Bret Hart DVD Review
Bret Hart DVD Review
I bought this the day it came out. Future Shop was advertising it. I went there, didn’t see it on display, looked around for a while, finally saw some Pink DVD’s in a box tucked under the New Release area. I quickly snatched one and saw it was indeed the Bret Hart DVD. I bought it and went home a happy man.
The front cover is the sucky one that was online. Inside is a much better cover. Sadly the DVD case needs a box like the Rick Flair one had. Perhaps they didn’t include one so they could make it cheaper.
Disk One:
At the beginning we get a message from Vince McMahon thanking Bret for being a “Big Man” and putting his personal and professional differences aside for the purposes of making this DVD.
The menu has a wicked series of Bret doing moves on other wrestlers during a variety points in his career, with the impact hitting the high notes of his theme music. This is without a doubt the best menu animation I’ve ever seen. It’s really fun to see his early Stampede stuff, where he’s scrawny as hell and throwing diving punches off the ropes.
We get a shoot interview from Bret. During it some of his career gets narrated by a voice over. Ala typical WWE DVDs there are some wrestlers talking about Bret and his influence. Surprisingly they don’t have that many wrestlers contributing. Among those that do talk is Benoit, Piper, Edge, Ross, Bruce Pitchard, Lombardi, and Vince himself. They leave most of the talking to Bret himself.
I’ve seen other shoot interviews by Bret that were much better, but in this interview he does reveal some stuff I didn’t know before. In particular he talks about injuries he sustained during some of his big matches against Flair and Bulldog. Him talking about the Bulldog match and then watching it gives it a whole new perspective. He gives Jim the Anvil props for really helping him out early in his career in the WWF.
They go back and forth over the Screw Job between him and Vince and their sides, without discussing specifics. Instead they go over vague reasons why it all happened in the first place. Vince says ultimately it was all about Ted Turners money. He also kind of goes back and forth on whether he’d do the same thing again if he had to do it over again.
Within the Extra’s there are small interview clips on specific subjects. They cover:
- Who coined “The Dungeon” name.
- Being away from his family during Halloween.
- How well the Hart Foundation got along. Within this, Bret talks about how other tag teams ended up hating each other.
- Bret talks about how he learned the Sharpshooter and confirms Konnan’s story on teaching him.
- Owen Hart Crank Calling Stu Hart.
- Bret goes over the family tree with mini one line descriptions of everybody.
- Who trained him and his early days as a wrestler.
- The why and how of the sunglasses.
- Why he liked being a heal.
There are two small videos/interview segments on important people that passed away. One his his older brother Dean Hart. The other on all the wrestling personalities he was friends with, from Curt Henning to Ray Traylor to Miss Elizabeth.
Now the matches. I won’t get into detailed reviews because I don’t want to spoil the ones you may not have seen before.
Only two matches on the first disk. They are early pre-pink Hart Foundation matches from 1985/86. Both took place at MSG.
THF vs. British Bulldogs.
A *very* good match for it’s time. It goes a lot longer than standard matches of this era. I give it 4 stars.
THF: vs. Killer Bees.
Another good long match. It kinda drags a bit in the middle, as they really beat the shit out of one of the bees. I still give it 3.5 stars.
Disk 2
All matches.
Vs. Bulldog: Summer Slam 92.
The classic match. Hart promised Vince this would be the best match of the night and Vince put his faith in him, making it the last match of the Event - even after the World Title bout. Hart forcefully drags a 5 star match out of a blown up, mistake making Bulldog and made good on his word. It’s no surprise Vince made Bret World champ after this match. In viewing this match again I noticed some odd things, like Diana (Davey’s wife/Bret’s Sister) flashing a quick smile when Bret bulldogged the Bulldog.
Vs. Bam Bam Bigalo. Barcelona house show: 93.
This match has only Spanish commentary. Which is odd as the match is on a World Tour Tape and that has English commentary on it. This is a good match, 3.5 stars.
Vs. Mr. Perfect: King of the Ring: 93
A good match, but sadly a short one because of the King of the Ring format. They repeat some of their spots from SS 91. 3.5 stars.
Vs. Owen: WMX: 94
5 star match. One of the best matches on this disk.
Vs. Ricky Steamboat. House Show, Boston: 86
A surprisingly really good match considering how green Bret still was. Only thing dragging it down is Steamboat spending a long time with a headlock on Hart. 3.5 stars.
Vs. Ted DiBiase: House Show, Texas: 89
No commentary here. You just get the up close camera mic’s recording everything. This is interesting because you hear what the wrestlers are actually saying to each other and the crowd. Surprisng to hear DiBiase holler SHIT! Repeatedly despite a full, front row of young kids and their parents behind him. The slams and bangs are a lot louder too. If you listen really closely you can hear them whispering spots to each other. 3 star match.
THF Vs. Rockers: SNME: 90
This was a great match until Demolition showed up. The ending really disappoints. 3 stars.
THF Vs. Nasty Boys: WM8: 91
A good match, but not among the Harts best. I wish they’d stuck the 2/3 falls Demolition match on instead. It’s not bad though. 3 stars.
Vs. Mr. Perfect: Summer Slam 91
5 star classic. And to think Hennings back was really screwed up at this point. I wish we could have seen a long match with both these guys in top shape.
Disk 3
Vs. Owen Hart: Action Zone TV Match.
A good little TV match, but the ending is designed to build interest and not blow off a feud. 4 stars. I really wish they’d put the Summer Slam 94 cage match on instead.
Vs. Hakushi: IYH: 95
A good match. I get the feeling Bret respected Hakushi because he does some more dangerous stuff that he hadn’t done much of since his Stampede days, particularly the suplex over the ropes on to the outside mat. 3.5 stars.
Vs. Diesel: Survivor Series: 95
The first two times I saw this match I hated it for being slow. The 3rd viewing finally made me realize what a great match this is. Both men are brutal to each other here, almost to the point where they become heals. This match came very close to an Austin style switch. 4.5, the .5 knocked off because Kevin very slow in the match. It has a point early on, but there are moments where he’s being disgustingly slow.
Vs. Austin: WM13: 97
5 star classic.
Vs. Undertaker: One Night Only: 97
I just saw this on the very recent Undertaker DVD. I wish they’d put the Summer Slam Match on here instead. Still it’s a good match with a really different ending. 4.5
Vs. Chris Benoit: Nitro 99
The Owen Hart Tribute Match. 5 star classic.
I get the impression Hart added matches to show that he had good matches with a wide diversity of wrestlers. From Bam Bam to Hakushi to DiBiase to Diesel. Still, I would have preferred they’d stuck to his 4 and 5 star matches, which there are many that are not on this DVD. So much so they can and SHOULD make a Bret Hart Vol. 2 DVD with them and other 3+ star matches for filler if they so choose.
Still you get 5, 5 star matches and 3, 4+ star matches. The rest are very watch-able and often interesting for their uniqueness. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!
Only other quibble about this DVD are these Green Sparkles that appear in the upper middle of the screen randomly throughout the interviews and sometimes matches. Also the first Disk keeps popping out of the case on me. Have to be careful with that.
Back to a 2nd DVD.
Some interview topics:
- Going to Japan the first time
- Being at the first WM and was supposed to fight Steamboat.
- Fighting a muscle bound guy while Vince promotes him to investors as a future champ. He was shit, but Bret would become the champ.
- Getting Pink
- The Why and How they first got the Tag Belts (Dynamite refused to put it on anybody BUT the Harts)
- Losing the belts, continuing to work as a tag and eventually rising back to the top again.
- How he used to work the arm in his matches, but switched to working on the leg.
- Vince telling him he got more fan letters than even Hogan got during his heyday.
- Injury in a match against Dino Bravo.
- Details on how the Foundation broke up and putting his foot down on getting a push and a championship match
- Long standing Friendship with Piper and their feud.
- Introducing the Ladder Match to the WWF
- Him wishing he had a major feud with Savage
- How he and Owen made their feud more believable when they were traveling.
- Feud with King Jerry Lawler
- Thoughts on Austin
- Wrestling with Shadows
- Details on how bad things were run by WCW (not knowing what he was doing two minutes prior to the match/interview, constant face/heel switches).
- The “retirement” match with Terry Funk
- The Will Sasso / Mad TV skit.
- His little cousin that died.
- The break up of the Hart family after Owens death and what’s happened since.
Here are the matches I would include:
Vs. Dynamite Kid, perferably from Stampede - even if it's JIP, but I know they had at least one WWE match too.
Vs. Demolition 2/3 falls (Summer Slam 90)
Vs. Randy Savage from SNME: 87
- At Vince’s insistence, Savage comes out selling a leg injury like it’s going to fall off. Bret’s job this match is to work it. This is where he first learned how to work a leg.
- Any good match from Japan when he went there in 82 or 90.
Vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper (WM8) (IC Belt match)
Vs. Ric Flair (92 house show)
Vs. Shawn Michaels (first Ladder Match)
w/ Savage Vs. Michaels / Flair
Vs. Ric Flair (first Champ Match)
Vs. Owen Hart: Steel Cage Match (Summer Slam 94)
Vs. Bob Backlund: Survivor Series 94
Vs. 1-2-3 Kid: RAW 94
Vs. The King Jerry Lawler: KOTR: 95: Kiss My Foot match
Vs. Michaels: WM12: Iron Man Match
Vs. Steve Austin: Survivor Series 96
Vs. Vader, Undertaker, Austin. Final Four 97
Vs. Undertaker: Summer Slam 97
Vs. The Patriot: Flag Match: RAW 97
THF vs. The Americans: IYH: Canadian Stampede 97
Vs. Booker T: Bash at the Beach 98
Vs. DDP: WW3 98
Vs. Sting: Halloween Havoc 98
Vs. Chris Benoit: Mayhem 99
Okay, so some of that stuff could be taken out. But all those matches are as good as or better than what’s on this DVD and some of them are KEY 4 and 5 star matches. Which is why I’m saying they really need to do Bret Hart Vol. 2.
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