2. Hart Foundation vs. The Rockers – 4/28/90
Rather a forgotten gem, this unusual matchup of two babyface teams occurred at a time when there were no strong heel tandems in the company.
The Hart Foundation looked to be returning to their rulebreaking roots, playing the gritty foils to the white meat Rockers. The winners would be positioned to challenge Tag Champs Demolition. This match was a masterful display of chain wrestling that featured two future Hall of Famers, that eventually broke down into a no-contest when Demolition appeared at ringside and got involved in the proceedings. In a very weak in-ring year for the WWF, this match was one of the highlights. Soon after this match Ax took a reduced role due to nagging injuries, and Demolition introduced third member Crush, turning heel and keeping the Harts as their top babyface challengers.
1. Randy Savage vs. Bret Hart – 11/28/87
How this match only took place once in the WWF is beyond me. In late November 1987, the company’s two best workers faced off in a surefire Match of the Year contender. Evidently Savage and Bret had a totally different, more elaborate match planned, but Vince wanted this to feature more of a story so they had to ad lib most of it.
This turned out an excellent bout though, where Bret worked Savage’s ankle to the point that Savage had to remove one of his boots and finish the match on one foot. Couple that with repeated interference by Jimmy Hart and Jim Neidhart, and Savage had a huge uphill battle.
But in the end Savage took the win with a quick small package to close out one of the WWF’s best matches of 1987. I still consider it money left on the table that Savage and Bret never wrestled each other again in the WWF, and only once in WCW. This could’ve been a huge, perennial rivalry that yielded several classics.
