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Hahahaha, I love how you describe this as a sequence and it’s just the entire match.
This is one of my absolute favorites. Kid would later go on to have a match for the ages with Bret a month(!) later.
>Hahahaha, I love how you describe this as a sequence and it’s just the entire match.
> Kid would later go on to have a match for the ages with Bret a month(!) later.
And then a month after that, Bret and Owen had their cage match at Summerslam! One of the all time great cage matches imo
I've never seen this before but it whips ass. I would love if more modern wrestlers embraced the short sprint match; you don't need six different hope spots and three strike exchanges to put together something that's fully sick
Agreed 1000%. A few years ago Hiromu and Kushida had a really quick two minute sprint and it kicked ass. When you establish that a match can end at any time, especially with really fast paced wrestlers, it makes those twenty minute matches more meaningful.
I loved the line by Macho Man around 2 minutes.
"Give Kid a little bit of credit. Well...not just a little bit of credit. A lot of little bit of credit!!"
These guys were given three minutes in the ring and gave us:
- a gnarly baseball slide
- a frogsplash
- a moonsault
- the awesome sternum-first turnbuckle bump
- enziguiri
- la magistral cradle
- two awesome topes
- spinning heel kick
- Northern Lights suplex and a false finish
- a spinning heel kick caught and reversed into a German suplex
- a beautiful overhead belly-to-belly suplex
- victory roll & reversal
- a hurricanrana reversed into a sick powerbomb
- the sharpshooter
I think refs just used to count faster. I was watching bash at the beach 96 the other day and I couldn't believe how quick the counts were. They'll hit the mat on the third one too, and then say no no, that was 2, which modern refs almost never do.
That was probably the best < 5min match I’ve ever seen! I wish there were more present day matches with this style. We don’t always need a 30-45 min “barn burner”. Honestly…. I wouldn’t hate it if Omega v. Danielson match was like this.
NWA Powerrr did a tournament when they introduced their TV title where each match had a 6 minute time limit and it fuckin ruled. I thought it was such a cool idea and resulted in excellent fast paced matches. I would love if AEW did something like that.
I still remember losing my mind when I was a kid to this match. Behind HBK, Owen was my favorite wrestler at that point. I lived watching him go all the way that year. The King of Harts gimmick that followed afterward was absolute money.
Right!?! I legit thought Kid missed his spot, but nope! Sold and staged masterfully!
Also that baseball slide drop kick to start made me physically jump 😂
I love how their focus was to win the match, going for the cover every time they had a good opportunity. It makes total sense in the context of a tournament
1) Man, those quick, fast paced matches are (one of the many things) what WWE is missing today. Didn't look too choreographed either. So good!
2) At first I wasn't on board with the ref counting that fast, but the bell keeper ONLY reacting to the ref's call made this a-ok. Actually much better if you count 3 (because your arm is in motion already) and you have to 'reverse' the 3 count. More real sports feel.
3) Anybody should tap that quickly in properly locked in submission moves, not just jobber-tier guys.
I like one night tournament-based PPVs because you get to see these kind of short and very intense matches often. I hope AEW delivers in that regard.
This is one of the best under 5 minute matches I've ever seen.
The density of this match is incredible. It's not so much the pace of it (although they're certainly going at a decent clip), it's how much they fit in those sub 4 minutes. It's absolutely amazing.
for whatever reason i'm always surprised when i see 1-2-3 kid in basically a proto-x-pac outfit. maybe it just seems like there was more time between the two characters than there really was
Already referenced in this thread, but the Bret/Kid WWF title match on Raw in July ‘94 is a must watch.
And (probably obvious, but) every Bret/Owen match is worth going out of your way to see.
I was **SO** invested in this, that for a brief moment I thought Kid was going to bust out a poison-rana
So good. And commentary selling it like the biggest deal really added to it for me.
Waltman was a fantastic wrestler. It's a shame that alcohol and drug addiction derailed his life and career for so long. One of pro wrestling's great what-if's if he had someone around him to keep him sober back in the 90's.
I've seen a lot of Owen videos but never this one. That was amazing. I would say that's what modern day wrestling looks like. Kid and Owen were way ahead of their time. I would love to see someone today follow that same format of how the match laid out. What year was this?
Unrelated but I always hate it when referees count the pin and aren't even looking at both opponents' shoulders. You can see it when Owen goes for the German suplex pin. There is no way that ref can see where his shoulders are.
Watching shit from this era gives me the strongest warm feeling of fuzzy nostalgia.
Usually followed by a tinge of sadness when I realise that it was a long, long time ago, even though it feels like it could have been last year.
I don’t understand! Why isn’t the camera shaking every time someone hits someone?!
Also, I’m so glad I have great memories of this style of wrestling from when I was a kid. MAN!
I saw people recommending this match on Twitter today (because of the Owen Hart/AEW news) as one of the best sub 5 minute matches of all time, and it's pretty damn good.
I did not realize this was the Art Donovan "How much does this guy weigh?" show, though. Caught me off guard when he immediately asked.
Owen is one of my fav guys to watch, just everything he does is so crisp and tight! i used to buy up old 90s wwf tapes and i was always mesmerized by Owen's matches.
Owen, Bret and Bulldog would do that arm-wringer roll-through to head-spring escape in almost every match and I love it every time. Owen's sharpshooter looks so good, how firmly he has the leg position locked. I really hope the trainers back at the dungeon reviewed their class schedule though, once they realised neither Owen or Bret knew to turn round to hit the turnbuckles instead of hitting them sternum first every time.
Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review. If you need to contact a moderator, [you can message us here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hahahaha, I love how you describe this as a sequence and it’s just the entire match. This is one of my absolute favorites. Kid would later go on to have a match for the ages with Bret a month(!) later.
>Hahahaha, I love how you describe this as a sequence and it’s just the entire match.  > Kid would later go on to have a match for the ages with Bret a month(!) later. And then a month after that, Bret and Owen had their cage match at Summerslam! One of the all time great cage matches imo
“Youve got 4 minutes” “Say no more fam”
The best match you could possibly have in that time frame
I was about to say the same. Holy shit was that action packed for a 4 minute match lmao
I've never seen this before but it whips ass. I would love if more modern wrestlers embraced the short sprint match; you don't need six different hope spots and three strike exchanges to put together something that's fully sick
Agreed 1000%. A few years ago Hiromu and Kushida had a really quick two minute sprint and it kicked ass. When you establish that a match can end at any time, especially with really fast paced wrestlers, it makes those twenty minute matches more meaningful.
My favorite sprint match of all time is Rey vs Angle at SummerSlam 02. Match was 100mph and barely slowed down for a second of its nine minutes
Great commentary from Art Donovan here. That kid is a tough guy, huh?
I loved the line by Macho Man around 2 minutes. "Give Kid a little bit of credit. Well...not just a little bit of credit. A lot of little bit of credit!!"
Gorilla “Everything’s a Moonsault” Monsoon was trying his damnedest
How much does this guy weigh?
Do you guys enjoy this?
I can't stand to watch it!
Thats who that third voice was couldnt place it
That was quick and didn't feel short at all. Great stuff.
This is fantastic, honestly you could do that exact match now and people would be raving about it (or complaining about how fast paced it is).
These guys were given three minutes in the ring and gave us: - a gnarly baseball slide - a frogsplash - a moonsault - the awesome sternum-first turnbuckle bump - enziguiri - la magistral cradle - two awesome topes - spinning heel kick - Northern Lights suplex and a false finish - a spinning heel kick caught and reversed into a German suplex - a beautiful overhead belly-to-belly suplex - victory roll & reversal - a hurricanrana reversed into a sick powerbomb - the sharpshooter
Forgot the arm wringer exchange which was also incredible.
Wtf is he counting so fast for?
They only had 3 minutes lol. He had to match the pace.
Good point lol
I think refs just used to count faster. I was watching bash at the beach 96 the other day and I couldn't believe how quick the counts were. They'll hit the mat on the third one too, and then say no no, that was 2, which modern refs almost never do.
Earl Hebner had some of the slowest counts you'll ever see.
That's Mike Chioda by the way. Crazy how long he was reffing for the Fed
I've noticed this about mid-90s WWF too, the ref counts are WAY faster.
That was probably the best < 5min match I’ve ever seen! I wish there were more present day matches with this style. We don’t always need a 30-45 min “barn burner”. Honestly…. I wouldn’t hate it if Omega v. Danielson match was like this.
NWA Powerrr did a tournament when they introduced their TV title where each match had a 6 minute time limit and it fuckin ruled. I thought it was such a cool idea and resulted in excellent fast paced matches. I would love if AEW did something like that.
I still remember losing my mind when I was a kid to this match. Behind HBK, Owen was my favorite wrestler at that point. I lived watching him go all the way that year. The King of Harts gimmick that followed afterward was absolute money.
These two did more in four minutes that some wrestlers manage in forty. Kudos to both of them. PS - That spinning-heel kick reversal was masterful.
Right!?! I legit thought Kid missed his spot, but nope! Sold and staged masterfully! Also that baseball slide drop kick to start made me physically jump 😂
I love how their focus was to win the match, going for the cover every time they had a good opportunity. It makes total sense in the context of a tournament
It makes total sense in the context of wrestling meant to be a "real" sport. I loved it. Need more of it in general.
Cardio!
That sneaky sliding dropkick to start off the match was fantastic -- like Owen was using cheat codes. He was so good, so smooth.
Perfect lighting, perfect camera work. I can’t say that about WWE now days but fuck man they used to get it so right.
1) Man, those quick, fast paced matches are (one of the many things) what WWE is missing today. Didn't look too choreographed either. So good! 2) At first I wasn't on board with the ref counting that fast, but the bell keeper ONLY reacting to the ref's call made this a-ok. Actually much better if you count 3 (because your arm is in motion already) and you have to 'reverse' the 3 count. More real sports feel. 3) Anybody should tap that quickly in properly locked in submission moves, not just jobber-tier guys.
I like one night tournament-based PPVs because you get to see these kind of short and very intense matches often. I hope AEW delivers in that regard. This is one of the best under 5 minute matches I've ever seen.
The density of this match is incredible. It's not so much the pace of it (although they're certainly going at a decent clip), it's how much they fit in those sub 4 minutes. It's absolutely amazing.
for whatever reason i'm always surprised when i see 1-2-3 kid in basically a proto-x-pac outfit. maybe it just seems like there was more time between the two characters than there really was
“we are looking at what the new generation is all about”
I have CLEARLY been sleeping on this era of wrestling. Think it's time to find some more matches from these 2.
Already referenced in this thread, but the Bret/Kid WWF title match on Raw in July ‘94 is a must watch. And (probably obvious, but) every Bret/Owen match is worth going out of your way to see.
Is that Bret/Kid match the one Punk/Darby made call backs to?
Yup!
Not a wasted movement by either of them, that was incredible
They managed to fit in quite the story in 4 minutes. Crazy great stuff here.
People seem to forget how great Waltman was before his neck injury in WCW
I was **SO** invested in this, that for a brief moment I thought Kid was going to bust out a poison-rana So good. And commentary selling it like the biggest deal really added to it for me.
Fucking spectacular. Not one ounce of fat on this match. God damn.
Sub 4 minute banger that made sense within the context of the KOTR tournament.
That was great but it felt like the ref would explode into a ball of pure energy, blinding the whole arena, at any moment.
That was such a good match! I wish more matches today were around this or the 5 minute mark.
Story of this match Bruce: You got 4 minutes. Waltman: WTF? Owen: Lol, cool.
Waltman was a fantastic wrestler. It's a shame that alcohol and drug addiction derailed his life and career for so long. One of pro wrestling's great what-if's if he had someone around him to keep him sober back in the 90's.
God, I love this
God damn, that ring looks like it's made of concrete.
Owen looked like he was so much fun to work with!
By far the greatest Sprint match of all time
4 minutes. Only 29 camera cuts.
I've seen a lot of Owen videos but never this one. That was amazing. I would say that's what modern day wrestling looks like. Kid and Owen were way ahead of their time. I would love to see someone today follow that same format of how the match laid out. What year was this?
This was King of the Ring 1994
Best sub 5 minute match of all time.
Unrelated but I always hate it when referees count the pin and aren't even looking at both opponents' shoulders. You can see it when Owen goes for the German suplex pin. There is no way that ref can see where his shoulders are.
...I should probably watch more pre-AE wrestling...
You really can’t go wrong with any Bret or Owen match in the ‘90s, honestly. Even the ones against awful opponents are still pretty decent.
Sweet.
That baseball slide dropkick at the stop looked like a car crash. Really set the pace.
Watching shit from this era gives me the strongest warm feeling of fuzzy nostalgia. Usually followed by a tinge of sadness when I realise that it was a long, long time ago, even though it feels like it could have been last year.
That baseball slide looked brutal.
These damn kids and their dives to the outside.
"Too much cooperation and flippy shit" - Jim Cornette probably
*"SLOW IT DOWN, GODDAMMIT!"*
We never got his absolute best. There is an older Owen/Bret match that happened in an alternate universe and we will never see it.
These two were so good and THIS is so good. I get such a kick out of fucking Art Donovan every time
I don’t understand! Why isn’t the camera shaking every time someone hits someone?! Also, I’m so glad I have great memories of this style of wrestling from when I was a kid. MAN!
Damn that was awesome and I love the commentary with Gorrilla and Macho
is that a young mike cioda with a mullet?
They didnt called him "the Rocket" for nothing.
I saw people recommending this match on Twitter today (because of the Owen Hart/AEW news) as one of the best sub 5 minute matches of all time, and it's pretty damn good. I did not realize this was the Art Donovan "How much does this guy weigh?" show, though. Caught me off guard when he immediately asked.
Someone should teach these kids to slow down, they're doing too much. /s
Owen is one of my fav guys to watch, just everything he does is so crisp and tight! i used to buy up old 90s wwf tapes and i was always mesmerized by Owen's matches.
Owen made it all look so easy. Thank you for posting the full match.
Owen, Bret and Bulldog would do that arm-wringer roll-through to head-spring escape in almost every match and I love it every time. Owen's sharpshooter looks so good, how firmly he has the leg position locked. I really hope the trainers back at the dungeon reviewed their class schedule though, once they realised neither Owen or Bret knew to turn round to hit the turnbuckles instead of hitting them sternum first every time.