The Iron Man Match at Wrestlemania XII

[hbkbigdaddycool]

In the 1996 thread on here a few of us have mentioned how we dislike this match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XII.

Now, my top 3 guys in the WWF in 1996 were Shawn Michaels, Diesel and Bret Hart.  So any time one of those three are WWF Champion or wrestling for that belt, I was happy.

Now... the Iron Man match.  I hated it!  Hated it!  I have watched it many times over the years, thinking, "well... maybe THIS time I will find what is so special about this and enjoy it" and each time I keep saying, "Wow.... that was an hour of my life I will never get back."

So with that being said, what are some ideas that could have made this match better??

My initial thought is that they needed to have a few falls decided within that hour.  I think the hour long match with no falls is what killed it.

I suppose they could have had interference to make it interesting, it worked for the Iron Man match between Rock vs. Triple H in 2000 with DX, Undertaker and such getting involved.

Should the Iron Man match just been a normal wrestling match, perhaps then it would have been more enjoyable.  Take the Survivor Series 92 match for example.  It was close to 30 minutes long and it was really enjoyable.

Just funny that a match that should have been entertaining and exciting is regarded as rather boring.

[MKSavage]

I didn't mind it; I think the story they were trying to tell was that these two were so evenly matched, so them both taking a few falls during the match would have hurt that story in a way. Maybe if they let each one take a fall, and it was tied 1-1 at the end, with everything else staying the same, maybe that could have helped with some of the slower parts of the match. They also could have just signed this as a regular match, one fall to a finish, then let it go the hour, maybe this would help people not compare it to other Iron-man matches that had more falls. Though, I think that would have hurt the build-up to the match. They were trying to make this something special, and at the time, no one went an hour in a WWF match (at least not on TV), and they never talked about house show matches going that long, so that was something special. Other than Steamboat/Flair from 1989, I don't think anyone went a full hour in a match on TV, so it was something unique at the time.

[tmnt316]

It's not a terrible match by any stretch, but agree more falls during the match would have helped it.


Overall don't make my top 10 WM matches but doesn't make my worst WM matches either.

[ClassicFan2]

i hated it too

def wish it went 3-4 falls each til the end or just a 30 minute iron man match if they were gonna do no falls til the end.

[AndrewR85]

I find it quite boring if I'm honest. 30 minutes would have been better.

[JokerFC]

as Ive said here many times I think its a total snoozer. A straight up match between the two with a lot of near falls would have been way better. let them run at it hard for 30-35 minutes.

All the rest holds were a complete waste of HBKs bumping style & Bret's crisp offence....IMHO.

[ASR (therockisback)]

I think it was a good match but it could have been an all time classic if it was a 30-40 min match tbh

[Grenouille]

I hate the Iron Man gimmick to start with. As for the match, it's pretty inoffensive to somewhat boring at times. Not having a fall until the OT did it no favors.

[rkmo: Cheats & Geeks]

What can I say, I thoroughly enjoy the match

[hbkjason]

I remember the weeks leading up to this my friends and I were all trying to guess how many decisions the match would be and not one of us has 0! The problem here was all ego, Shawn Michaels needed to take the first fall, but there was no way in hell he was ever going to do that.

As others have said, should have been just a regular match and I have no doubt the two would have torn the house down.

[JokerFC]

Oct 11, 2023 23:40:02 GMT -5 hbkjason said:

I remember the weeks leading up to this my friends and I were all trying to guess how many decisions the match would be and not one of us has 0! The problem here was all ego, Shawn Michaels needed to take the first fall, but there was no way in hell he was ever going to do that.

As others have said, should have been just a regular match and I have no doubt the two would have torn the house down.

Ego was 100% a factor here....its written all over the booking in big black marker.

[Deleted]

It's a 25-30 match stretched out for over an hour.

I don't necessarily hate it. But Bret and Shawn's ego hurt this match.

[Fighter Hayabusa]

I appreciate the storytelling of the match. Yeah there were some boring parts in the middle but the key to a good story is a great ending and it delivered on that. Bret calling his shot before the match saying he was gonna wait for HBK to make a mistake and capitalize on it paid off with the sharpshooter locked in as time expired. Then getting screwed over by having the match restarted. Shawn gets the glory but Bret definitely has a case on why he should still be champion.

[PJ]

I enjoyed it except for the end. It never made sense to me, because if it was real Bret sign up for an hour match. He fulfilled his obligation. There’s no way he should have been forced to go into “sudden death” so that ending never made sense.

[TKO Propagandist]

It set an example for what future ironman matches SHOULDN'T be

[hbkjason]

I've said this before, but when I was a kid I had a friend who was so mad over this. He was adamant that Bret should have been allowed to put Shawn back in the sharpshooter when overtime started.

[JokerFC]

Oct 20, 2023 17:16:03 GMT -5 PJ said:

I enjoyed it except for the end. It never made sense to me, because if it was real Bret sign up for an hour match. He fulfilled his obligation. There’s no way he should have been forced to go into “sudden death” so that ending never made sense.

Agreed.

[ASR (therockisback)]

A 40 min match with a faster pace & a few high spots would have made this match the greatest of all time...throw in a few near falls as well

[jason88cubs]

Bret and Shawn both love the match

[JokerFC]

Oct 24, 2023 20:01:38 GMT -5 jason88cubs said:

Bret and Shawn both love the match

Mystifying to me in both cases because whet they do so well was wasted by the extension activities and 58k headlocks employed