Shining a Spotlight 4.01.10: Ghosts of the Past

For the title bouts, Edge/Jericho had real potential but was cut shorter than it should have. A few more minutes and we would have had a real classic on our hands but Edge’s post-match freakout was fun. People know what a Cena mark I am but even I’m amazed at how many people are giving his match with Batista four and five stars. It was a fun battle (especially liked the five-knuckle shuffle off the top rope) but wouldn’t put it in the list of greatest Mania bouts ever.

Of course, the focus of the card was on the two big bouts. First, Bret Hart finally getting his hands on Vince McMahon as payback for Montreal. And second, the Undertaker putting his streak against Shawn Michaels’ career. I don’t know if the action was as wild as the first battle but the psychology and booking were truly brilliant. Taker’s leg injury was a wonderful touch, allowing doubt as to his abilities and giving Shawn something to work on. But the ending was just utterly brilliant as Taker didn’t want to put Shawn away and Shawn did the throat-slash and a slap to goad him on. It was shades of Shawn beating Flair a couple years ago, just absolutely great booking there.

So two matches that seem to put to rest a lot of wrestling history. It’s an interesting thing to look at so while others debate and review the card and the future of WWE, I wanted to examine some of the implications to fandom that these matches hold as we put some past behind us.
　

The Ghosts of Montreal

I’ve long felt that Bret Hart holds some responsibility for what happened in 1997. Bret’s major fault is that his ego can give Hogan a run for the money. Read his biography and you get that, even when he’s being frank on himself, Bret can still set himself up to be more important to wrestling than he was. Yes, Vince went too far, even he’s admitted that. But he wouldn’t have been pushed to such a huge degree if Bret hadn’t gotten it into his head that dropping a wrestling title would have been the greatest tragedy in the history of Canada and refused to do the job to Shawn. He’s held onto that pain for a long time, even his decision to do the DVD in 2005 was more to get “his side” out than anything else.

It’s not like Vince is blameless, of course, as he’s more than milked what happened there several times. The thing about Vince is that it’s often hard to judge him since so much of his persona is wrapped into his character and even those closest to him have a hard time telling which is which. I do think Vince has some regret over what he did to Bret but at the time, when WWF was getting hammered by WCW, he did what he felt best to help his company. As Larry Matysik nicely put it, sometimes “doing the right thing” isn’t what’s best for the company.

Bret’s fall-out with Vince was only the start of family troubles with the deaths of Owen and Davey Boy and Stu along with the ugly battles that nearly tore the family apart. That’s not to mention the stroke and the end of his marriage and thus I saw what happened at Mania as Bret trying to mend some of those fences. At first, it seemed just for him, to finally put things to rest once and for all, which was great. Hell, even uber-Bret mark Scott Keith has said for a while Bret should do an angle with Vince to get the whole thing behind him and move on with his life. I saw this as the key reason for Bret’s involvement, that he finally decided a decade was way too long to hold onto this resentment and thus finally put it behind him and move on with his life.

Vince agreed for a few reasons. The chief among them was, of course, that Vince knew giving fans the encounter they’d waited twelve years for was a monster payday for the PPV. But also, I get the feeling Vince also wanted to make some sort of amends. I’ve long been in the camp that Vince went to see Bret in the locker room at Montreal knowing Bret was going to punch him and figured it was best to get it out of the way. Hell, half the guys there wanted to do the exact same thing to Vince anyhow, so it might as well have been Bret. But remember that Vince always did have a respect and like for Bret. He was the one pushing Bret for champion in 1992 when few others thought he could carry the company and you can see actual regret on how it ended in some interviews. Vince is not the soulless monster so many portray him as and with age catching up to him too, he no doubt wanted to try and get this behind him. Note how things were set up with Vince getting tricked by Bret via the fake injury and then getting absolutely no offense in the actual match. Vince knew everyone was paying to see him get his ass kicked and he delivered that big time.

But when watching the whole family gathered for that match, I also saw it as a way for Bret to try and patch things up with them. Okay, the bits with the fake bribery were a bit much and stunning that after so long, Bruce Hart is still trying to steal the spotlight with his part as ref. Also, it’s pretty clear the family involvement was to cover for Bret’s weakness in the ring. I knew he wouldn’t be anywhere near his best but was a bit jarred at how slow he was in there, I guess the stroke effected him more than we thought. But it was just fun watching the entire family get licks in on Vince and let Bret then finish him off with the chair shots. The post-match celebration saw the Harts happier than they have been in years and that clearly rubbed off on Bret.

As a match, it was poor and actually less the thrill than expected. But as a cathartic exercise, you can’t possibly top it. After twelve years, Bret finally got his payback in as big a fashion as he could ask for and hopefully, this means he can finally let Montreal go. Yes, it was horrible what happened to him but spending over a decade mulling over it has just given Bret a reputation as a bitter old man. With this down, he should be able to move on with his life without that monster weight on his shoulders. Vince hopefully can let it go as well, not needing to bring up “Bret Screwed Bret” time and again. Honestly, there’s more than enough reasons for folks to hate Vince, he hardly needs to invent more. And maybe now, the Hart family can set aside those bitter disagreements that have plagued them and rebuild themselves, happy for what they have. Most important, the IWC may be mollified a bit more as well and stop holding Montreal’s heat for so long. As a match, maybe one or two stars. But as a way to salve the feelings of those involved, you can’t possibly rate it.

The Kid’s Heartbreak

It’s so fitting that on the same night Bret was able to let Montreal die out, one of the key participants saw what might be his final big match. I know a lot doubt Shawn is done for sure and it seems unlikely but rumors are around Shawn really does want to hang it up. You can’t blame him considering that he should have been out of the business for good back in ‘98 and still stunning he not only came back but turned in years of fantastic bouts afterward. He’s still fantastic but age catches up to us all and Shawn might want to get out before it’s too late, especially considering how close he’s come before to ending it all.

If it was his last, he did it in style. As I noted, the bout was wonderfully booked with the action and psychology and Shawn did a fantastic job with the ending and the emotion of his career ending. I figured the Streak wouldn’t end as that’s such a part of the Taker mystique that I honestly don’t think it’ll ever be broken. I don’t see Taker having that many years left anyway so I figure it’ll be at least two more Manias so they can end it with 20-0. But the possibility gave the match its power and pulled you in wonderfully.

The RAW gave a bit of connection between Bret and Shawn over that night. I always felt it was a great moment when the two embraced back in January to put it behind them as Shawn has always seemed honestly a bit sorry over how things went down. It was great of Bret to put Shawn over and Shawn returning the favor by apologizing to Bret over how big an asshole Shawn was in the ‘90’s. Deep down, these two have always respected each other and it’s nice to see that after so long, they can let those past problems go and admire the great performers each are.

Shawn is sure to be back for a match or two but the fact is, he has really nothing left to prove. He’s held every major belt, he’s turned in slews of MOTY classics and he had one of the greatest comebacks wrestling has ever known. What else is there to accomplish really? Maybe it’s time for Shawn to actually enjoy the fruits of his labors with his money and success and knowing how much he’s entertained the fans. He’s been up and down but if anyone deserves to end things on a high, it’s him. Thank you, Shawn, for everything and here’s hoping post-wrestling treats you right.

Summation

It’s hard to let go of the past for many people. It took Bret twelve years to finally realize that holding onto Montreal was just too much. His family was what mattered and if laying those ghosts to rest helped bind them together more, that was a small price to pay. He’s finally able to let go of what happened all those years ago, finally move on and hopefully the better for it. With Shawn, he turned in one more fantastic bout and has more than earned whatever rest and reward he gets. Two men bound together so much in their era and on the same night, finished off a lot of those tough pasts. Whatever happens next, I’m sure Bret and Shawn will be able to take it better than they might have before. And wrestling fans can also be able to better appreciate each without that extra baggage and see why these two guys became such favorites. Time heals all wounds and if nothing else, WrestleMania XXVI gave fans a whole lot of healing.