10 Awesome Wrestling Matches On Otherwise Terrible WWE Shows

5. Bret Hart Vs. Yokozuna - WrestleMania IX

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WrestleMania IX was a breezy and daft watch, pure kitsch and a minor masterclass of production - it was staged in a car park! - but it was awful, undeniably so.

The undercard wasn't without its highlights, but the two halfway good matches (Shawn Michaels Vs. Tatanka, Headshrinkers Vs. Steiners) both went too long and one had a stinker of a finish.

Attire fetishists and nostalgia apologists can have a good time with it to this day, but the matches were largely terrible, the company was in the bin, and in an impromptu main event, they gave the belt to a mercenary so disinterested, Hulk Hogan, that he made Brock Lesnar look like Dax Harwood.

Bret Hart entered a bravura performance in the main event against Yokozuna, though, in a match glowing with his intelligent approach.

He wrestled with a sense of urgency early, knowing that he had to totally overwhelm an opponent he could never out-power, exploding into Yoko with - hell yeah! - a John Woo dropkick. He sold Yoko's size when he couldn't get his arms around him and took an awesome bump to the outside off a mack truck shoulder barge. In any other context, Hart was a master in that ring; in Vegas, Yoko was so mighty that he couldn't even stay in it.

A doomed sprint in which Bret attacked his mammoth opponent at the most logical angles, using what little space existed masterfully, he drew on his immense IQ to fell the tree and would have won were it not for that dastardly Mr. Fuji.

And that knobhead Hulk Hogan, obviously.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!