In yesterday's post about the what ifs surrounding the Steamer, I pondered what kinds of matches he could have had with the superstars of the mid-to-late 90s. The fact is that he had previews of such encounters before being put on the shelf for nearly good. We all know about his feud with Steve Austin in WCW, but did you know that he had at least one match with Bret Hart during his WWF run in the mid-80s? This match takes place at Boston Garden. Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes are on commentary, and Hart is in full heel mode. He's still managed by Jimmy Hart here.
It's very weird seeing the Hitman in full classic heel mode. When he was a heel in the late 90s, he was rule abiding for the most part, and of course he had become embedded in his Five Moves of Doom offense that made him famous or infamous, depending on whom you ask. However, in this match, Hart is rocking the methodical, stone-handed heel offense, beginning with a "Pearl Harbor" attack on the Hawaiian Steamboat.
The Dragon himself is in classic mode, having Hart on the defensive most of the early going with his kinetic aerial and karate based offense. He works the left arm of Hart with great care during this stretch, although it really doesn't factor into the finish, which is a classic Steamboat finish - the underdog Dragon gutting out a win with a counter.
The announcing for me was a mixed bag. On one hand, you have Monsoon, who shines here. I forgot how good he was at calling a match. He knew how to strike a balance between calling the action in the ring and getting the surrounding storylines over. Mike Tenay, Josh Matthews and even Michael Cole could stand to learn a thing or two from Monsoon's demeanor, pacing and timing. Of course, none of the guys I mentioned could have the sort of presence that Monsoon had, mainly because Monsoon had a loud, booming voice and the other three guys are kinda shrimp-voiced. Still, it doesn't hurt to study the best.
On the other, Hayes... well, I don't want to call him bad, but he was kinda plain, generic, a little boring. I would rather have had Jimmy Hart be on guest commentary the whole match, although you can hear him yap on his megaphone. The heel manager is such a lost art, and there are plenty of guys today who could benefit from it, like Shelton Benjamin for one. Ah, but I digress.
I think the thing that stands out for me most in this match is how the body slam is an integral offensive move and how it gets countered. You never see anyone counter a body slam anymore unless it's a smaller guy trying to slam a superheavyweight. It's the small things that I miss, but I can't really complain about the in-ring product today for most of the promotions out there.
Anyway, enough analysis, here's the match. Enjoy!
Part 1:
Part 2:
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