10 Classic WWE Matches (That Nobody Remembers As Classics)
4. Bret Hart Vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte - In Your House 3: Triple Header
You wouldn't think, from the opening three seconds of this superb midcard attraction, that it was promoted so lazily.
Pirate Lafitte had engaged in some tepid psychological torture in the build by stealing novelty replica glasses away from Hart's fans as if they were riches, and not cheap, mass-produced merch. Hart lit up the feud, instantly lending the match a serious edge, by flooring Lafitte (and, it must be said, himself) with a crazed suicide dive before the bell rang. You would think, on that evidence, that Lafitte had f*cked Bret's mother while Shawn Michaels watched and cracked gags about her poor technique. That was Hart in his pomp; he took sh*t and made it into Shinola with expert intra-match storytelling.
Lafitte shrugged it off to mount his heat spot. He wasn't so much underrated as criminally overlooked. He was a proper burly bruiser here, recovering from Bret's smooth drop toe hold to counter his hip toss with a teeth-rattling clothesline, and evading a charge at the last second to send Hart hurtling shoulder-first into the ring post. Everything was timed with Rolex precision - particularly a stunning sequence in which Lafitte landed on the ringside mats following an over the top rope back body drop attempt, dragged Hart under the ropes, and tossed him into the ring steps. Hart only gained the advantage in this horror movie basement showdown when Lafitte somehow didn't concuss himself with a stupid somersault plancha to the matting below. Hart avoided it to the nanosecond.
Rolex. Precision.