PrimeTime Wrestling: Randy Savage & Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair & Shawn Michaels
Date: July 20, 1992
Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1x...michaels_sport
Background: Savage was WWF Champion, Bret Hart was Intercontinental Champion. Savage and Flair were still feuding, and Michaels was among Bret's rivalries at the time.
Here's a promo by Savage and Bret leading into a few of these matches on the house show circuit.
The Match: Jim Ross: "This is a dream tag team matchup if there ever was one." Yep, no kidding. Ross had just come to the company at this point, and he was working here with Bobby Heenan. Also a dream tag team of sorts, though they never fully found their groove together in a short period of time they had.
Michaels and Bret start things out. Collar-and-elbow tie-up, and Michaels hits the armdrag to get the first advantage. Second go-around features a hammerlock by Michaels, reversed into a hammerlock by Hart, reversed back by Michaels, then a back elbow by Hart to separate the two. Bret into the ropes, leapfrog by Michaels one way, blind tag by Bret as he hits the other ropes, Michael attempts a leapfrog again coming back but Bret catches him and executes an inverted atomic drop. Savage quickly follows with a clothesline on Michaels. Flair tries to step in, but Savage cleans out both of them.
HBK tags Flair in. Flair wrestles Savage into a corner. They do the dueling hammerlock thing that Michaels and Bret did a moment ago. Savage openly slaps Flair, which infuriates him, and then after a quick scuffle he does it again a moment later. Flair calms down in his corner for a moment. After regrouping, Flair gets some chops in, and he and Michaels manage to trap Savage in their corner despite Savage's best efforts to fight both off.
Savage whipped into the corner by HBK, but he dodges Michaels and Michaels charges shoulder-first into the post. Macho tags the Hitman in, and Bret promptly gets Michaels down on the mat in an armbar. Tags Savage, holds Michaels, Savage comes off the top and hits Michaels's arm. Arm-wringer on the same arm of Shawn's. Tags back out to Bret. Hammerlock on the mat as he lays a knee in on Shawn's kidney.
Getting back up to their feet, Michaels breaks the hammerlock by backing Bret into the corner. Tags the Nature Boy in, and he promptly comes up empty on an elbow drop. Undeterred, he fights Hart into the corner and lays in some chops and fists. Attempts a whip to the other corner, gets reversed, staggers out and gets back-dropped by Bret. Again a tag to Savage, who takes on both of the heels with pretty good success.
Flair hits an inverted atomic drop out of the corner that slows the Macho Man down, tries to follow by cinching in the figure-four but Savage kicks him off. Tries again, gets kicked off again. Michaels in to help, hits a superkick, but again finds that it's just a transitional move because he didn't stomp his feet in the corner like a weirdo first.
Michaels hits a jumping high knee on Savage, then stomps away. Bret comes in to help, but that just distracts the referee. Flair holds Savage down while Sherri clobbers him. Ric tags back in, and he and Michaels hit a double back elbow after sending Savage off the ropes. Flair runs a distraction while Perfect takes another cheap shot at Savage. Ross: "Everyone's getting in cheap shots at Savage! Wait, where are you going?" Heenan: "I thought I'd go get a shot in at him too. Doesn't seem to cost anything."
Flair and Michaels continue to work Savage over in tandem with quick tags. Macho Man gets a desperation move in on Michaels, but Michaels is able to tag Flair in and Flair stops Savage's bid to tag out with an axhandle. Sets him in a corner and chops away. Savage manages to counter a move into a backslide, but does it near the enemy corner and Michaels breaks it up. Bret comes in, causing Hebner to have to deal with him again, and then Savage locks in a small package that Hebner isn't there to count. Flair rolls the small package into Michaels's favor, Hebner comes back to count, but only gets two.
Savage finally makes the hot tag after catching Flair trying to go up to the top rope and throwing him off. The Hitman is finally in, and rains in a series of punches on Flair. Back bodydrop. Michaels comes in to run interference as well, but Bret takes out both of them. Flair tries to escape to the apron but Hart suplexes him back in. Backbreaker, pin, two-count and then broken up by Michaels. Savage runs in after Michaels and rolls him up from behind, which Hebner counts even though neither man is legal. Anyway, just a two-count again.
Flair and Hart fight outside, Savage whips Shawn into the ropes, he hits Sherri, schoolboy by Savage, and he gets a three-count. Still neither guy was legal, but the result stands.
Result: Savage & Bret via pinfall (17:18)
Rating: Started off strongly, then kind of slowed down for a heat segment that dragged on for too long despite Michaels and Flair keeping a good pace going. The ending was not great and the crowd was pretty lame. Still a decent bit of good action, enough that I can't keep it below
3 stars out of 5, but it lacked something of an "it" factor for me.