The ONE WWE Superstar Who Never Lost Clean

OR, how to make it in pro wrestling,

WrestleMania X Bret Hart Owen Hart
WWE.com

A loss always haunts the spot-obsessed professional wrestling megastar in the rearview.

Whether as a result of encroaching age, political sabotage, or maybe, just maybe, the wild notion that said wrestling megastar might get over it and give back with no compunction, everybody loses.

Bret Hart put his own brother Owen over, clean in the middle, in his top drawing years. On the same night he won back the WWF Championship, in fact, booking his reign before it even started because he was the absolute best.

Hulk Hogan lost "cleanly" to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI years earlier, but revisiting that finish with the glare of an ultraviolet light reveals the stain of bullsh*t, for Hogan accentuated the classic c*nt's trick of the 3.01 kick-out by gesturing desperately to the heavens above. It was as if a divine entity had won the match for the Warrior, not Warrior himself. Hogan slammed his hands to the mat in a fury afterwards - the divine entity was black, presumably - but, hero that he was, he pulled himself together to congratulate the winner. This was so magnanimous, in fact, that he left the hero, and not the WWF Champion.

This isn't a cynical reading of the post-match, but Hogan's publicised intent. It was one of few truths revealed in his autobiography. In the years afterwards, he escaped the job by flashbulbs and other assorted chicanery, but Vince McMahon, ruthless, had him lay down under the crushing force of Brock Lesnar's bearhug in August of 2002. It's by the by, but what a perfect finish that was - a symbolic means of showing that even the fans couldn't get Hogan out of that one.

CONT'D...(1 of 5)

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!