1. Bret Hart Cleanly Defeats Yokozuna At The End of Wrestlemania IX
The reason why Hulk Hogan would rush to Bret Hart's defense, and then take up Mr. Fuji on the challenge for Yokozuna's freshly won WWF Championship at Wrestlemania IX still makes absolutely no sense. What kind of self aggrandizing a**hole decides, "hey friend, I'm going to make sure you're okay, but now I'm going to go win the championship you just lost?" Bret giving Hogan the okay to have that impromptu title match is one of those moves that personally, Bret didn't recover from until he became the heel leader of the Hart Foundation in 1997. That's a moment that did ZERO favors for Bret and did everything for Hogan. Erasing Hogan from the match entirely and either having a second referee come down and restart the match or have Wrestlemania end in a wild brawl with Yoko and Hart that sees Hart get the upper hand to set up a rematch at King Of The Ring makes more sense. Bret Hart is one of those WWE performers who always deserved more than he was given. Maybe the most unfortunate moment of his career before the Montreal Screwjob was having Hulk Hogan be involved in his main event performance at Wrestlemania. Considering the following which could've happened afterwards. Jerry Lawler versus WWF Champion Bret Hart with the belt on the line and the kiss my foot stipulation is a hot feud for 1993. Owen vs. Bret with the winner wrestling champion Yokozuna for the belt in the main event of 1994's Wrestlemania X? Awesome. Bret defeating Owen in an amazing opener after Owen can't continue (similar to Bret's injury at Royal Rumble) would have been great, because Bret beating Yoko to end the show and Owen NOT celebrating would've led to Bret vs. Owen house show matches for the WWF Championship in 1994. Imagine that...
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
