Got the Bret/Shawn dvd yesterday. Bret came off a little self-important, as per usual. Very self-aware though, talking about how he knew Shawn was going to be in his spot soon in '96. Shawn came off like a guy who knows he was a giant douche and would just rather not think about it. Didn't really know how much of it started as a work though. That US/Canada feud probably doesn't take off like it did without the personal animosity between the two being there and feuling their fantastic promos at the time. HBK was really raw (no pun intended) and at his outlandish peak, and Bret had his best year or so on the mic ever. It really was a once in a decade or generation feud because it was so ready-made. They didn't like each other, they had built-in supporters. But the heel in US/mega-face in Canada and vice versa dynamic was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in wrestling because Canada was so all-in about it. The US crowds at the time were already really, really, really hot, but Canada legit loathed HBK and Hart was damn-near a national hero. Hell, I'd buy the shit out of a DVD that just covered those Raws and PPVs around that feud. I still remember a Flag match on Raw, and I remember very little from that time of WWF, being more of a WCW guy.
The DVD was awesome.
Some of my favorite moments....
-Bret & Shawn going in depth about their feelings when they started in WWF about the desire for muscle bound guys. Vince's thing for the big guys pissed off the smaller guys to no end and it's never really been talked about before in WWE releases. They never talked specifically about getting on the juice (besides Shawn confirming his absence from TV in early 1994 was due to a drug test failure), but both guys did use early in their WWF runs (probably later on, too).
-Bret telling Shawn he believed his knee injury in early 1997 was a lie. Shawn said no way (and it pissed him off at the time that people thought he was bullshitting) and blamed the whole episode on a stupid doctor before getting proper advice from Dr. Andrews.
Who knows the legit story but it was sure ironic that the plan was for Shawn to return the favor to Bret at WM 13...and after doing the whole angle to get the belt back on him at Rumble...his knee is magically fucked up.
-For the most part, Shawn was really in - man, I was a stupid asshole back then mode. From allegedly telling Bret that he would only work with his friends after becoming champion to the confrontation that led to Bret's stance leading up to Montreal. According to Meltzer (who's sources would be Bret and other wrestlers), Shawn did tell him in mid-1997 that he would not be doing jobs for Bret or anyone else...which really pissed the fuck out of Bret and the locker room.
-Shawn throwing HHH under the bus because it was legitimately his idea which led to Montreal happening. Whether or not it would have happened anyway had he not been there, who knows.
-Their relationship didn't totally sour until 97ish with the worked shoot promos. Ironically, they were suppose to be working the fans and they ended up working themselves.
-The realization that they threw a ton of money down the drain by not being professionals with each other. Ie., they only had 1 match after Wrestlemania 12 and it was Survivor Series 97 (19 months later).
Some stuff was only mentioned in passing (the fight they had before a TV taping in Hartford) and other stuff not at all (Shawn and whoever screwing Bulldog over at the One Night Stand show....Bulldog was set to retain the Euro Title and he dedicated the match to his sister [think it was a sister] who was ill...night of the show the finish was changed and Shawn won.
