10 WWE Superstars That Got Over In Losing Efforts
3. Bret Hart
Ask Bret Hart what the most influential match of his career was, in terms of his success, and he'll tell you it was the one against brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam '92.
The Hitman defended the Intercontinental Championship in the main event of a SummerSlam that drew 80,000 fans to London's Wembley Stadium. While the outcome may have seemed predictable in retrospect, in 1992 seeing the British Bulldog defeat The Hitman was a major surprise.
Bret mapped out the match ahead of time with Smith, but due to Davey's summer of partying too hard (with his brother-in-law, the recently released Jim Neidhart), Bulldog forgot everything by the time he got to the ring. In one of the best piggybacks of his career, Bret Hart carried Bulldog to the Intercontinental Championship in an instant classic.
Despite the clean pinfall loss, Bret went on to win the WWF Championship less than two months later, while Davey Boy would end up released.
Bret had other matches in which he overcame defeat to forge ahead (Survivor Series '90, WrestleMania XII), but his true crowning achievement came in his loss at SummerSlam '92.