Harley Race introduced arguably the most famous and pimped Nitro match ever, the Owen Hart tribute match from Kansas City, the building where Owen died.

Benoit wears an Owen t-shirt to the ring. The announcers are really respectful and serious here, which I appreciate. Both men get an intro and stay in their corners. It definitely captures some of the emotion that must have been felt during that night.

A lot of the early stuff is mat/hold/submission based wrestling, all under the great banner of technical wrestling. It’s basic, it’s classy for the moment, and it’s well executed. I’m honestly grading this on a harsher curve because it is the “obvious choice” as the top Nitro match, but so far it’s really living up to memories and the pedestal where it was put.

I like that the holds are wear down maneuvers and reversals, and not true submissions. There are a few Owen chants from the crowd. The announcing is really deep here, giving you a lot of background and texture. The wrestling is flawlessly snug and “real” looking, as opposed to spot-to-spot choreographed-looking. Bret’s knee to the abdominals and short leg drop were under rated moves in his repertoire. Benoit brings the chops, and a liontamer-like Boston Crab.

This match is fascinating in that there is no storyline or heel-face interaction, or tangible drama to buoy it, and yet because of the circumstances it has meaning and feeling to it.

The progression is nice as Benoit has the knee to the abs scouted the second time. We get one counts off back breakers or back body drops, which I love. There really are no big moves in the first ten minutes, and Bret ends up being the default Babyface over time. Sometimes, especially when Bret is in control, the match – or the moves – get a bit monotonous, but when they create movement the match moves, and the counters are like Lucha in the way they flow. Benoit pulls out a tombstone pile driver that gets a solid near fall, and they are both selling the totality of the match.

The idea that the pressure is on Bret because he is wrestling for his brother is a compelling one the announcers introduce. Benoit ends up using that knee lift to the abs on Bret. Also of note is the way Benoit would take a bump off a choreographed drop kick miss. These guys are both so willing to bump well for each other. I’m not as big a fan of the suicide dive by Benoit, as it looked too set up. All the near falls after the second commercial break are tight, and it’s a tragedy that the entire match isn’t available to anyone without commercial cutaways lost.

A dummy moment: Bobby Heenan has no idea these two have wrestled against each other on Nitro, including a few months before.

Bret focuses a lot of his late work on the back of Benoit, I’ll assume getting ready for the Five Moves of Doom. I’ve finally realized that both Benoit and Hart are very impressive in delivering or executing moves in the first half of matches, but all too often I’m not sure where the story really is until later in the match, when they pick something to focus on. Bret’s match with DDP or Booker T on this set seemed more compelling because it appeared to utilize more story telling devices through body language. Perhaps that’s the handicap of this ROH-like match.

They get a great double ten count after a Hart superplex that shows the crowd still engaged twenty minutes in. It’s also something HHH and HBK both wish they had in some of their more masturbatory wrestling matches. Sharpshooter tease into a crossface. Bret gets the ropes. Three Amigos from Benoit. He’s getting some heat as he hits the diving head butt. Two count. “Let’s go Bret” chant. Bret ends up hitting Benoit with a pile driver of his own. I like the little tit-for-tat these guys have going on, a lot of it style similarities. A lot of movement and reversals in this final stretch. The only thing it’s missing is palpable desperation by its characters. Bret has a great block of the Crossface, and moves it into a Sharpshooter for the tap out win in about 27 minutes.

It wasn’t dramatic, but it had feeling. Bret looks to the sky afterwards and sends off his brother with a salute. They embrace. Very- very good match, but given the reason for having it, I wondered at times where the heart and emotion was. These men are great because they are wrestling machines, but sometimes I think that’s what holds them back from having matches that transcend four and a quarter stars and wrap you up with feelings. It’s not about work rate at that point. The emotion conveyed compliments the work and hopefully transcends a simple wrestling contest. Bret only did it once, with Austin, but that run was the closest he would come to a character that could make for a five star match. Benoit did it with HHH and HBK, ironically, and had his real moment with Eddie. That’s what I wished for this match, and it fell just short. 3 ¾ and 7.2/10.

Booker was getting really good by this point (he’d already had that good to great series with Benoit the year before), and he’d be a main eventer within the next year. Bret was a mixed bag in WCW, but his highlighted matches are all on this set, and he was an amazingly smooth ring general with the right guy across the ring. I’m expecting a smidge above an average match, and I’ll take anything more as a pleasant bonus.

A really solid vocal crowd for this match to build upon. That’s half your battle right there. Bret is your scoundrel, which he is best suited for, while Booker is your Hero of the day. Both guys facially and gesture-wise play this up before the initial lock up, and I’m again blown away with the way Bret Hart emotes. Only Randy Orton comes close among this new mainstream generation of heels with the way they barely have to say a word, but when they roll out after an exchange (which Hart does early) you know exactly what is going on and react. Hart also moved so well, which is something that you don’t see with the more athletic style and is something more akin to Ric Flair. Great pacing as babyface Booker rules the roost early.

This match is so freaking simple and yet so freakin’ great. Hart uses short cuts and keeps it slow while getting the heat, and Booker comes back and punches it up. Of course this is all killed a cutaway to the truck where Disco Infero is negotiating to pirate the satellite signal for the NWO Wolfpack – don’t even ask, it’s typical short attention span crap – so we have what amounts to a commercial break while they really get going.

Bret is in charge when we get back, and he gets frustrated whenever Booker kicks out of a pin. Booker’s selling was very good here. I’m a believer. Still the greatest side Russian leg sweep, Mr. Hart. Five moves of doom methodically administered by Hart, but no pin fall victory. Booker even kicks out at one after a backbreaker. Booker’s come back is pretty bad ass as he commits to all the moves and Hart bumps well for him. The announcers can’t be bothered to call the match, which is a shame. A very methodical match that was a Hart trademark, but as I get older I find them more timeless than boring, like I did when I was in high school. There’s a great figure Four spot towards the end where Booker wills the crowd back into it (or maybe them willing him), and Booker really sells the knee after. That selling goes nowhere, but the comeback is fun. Hart superplexes Booker in a huge spot that feels just as high spot-tastic as anything Rey Jr would do on a show in terms of impact. Booker catches him in a roll up for the win in 17:30. Very good, but not great, match. Let’s celebrate it for what it was though. 3 ½ and 6.8/10.

Never been a huge DDP fan, but the guy works hard, especially when he’s in with a skilled guy, and Bret still had some fire in WCW as long as it was a motivating match up. This has promise, I say hesitantly.

The U.S. title is on the line, Bret’s got it, and he’s your bad guy. Page is “positively” your babyface.
Hart had such a good heel persona with the way he’d look at the crowd before and after moves, playing to them and whipping up some heat. Great movement in this match and some fun counter-wrestling that isn’t mat-based, and it works. I can’t get over Hart’s facial expressions. WCW really screwed up with turning him so many times, not one of the turns really making sense or having a sizable impact. Page, not to be forgotten, shows a lot of awareness in this match. He’s holding up his end, with short comebacks and some sincere selling. I can see both sides of the under-rated/over-rated argument on him. In the bigger matches I always felt like he gave a great effort and usually delivered on his end.

Hart’s Russian leg sweep still holds up as possibly the best ever. He’s using some great heel short cuts in this match, be it the ropes, chokes, or the dreaded head butt to the lower abdomen/ groin. DDP’s big punching comeback rules, but the crowd seems into this match more as famous wrestlers rather than wanting one guy to win. Oh yeah, and Hart’s superplex is beautiful. This match has more effort and realism the longer it goes. DDP’s desperate selling gets more dramatic as it goes on. I love this match.

So of course there’s a ref bump. Crap. Hope it tells a good story. Yep, it does. Bret tries to wake the ref after putting on some brass knux, he swings at Page, and Page ducks it right into a perfect Diamond Cutter. 1-2-3, DDP is your new U.S. Champ in about 11-12 minutes. The way Hart epically destroys DDP’s knee post match is some of the best chair shot work I’ve seen in years – seriously. This is the best Bret Hart match I’ve seen as far as Nitro is concerned (The Owen Tribute versus Benoit is still a year off at this point). Great match. 3 ¾ and 7.3/10.

The first six minutes of this are actually pretty good by Hogan match standards. The fans hate him and chant “Hogan sucks”. Bret doesn’t get much babyface heat, but he keeps the match moving, outwrestling Hogan. Hogan cheats to win, and works over Bret’s already injured knee well. Then, at the six minute mark, Sting runs down and I remember this match. The first Bret-Hulk match was a total angle match.

Typically bad Nitro story telling for the main events. Bret is no more hurt than any other wrestler getting beat up, but Sting runs down with the Wolf Pack and decides now the match will be he and Hogan. Okay, that’s a lame bait-and-switch. For some reason they bring a stretcher down for Bret right away, even though he hasn’t given up and the injury is garden variety stuff. Sting does do his job, and the fans get into the new match. Hogan then beats up Sting while the NWO black and white beats up the Red and black (confused yet), and Bret Hart limps back to the ring. Sting now has Hogan beat, and Bret turns on him. Bret makes sure to bounce around, so we know the knee is okay, so apparently all the knee work and guard rail shots Hogan gave him were “fake”. Fans just throw shit at the ring, and why wouldn’t you. Hogan and Bret destroy Sting, and I am effectively dumber for having watched the last ten minutes. Rarely does anything involving Hogan ever turn out entertaining. Not really a match, and only a half decent angle. 2 stars and 4/10.

This is not the famous match the two would have in late 1999 in memory of Bret’s deceased brother, Owen Hart. We’ll get there. This is a forgotten match from Nitro unearthed on this set, and I’m excited because I don’t remember it off the top of my head.

Hart comes out to the NWO music. What a waste this WCW run was for his career. I dig the way Hart starts out with subtle heel tactics, hair pulls and possible eye rakes, and slowly becomes more heelish. Benoit tries to grind him out with some technical holds, but Hart’s cheating short cuts win out. Hart is carrying the match with his selling and sudden movement, because what this match is lacking is a lot of movement or intensity as it moves forward. Hart manages to beat him on the outside and get back in to get the crowd booing, but Benoit wasn’t much of a face here.

Hart nailed an excellent pile driver for a near fall. Tony calls it a “Tombstone pile driver”, which is not the move or the right company. Heenan’s no better, claiming both men are from Calgary. They were to worried about each other half the time, and Tenay would step in to clear the air. We get a commercial while Hart works him over, but this is rather uninspiring considering the two talents.

Harts frustration and Benoit’s come back totally elevates this in a matter of seconds. Benoit comes all the way back, both selling, but misses the diving head butt. Top rope superplex and a great near fall on Hart. Benoit’s frustrated now. He switches into the Crippler Crossface, but Bret makes the ropes. Stevie Ray of the NWO is out to distract while Hart clobbers Benoit from behind with “an object” made to look like brass knux. But he goes further, which I give style points for, as he rolls Benoit over on him. He lets Benoit get a two count, kicks out, and throws him in the Sharpshooter for the win in about 15 minutes. It became what I was looking for as a fan as the story unraveled, but it didn’t have the punch for me that other matches on this disk did. Better than the lesser Booker-Benoit match, but you didn’t fully feel the struggle. 3 ¼ and 6.7/10.