Quick Links
Bret Hart is one of the most popular and prominent professional wrestlers of all time, with him being a multi-time world champion. In the 1990s, he climbed the ranks to become WWE Champion on numerous occasions, becoming a major star of the company in the time that he was there, until eventually leaving for WCW. Fans will likely remember several of his title wins over his career, but there is one that many may forget about, and that is because it was difficult to watch… in a very literal sense too, as his win came under very unique circumstances.
Bret Hart Had Several Classic WWE Title Wins, But His First Wasn’t Televised
Throughout his tenure in WWE, Bret Hart became a five-time WWE Champion, with several of his wins being remembered as great moments. For example, his win over Yokozuna at WrestleMania 10 made for an iconic conclusion, his victory over Diesel at Survivor Series 1995 saw him play the underdog perfectly in one of Diesel’s best ever matches, and a triumph over The Undertaker at SummerSlam 1997 made for a great main event.
His first WWE Title reign was very strong, with him holding the gold for 174 days before dropping it to Yokozuna. He defeated the likes Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, and Fatu in televised defenses during his time as champion, but his reign seemingly started out of completely nowhere. Quite literally too, as one day he was without gold, and the next he was suddenly WWE Champion, without any televised shows taking place.
This was due to Bret Hart winning his very first WWE Championship on a house show back in 1992. It was certainly an odd creative decision to have a young star’s very first major win happen when the world wasn’t watching, but WWE did it regardless. The reason why this match was so hard to watch was due to the fact that the footage wasn’t readily available for fans to view. Not showing fans a WWE Title change during an era in which PPVs took place was a big call to make.
Bret Hart Defeated Ric Flair On A WWE House Show
The house show took place in late 1992 in Saskatchewan. The reason why the title change took place was due to an injury to Ric Flair, who was the WWE Champion going into the event. On his podcast, Flair explained that The Ultimate Warrior had dropped him on his head, so Vince McMahon made the call to have him drop the title as soon as possible. The match itself was one that Flair wasn’t too happy with, but considering he had a potential concussion, it was much better than it should have been.
It was a technical battle between two of the finest in the business, even if it did run slow at times. The match itself wasn’t made available until the next year when it was released on the “Smack ‘Em Whack ‘Em” Home Video. It very much made the video a draw to fans if they wanted to see Hart’s first ever title win. Even after it was released for fans to see, the match is still mostly a forgotten one due to the circumstances of the title change, which is certainly a shame, as a PPV match between these two would have been terrific around this period.
Instead, fans would have to wait until WCW Souled Out in 1998 to see the two legends do battle. The match in 1998 was good, but much like this one in 1992, there was a lot of wiggle room for it to be a much better final product given who was involved. Either way, Hart’s first win came against a big name, even if it was completely unplanned and out of nowhere, with only a limited number of people managing to witness it first hand.