WWE: Ranking Bret Hart's 14 Matches At WrestleMania

2. WrestleMania 10 vs. Owen Hart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z910gwoySGs This is one of my favorite matches in the history of wrestling. The story was that the face Bret didn't want to wrestle his younger brother heel Owen, but he was forced to do so because of the tie finish at the Royal Rumble. He had to wrestle this match and whether he won or lost he got his WWE Title match in the main event. Owen was jealous of his brother's success. He was ready to prove he was the man in WWE. What's amazing about this match is that Bret and Owen didn't really wrestle each other in front of a crowd before this. Sure, they're brothers that were wrestlers so they likely played around, but they didn't have a formal match before this one. That's what is so amazing about it. For their first match ever, they put on a 20 minute classic that is arguably the greatest opening match in the history of wrestling. In my opinion there's no argument. It's the best opener ever. The best way to explain it is that it really was an even matchup with both guys getting their time to shine. It was not a brawl or some violent match. It was a match that was mostly contained inside the ring in a competitive way between two brothers who grew up in the business and loving what they were doing. As a younger brother myself, I was rooting for Owen to win. It was nothing against Bret. I just wanted to see the upset. Of course, that's what happened. The finish was very memorable. Bret whipped Owen into the corner, Bret booted him in the face and jumped on Owen's shoulders. It was precarious predicament for Bret, but was skilled enough that he could go for a victory roll. Owen countered that by dropping down, putting his hands on the mat and the ref counted to three for the clean Owen victory. It was one of the biggest upsets ever because at everybody thought for sure Bret was going to win. Owen was still a midcarder who hadn't even cracked the IC title level yet while Bret had already main evented the previous WrestleMania and been a World Champion. What we got was a 20 minute technical wrestling clinic that was contested mostly in the ring (there were a couple of out of ring moments) providing us with a match that will live on forever as a classic. Due to Owen's win, he was a bigger star and it made sense for him to be Bret's biggest challenger later in 1994 when Bret was the World Champion. Smart booking to go along with one of the best matches ever at WrestleMania or anywhere.