When asked to ask wrestling fans to list the most iconic in-ring performers in history, they name them “Hitman” Bret Hart, macho man “Randy Savage, or both.” The wrestling icons collided in the edition of Saturday Night Main Event on November 28, 1987. Their match is told as a master class in both classic wrestling and ring theatre.
Tensions were rising even before “Hitman” and “Machoman” met in the classic red, white and blue ropes. Hart and Savage were involved in the InterContinental Championship high stakes program. This is the title Hart spent Savage in a recent October match against then-champion Honky Tonkman. Hart, accompanied by Jim “The Anvil” Nadart and Jimmy Hart, a Hart Foundation allies, was suited to his role as a contemplative and sadistic heel with his powerful in-ring-in technique.
Savage soon fired a gun for three Heart Foundation members, and the match began with Bell and all the mixed chaos. As Hart tried to return from outside, Savage attacked Hart, and the sound of leaning in his knees and his back echoed throughout the building as the two men were eventually trapped inside the ropes. After a series of vintage strikes, Hart took a high-risk, high-reward bump when pushed into a vintage steel barricade from the outside. After sending Nadart and Jimmy Hart together in a cartoonish way, Savage took him to the top rope and elbowed the “Hitman” simply by being picked out of the air by Hart armed with Jimmy Hart’s megaphone. Throughout the encounter, each performer’s movements were completely exaggerated. Their performances are big enough to catch their eyes without betraying their hearts.
Savage and Hart’s massive physical storytelling – today is recognized as Prime Selling, but this 1987 match has become a classic for many. Many enthusiastic online reviews explicitly praise the way both men sold leg injuries during the match. Savage’s Kayfabe Ankle injury was maintained after he crossed the top rope to the outside, putting the entire match in danger as the referee threatened to call the match early. Conversely, Hart’s sadistic leg submission only sparked the rage of the American crowd, further cementing his character as a heel.
Eventually, Savage won the contest with a rolling crater pin, winning the Heart Foundation to keep him out of the way from Jimmy Hart’s megaphone attack, with Hart in a suit attacking the “Hitman.” With one leg, Savage managed to overcome the heels, pulled out the hyena gang and stood tall with a beautiful girl next to him.
Written by Angeline Phu
