into the ropes, but he again has no follow-up, and Owen reapplies for a submission at 43:58 - tying the score. As the referee checks on Bret between falls, Owen uses the time to loosen up one of the top turnbuckle pads, then goes right back to hammering the knee once Bret is rendered able to continue. With the score now tied, Owen doesn't mind pushing the referee by blatantly wrapping the knee around the post a few times, and another figure four puts him ahead at 46:08. Owen gives him little time to recover after the fall, smelling blood in the water, and immediately applying another figure four - this time using the ropes for leverage as he distracts the referee by pointing out that one of the pads is missing! That was fucking awesome! The referee completely misses it as he replaces the pad, and Owen keeps hammering the leg. Corkscrew legwhip sets up another figure four, but Bret counters with an inside cradle for two! He can't follow-up, so Owen is able to keep control with more abuse to the knee, but he misses a charge in the corner, and Bret pulls it together enough to capitalize with a 2^nd rope flying clothesline! An inverted atomic drop sets up a clothesline for two, as Bret tries mounting a comeback. Russian legsweep is worth two, and an inside cradle gets two. Backbreaker sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, and it's Sharpshooter time, but Owen deftly rakes the eyes to block! He tries capitalizing with a vertical suplex, but Bret counters with a vertical superplex - leaving both men looking up at the lights. Bret gets the better of it, and Owen is subdued enough for the Sharpshooter to even it up again at 53:45. With time winding down, a slugfest breaks out, and Bret manages to control. Sharpshooter, but Owen quickly grabs the ropes before Bret can apply it, so the Hitman instead rattles his brains with a piledriver for two. DDT gets two, but Owen wins another slugfest with a leg-feed enzuigiri for two. Cross corner whip, but Bret reverses, and adds a pointed elbowdrop for two. Bodyslam, but Owen counters to an inside cradle for two. Bret with a rollup for two, as they start pulling out all the stops here! Bodyslam, but the knee gives out, and Owen topples him for two! Dropkick, but Bret counters with a slingshot for two! Backbreaker, but Owen counters with a tombstone to setup a flying headbutt for two! Sharpshooter is applied, but time expires at 60:00 with a tied score! Owen, of course, thinks he's won it, and is none too pleased to here that time expired without a submission. Okay, so now it continues on into sudden death overtime, and Owen picks up where he left off with a backbreaker into a Mexican surfboard! Bret counters into a lateral press for two, so Owen puts him in an abdominal stretch, but Bret reverses! Owen escapes with a hiptoss, and he dumps Bret to the floor for a ram into the post! He leaves him out there to eat the countout, but Bret beats it in, so Owen punishes him with a cross corner whip. Criss cross ends in a double-knockout spot, and Bret gets a leg across Owen's chest for a desperate two. Slugfest ends in Bret grabbing a sleeper, but Owen manages the ropes, and pops his brother with a mulekick! Hey, those are only the stepchildren. I'm sure he was still a great uncle to the real kids. Sharpshooter looks to finish, but Bret manages to reverse on the bad knee, and that's enough to retain at 65:30, 3-2. This took about a half hour to really pickup, but once it did, it was tremendous. The final few minutes before the sixty minute time limit expired were especially good, with both guys throwing desperate bombs at one another to try and put it away.  It’s also kind of surprising that they booked five clean finishes (with four of them submissions) on two guys that they were keeping strong going into SummerSlam. I’d have expected at least one countout of DQ fall, but nope. Overall, not on par with their pay per view outings that year, but still a very good match – though one that would have perhaps been better served as a thirty minute Iron Man. *** ¾