In 1993, Bret Hart and Yokozuna closed several house shows with World Title cage matches. The most famous of those was the first, as they rocked Madison Square Garden with almost certainly the finest match of Yokozuna’s career. In the months that followed, they took that match across the country, but never to television or PPV. Instead, the MSG match lived on via fancam, though a later rematch did make 1994’s Inside the WWF Coliseum Video.
This was news to me and so, that’ll be my focus today. At some point, I may review the Garden match also, but it’s a dizzying watch and will take some working up to in my current mood. Either way, this is from December 15th 1993, taped in Augusta, Maine. Gorilla Monsoon and Johnny Polo are on the call, for better or almost certainly worse. Either way, the big man is very hesitant to enter the cage, being greeted by right hands as Hart goes to work.
The challenger continues to roll too, avoiding Yokozuna’s big elbow drop and beginning to climb the cage. Yokozuna catches him though, which is a massive indictment of Hart’s climbing speed. It’s hard to dwell on such a detail however, as Yokozuna hurls Hart before missing a leg drop. “He doesn’t miss lunch though” remarks Monsoon as Hart’s shine continues, with Yokozuna stumbling into the big blue cage. Hart then trips him for good measure, with Yokozuna taking a glorious front bump.
This is so well done, as it’s much sharper than some offensive onslaught from Hart. Beyond that initial salvo of right hands, Hart has simply outsmarted Yokozuna, constantly evading and walking him into traps. It has the same effect as something more direct but protects Yokozuna’s aura while reiterating Hart’s smarts. Nothing groundbreaking, but wonderfully logical nonetheless. The big man remains heel too, cutting Hart off with a timely low blow.
Hart returns the favour, creating a good old fashioned dick shot double down. Monsoon kills time with “beached whale” talk, as Hart’s next escape plan is halted afterwards. Yokozuna is having a blast here, stumbling around in response to each and every blow. He eventually slows Hart down, taking control after over six minutes of Hart kicking ass. Hart’s next hope spot is still mere moments away though, launching more right hands after stopping Yokozuna from walking through the door.
The big bulldog off the second follows, as Hart starts climbing again. With Yokozuna down and out, Fuji interferes, poking Hart with his Japanese flag. Even that doesn’t halt Hart’s momentum though, coming awful close to crawling through the door, even kicking it to floor Fuji. Yokzouna prevents him from escaping, but continues to get his ass kicked anyway, looking rather fatigued along the way. In fairness, we are now well over ten minutes deep and he’s been selling for much of that runtime.
They stick to that rhythm too, with every single Yokozuna retort coming before some kind of swing and miss. They use the cage some along the way, though it’s mostly their route to ‘false finishes.’ In the dying moments, they reach a double down, with Hart then using Yokozuna’s “bucket” against him. Following this, he goes for the cover, which Monsoon dismisses as “pinfalls don’t count.” Referee Danny Davis counts however, making Gorilla momentarily mad.
He rebounds with more jokes about Yokozuna’s diet, as Hart climbs yet again. Fuji throws salt in his eyes though, utilising an “endless supply” to blind the challenger. Now without his eyesight, Hart climbs much faster, forcing Yokozuna to go through the door for the big photo finish victory. From what I can recall, this is actually very different to their aforementioned MSG match. While the crowd is really into this, there’s more of an edge to that match, which is reflected in the work.
Yokozuna is the outright monster there, working with a fitting mean streak throughout. Here, he is far more playful in performance, even if not demeanour. This is a real crowd pleaser in that sense, with Hart being a step ahead throughout, outsmarting the champion until he’s cheated by Fuji. It’s a really effective formula, making for twenty very watchable minutes, seldom settling into a form that doesn’t keep the people engaged.
It’s not as good as the Garden match, yet it’s a worthy hit in its own right. WWF cage matches are a very specific take on that match type but if you can embrace their approach, this is a really good time. Though the announcing drove me nuts, I’m glad that one of these cage matches made a proper release, it’s a nice piece of history in that sense. Again, this isn’t reflective of that entire run but it’s a nice snapshot anyway, two of my favourites doing the dance.
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