1. Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon (WrestleMania XXVI)
First and foremost, let's state the obvious: nobody was expecting a classic match out of a 64 year old man and a Hall of Fame wrestler who could no longer take bumps because of suffering a stroke. Bret Hart's return to confront Vince McMahon was 13 years in the making. The Montreal Screwjob at the 1997 Survivor Series was a black eye on the industry's rich modern history, robbing fans for over a decade from seeing one of the most celebrated stars in WWE lore. To see Bret return to WWE was one of those rare wrestling moments that can be used to teach your kids a life lesson. Few of us are ever likely to be embarrassed and shamed to the degree that Hart was in Montreal, but he was able to forgive and move on. Bret Hart coming back should have been nothing less than a 3 month feel good story with two incredible moments. The first actually happened when Bret and HBK shook hands and embraced in the middle of the ring on RAW in January 2010. The second was supposed to happen at WrestleMania XXVI. WWE concocted a storyline that allowed Vince to get all of those old emotions riled up, only for Bret to turn the tables on him the week before Mania. The climax should have been easy: go out there in Phoenix, have Vince try to cheat, have it backfire, have Bret beat him up for a minute, slap on the Sharpshooter, the crowd goes wild, and then that's it - the second incredible moment achieved. Instead, Vince came out and tried to add an unnecessary layer to the story right before the match started by bringing out all of the Hart family members, turning the original situation into an impromptu Lumberjack match. People cared about three Hart family members in Bret's prime - Bret, Owen, and Stu (sort of). Fans never gave a monkey crap about the rest of them, with all due respect, and they certainly were not going to start caring on the night of the biggest show of the year. So, predictably, the crowd started to dose from the utter boredom created by the non-Bret/Owen/Stu members of the Hart family. Then, a painfully long match ensued. It went on and on and on and on. People in the crowd could be seen checking their watches, wondering how in the world something so simple had been contorted into something so awfully complicated. When Bret (finally) locked on the Sharpshooter, the crowd half politely applauded and half thanked God that it was (finally) over. It was never intended to be one of the greatest matches of all-time, but it had no business being one of the worst matches of all-time, either.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
