My Top 10 Favorite Raw Moments

Well folks, tonight's the night. This has been built up for quite a while and I admit that I'm actually looking forward to watching RAW tonight. I'm sure this is one the WWE will be going all out for, and many surprise appearances will be in store. WWE.com has been counting down RAW's greatest moments of the last 15 years. I'd like to share my favorites with you…

10. Intercontinental Title Battle Royal

This was the 20 Man Battle Royal for the vacant Intercontinental Title from 1993. While Bobby Heenan's Bastion Booger jokes would have been reason enough to rank this #10, this would be the shot in the arm of the singles career of Razor Ramon (aka Scott Hall.) He and Rick Martel would co-win this and meet next week for the title with Razor coming out on top. That win was the first of several Intercontinental Title reigns for "Da Bad Guy," and while Scott Hall is nothing short of sad nowadays, he was one of WWE's major players in the early years of the Raw era.

9. ECW Invades (Part 1)

This may not seem like that big of a deal now with ECW as a 3rd Brand, but tuning into Raw during the attitude era and seeing Paul Heyman was a pretty big deal at the time. ECW was invited to show up and give WWE fans a taste of extreme, as ECW stars wrestled each other in 3 matches of the Raw telecast. It was pretty surreal seeing The BWO, Little Guido, Taz, Mikey Whipreck, Tommy Dreamer, and D-Von Dudley on Monday night programming. The highlight of this, of course, was Sabu appearing and jumping off of the RAW letters in the entrance way onto Team Taz. I, for one, was very excited to find out that this angle will be a featured as of the 15th Anniversary Best of Raw DVD coming out later this month.

8. Edge's Birthday

One of my favorite backstage segments EVER… Edge, Christian, Kurt Angle, and Triple H sitting around in a locker room celebrating Edge's birthday. What made this so awesome? Theme music played via kazoo by Christian with Edge covering the vocals. This continued on for a few more weeks with the Canadian duo paying homage to Chris Benoit and Crash Holly using this method. For this initial segment, however, these four played off of each other perfectly, and was one of the early stages of developing Edge & Christian's personalities.

7. Replay of Hart/Smith from In Your House

My memory isn't kicking as to when this actually occurred, but it was sometime between the night after and two weeks after the December 95 In Your House Pay Per View. It was pretty awesome of them to do this, as they aired the WWE Championship Match between Bret Hart and The British Bulldog in its entirety. It doesn't hurt that the match was pretty damn good, too.

6. Mike Awesome wins Hardcore Title

The Hardcore Title, held by Rhyno, was under 24/7 Rules at the time. Rhyno is shown walking backstage when all of a sudden he gets blindsided by Mike Awesome who promptly pins him to win the Hardcore Title. Why was this so important? Mike Awesome was a member of the WCW roster. This Again, my memory isn't the best but I think he laid Rhyno out with a chair then put him through a table. Regardless, this is what kicked off the WCW Invasion, and while that failed in the end, this moment was at least pretty intriguing.

5. DX Parodies The Nation

One of the all time classics. Jason Sensation playing Owen Hart, Triple H as the Crock, and X Pac as Mizark Henry were all very humorous. While this opened up a can of worms to let them think they could recreate the awesomeness of this by doing impersonations of the Corporation and more recently The McMahons again, this was something that I remembered and people were talking about for a very long time.

4. ECW Invades (Part 2)

This almost would have ranked higher on my list had it not turned into "The Alliance" by the end of the show, but the night that Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam debuted on Raw was pretty sweet. Kane & Chris Jericho were facing Lance Storm and Mike Awesome of WCW when they attacked. Members of the Raw roster (The Dudleys, Tazz, Justin Credible, Rhyno, and Raven) came to make the save, only to realize that they were all former ECW wrestlers and lay the boots to Jericho & Kane while Paul Heyman reveals it all as an ECW Invasion. For me, this was one of the most unbelievable moments I had witnessed in wrestling. They were sitting on a gold mine with this, but somehow they managed to screw things up royally. Just like they did again in 2006...

3. Lita & Trish Main Event Raw

These last 3 are kind of feel good moments for me. Lita and Trish Stratus had countless battles between one another and at this point were capable of putting together a pretty kick ass match. The bookers had a pretty good feeling that they would and let them go out there and close out the show in December 2004. The feel good moment stemming from this is the faith in these two to run with the ball. They delivered, and while Lita fucked up her neck in the process, she beat Trish to regain the Womens Title. While Lita winning the title initally from Stephanie McMahon in the Main Event of Raw in 2000 felt pretty good too, this felt a little more special headlining the show considering there was no one in the match named McMahon.

2. Eddie Guererro Tribute

While his death was a tragedy, the Raw where they paid tribute to Eddie was a special night. Seeing Raw stars vs Smackdown stars was a treat, as was Chris Benoit going over cleanly on Triple H. The match that stood out, however, was Shawn Michaels vs Rey Mysterio. They had a great match, and Shawn did the selfless thing by putting Rey over clean. To me, that win helped legitimize Mysterio as being able to hang with Main Eventers on his way to winning The Royal Rumble and eventually the World Title.

1. Mick Foley wins World Title

This was the ultimate feel good moment, as nobody saw it coming, or at least until they posted it on Wwe/f.com and Eric Bischoff blurted it out on Nitro. Foley had already gotten screwed over by the Rock at Survivor Series and Rock Bottom, and got screwed one more time this night by Shane McMahon in a match against Triple H. Frustrated, Foley did the only thing he could... hold Shane McMahon hostage in order to get one more rematch with Rock later that night. After some help from DX, the unthinkable happened, and Mrs. Foley's baby boy was the WWE Champion. Contrary to what Bischoff believed, it did in fact put some asses in seats, and some viewers on the TV.

A lot has happened in the last 15 years, but Monday Night Raw is still around, and will most likely be around another 15 years from now. I'm looking forward to seeing what they end up doing for this, to see will become of the Evolution Reunion, to see if Carlito will win the Intercontinental Title as part of the agreement for him to stick around, to see the return of Sunny, to see what will most likely be the second coming of the Gimmick Battle Royal… WWE can easily bounce back from Thursday's ratings loss with a good number here. There's enough hype surrounding Raw tonight. Here's to hoping they deliver, and here's to hoping for one more feel good moment for Monday Night RAW...

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

We Want Wrestling! This chant has become ever more present and popular among today's wrestling fan.

Thanks to Vince McMahon, D-Generation X and many others, an actual in-ring product has been all but missing from WWE "Raw".

The straw that broke the camel's back was the abysmal Rosie VS. The Donald Skit that occured on the January 8 episode of "Raw".

At TNA's Final Resolution, the Voodoo Kin Mafia (who the majority of wrestling fans I talk to still refer to as the New Age Outlaws) claimed victory in their war against McMahon because of the way the "Raw" skit was received. Little did they know that a few minutes later, they would be receiving the same chant.

Former WWE Diva Search winner and current TNA Knockout Christy Hemme confronted VKM in the ring, leading a much needed movement in the world of professional wrestling, that has unfortunately been spearheaded by the wrong leader. Hemme began to talk about how women receive no respect in professional wrestling, an all too true fact. However the fact is, Hemme has never done anything to earn it.

However on WWE's "Raw" roster, there is a woman who has done more than enough to earn her respect.She is a former 2 time WWE Women's Champion and former PWI Woman of the Year. However, when the prominent women of wrestling are named, she is often left out. Her name is Victoria, and she has arguably been the most consistent in-ring performer on any brand of Sports Entertainment for the past five years.

Victoria's matches with the likes of Trish Stratus and Molly Holly revolutionized the role of women in professional wrestling. Her unique athleticism enables her to perform both military presses and backflips.

Victoria is the epitome of toughness. The WWE had enough confidence in Victoria to let her compete in cage matches and street fights. Victoria has done most of it with a knee brace on, because she opted not to have surgery on an injured knee.

Her first major run had it's legs cut out from under it, when Victoria was turned babyface at the height of her popularity. While normally this would make sense, the WWE decided to change the psycho character fans grew to love to a generic dancing character. Still Victoria was producing weekly in the ring.

Victoria has been forced to step back and give Diva Search winners time to shine. Both Christy Hemme and Candice Michelle have been featured at Wrestlemania's over Victoria. When Victoria attacked Candice, Christy, and Maria, her actions were met with applause by the audience.

Together with Lita, Molly, Jazz, and Trish, Victoria established a new place for women in wrestling, and elevated the Women's championship to a place where models with limited wrestling knowledge and ability could not compete. Fans wanted to see the four star matches that Victoria and Trish could deliver over the T&A of the new divas.

Still, most of the credit for the limited respect today's wrestling women do get goes to Trish and Lita. However, with both women recently retiring, Victoria has had the opportunity to step back into the ring with the new class of female, and to be quite frank, she looks more beautiful than she ever has.

Showing shades of her past "psycho bitch" character, Victoria has been one of the more entertaining aspects of "Raw" since November. She has consistently delivered solid performances against various women on the current roster, which is quite a feat.

Victoria and Mickie James, if done right, has the potential to be the next great rivalry in the world of women's wrestling. These two women have the potential to go to WrestleMania 23 and deliver the greatest women's wrestling matches ever, and one of the all time classics for any sex, provided that the WWE keeps their story going.

Victoria has been an often-overlooked aspect of the WWE in a number of ways. However, if WWE fans are clamoring for great wrestling, they need look no further than the fiesty raw diva with red streaks in her hair. If Playboy is looking for a best-selling issue, they need look no further as well.

Victoria has gone on record to say that she would love to pose for the magazine and I will go on record as to say in my opinion she has the most attractive body of any WWE diva, ever. That's quite a statement.

Maybe someday Christy, Candice, and Maria will do something to earn the respect that women in professional wrestling are clamoring for.

However, Victoria has not only been a featured Diva over the course of the past five years. She has won the first women's steel cage match. She has had incredible matches with a variety of women and men. She has been one of the most entertaining and consistent performers in professional wrestling. She's tough, she's innovative, and she's beautiful.

If we want wrestling and if we are going to begin giving women in wrestling their proper respect, then we need look no further than the master of the Widow's Peak.

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From the Vault: Tag Team Wrestling on Life Support

8/16/06: It's great that WWE is convincing some that they are taking interest in reestablishing tag teams, but they haven't convinced me...

Case in point? The Bashams...

The Bashams were a sweet team, brought in, given the tag gold, then dropped into obscurity. Soon perhaps they will reappear in ECW...

Case in point? La Resistance...

Two different pairs, Rene Dupree and Sylvan Grenier, and Sylvan and Rob Conway, broken up so that the talent can pursue singles aspirations.

I guess once you reach the tag belts, there isn't much more to accomplish as a team...

But the problem is, teams get the tag belts almost immediately upon their formation. There is no chase...

Murdoch and Cade won them almost immediately, then after they lost them were split up. WWE.com did a cool little article about how they realized they were the most successful together when they were paired again, but the initial idea was to push Murdoch towards the IC title.

WWE is very short sighted when it comes to tag teams, which is ridiculous, because they have had plenty of workers who could use the seasoning that tag wrestling for a while would have given.

Gunner Scott and Chris Benoit could have had a long tag title reign. Now Scott is off the main roster. That time with Benoit in tag matches would have given him time to become something.

Bret Hart was on the verge of getting released before he and the Anvil teamed up. How far would Shawn have gone if brought in as a singles wrestler... Probably not very. He needed the time and experience of being a tag wrestler to prepare him. He also needed the heat generated when the team broke up.

Snitsky and Tomko could have been a new team in the vein of the Powers of Pain or Skyscrapers. Now Tomko is gone and Snitsky is with Val Venis. How does that make sense?

Viscera and Charlie Haas? Why, cause Charlie knocked Lillian off the mat?

And still, I prefer these makeshift teams to makeshift star teams. They are trying to find something for these guys to do.

That's much better than Rey & RVD, RVD & Booker, Edge & Benoit, or whoever else winning the tag belts. Only one thing bothers me more than two singles wrestlers coming together to embarass established tag teams.

One single wrestler embarassing established tag teams. The Rock defeating both Dudleyz in a Tables Match?

That type of stuff happens often in the WWE. Had Kane and Big Show stayed together, their dominance would have been a good chance to breed some teams without the belts having to be in the picture. Right now, every time a new team is introduced, they go straight for the champs. They either win them, lose them, and break up, or they lose and dissapear.

The belts are never featured. They don't Main Event free tv, and they seldom make PPV. Despite two real feuds for tag belts, neither one will be decided at Summerslam.

And now they are talking about breaking up the Spirit Squad...

Imagine if the WWE had broken up the New Age Outlaws after their first title reign... After all, they were just two crap guys thrown together. They caught lightning in a bottle once, and if they don't see the same flare, they immediately split the team up and look to do something else.

The WWE is looking for Attitude Vol. 2. This is why John Cena becomes more like Steve Austin, every other babyface champ becomes The Rock, and Tag Teams can't last.

A lot of people shit on the New Legion of Doom, but hell, it got Animal a payday and got Heidenreich something to do that was over. They released Heidenreich and repackaged Animal as the gay biker from the Village People. They could have had a real tag team for KC James and Idol Stevens to go over en route to London and Kendrick.

It's not impressive to dominate the tag division, because every new team that appears does. When there is a tag team feud, all other teams are off TV, much like the Women's and Cruiserweight Divisions.

I thought the reason for breaking up the Mexicools was to move Super Crazy to ECW. I was wrong. There was no reason. So what the hell are the two of them doing? Absolutely nothing.

When writers need filler for their shows, they break up a tag team. However, these tag teams aren't well enough established that their feuds even make a PPV. How did they blow off the Mexicools break up? It certainly wasn't on PPV. It wasn't even an extended feud on TV.

I am certainly not convinced that introducing tag teams renews a commitment to tag team wrestling. If tag team wresting is alive anywhere, it's on TNA.

WWE has so many developmental guys that would benefit from starting in a tag team. They have so many guys with absolutely nothing to do that could be put together in a way that makes sense.

However the only real tag team feud in years has been McMahons vs. DX, neither of which will still be together by this time next year.

WWE is like MTV. Despite what you want to see, they can get over what they want to get over. WWE does not want to get tag team wrestling over. More on This Story...

A Timely Defense of John Cena

It's been a while. In fact, it's been so long, that Marty "Boogeyman" Wright has been both fired and rehired since the last time you heard from me. Maybe even more impressive than that, Mike "Corporal" Kirshner died, then came back to life! That doesn't mean that the Pro-Wrestling Pundit hasn't had his share of opinions.

Say what you will about John Cena, and other wrestling sites have about said it all ad nauseaum, but this dude draws crowds, sells merchandise, stays over, and makes for damn good TV. While I understand the mentality of those who oppose him, and while I detest the way he has been taken out of his entertaining rap character and made Steve Austin/Rock light, I can't think of anyone who has been more interesting since Summer.


Some smark sites cheered as Edge pulled Cena's "Punk Card." That's simply not what Edge's job is. Edge's job is to be the most hated heel in wrestling, while helping Cena's babyface crowd reaction. Regardless of all that, they were easily the most interesting World title program in months, possibly years. Unfortunately Edge is now in a very boring go nowhere storyline with Randy Orton and Degeneration X. While HBK and HHH are constantly making me groan, Cena has managed to entertain me with the likes of Johnny Nitro, Kevin Federline, Big Show, King Booker, and Umaga.

John Cena is a hard working man, and he is money in Vince's bank. It's as Ric Flair would say back in the day, "If you don't like it, learn to love it, cause it's the best thing going today." While Batista fizzled, Cena sizzled. John Cena deserves respect!

There was an article on a website about how Cena disrespected the NWA TNA X Division Title. While Cena made an appearance on Cold Pizza, Chicago White Sock A.J. Pfftmylastnameishardtospell comes out with his TNA X Division title. I can't even begin to imagine what would have happened 10 years ago in a similar situation. It was said that Cena stupidly and ignorantly commented that he saw the same belt in the gumball machine outside. I think you meant to say Cena cleverly and humorously commented.

What the hell do you think Steve Austin would have done in the attitude era had Karl Malone or David Arquette came out during his appearance with the WCW title. What about if Cyndi Lauper showed up next to Ric Flair with the WWF title during the Rock N' Wrestling Era. Cena handled himself like a champ by letting people get their pictures of him next to what is easily the ugliest belt in professional wrestling (Cena's may be a close second).

One columnist then went on to say that the X Division belt had gained more respect that the lunk of shit Cena carries. That lunk of shit is the WWE Championship smark, and it's the reason you are writing for a pro-wrestling blog. Criticizing Cena for not being a mark for TNA and the X Division is ludicrous. He is the biggest wrestling superstar in the world right now. Luckily the readers were quick to jump out and exclaim that while the X Division may be exciting, the majority of matches have little to no psychology, tell no story, and are spot on top of spot. While Cena is the bad guy for making one comment in jest, TNA is cutting promos and making angles based on WWE stuff: Rhyno, Angle, and the James Gang being the most outstanding examples. 20 years ago, a professional wrestler would have slapped a major league baseball player in the mouth for pulling a stunt like that.
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Game Over: At Whose Expense?

The road to the top for Triple H was a long one. Under the downright abysmal pun name of Terra Ryzing, he made his way from the independent scene into World Championship Wrestling. After a fairly unforgettable run wrestling on WCW Saturday Night, he was lucky enough to find a spot on the WWE roster.

The Greenwich Snob, Hunter Hearst Helmsley certainly didn't have an easy climb to the top, but he eventually made it there, and upon his arrival he unleashed a reign of "Terra" that has prevented more than one superstar from "Ryzing." His latest victim however, baffles the mind.
Triple H effectively destroyed the credibility of Rob Van Dam, Kane, and Booker T in 2002. Time heals all wounds, however, and Rob Van Dam and Booker T both have been positioned into World Heavyweight Championship roles in 2006. Possibly Kane will get a chance to run with the ball for more than a day as well.

However, the latest victim of the Cerebral Assassin might not be so lucky. On the August 28th edition of WWE RAW, Triple H and Shawn Michaels were slated to face mystery opponents. A little over a week removed from overcoming five members of the Spirit Squad, Ken Kennedy, William Regal, Fit Finlay, ECW World Champion The Big Show, Umaga, and both McMahon's at Summerslam, DX was unreasonably on top of the world.

Despite the fact that the McMahon/DX angle had more than run it's course, and most agree that the reunion of Degeneration X reunion has largely been unable to recapture the group's past magic due to religious beliefs amongst other things (like the fact that no one wants to see two 40 year old guys acting like high school sophomores), we are still in the middle of a McMahon vs. DX feud.

Smackdown's number one prospect, Ken Kennedy, and their two strongest mid-card heels, Finlay and Regal, showed up on RAW to gain a measure of revenge in a handicapped match against Degeneration X. All three men, and the Smackdown brand itself took a huge blow as Triple H pinned Regal for the victory.

After the match had concluded, Shane brought ECW World Heavyweight Champion, The Big Show, out for his vengeance. I breathed a sigh of relief as together with the three defeated Smackdown superstars, Big Show was finally getting the advantage.

Both Michaels and Triple H were worked over with Finlay's Shillelagh. Both Michaels and Triple H were chokeslammed. Michaels laid in the ring and played dead. Triple H on the other hand was showing signs of life.

Out comes Vince McMahon. Now, Vince McMahon is not a wrestler, but we've all seen that he's no normal man either. He's built, and there is some credibility to the idea that Vince can hold his own. Add to the equation, Vince is carrying a lead pipe.

Michaels took his beating and laid prone on the mat as expected. Triple H, however, does not stay down so easily. Between Vince and Shane, Triple H had to have taken approximately 20 blunt strikes to the head the aforementioned lead pipe.

Now, I am certainly not built like Vince McMahon, but if I were to hit you in the head with a lead pipe once, I am pretty sure I could muster up the amount of lethal force required to kill you in one or two blows. Since you are an O Show reader however, I'll not test my theory...

Shane hit both men with running lead pipe strikes right in the head. At no point did Triple H ever simply lay down and act as though he was unconcious like his stablemate. Triple H, after 20 or so blows to the head with a "lead pipe" continues to crawl around the mat, as if somehow he was going to get up and exact a measure of revenge.

Only days after what should be considered a deadly assault, Triple H and Shawn Michaels announced that they would be back in action that Tuesday on ECW against the Big Show. Wait, wha?

Maybe it's my fault. Maybe, I underestimated the amount of pain that Triple H can withstand. I didn't forget about the time that Steve Austin operated a crane and lifted Triple H and his car 50 feet in the air and pulled the release. Triple H not only lived, but wrestled the next week on Raw as Jim Ross explained it as a "miracle."

This is in stark contrast to the wrestling world I grew up watching. Hulk Hogan, wrestling's equivalent of Superman, took three Earthquake splashes from Earthquake and was out of action for months. If a wrestler was hit with a chair or piledriven outside of the ring, you could expect him to be out of action for some duration of time. A table or the ring bell? That was months off TV. Many major stars spent time at home selling injury angles. Very few had ever incurred anything nearly as serious as being struck in the head with a lead pipe.

Somehow, we had moved from there to a place in wrestling where the only credible weapons used by wrestlers are the baseball bat, lead pipe, and sledgehammer. Thanks to the Cerebral Assassin's resistance to lay down, we can now cross another off that list.

What has happened to injury angles in professional wrestling? Can the lead pipe be rebuilt as a credible wrestling weapon? Is there anything in this world capable of stopping Triple H?

Indeed the Game is Over, but his book fails to mention that talent and traditions that have been completely destroyed while "Making the Game."

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How Hard Has Bret Screwed Bret?

Pro Wrestling Pundit is officially launched, and we begin with a topic that is sure to turn a lot of heads.

Some fans would ask, "how can you criticize one of the greatest champions of the 1990's?" I would respond, "how can you not?"

Bret Hart was close to being released when he was lucky enough to be paired with Jim Neidhardt and Jimmy Hart to form the Hart Foundation. They had a successful run as a team that lasted many years, and were one of my favorite childhood tag teams.

Then they split up, and Bret came seemingly out of nowhere to defeat Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental title at Summerslam. So far so good...

When the steroid trial reared it's ugly head, Bret was in position to change the face of the stereotypical WWE champion. This ushered in a new WWE era.

I will give Bret his due. Bret's successful title run paved the way for the actual WWE wrestling product to get better over the years, and set the stage for many smaller wrestlers to have success. Without Bret carrying the ball, would we have had Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit title runs? It's debatable.
We can look back at Bret Hart leading the charge for the "New Generation" and we see a time where WWE business wasn't very impressive. While Bret wasn't offensive as champion, he certainly didn't put the butts in the seats that Hogan did before him and Austin did after...

For me personally, becoming a fan when the Megapowers were sitting on top of the wrestling world, it was hard to support Bret Hart as a World Heavyweight Champion. His defeat of Ric Flair meant no title rematch for Randy Savage. His first title reign would be ended to put the belt back around Hogan's waist, but by the time he had his second reign, it was more than apparant that Hulkamania was either dead or certainly on a long hiatus.

I learned to live with Bret Hart as a World Champion. While I never cared particularly about the stories between Bret and Owen, Hakushi, or Bob Backlund, I knew Bret Hart could produce a great match. I point to his match with the British Bulldog at In Your House as a shining example of what Bret could do in the ring when he had the belt. That match is vastly underated, as most people tend to remember their 1992 Summerslam encounter.

Outside of the ring, I didn't feel like Bret delivered. As a babyface champion, he was boring. I didn't feel that he was the best there is, best there was, or the best their ever would be, and resented him for making the claim.

The WWE groomed Shawn Michaels as a successor to the Hitman. Bret was never happy with the way he was portrayed in the buildup to Wrestlemania, and he wasn't going to be happy with Shawn Michaels from that point on. We all know how that story ends up...

But it wasn't all Montreal Screwjobs. There was a time when the legitimate backstage tension between Bret and Shawn was good for the business, especially while the WWE accidentally found their new savior in a foul mouthed s.o.b. by the name of Steve Austin.

Bret had lost touch with the fans who were tired of his lame babyface schtick. It was time for a change. Bret joined with Owen, The Anvil, The Bulldog, and "Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman to form the NEW Hart Foundation, and while WCW was still dominating the ratings war, the Foundation's feuds were rebuilding interest in RAW. Eventually it would give birth to Austin vs. McMahon and Degeneration X, and the ball would be back in Vince's court.

Before that however, Bret's relationship with the WWE would self-destruct. Bret Hart was sitting on top of the WWE as the World Champion. However, his large contract was too much for Vince to handle, and Bret wasn't happy anyways. Bret wanted a change of scenery. It was time for him to move on.

The Survivor Series came from Canada that year, where Bret was still a crowd favorite. He wasn't comfortable with dropping the title to Shawn Michaels in his home country. We all know the story, as the WWE has revisited numerous times since.

Vince defended his actions by breaking kayfabe on Raw and essentially explaining how the business works. When you are a champion, and you are leaving a promotion, you do the right thing and lose the title. Hell, when you aren't a champion, and you are leaving a promotion, you lose a few matches. They weren't in Calgary, they were in Canada. That's like Hogan saying that he can't lose a match in the United States (which I guess arguably you could say he's pretty much stuck to over the past 20 plus years).

When Vince decided to take the title off Bret, he was doing what was best for himself and his employees. Had Vince let Bret leave as the WWE World Champion, and had a tournament or battle royal for a vacant title while Bret appeared on WCW TV as the man who never lost the title, I guarantee that WWE would not be the promotion left standing today, and regardless of what you think about the current WWE product, wrestling as a whole would be worse off. Could you imagine a WCW product in 2006 with no competition for ratings? I think we can all safely presume that it would be absolutely horrid.

Bret should have done business, point blank. A loss to Michaels in Canada would have done a lot less damage to the Hitman than the aftermath of the Montreal Screwjob did.

Bret Hart has essentially spent the past 9 years publicly crying about what happened at that Survivor Series. His chance to redeem himself in World Championship Wrestling is largely a flop, as he doesn't truly have a memorable match until after Owen Hart dies, and he meets Benoit at the Kemper Arena in a tribute match. WCW does nothing for Bret Hart, and Bret Hart does nothing for WCW.

As much as I criticize Bret, I don't do it without sympathy. In the time between the Montreal Screwjob and right now, both of his parents have passed, his brother died in a very public accident, his brother in law dies as well, his marriage falls apart, his family begins fighting amongst itself, and then Goldberg mule kicks Bret's head off, effectively ending Bret's career. If that's not enough, Bret then has a stroke.

It's impossible to not have compassion for Bret Hart, however it's hard to grant as much compassion as Bret consistently asks for. I mean essentially, everything mentioned in the last paragraph is something that Vince has blamed on Vince McMahon.

Bret Hart's story is tragic, as he has gone from the excellence of execution to a very cynical shell of his former self. Bret has made no apologies for constantly chastizing everything WWE related in his Calgary Sun column since his retirement.

He has attached the in ring work of Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, two of the greatest in ring performers of all time, and two men who Bret himself has had some of his greatest matches with. He criticizes that their matches are all the same.

However it is Bret himself who is responsible for the popularization of the term, "five moves of doom." Watch the Bret Hart DVD and look for matches that don't reach their climax with a vertical suplex, Russian legsweep, backbreaker, elbowdrop from the second rope, and the Sharpshooter.

Then watch the extras on the DVD, and find out how Bret even learned the Sharpshooter. Made it up in the Dungeon? No. The so called "Excellence of Excecution" had to have Konnan (as Max Moon) teach him the sharpshooter. I was hooking the Scorpion Deathlock when I was 5 years old, and it was damn effective too. I made a lot of little kids tap.

If anything is more important to Bret than his pride, it's his legacy. The Bret Hart DVD only exists because Bret was willing to put his pride aside if it meant he could have control over his DVD.

Bret becomes wrestling's greatest hypocrite as he poses shaking hands with Vince McMahon, who he has publicly chastized for tearing apart his life and his family, so that he can reestablish to fans that he was important to the business.

Bret, no one ever disputed that you were important to the wrestling business. We all know that you mattered. You contributed some fantastic things. You created a legacy for yourself.

However, your continuing campaign to prove to fans that you were one of the greatest of all time is doing much more to tarnish your legacy than it is to build it. Bret was ok with appearing on TV for Vince McMahon so long as it placed him into the WWE Hall of Fame. He flat out stated that he would walk out if Shawn Michaels attended, and he refused to appear on the stage at Wrestlemania, which is the part of the induction especially for the fans to give their appreciation, but Bret did indeed cement his place in wrestling history.

Shortly afterward, he was inducted into an alternate Hall of Fame, and made sure to still get in a shot at Vince and the WWE Hall of Fame.

Everytime Bret Hart makes a veiled comment like that the WWE Hall of Fame means nothing, I don't picture Bret Hart standing on the second rope holding his title belt. I picture Bret Hart standing around the ring, breaking monitors.

Day by day, Bret Hart does more and more to make that image resound in my head at the mention of his name.

Recently Bret said he wouldn't mind appearing on WWE TV to unveil that the whole Montreal situation was a work, but he can't because of his stroke. If it was a work, it certainly didn't work out as Bret had planned, and he's done more than enough to let us know ever since 1997.

The wrestling community as a whole is more than over what happened at the 1997 Survivor Series. Shawn and Vince may not be, but at least when they relive it, they do it in the name of entertainment. Bret Hart relives that night as a spiteful old man, and I've yet to see anything positive come of it.

Bret carries the weight of everything that happened at that Survivor Series everyday with him. Due to his attitude and his column, the event is almost more identifiable with him than his in-ring work. Bret has indeed screwed Bret, and even if he doesn't have to accept fault for what happened that night, he does have to accept fault for the change in public opinion since his retirement.

It's time, Bret, to forgive and forget. It is time to fade from the limelight and let your past actions define how you will be remembered...

Golden Talent or Tarnished Legacy? Wrestling Legend or Wrestling Tragedy?

Only time will tell... More on This Story...