A game of pricks, this wasn’t quite back-and-forth.
The unique, excellent story was just poised in Bret Hart’s favour. His arm drag had that slight bit more distance, and where Piper threw Hart to the mat, Hart threw him out of the ring. With Hart framed as the superior technician, Piper’s pissed-off desperation informed the build. Hart strategised by feigning a shoulder injury, knowing Piper’s temperament would prove his undoing—but he underestimated how furiously that temper would manifest. The blood soaked on Hart’s forehead belatedly and firmly established the dynamic, and his battling tactical win resonated as the authentic babyface triumph that saw him ascend to the main event.
