WrestleMania Rewind: WrestleMania IX- Bret Hart vs Yokozuna

The granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania is just about a month away. The anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among the WWE Universe. And since the pay-per-view is richer than Richie rich when it comes to history, we have decided to take a look back at some of the best WrestleMania matches with this latest series.Let us now recall a show-stealing match that took place at WrestleMania IX. This PPV took place on 4th April 1993 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the first WrestleMania to be held outdoors. The match we are talking about is between Bret Hart and Yokozuna for the WWF Championship.Let us look at how this story unfolded.

#1 The Build-Up

This story began at the 1993 Royal Rumble PPV. Yokozuna won the Rumble match and earned a chance to main event WrestleMania 9. Bret Hart was the reigning WWF Champion then. Yokozuna challenged Bret Hart for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania IX. The 560 pounder was on the hunt for the title. Bret was surely defensive, heading into this match. The Sumo Wrestler definitely had the advantage on his side. In the contract signing segment, Yokozuna took out Hart and delivered a Banzai drop, the signature move of Yokozuna.

So, the storyline for the match was built up and the two superstars are ready for WrestleMania IX.

#2 The Match

Bret began the match by attacking Yokozuna with a sequence of blows aimed at his head but none of Bret’s technical expertise could take down the monster. Yokozuna delivered a shoulder tackle to Bret and threw Bret away and hit him with a clothesline. Yokozuna followed it up with a huge thigh drop that almost squashed Hart.

Hart went to the top rope and jumped on to the monster and covered him. Yokozuna was able to kick out at 2 and he got on his feet and delivered a huge super kick to Hart. The WWE Universe was stunned at the athletic capabilities of this giant. Yokozuna locked in the nerve hold and tried forcing Bret to submit but Bret was able to break the hold.

Yokozuna tried to crush Hart at the corner of the ropes but Hart luckily survived the attack and capitalized on this by delivering a bull-dog from the ropes. Hart once again covered Yokozuna but he once again kicked out at 2. Hart tore the top turnbuckle to expose the steel and managed to hit Yokozuna, head first into the steel. After this attack, Yokozuna was down and Hart locked in the sharp shooter.

Fuji, the manager of Yokozuna noticed the helplessness of his client and sprinkled Salt into the eyes of Hart, blindsiding the referee. This made Hart to release the hold and he started reeling in pain. Yokozuna capitalized on this and covered him for the victory and won the match.

#3 The Fallout:

After Yokozuna won the match against Hart, Hulk Hogan challenged him for the title on the same night, immediately following this match and defeated him in just 22 seconds. Fuji’s mistake cost Yokozuna the title and the match.

Yokozuna later took The Undertaker at Royal Rumble, the following year and defeated him in a casket match. He also fought in 2 matches at WrestleMania X- one against Lex Luger and the other against Bret Hart for the WWF championship. He won the former but lost the latter and Hart regained the title. Yokozuna later teamed up with Owen Hart and won the tag team championship. He later gained a weight of 600+ pounds and was forced to quit WWE. He passed away in 2000.

Bret Hart, on the other hand won the ‘King of the Ring’ title that year and was later involved in matches against Diesel and other superstars. He won an ‘I Quit’ match against Bob Buckland and lost the famous all time great ‘Iron man match’ against Shawn Michaels. He quit the company in 2000.

Both these WWE legends were inducted into the prestigious ‘WWE Hall of Fame’.

Yokozuna was inducted in WWE HOF class of 2012 and Hart in WWE HOF class of 2006.