This was for the WWF Championship, held by Bret.
I chose to watch this on the Network in its full form instead of tracking it down as a single match. So I got to fill my nostalgia meter for the night by hearing the old RAW theme and having a JR/Savage announce team.
Plus, I got to see the absolutely INCREDIBLE video package WWF aired to start the show about this match. It highlighted some major points in Kid’s run, including the win over Razor, the win over DiBiase, winning the tag belts and then beating Nikolai Volkoff last week to earn this shot. They also show Bret speaking at the 1994 HOF ceremony about Kid, which was a nice touch. The type of package I feel like you didn’t normally see from the WWF back then.
I saw this match when it first aired and I was 7 years old. I got to stay up late since it was the summer time, so not only did I watch it, but I always taped RAW so after it was done, I watched it again! I was a fan of Kid but I was the biggest Bret fan you could imagine a kid in the mid 90’s being. But, I’ve never gone back and rewatched the match since somehow, which is very strange of me, but nevertheless, here we go!
I want to get this out of the way first. I know that the story has long been around that JR and Savage did not get along at all, and it’s an anger JR still carries with him til this day. And it’s probably why it was very rare to see them as the only two on commentary. But on THIS night and for THIS match, I don’t think there could’ve been a better commentary team in the world at the time. Kid and Bret have both said how much their commentary adds to the match, and it’s true. A career night on the headset for both men.
This match is a terrific example of how to make a new star in defeat, but the issue comes in the lack of follow up. Bret is at the peak of his overness in this era, and he’s able to feed in to Kid’s offense and actually be on the ropes, metaphorically speaking, numerous times without losing anything. He’s even able to display a great mixture of surprise and frustration in this now fairly famous gif:
It’s at this point that Bret starts to get more aggressive. Not with any heelish undertones either, which seems to be a lost art in this day and age. You wouldn’t watch this portion of the match and ever wonder “Oh well maybe Bret’s turning heel?”.
To add to his growing frustration, Kid continues to match Bret in every department, even with the aggressiveness. So now, Bret has to resort to some extra stiff strikes during the set up for his five moves of doom, including some European uppercuts that Kid just dies on.
Bret has this won with a clear pinfall, but Kid gets his foot on the bottom rope and the ref doesn’t see it. Bret shockingly stands up for what is right and points out the error, and another ref comes out to back that up so the match is restarted! And to pay him back for his good will, Kid almost IMMEDIATELY upsets Bret with a quick roll up!
Now Bret gets REALLY aggressive and borderline angry, and it’s incredible. But that’s where Bret slips and leaves an opening for Kid to make his comeback. And the whole time, as Kid’s trying to build up to his finish, he does a FANTASTIC job selling the exhaustion this match has caused. Kid tries for a desperation killshot by going for a missile drop kick but Bret catches him and traps him in the Sharpshooter for the win.
The epitome of what a world champ versus underdog face should look like. But like I said, the follow up does nothing. Kid goes back to needlessly floating around the midcard until his injury the following year. While I get your not going to strap up 1-2-3 Kid, it would’ve been nice to at least have seen this actually elevate him up the card at the time, instead of this just being a singular great moment to look back on.
While I wouldn’t put this on the level of being one of the greatest matches ever, I would easily call it a top 10-15 match to ever take place on WWF/E Television.
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