Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels Complete History | Wrestling Timelines
July 20, 1992 - All-Star Tag Action
Dream teams collide as Bret Hart and Randy Savage take on Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels for a Superstars taping.
It’s a teaser for the big Savage Vs. Flair rematch, set for SummerSlam ‘92. It’s not quite as amazing as the match graphic would indicate, but watching Shawn study the dark arts under Flair is a hoot, and it’s a sensible decision to bring the heat segment to Bret; this allows an impassioned Randy Savage to go apoplectic remonstrating with the referee. Shawn showcases real personality here. Mostly. Bret’s job is to sell lying down, basically, but he’s far better at that than most.
On offence, Shawn is still cinching in headlocks far too late in the match like his life depends on it - but he is very, very close to discovering the genre with which he’ll (eventually) grasp how to stop the show…
July 21, 1992 - A First
In the very first Ladder match in WWE history, Bret Hart successfully defends his Intercontinental title against Shawn Michaels. The match - likely because it is an experimental demo - does not take place on pay-per-view. It is however taped, and later released on the charmingly-titled ‘Smack ‘Em Whack ‘Em’ home video. Vince doesn’t see the match; in a rare event, he isn’t present in the building. This means he doesn’t see the finish, and is unaware of who came up with it.
The ladder - there’s only one - makes its first appearance in the second third of a match that, prior to it, is solid and thoroughly normal. As you’d expect with a Bret Hart match, the use of the ladder is savvy. Shawn repeatedly drives it into Bret’s gut, until Bret finds the resolve to move away from the corner of the ring. The ladder is already stationed where it needs to be, and where it “should” be, when Bret uses it as a substitute for the turnbuckle when performing his signature chest-first bump after a last-millisecond Irish whip reversal. The cause and effect is sound, not in the least bit contrived.
The objective of the match is never lost. The ladder is used not as a weapon, a means of facilitating a stunt, but rather the risky consequence of the pursuit of victory. Shawn attempts to climb as the match closes in on the final third. Bret pulls on Shawn’s tights, sending him plummeting to the mat; the ladder crashes on top of Shawn, who hopelessly attempts to kick it away.
It’s another attritional match that loops in a constant climb/shove/fall back-and-forth structure. It remains impressive, how Bret and Shawn grasp the potential of the weapon, as a way of elevating familiar spots, at the first attempt. At the finish, Bret again shoves Shawn off the ladder mid-climb. Shawn is crotched on the ropes as the match builds to a cathartic crescendo. Bret was always amazing at peaking his matches at the finish; even this curio is evidence of that.
This was Bret’s idea. The ladder was an old hit promoted by his father Stu’s Stampede territory; Bret had worked an early foray into the genre with the Dynamite Kid in Regina, Canada in 1981. And yet, it’s Shawn who immortalises it at WrestleMania X against Razor Ramon.
The rivalry has yet to truly begin, but there’s a sense, already, that Vince loves the Boy Toy more than Bret and - even on the night built around Bret’s rehabilitation as the top guy - affords Shawn Michaels preferential treatment.