Goody Bag 39: Second Looks 3

WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v 1-2-3 Kid: From Monday Night RAW on July 11 1994 (taped July 1) in Bushkill Pennsylvania. Feeling out process to start, with Kid surprising the champion at how much he can hang with him. Bret was such a master at telling a story in the ring. His facial expressions alone are in their own realm. Kid with a leg-feed kick and a spinkick to send Bret over the top, and the Hitman is downright shocked. That feeling doesn't wear off when Kid gets him in an armbar back in the ring, so Hart gets a little more aggressive with a knee, and he stomps Kid in the groin. Bodyslam sets up a legdrop, and he props Kid up in the corner to wallop with some rights, Hart flirting with being a heel here to ensure Kid gets the right amount of sympathy from the crowd. Bret with a kneelift and a pair of pointed elbowdrops to the back of the head, followed by a swinging neckbreaker for two. He grounds Kid in a chinlock, so Kid tries a bodypress for two, but Bret pounds him down again. He misses a charge in the corner, allowing Kid to try a sunset cradle, but Hart reverses for two. Kid keeps trying with a crucifix, but Hart counters with a Samoan drop for the pin at 10:00. However, he spots Kid's foot on the ropes, and even though the referee didn't see it, and is ready to award Hart the victory right then and there, Bret insists that they re-start. How masterful, as Hart was edging dangerously close to looking like a bully while beating up on the smaller Kid, and now you can't help but like him again. And then Kid plays his part perfectly, sneaking up on Bret with a double-underhook cradle for two. Hart responds by tossing Kid across the ring with a butterfly suplex for two, and he grounds him in another chinlock. Kid escapes with a backslide for two, so Bret drops a pointed elbowdrop to knock him silly, and smacks him with a legdrop for two. DDT gets two, and a bodyslam sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop, but Kid lifts his boot to block, and throws a spinkick at the champion. Hart is still coming, and Kid has to scramble with some lightning kicks in the corner to fight him off, then plants a corner dropkick. Kid goes up with a flying twisting bodypress for two, and a powerbomb sets up a flying legdrop for two. Clothesline knocks Hart over the top, and Kid dives after him with a flying somersault senton, but overshoots, and barely grazes the Hitman before crash landing. Bret rolls in first, but Kid manages to beat the count with a flying somersault senton splash, so Hart rolls out of the way! Sharpshooter, but Kid is in the ropes before Bret can get it properly applied. Hart decides to punish him with a vertical superplex, but Kid counters with a bodyblock on the way down for two. He tries stunning Bret with another corner dropkick, but Hart dodges this time, and drives Kid to the canvas with a bulldog. Bret goes up, but Kid slams him down, and heads up to try a flying dropkick, but Hart catches him in the Sharpshooter on the way down, and Kid is done at 21:00. And, of course, Bret then immediately drops down to check on Kid's wellbeing to make sure he doesn't lose the crowd. This is one that really makes you appreciate just how great Bret Hart was in his prime. He was doing so much here, from expertly walking the line between heel and face, to getting the story over with little things like using just the right facial expressions. A lot of workers today are so focused on executing eye-popping high spots, that they forget that real mastery of this art form is the psychology. This is a great example of why Hart is considered a master class level worker, and Kid did a great job of holding up his end as well. This would normally be a major contender for Match of the Year, but in 1994, it's not even either guys best match THAT YEAR! **** ½ (Original rating: **** ¼)

Brian Pillman v Jushin Liger: From the debut episode of Monday Nitro on September 4 1995 in Minneapolis Minnesota. In fact, it's the very first match from the very first Nitro. Quick reversal sequence ends in Liger hitting the koppu kick in the corner, and a flying moonsault press follows for two. He grounds Pillman in a chinlock, but gets caught in a headscissors in the corner, and Brian chops at him. Pillman with a flying headscissors for two (looked like a bit of miscommunication there, with one guy thinking it was a headscissors, and one thinking it was a rana), and he grounds Liger in a mat-based abdominal stretch. Criss cross is won by Liger with a drop-toehold to set up a surfboard, but Pillman uses another headscissors, so Liger backdrops him over the top. Looked like another miscommunication there, with Liger seemingly going for a backdrop, and Pillman thinking he was just going to duck down. Either way, it ends up with Pillman on the outside, and Liger dives after him with a somersault senton off of the apron. Liger tries a suplex back in, but Pillman reverses to the outside, and dives at Jushin with a flying bodypress out there. Brian heads up on the way back in, but Liger crotches him on the top, and brings him down with a vertical superplex for two. He goes up for a dive, but Brian knocks him out of the air with a dropkick for two, so Liger drops him on his head with a powerbomb for two. Rana off the top is worth two, so Liger tries again, but Pillman counters with a tornado DDT for two this time. German suplex, but Liger reverses, so Pillman counters with a victory cradle for the pin at 6:51. Nowhere near as good as their stuff from the early 90s, but I definitely underrated it the first time around. *** (Original rating: *)


WWE Title Match: Kurt Angle v Chris Benoit: From Royal Rumble on January 19 2003 in Boston Massachusetts. Benoit goes for the sharpshooter almost immediately, but Kurt manages to block, and he bails to the outside to kill the momentum. Back in, Kurt goes for the leg, but Benoit fights him off with a leg-feed kick, so Kurt tries a sleeper, but Chris escapes with a snapmare. Corkscrew legwhip sets up the sharpshooter, but Angle is in the ropes before Chris can get too far. Kurt throws him with a vertical suplex for two, then into the corner to pound with forearms, but Benoit fires back with chops. Chris throws a clothesline to the back of the head, and a knee to the midsection is worth two. More chops, but Kurt drops him front-first across the top rope to buy time. Not ENOUGH time, however, as Chris snaps Kurt's throat across the top rope to block the follow-up, and they end up slugging it out on the apron - Benoit getting the better of it with a DDT onto the apron. Back in, that gets the challenger two, so he tries the flying headbutt, but Kurt dodges. Olympic slam, but Benoit counters to the sharpshooter, and he gets that sucker locked on this time! Angle makes the ropes, so Chris drops him with a side suplex for two, but runs into an overhead belly-to-belly suplex as he tries following up. Kurt dumps him to the outside for a drop into the barricade, then back in with a short-clothesline for two. Snapmare sets up a chinlock/bodyscissors combo, but Chris escapes, so Kurt launches him with a release overhead suplex. A well executed side suplex gets two, and it's back to the chinlock/bodyscissors. Chris escapes, and a double clothesline leaves both men looking up at the lights. That leads to a slugfest, with Benoit controlling, and he hits the champion with a backdrop, ahead of rolling German suplex. Kurt reverses the third alarm into his own rolling German, but Chris reverses Angle's second alarm. He heads up, but Angle pops up with an overhead superplex for two. Olympic slam, but Chris counters to the Crippler Crossface! Angle gets the ropes, so Benoit decides to put him in his own hold: the anklelock! That proves to be a mistake, however, a Kurt reverses - only to have Chris counter back to the Crossface! Angle counters into a crucifix cradle for two, but gets trapped right back in the Crossface when he gets up, and has to muscle through the Olympic slam to escape. That gets a dramatic two count, and Kurt looks to finish with another Anklelock, but Benoit drops him into the turnbuckles to escape. Kurt tries to punish him with a German suplex, but Chris counters with a victory cradle for two. Rolling German suplex, but Angle reverses at the second alarm, so Chris reverses back at Kurt's second alarm - throwing up in a release version that sees Angle take a full backflip to the mat! Benoit gets to the top for a wild flying headbutt that requires him to leap literally across the ring, but it still only gets two! Crossface, but Kurt starts powering out, so Benoit releases him. Good enough idea, but he still gets dropped into the buckles, and Kurt adds the Olympic slam for two! Both guys are spent, and Benoit is able to trap the champion in the Crossface, but Kurt musters a counter to the Anklelock! Chris looks to counter back to the Crossface, but Kurt keeps the Anklelock applied. Benoit manages an escape, but Kurt puts it back on before Chris can follow-up, so Benoit starts clawing for the ropes. Kurt holds him steady, and drops it down into a kneebar, and Benoit has nowhere left to go - tapping at 19:47! This was a phenomenal match, with both guys throwing everything at each other, before Angle was finally able to win the war of attrition. **** ½ (Original rating: ****)