A Geek History of Time - Episode 294 - The Fall of the Hitman and the Rise of the Rattlesnake Part V

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

Okay, so there's there there are two possibilities going on here. One you're bringing up a term that I have never heard before. The other possibility is that this is a term I've heard before, but it involves a language that uses pronunciation that's different from Latinate, and so you have no idea how to say it properly. An intensely 80s post-apocalyptic schlock film. Oh, and schlong film. You know, it's been over 20 years, but spoilers.

Oh, okay, so the resident Catholic thinking about that. We're going for low Earth orbit. There is no rational. Blame it on me after. And you know I will. They mean it is two o'clock in the fucking morning. Where I am. I don't think you can get very much more homosexual panic than that. No.

Which I don't know if that's better. I mean you guys are Catholics. You tell me. I'm just kind of excited that like you and producer George will have something to talk about That basically just means that I can show up and get fed I'm going to go to the bathroom. This is a Geek History of Time. Where we connect nerdery to the real world. My name is Ed Blaylock. I'm a world history teacher at the middle school level here in Northern California. And I had the wonderful fun, uh, earlier today of getting to try to deal with a manufacturer's

warranty, uh, on an appliance. And, uh, the most frustrating part of the whole thing is that now we are living in, uh, an era of, um, everything is being handed over to AI. is that now we are living in an era of everything is being handed over to AI. And so I tried calling the Warranty Office for the manufacturer in question. And they repeatedly sent me a link to a chat bot

to quote unquote help me, which would be frustrating enough when, you know, I have food rapidly going bad in my refrigerator and I just want somebody to get out here to fix it. Um, but it, it got even worse when the, the chat bot they sent me to didn't even work. Like I couldn't even enter anything into the field. It was just, it was this dystopian, like catch 22 or well, you know, big brother bucking me over kind of situation.

And yeah, I still don't have a working refrigerator and now I want to shout at the internet. So that's what I had going on today. How about you? Well, I'm Damian Harmony. I'm a US history teacher up here in Northern California at the high school level. And you know, years and years ago, I was a social science teacher by training who also knew Latin. And I built that into a whole program. And then I was a social science teacher by training who also knew Latin and I built that into a whole program and Then I was a Latin teacher and I that was all I did Day to day all day every day

And then that slowly disintegrated in front of me for a number of reasons that were beyond my control and now I'm back to being a history teacher again, right um, I Have only gotten more radical on my control and now I'm back to being a history teacher again. Right. I have only gotten more radical as I've aged. I am like the opposite of everyone else practically. Although I dare say there is a segment of us who have now all kind of radicalized. But I've definitely got more radical. Yeah.

I recently had a meeting with my administrators who I think have learned, and I wanna say this in a way that doesn't like puff myself up and nor does it take them down. But I've had administrators in the past who have tried to control and corral me. And the problem with doing that is that I know all my rights really really well and I'm fairly well spoken and if I know I'm right about something on a moral level, good luck. Yeah, yeah. The only way to get me to stop or to change my mind is to show me where I'm wrong, which sounds simple enough and has been done plenty of times in my life.

Right. But not by the kind of person who becomes a school administrator. That's way too funny. And I can say that because some of my best friends are school administrators, but But It feels like a tide has shifted and now the tack that is being attempted is Very much the velvet glove you are doing such a great job You we know that when it comes to pedagogy, you're the fucking master. It's not quite that sloppy-toppy, but it's very close. I feel lovely being acknowledged. That

being said, they are also trying to soft-pedal the, so what do we do about these parent concerns? My response is always, send them to me. I'd be happy to show them why I'm right. Which is not what they want. No, no, they're like, wait, we gave, you're supposed to give. And I'm like, thank you for acknowledging. And the support that you can give me is to continue get out of my way

and not let these things be your problem. I'm creating a problem for you. And I acknowledge acknowledge that and I'm sorry, send them to me. Yeah. Like, and yeah, like if you if you could just adjust your paradigm or your lens, I wouldn't say paradigm. No, I would just because that's what I'm trying to do. And they asked me this with a book about education, revolutionary education and pedagogy, sitting on the desk in front of them.

And I said, you know, we had a training about this. And you and I both sat there and listened to her, and I liked what she had to say. I don't know where you came down, but your book is here. Yeah. So I'm going to quote it. The book you made me sit through somebody talking about. Right.

And I liked it. I'm not even saying it was bad. Would I have chosen that to do with my time? No, but that's what growth is. So like when I quote back and it's one of those things of like I'm not here to fuck spiders like I when Like I'm not here to do inauthentic shit like you you want us to sit through these trainings on like actual like

children centered anti-racist shit then I'm all in and I'm not saying my way is the only way but I am saying the way I'm doing it works pretty well. And yeah, it's gonna lead to some uncomfortable conversations and we're gonna have to have those. You can't get growth without pain. So- If you could adjust your paradigm to match up with the idea that I am here to educate these students,

not just to warehouse them and. And that would be helpful. Well, and just the idea of equity and education is really important to us. Cool, I'm doing that. Oh, not like that. Yeah, but not that way. Right. Well, I'm sorry that I'm flawed,

but I'm within the realm of equity. Would you agree? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Cool. OK. I'm real. Sorry send me the parents That's fine, so In the off chance that any of them are listening to the sixth episode of Bret Hart versus Stone Cold Steve Austin Yeah, like sorry. I didn't name anybody this was all allegedly so So when last we left, um, I think, uh, they just had survivor series.

We spent an hour on that. Okay. So the next night, right. Right. Um, was on Raw. This is why we're, you know, what? Seven is this episode seven? I believe this is episode six. Okay. This is episode five. Okay. This is the reason we're five episodes in and we've covered as you said last time two weeks In that episode. Yeah, yeah in in totem. We have covered from March to November Okay. Yeah, but yeah. All right. Anyway, so So it's November 18th, 1996.

Steve Austin was supposed to take on Vader. Right. Remember, Vader is a fucking monster. Right. Yes. But Vader's injury, his shoulder had been injured. And so mankind took Vader's place. Mankind is a deranged monster just of a lesser size. If you want proof that they're a monster, yes, still a monster, yes, a different branding, a different one. Now, if you want proof that Steve Austin is turning face, look at his opponents and who he's supposed to fight. He's fighting against a monster who then gets replaced with a monster. Yeah. Good guys

fight monsters. Bad guys don't fight monsters. So okay yeah. Now this monster, mankind, attacks Steve Austin in the aisle before the match even started. Mmm. That happens to baby faces and it doesn't get more sympathetic than that. Oh someone else broke the rules and he's going to have to fight using his toughness to to work his way through it And they brawled all over the aisle Finally steve austin gets launched into the steel steps getting him even more sympathy because if you want sympathy you get a shot You get a shine on the on the on the face um, and uh

And and yeah the the match continued in and out of the ring, setting a very chaotic tone, which is normal for mankind matches. Austin kicked mankind in the junk to get out of the mandible claw. Now, the mandible claw is mankind's finishing maneuver. It's a submission hold, but it's actually like a sleeper hold. But what you do is basically, and I'm going to talk through it, you put your middle two fingers Underneath the tongue of your opponent and then your thumb in there underneath their chin and you squeeze it together Yeah, yeah Oh

Jesus okay. The argument is like well, why don't you just bite his fucking fingers? Well see that there's the trick son that there's a nerve hole and it paralyzes the jaw. It was developed by Dr. Shepherd. Okay. In the Tennessee territory in the Texas territory. Okay. The guy who was supposed to have murdered his wife. Oh okay. It was developed by him he used his understanding of human anatomy to come up with a nerve hold Right now. It's called a handable claw, which is pretty good. Okay. All right. Yeah, pretty cool name Okay, so yeah, he gets the mandible claw on Steve Austin and Steve Austin to get out of it doesn't use like cool moves He kicks him in the fucking balls. Um

Okay, yeah Yeah, it's it's it's just a different mudhole because Everybody likes Austin they cheer him breaking the rules to get out because what else is gonna do? He's got to get out of this hold, right? Can't get beat Right. So both men kept using the ring kept using the posts the steps the ring, the ring apron, the barricades, all as weapons to hurt their opponent. And then Austin started punching and stopping the shit out of Mankind, who's also known as Mick Foley,

and they kept going in and out of the ring, back and forth on each other the whole match until it was interrupted and turned into a disqualification to make a schmazz ending to protect both characters, keep them both strong and further mankind's feud with the undertaker who After clearing the ring out got clotheslined out of the ring by Stone Cold Steve Austin Wait, yeah, not many people got to clothesline the undertaker out of a ring back then. So it's a big fucking deal. Or ever.

Like, I know enough that, yeah, you don't. Wow. All right. But here's the fun part. Right after that, Austin ran away. Still heal. Wow. So it's this real interesting place that he's inhabiting. OK, yeah.

Now, Bret and Owen wrestled each other the following week on November 25th Raw which and it was an amazing treat because and right after that Brent went on an overseas tour and he wouldn't wrestle on TV Again in the US until mid-december Okay on that overseas tour he won the Middle East Cup tournament in Kuwait, I believe guess who his opponent was Steve Austin. Yes least cup tournament in Kuwait, I believe. Guess who his opponent was? Steve Austin. Yes. Ah. Okay.

Yeah. And then, but now I'm gonna talk a little bit about Brett and Owen on RAW on November 25th. Right, right, okay. It was a phenomenal match because it's fucking Owen and Brett Hart. Even though Vince and JR spent most of their time talking about how tired Bret

seemed at Survivor Series, despite his and Owen's timing being excellent, they also spent time talking about how Bret was better in many ways than Sid, the new champion. Sid had beaten Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series by turning heel and actually using a camera to attack Shawn Michaels' mentor and smashing him in the chest. That distracted Shawn Michaels because his mentor was possibly having a heart attack and then Sid got the drop on Shawn and got the belt. Shawn didn't care because it was his mentor who was hurting because the heartbreak kid's heart is broken. Right. Okay, so anyway, uh

Right as Brett was going to get the sharpshooter on Owen Guess who comes sprinting down with a chair and waffles Brett on the back with it Austin yes, and then he starts putting the boots to Brett who's been knocked down And then he put the chair on Brett's ankle similar to how he'd done to Brian Pillman with Owen Hart's help But then the British book because Owen Hart still hates his brother, you know They've they've had that rivalry since since just a little bit before WrestleMania 10 So, okay. All right, the British Bulldog ran down and pulled it off He rescued Brett now the thing right the British Bulldog ran down and pulled it off He rescued Brett now the thing is the British Bulldog and

Owen are a tag team. They're part of the cornet stable and they were tag team champions at this time So the Bulldogs stopping Owen from attacking his own brother and remember that, that's the Bulldog's brother-in-law. Even though the both of them have beef with Hitman, Bulldog was like, that's too far. And an argument ensued as to whether or not they should pilmanize Brett's ankle. Austin picks up the chair and whacks Davey Boy across the back before leaving.

And then Owen kind of like shouts at Austin a few times. across the back before leaving and then Owen kind of like shouts at Austin a few times. Now prior to Austin running down, Doc Hendricks had said in an interview that Austin was not done yet with Brett and that it'll probably never be over. Also there had been a promo about Brett's rise to the championship match which he had won the rights to because he had defeated Steve Austin. So I want you to see this Okay So this is a promo about Brett Hart What emotion was mostly the focus? You can't let the memory overtake the dream.

I'm trying to figure out how to kind of succinctly put it, but it's... How did you feel about his last match? Dissatisfied. Yes. Dissatisfaction. He's frustrated, right? Something's not quite right. And you even had that kind of rush up, the brrr, brrr.

That like weird audio confusion, right? And the cutting back and forth. Number one, their promo department of putting together these packages at this point was fucking on fire. Well, here's, okay, here's something again. And I said it last episode, I'm gonna say it here. This, the voiceover sounded like a political ad. It's true. It really sounded like, you

know, Brett, the hitman heart, you know, tough on crime, you know, like, you know, saved a school bus full of children, like there's the vocal tone, the timber, the cadence of the delivery. It was, it was all, it was all very, yeah, it's that same stentorian kind of, kind of Note going on. It's almost a parody of political ads in a way Yeah, kind of is a grotesque which yes in many ways. It is a grotesque political ad here is this candidate for champion Yeah, he's deeply frustrated here are his emotions. Everything's not quite right. Yeah, you know that kind of stuff, right? So what's funny about this Raw was that at the beginning it was about Shawn Michaels and his manager and mentor, and that they were tied to Sid's story. And there was an effort to keep folks interested in both Shawn Michaels and Sid and the championship that Brett was about to fight for, but nobody gave a shit

about Sean or Sid really. They cared about what would happen between Brett and Austin and the title was almost secondary. Austin's angle with Brett, not Brett's angle with Austin, was what was keeping people's imaginations going. And that's an important thing. Yeah, and you know, I think on a certain level, the one-sidedness of it was part of its power. Yeah, and by necessity, it was one-sided

for the first two or four months, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like, if it had been mutual, people would not have identified... with Austin... to the extent that they did. Because what the Zitgeist needed, or was looking for,

was the out-of-touch elite... to be the object of touch elite To be to be the the object of this of this obsession, right? The old guard who were very good at being politicians Yes, how dare they how very dare they how very dare. Yes, and they're pink tights So And they're pink tights so Yeah, now on the next raw, okay, so that was that was what November

25th yeah on the next raw So add seven to that so it's I think December 2nd they showed footage from the matches in England, because WWF went over to England, and there was a title match between Sid and Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog. Now, he is a fan favorite over in England. He always has been. Austin attacked Sid with the belt. Grab the belt, use it as a weapon.

Smith then attacked Austin, and then Austin attacked Smith, and then Sid was going to beat Smith with his power bomb and then Brett interfered to save Smith and then Austin attacked Brett from behind setting him up setting Brett up for a Sid choke slam. Wow okay. Yeah now Austin afterwards Cut a promo after the footage was shown in during the raw right? So this is all on the promo

Okay, this is all they showed the audience that was there in the December raw. They're like this what happened earlier this week in England Austin cut a promo after the footage was shown He said quote I had psycho Sid right where I wanted him right in the middle of the ring. He was knocked out. Stone Cold was fixing to be the world champion. And all of a sudden it's chaos, man. Everyone wants to get, everybody wants to get involved in Steve Austin's action, which is interesting.

Now the British Bulldog went on to talk about his problems with Steve Austin and Owen cut him off to focus on fake diesel and razor, which is its own fascinating thing I talked about. Yeah. Brett said, um, Davey boy. So, so then Brett gets in, he's being interviewed and he says, Davey boy, all I did is return the favor. As far as Stone Cold Steve Austin goes, here's a guy that's going to rear his ugly head every time he gets a chance. And that's fine by me stone cold I'll see you down the road

again Semi-flax it I mean it's just yeah, I mean it's it's he never he never ever Got the hang of good promos until he goes heel for the second time But while the conservatives and the culture warriors may have lost and it was a done deal for them electorally, that didn't mean that they couldn't be an antagonizing influence in the lives of those who'd won. And Steve Austin was kind of the avatar of that on the WWF in December.

Since Clinton wasn't really doing anything that most Republicans could object to besides the fact that he had won. You can't say that Brett didn't win fair and square literally in the middle of the ring in that match. You can't say that Brett doesn't have a legitimate claim to go on to fight for the championship. You can't say that Brett isn't one of the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.

But none of that matters if you're backing Stone Cold. You want the frustration. That is what's putting strokes in your engine, as an old therapist used to tell me. Now, on the December 9th RAW, Bret Hart was being interviewed by Jim Ross, who reviewed everything that had happened in London and what really happened the prior week at RAW and said, quote, you found yourself helpless, absolutely helpless, like really laying it on thick. And Brett had this to say in response, in advance of his match against Psycho Sid on December 15th at In Your House 12, it's time, quote, sure, Psycho Sid is six foot nine, but Psycho Sid, this isn't going to

be a wrestling match. You can take all the technical wrestling and you can throw it right out the window. Wait, what? Yeah. We see how Brett is sliding into Austin's territory now because he has a grievance that he has with how things have been going despite him doing what he thought he was supposed to do and being who he was supposed to be to get things done and yet he's turning he's his frustration is leading him to fighting differently and he can he continued because psycho said for the longest time for for six, seven, eight months, I've thought about one thing. I've thought about being the World Wrestling Federation champion again and again and again.

Now I'm just going to break in here real quick. Notice that he cares about the championship. He cares about the title belt. He cares about being the best, being on top of the mountain again. Austin, for the last six, seven months, has just been frustration personified and been trying to call out Bret Hart. Back to this.

So I want one thing, I want that title, and you're standing in my way. Now, Psycho Sid, when you snap, people call you Psycho Sid, but when I snap, they're gonna call me the World Wrestling Federation Champion. Oh. Ah. Yeah. So the thing that helped him beat Austin,

he is no longer running only on that. Yeah, he's not propping that up. Right, and what was really interesting, in fact, he's deliberately eschewing it. He said, I'm not gonna do technical wrestling, I'm gonna beat you up. Yeah. Now what's really interesting here is

about the time that he talked about all of the thinking that he did, there was a mix of boos and cheers in the audience. And that's, and when he hit that last line, there were really loud boos and just a scattering of cheers. The audience was turning on Bret Hart. He was becoming a heel. And since he didn't do anything about his frustrations, the people wouldn't get behind him.

He was, in many ways, portrayed as this complaining, do-nothing, disdained weakling. Despite the fact that Austin kept losing losing he was acting on his frustrations And even though he was breaking every rule and custom he was doing something about it They were headed toward each other in a chiasmus of healed them ultimately Um, okay He is I mean austin is in many ways what the fascists would call violence and frenetic activity for its own sake Yeah, Brett was just frustrated and and still gonna try to play by the rules

Yeah, okay, and then Brett continued and I really don't care how big you are or how bad you are But I can promise you one thing this Sunday You will be excellently executed by the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. The crowd did not pop at this. Really? Yeah. Now, partly because you will be excellently executed. Eh.

You know, yes. But then he, you know, he's stating, you know, I'm Bret Hart, I gonna fucking beat you and that used to be enough to get the crowd to pop now the rivalry between Austin and the Bulldog is what we're gonna call a heater feud. It kept Austin hot It kept him adjacent to Brett who was now going on to his own championship run But Davey Boy now became Austin's focus for the next month and the two of them would chase each other with Austin regularly getting the upper hand over Davey. And after the tag team championship match at the December 15th 1996 pay-per-view in your house 12, it's time, Austin took out Davey Boy's leg. More of that simple psychology of viciousness, right?

I'm going to take away your ability to stand. Attack a body part, leave him lying, and make his life harder. Meanwhile, in the main event of that pipe review, Brett was taking on Psycho Sid, focused on the title, going after the victory. And he was going to get a sharpshooter on Sid, but Sid was so strong that he pushed Brett out of the ring with his legs from the ground. Now guess who came from behind to attack Brett as he was getting up and chop block his leg as he's gathering his wits. Austin. Yes.

Okay. Austin then focused on hurting Brett's leg further, which then ruined Brett's chances at winning the championship, as Sid was all too fine with beating Brett that way. By the way, on color commentary was Shawn Michaels. Now when Brett clotheslined Sid out of the ring with himself going along for the ride, they both landed right at the announcer's table. Brett took Sean's chair, intending to use it as a weapon. Notice, Brett is using a chair as a weapon in a championship match.

Yeah, that's a departure. Yeah. Now, he's going full heel here. Sean gave it up without a fight, but then Sid stopped Brett from using the chair. Sid then I faced Sean into the guardrail. He went back into the match. Sean then jumped up on the apron just, you know, because you don't get to shove me around. Fuck you. And he gets up there.

Just as Sid sent Brett into the ropes, Brett collides with Sean, or collides with Sean, crashes into him, knocks Sean off, this stuns Brett enough that Sid then grabs him, puts him in the powerbomb, and wins by pinfall. Wow. Now who's Brett gonna blame for this? Shawn Michaels. Yes, and remember who he lost the title to back in March? Yeah. Here we are in December. December's only three months away. So all we got to do is get the belt back on Sean. Right. And then Brett will have him for mania.

So Hart exited the ring, punched Sean Michaels to the ground. Sid did not get involved. He let Hart continue to attack Sean. And Hart used hockey tactics, pulled his shirt over him, starts beating the shit entirely on the offense before walking away in disgust. Yeah, that's pretty hardcore heel territory. Yeah. Now, does he have a legit gripe that Sean interfered with his match? Yes. Is he going too far? Is this a proportional response?

Right. Yeah. JR said on commentary that Brett was robbed and he was, right? He has a legitimate grievance. Yeah, but how he treats it is gonna be what makes him a heel. Now the next night Brett came out to cut a promo at the top of the program on December 16th, 1996, Raw. Quote, my mother always said to me never ruin an apology with an excuse, but I'm not gonna come, but I'm gonna have to come up with an excuse now because there's no good reason why I'm not the World Wrestling Federation champion for the fourth time right now. And the crowd was absolutely with him very loudly here.

Since I came back to the World Wrestling Federation things have changed. Things just aren't the same anymore because you just can't tell anybody apart anymore. You don't know who your friends are and you don't know who your enemies are. You don't know what the rules are. The problem with the World Wrestling Federation right now is that there is no rules. So I want to make something very clear. Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Psycho Sid, everybody in the World Wrestling Federation is going to have to understand one thing. If there's no rules, that's fine by me because I don't need any rules. Wow. It is an incremental shift.

Yeah, but it is a shift that is in motion and the crowd was not as quite behind him as they started. And they were seeing him and we were seeing Brett turn more and more petulant Brett seemed to be behind people did seem to be behind him because he was animated Not because they believed in the rightness of his cause Frustration yeah good your reasoning. We don't care They believed in his emotion, not his cause. His grievance, not his righteousness. And that's the fucking point.

His fall from grace grew as soon as Steve Austin attacked him after the Survivor Series match had been settled. Because again, you get a personal issue with somebody, you have the match, that's the whole point. Right. Afterwards, Steve didn't give it up, which means, you know, and therefore, Brett is more and more slipping from being a babyface,

because he'd won. He had proven that he's the better man, et cetera. He couldn't, and he tried to move on. Steve wouldn't let him move on and then he starts Flailing around a bit Brett does he got mad at Shawn Michaels for an accident enough to attack him and then complain about it That's bad guy shit. That's heel shit Yeah, and he continued quote Shawn Michaels you little prissy You gave me your word you gave your click and all these fans your word

that you would not interfere in my match the other day. Just to give you a bit of a closer look at the kind of integrity that Shawn Michaels has, you can see that this guy has set out from day one to cost me the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt because he's got sour grapes and he just can't handle or accept the fact that he's not as good as I am. Wow. And he just can't handle or accept the fact that he's not as good as I am Wow

That is quite a departure from what he said in Bonn in March Remember when he was by the river and he said in September in October about Sean That Sean beat him one two three and it was fair and he didn't like the result, but he's gonna fix that later Yeah, right now You've been after me from the beginning. There's no fucking evidence of that. Yeah. Now, did Sean get up and interfere in his match and cost him the match? All of that's true. Quote, so Sean, Michael, Psycho, Sid, Stone Cold, everybody else, that's all fine by me. And there is that there is no rules I and I will do absolutely anything

and everything to get right back on top and with some reluctance I announce my candidacy for the Royal Rumble I'll be in the Royal Rumble and I feel sorry for the other 29 guys because they're all in trouble now just if you win the Royal Rumble you get to challenge champion for the for the belt at WrestleMania right so this is his new path to the championship right he had his chance to challenge champion for the belt at WrestleMania. Right. So this is his new path to the championship. Right. He had his chance.

Sean blew it for him. That's indisputable. His reaction is a bit of an overreaction. So for the main event that night, Bret came down to do commentary for the Austin-Vader match on Raw. Vince asked Bret for his word that he wouldn't get involved and Brett answered absolutely

I'm gonna show you the whole side of integrity that Shawn Michaels never showed yesterday I'm gonna call some great wrestling commentary and I'm gonna mind my own business and I'm definitely not gonna interfere with anything Certainly not with Steve Austin. I wouldn't want to do that Okay now by the way Sean had cut a promo on Bret too, but this isn't about their rivalry, so I'm gonna leave it. Okay. But they were setting up for something, and it was supposed to be a culminating match at WrestleMania. Right. Some things happened. Vince said that Bret actually sounded just like Shawn Michaels, but that the loss wasn't entirely Michaels' fault. Meanwhile, Austin jawed at Vader, showing just how dominant and fearless

he now was. Vader, who'd previously been an unbeatable monster, now is getting jawjacked by Steve Austin. Then Austin went over to jaw at Brett, and Vince was pushing the Michaels angle. But he was also focused on putting Austin over for the trouble that he had given Brett Hart. So where's Brett in all this? He's kind of getting lost, right? So there's no real mention that Brett had already beaten

Austin though either. So they're minimizing the fact that Brett had settled things. Brett mostly got lost in the shuffle on commentary because he's just not a very good talker and Vince is louder And the king is a good talker Vince highlighted that Brett was bitter and disappointed while all the while Austin was kicking the shit out of Vader Driving a man twice his size out of the ring and not letting up. And I mean, almost twice his size. Steve Austin was like 250. Vader was like 450. Holy shit.

And now Austin is beating the shit out of him until he kicks him out of the ring. Like Vader is now wharf. The Vader effect. Yeah. Now, the action stayed out of the ring and Vader showed that he had no idea how to use the chair. Although a lot of their action would actually foreshadow the eventual WrestleMania 13 match. When Vader sent Austin back over the ropes again, Bret then took his chance to hit Austin the exact same way that Austin had attacked Bret.

He chop blocks him in the knee. He then puts Austin in the sharpshooter outside of the ring, which is targeting that same knee. Right. This gives Austin the disqualification win. Vader actually came over and attacked Hitman Hart, forcing him to release the hold on Austin, and then Brett brawled with Vader a bit. Then he returned to chase Austin, stalking him and putting him in the sharpshooter again.

And again, with the officials trying like hell to get him to break the hold. And then you hear, Brett Hart is a bitter man. Brett Hart wants revenge. And then Brett gets cheered a lot as he walks away in disgust, having done that to Austin. Meanwhile, Steve Austin pushed all the officials away and climbed to his feet defiantly and he got even bigger cheers. Wow. So then on the December 30th Raw of 1996, the very final Raw of 1996 in

Albany, New York, Bret Hart interfered in a match between the teams of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Farouk against Savio Vega and Jesse James. Okay. Bret actually ends up taking Jesse James's place in the match, but stays in his street gear. Austin continued to wrestle his nasty style, but he didn't do much to cheat anymore. continued to wrestle his nasty style, but he didn't do much to cheat anymore. And he was definitely wrestling like a face would at this point, just a little crueller, far fewer unjustified cheap shots, still grinding down Savio Vega and showing a ton of fire. And when Austin tagged in Farouk, he had a bit of a moment where he played to the crowd with disgust, possibly at Farouk being his partner.

Like, I'll tag into this guy, but who the fuck is this guy? Farouk was already transitioned over to being the leader of the nation of domination, complete with the kente cloth and the black beret, the fist in the air, the whole nine yards. Hitman then got a tag, a hot tag, and he went to work on Farouk and caught Austin coming in. Brett cleaned house on both of them, and he got a good pop from the crowd for doing so. And once Brett started putting Farouk in the sharpshooter, the whole nation of domination came down to beat him down. And for once,

Austin and the nation of domination, who at this point was still a multi-ethnic in his presentation, worked together to beat down Brett Hart until Ahmed Johnson ran down for the save, setting up his second feud with Farouk. Okay. Now later that same night, Jim Ross interviewed Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart together. Vince put Shawn over hard. He said, quote, you may not like him because of his long hair.

You may not like him because chicks dig him. You may not like him because he has a pierced navel of all things But one thing you have to like about this young man is that when he steps into the ring He'll give you everything he possibly has The audience has no booze for Sean Vince continued to put him over as the most athletic champion ever and Sean was going to fight Sid at the Royal Rumble for his title in his hometown of San Antonio. Then Brett's music hit. So Sean's getting the shot at Sid at the Royal Rumble, which means Sean's gonna get the title Which is absolutely setting up because Brett's gonna win the Royal Rumble. And so that'll set up Sean versus Brett Right, that's how it's which is which is the whole story that we're waiting for. This was the whole fucking thing, right? Right

So Brett's music hits no pop at, and you have a divided crowd now. Vince mentions Brett, and his mentions of Brett were that Brett was upset over his loss to Sid, and that Brett blamed Sean for it. And that was it. Nothing about his championships, nothing about his abilities, nothing about anything. Remember, he's putting over Sean in every way he can, and Brett is just a bitter man. That's it. Jim Ross got the interview started

and Sean grabbed two more microphones. He like goes to the ring and it goes to the side, hands one to Brett and makes it a show of it being a peace offering. It's astounding how they're, because remember this is all about Brett's feud with Austin, but also he has a longer overarching feud with Sean. And so they're just layering it together. Sean and Brett had both been faces last March. Right.

And now because of Brett's complaining and his petulance and the fact that he keeps legitimately getting screwed over, he's no longer the beloved baby face. Sean's not really a baby face that they believe in. They believe in Steve Austin, who's actually a heel. Who's gradually. Yes, he's getting's gradually. Yes. Yeah.

He's getting face-ified. Wow. Now, Sean interjected saying that he would be at the announce desk during next week match, um, and gave his word that he wouldn't dare to interfere. Now that drew a wry grin from Brett. Uh, cause yeah. And Jim Ross offered to start with Sean. He said, Sean, should we go to you? And Sean said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, offered to start with Sean. He said Sean should we go to you and Sean said whoa?

Whoa, whoa, whoa start with me That's Brett the hitman heart the best there is the best there was the best there ever will be He played it completely straight, but it was clear that he was patronizing Brett in such a great and subtle way I wouldn't think of going first. No, no, no, are you kidding me? I'm not worthy to go first. A low life degenerate like me go first. Never. I wouldn't think of it. He then got on his knees and genuflected to Brett. Let the Almighty One go first.

I mean, holy shit. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna smack the attitude out of you. I Mean, holy shit Yeah Smack the attitude out right right now Jim Ross then turned to Bret Hart and Bret Hart was largely just standing there and kind of minimally reacting Sean and Austin were such better promos than Brett that it's painful to watch sometimes Such better promos than Brett that it's painful to watch sometimes Um Brett truly truly got outshined when he went against them on the mic every time

So jim asked Brett to say what he needed to say about Shawn Michaels and he says quote That right there is why I find what I find so disrespectful about you. It's just your whole attitude And Shawn was wagging his hips back and forth like he was bored and very listening So he was like standing like this. Okay. Yeah. Shifting his weight back and forth. Like, are we done yet? Yeah. Right. Like that kid that you're dressing down at the end of sixth period on a Friday. Oh, I hate that kid.

Me too. So, well, I hate that kid doing that so I'm like, yeah little yeah, and he's looking like not at Brad's and not at anything and Sean just kept chewing his gum and Brett says quote I could remember last year at WrestleMania when I was screwed out of the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt you promise me Which remember they said it was an Ironman match to 60 minutes. Yeah. Oh, yeah, then instituted overtime rules Nothing that Brett has said has been factually incorrect or even wrong. No, yeah Yeah, and yeah, I just just you know him Brett Hart using the phrase, you know screwed Yeah. Yeah, cuz yeah because of the screw job that would come later. Yeah, which this episode is not about No, we're not even now. I'm doing everything I can to avoid writing that

But he said After I was screwed out of the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt, you promised that you would carry that belt with the same pride and same class that I did. And Shawn Michaels, you never came close. Shawn Michaels, there was a time, I've got two sons at home, there was a time when they would look up to you. My little boy used to wear your hat.

And now the audio on the mic that Brett had started cutting out which just make him look weak It's something about he said something about scraping the bottom of the barrel and then Quote when you found yourself posing and play playgirl magazine, you know, I don't even think girls buy that magazine Which is absolutely digging into the homophobia a bit. This was the WWF in the mid nineties when they had gold dust wrestling as gold dust. Right? Yeah. So clearly homophobia is ammunition. He could still draw on. Right. And after all, Austin had said similar to Brett about his pink tights. Right. So Brett continues, Sean Michaels, to me, you're a guy that has degraded the

World Wrestling Federation Championship belt. And at this point, Sean isn't just chewing his gum, he is chomping on it. Just with all the disdainful on we, I don't give a shit what's going on. He says, quote, if you're not 14 years old and female, if you're a male out there, if you had any kind of opportunity to look you in the face and see what kind of man you are, talk about being a man's man. I don't think so. Whose man are you, Shawn Michaels? You've cost me the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt. And for the longest time, I've sat back and watched on TV and seen what you've done to the World Wrestling Federation. Now, when he says this, Sean actually takes off his jacket. He's wearing a blazer and says, and Brett continues and looked at you as the guy that has no class, your disgrace. And I welcome the opportunity because sooner or later, brother, you and I are going to step into the ring, whether there's a title on the line or not and I can promise you that all the dancing in the world will not save you And I will kick your ass

And there's a huge pop to Bret Hart saying that and then Sean did the oh, I'm scared floaty fingers thing. Oh That he would end up doing a ton in the following year and then Brett says the, ooh, I'm scared floaty fingers thing, ooh, that he would end up doing a ton in the following year. And then Brett says, tell me who this sounds like. And you know what? You want to know why? You want to know why? Because I can.

Yeah, that's your cribbing. You're cribbing there hard from the guy who won't leave you alone. Right. Like when you stare into the abyss long enough. He is... Austin is beating you because you're turning into Austin. And by the way, the audience popped hard every time Brett sounded like Austin. They didn't want to hear how Brett would win.

They didn't want to hear him fight with honor and integrity, out wrestle and beat his opponents. They didn't want to hear that. They wanted to hear his bitterness and his anger. They wanted to hear his frustration because when he did that they would cheer. And Vince capped it off saying that the hitman wasn't showing a lot of class tonight. Sean responded, as only Sean could, well, I hope you got that bug out of your butt finally. Mini pop. Let's start with the role model stuff,

because Hitman, I've seen you on the road, and bro, you ain't no role model. Big pop, because this is getting personal. The fans liked seeing Hitman brought down a peg. And as Shawn Michaels was getting into it, Sid then came down to the cheers of the crowd, which I still never understood, because Sid Garbage is a fucking wrestler,

but somehow the crowd loved him. And he put himself over saying that he wanted some real competition. So then The Undertaker came out. So now the top four guys in the company are out there. And then Vader came out to attack Undertaker and Undertaker kept no selling Vader's attacks because how do

you put Taker over as this incredible everything, which he already is. Right. The phenomenon. Might as well have the monster attack him and not have any impact. Wow. Yeah. Now, throughout the rest of December, oh, actually, back in the ring, the hitman was getting out of the ring to confront Sid, and then Sean kicked the middle rope up into Brett's crotch, causing Brett to fall back into the ring, allowing Sean to launch himself over the top rope onto Sid on the floor.

So it was a tactical move. So it ends with Sean and Sid fighting and Taker and Vader fighting and Bret's holding his balls. Wow. Wow and and up to this point like through this whole thing When we when we peel back a kayfabe yeah Heart is signing off on all this oh, yeah, yeah Because this is setting him up for good reason to want to beat Sean at Mania. Right.

This is planting those seeds. Brett was a master at the long game. He already has seeds planted about him in Austin still. Right? Right. And now he's got seeds planted about him and Sean. All right. Now throughout the rest of December,

there would be several house shows and tag matches that they would all have with Austin and Brett on opposite sides and Brett getting most of the victories. And then on January 6th, not the actual January 6th, but the raw January 6th of 1997, Brett faced off against Vader for the main event. Sean was guest commentary as promised. And Sean put himself over while on commentary. Sean's a great talker, so his commentary is fascinating. Puts himself over as being a goof.

But then he buries Brett for being a hypocrite and dishonest about being a role model. So they're starting to jaw at each other. They're starting to do it. Right? Right. So they're starting to jaw at each other. They're starting right right right And Brett took the match to the outside and he starts hitting the the kinds of high-impact moves And and and you know doing some serious damage to Vader and then he worked wrestling moves in the ring So if he goes out of the ring, it's high-impact Austin style When he's in the ring, it's Bret Hart technical style shit. Interesting dichotomy he's setting up there. He's mostly a face, but he was wrestling some heel shit there.

Austin was watching from the backstage area on a monitor. Now Vader hits all kinds of big moves, but Bret kicks out every time showing his toughness and then Sean started predicting Brett's moves accurately and mockingly which The I think that's going a little far it's okay, so John Cena Has what's called the five moves of doom And it's because he would do this sequence that would lead up to him doing what was called the five knuckle shuffle Which is basically he'd Run the ropes while you're on the ground and stop at you and dust off his shoulders and then pop you in the head like

Fall down on you with his fist, right? Okay, and prior to that he did like a sit-out power bomb and prior to that He would do this He would do two shoulder blocks and so everybody started calling it the five moves of doom and they started calling out the the audience would call out the numbers as he's hitting the moves right but that's the audience doing it organically this is sean michaels holding back the curtain to make fun of another wrestler so he's like like, oh, he's going to do the this move. Now he's going to do the Russian leg sweep. Now he's climbing up to the top of the rope.

He's going to hit an elbow. Oh, look at you know, on and on which is a very Shawn Michaels kind of move. Yeah, like he yeah. Yes. Like he he's in character while doing this, but at the same time like hmm dude Dancing that edge. Now between Sean and Vince's commentary, Brett's change in focus over the last month and Austin

just not staying down when Brett nailed him, Brett is the one who's coming off least favorably. Now when the action spilled back out to the ringside, Sid came out and absconded with a cameraman, which is weird. He like literally grabbed a cameraman and dragged him back to the back. So when when the referee was trying to get Vader to go back in the ring, Austin then came out and stunned Brett on the floor. Vader then get Brett got Brett into the ring and did his finish on Brett's and he actually beat Brett.

But only because Austin had interfered. Right. And then Vader hit a moonsault from the fucking top rope. 450 pounds doing a backflip and landing on you. Yeah, that'll... Damn. Okay. Now, in January at all the house shows, Brett either would win against Vader or lose against

Triple H in singles competition. It was a weird mix. But that made sense because Triple H was the Intercontinental Champion at the time. Okay. But he is losing more than winning, which is kind of going to add to his grievances. Right. Then on January 12th, 1997 at the WWF superstars, Brett took on a man named the Sultan. The Sultan wore a mask under that mask was a Samoan wrestler known as Rikishi Fatu later on. Do you remember a guy wiggling his ass into someone's face when they're stuck in

the corner? Vaguely. Yeah, that was rikishi now rikishi was because he came out to being a sumo wrestler as So often simone wrestlers ended up becoming Remember yokozuna. Yeah, kishi fought to if I recall correctly is the son of Oh if I recall correctly, is the son of... Oh, God, I think he's the son of Afa, of the wild Samoans. Rikishi Fatu is also the father of Jay and Jimmy Uso, and of Solo, who is right now the head of the bloodline. Anyway, at this point, Rikishi, being a Samoan man,

was the Sultan right because You know mask on his face. So we don't see his facial features Skin is you know brown enough to look there you go kind of exotic. We you know Yeah, too ethnic right right vaguely ethnic. Yeah, um the crowd was definitely behind Brett Right, right vaguely ethnic. Yeah, the crowd was definitely behind Brett And while Brett kept fighting the Sultan and beating him Austin snuck up behind Brett with a chop block on his knee again and Just rained blows down on Brett

He then stunned Brett very quickly and then when he got in a chair and he Pilmanized Brett's ankle Son of a bitch exactly. So obviously Stone cold is a bad guy. Obviously Brett is a good guy, right? The show also ended with Brett writhing in pain and limping out with the help of two referees and I say this on purpose Now what's interesting here was that it this was actually a pre-taped show from the middle of December and the commentary was then overlaid to make it look like it was just a week away from the Royal Rumble. Oh wow. All right. Now the next night, January 13th, 1997, so now we're in 1997, we're literally less than a year away from the Montreal Screwjob at this point.

Yes. And we're nowhere near the Montreal screw job at this point. We're still leagues away from the Montreal screw job. So the next night, January 13th, 1997 on Raw, the promo was all about the damage that Austin had done to Brett's leg. Brett came out to do color commentary. He put over Rocky Maivia as being the next big thing in his match against Davey Boy Smith. Right.

Brett spoke. So Brett is putting over Rocky Maivia, who is the son of Rocky Johnson and the grandson of High Chief Peter Maivia, who is blood brothers with Afa and Sika the wild Samoans This is why Rocky is or the rock is a cousin to Roman Reigns who is the son of I think Afa Or not Sika There's a whole family tree. It's fun to look at Christmas. All right There's like 15 people of the Onoai family right now in wrestling.

So. Shemini. Wow. Yeah. All right. Anyway, so Brett spoke about the Royal Rumble and Vince brought up that Austin was slowing Brett down. And Brett said Stone Cold is just another guy who keeps hopping into my life and trying to ruin it. As far as I'm concerned, all these guys, they're not trying to mess with just my life. They're trying to end my career. And notice that Brett has started sounding a lot less angry and a lot more whiny. Yeah.

And he's wrestling a lot more heel. You remember how Steve Austin back in August was talking about how everybody's trying to hold him back Yeah, but he was same kind of thing. Yeah, but he was angry. Yeah, Brett's whiny. Yeah So Brett then says now that we've sort of determined that there are no rules in the World Wrestling Federation It's a lawless land and now we've got now we've kind of cleared the air on that that's fine by me because i'm going to destroy everybody exactly the same way So gone are the days where bret hart would rise above and defeat them through his excellence Because it didn't fucking work. He beat austin and it didn't stop things. He didn't defeat stone cold and have him shrink away

Stone cold's frustration continued to guide him to attacking Bret Hart everywhere, except for in an actual sanctuary sanctioned match. Yeah. Right. Like according to American TV, the only matches with the two of them are if they're both on opposite sides of tag teams. Right. And then Brett said Stone Cold, I hope his knees are in good shape because his knees are

going to be history if he steps into the ring with me. And the other guy doing commentary at the time was Honky Tonk Man, oddly enough. And Honky Tonk Man challenged Brett on how lawless things were lately and that it wasn't a lawless land. And Brett responded, you haven't been watching my matches lately, which again, nothing he said has been incorrect. Like Austin has interfered in all of his matches. People have fucked him out of the title match and stuff like that.

Yeah. Now, this is a match between Rocky and Davey Boy Smith. Davey Boy Smith's tag team partner is Owen Hart. Owen Hart hates Bret Hart. So Owen Hart comes out while this match is going on and stands directly in front of Bret Hart like in a sentry position saying that essentially I'm here to stop you from making any attacks on Davey. Even though Bret made no no move to do so.

Brett then mentioned that Owen had something to do with Brett's ankle. He's like, you know, you've interfered with me and you almost got my ankle broken by, you know, by Steve Austin. Meanwhile, Rocky Maivia and the British Bulldog are wrestling actually a pretty good power based match. And I forgot how agile the rock used to be. And then Steve Austin ran out and chop block the bulldog and stunned him.

And Brett got up to try to stop it, but Owen blocked him because he's got his back to everything that just happened. And then Brett is like pointing out the Davy Boy Smith is getting beat by Austin and finally Owens like oh shit And he lets him pass by now remember Brett had been pill manized so he limp chases Austin down the aisle Okay now from there we finally get to the Royal Rumble finally there we finally get to the Royal Rumble. Finally there.

Cheapening Christmas. So it's January 19th, 1997. I'm actually going to go short in the descriptions here because you remember the Royal Rumble is a reverse battle royal. Right. You enter every two minutes, you throw people out. If you don't throw people out, more people keep coming in every two minutes and pretty soon, you know And then the last one standing Wins, right? And it's on it's it's undeniable that okay. He's beaten 30 guys, right?

Steve Austin basically comes out. Um, he comes out number five and he alternated between beating the shit out of people and avoiding troubles He knocked Bart gun out of the ring Then after that he did some push-ups while he waited. He then sat on the he sat on the turnbuckle to wait for his next opponent. He then eliminated Jake Roberts but then the ring started filling up and so Austin faded to the background after avoiding Davey Boy Smith's efforts. Now Owen and Davey Boy teamed up on Austin at one point and they played out their own issue when Owen knocked Davey out by accident.

Then Farouk came and eliminated a few guys and then Austin eliminated Farouk and awaited Savio Vega. Again, because always Savio Vega. Now he eventually eliminates Savio Vega. Right. Now he eventually eliminates Savio Vega. He waited a little bit and then he eliminated Jesse James. And then he parked himself up on the turnbuckle again. And then the audience is counting down the clock and then Brett's music hits. Austin's reaction was fucking amazing.

He puts his hand on his head. He's shocked. And the two of them went at it hard. Brett actually applied the sharpshooter on Austin, and then the timer buzzed again, and Jerry Lawler got up from commentary and entered the ring as the next entrance. Brett breaks the sharpshooter and clotheslines Jerry Lawler right back out of the ring. That's awesome. It's so good.

It's so good. Ding, bong. Yep. And so then Brett went back to work with Austin, right? And I could see it. One sec. Yeah. Just one sec. Wham. All right. I'm back. Yeah. So he works back with Austin and then the ring starts to fill up again.

And essentially Austin was dominant until Brett showed up. And then Brett worked his way through, folks. Then Mankind and Terry Funk brawled out on the floor. And the problem was, you know, they both spilled out of the ring that gets all the refs attention So all the refs are trying to get them to get out like hey you guys both lost. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay At this point Brett eliminates Steve Austin throws him over the ring on the opposite side Okay, huge pop But there was no ref there to validate it

So Austin jumps right back in sneaks right back in Oh Had fucking heel and right as Brett was eliminating fake diesel who was actually the real Kane Right as he was eliminating fake diesel In fact there used to be signs that say Kane runs on fake diesel power. It's just so good So Brett's eliminating fake diesel right other side of the ring Austin then goes to eliminate Vader and Taker as they're both fighting. Oh Wow, all right, and then Austin turns around and eliminates Brett So Brett, you know finally eliminates a guy and he turns around and the Brett. So Brett, you know, finally eliminates that guy

and he turns around and the other two guys have been knocked out of the ring. And then Austin eliminates Brett. To a slightly smaller pop. Brett got the bigger pop of that night. But then Austin got declared winner. And it was really fucking obvious. Right.

Yeah. But Austin cheating to win still got cheered and Brett had a legitimate and rightful complaint. And he went with that instead of ruthlessly seeking revenge. So the audience is cheering the cheater who won. Right. And Brett had a legit complaint, but instead of playing the game by those same fucked up rules, he was complaining and he was like, everybody saw it. Everybody saw it.

Nobody could have missed it. Yeah. Except the, you know, Austin left in victory. Brett grabbed multiple reps by their lapelsels yelling and shouting and screaming and roughing them up and unloading a verbal tirade on how Unjustice was and he was fully right and despite the fact that the video footage was right there there's no going back evidently and Hitman then went over to Vince McMahon and roughed him up to make his case.

Jim Ross then casted it as Brett's obsession with the title until Brett came over and asked the announcing team what they were going to do about it. Okay. Results had mattered more than winning by the rules. Brett's frustration really stepped up at this point and it was already sharp and angry, but Brett's frustration was different from Steve's frustrations because Brett could win in the ring. His frustration at constantly being stopped from that, from that capability by people who broke the rules perpetually should be

and could be, if the world was fair, paid off. But Steve Austin couldn't win in the ring against Brett and because of that his frustration, Austin's frustration, couldn't be paid off with a victory only by making Brett suffer. So further, because Brett knew that he can win in the ring, his frustration in that it was not getting settled according to the rules led him to adopting Austin's tactics more and more. But it was tied to his complaining still. Steve's frustration was actually a fire that couldn't get put out because he was never able, or I'm sorry, because he was able to continue to stoke it by attacking the hit man verbally since August

and physically since November outside of the ring. The only times that the two had sanctioned contact at this point on TV were the Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. Despite this feud, they kept them apart that successfully. Wow. Austin's frustration then was expressed by breaking all the rules and attacking Brett everywhere and always with no hope or desire of actual resolution, whereas Brett only started turning into what Austin was by attacking Steve outside of the ring after it was clear

that winning according to the rules after it was clear that winning, according to the rules and customs, was no longer enough. Okay. Does this sound politically familiar? Yeah. You can't- And you know, what occurs to me, and I'm dating us, but the Democratic Party has finally recently abandoned when they go low, we go high.

And it's taken a very long time. But but here we are With a with a former president making a dick joke about another former president from the stage of a major political party national convention And and by the way, I don't think enough people give Barack Obama enough credit for actually being funny. Oh, he's like, like, like, like his timing and his understanding of how to deliver a joke is is brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah So yeah, no, I mean

again in in wrestling it's as you've said before a grotesque of Whatever else is going on or whatever else we're going to see Yeah, all of this has happened before and all of this will happen again. Yeah, this is just clown makeup This is just with grease paint we're're gonna freak you with it. You know, yeah. Yeah. I mean, could you imagine if one political party realized that they couldn't win against a more successful plant platform and set of politicians? So just fuck up the whole system and spend all your energy making everybody miserable because you didn't win.

And then when there is a chance to win again, cheat if you must, but win at all cost. Yeah, like, who would do that? Right? Like, that would be unthinkable. Right. Except no. Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm actually gonna stop here because this is a good stopping point because at this point Brett turns it up to 11 from basically Okay, because oh my god January 20th 1997 is some Really intense shit on raw And I think this is where people when they point to Bret Hart promos being good, it starts around here.

Okay. And it's because he's playing a very different note. He is fully, fully in. But to get him to this point, you had to go through all these very small seedlings because Bret is a goddamn artist and he wanted to make sure, because the best bad guy is the one who thinks he's right. Yeah. So. wanted to make sure because the the best bad guy is the one who thinks he's right. Yeah. So the transformation it had to in order for it to pay off there had to be the investment ahead of time. It had to be a slow frustrating burn for Bret Hart. Yeah. So anyway that is that.

So anyway, that is that. What do you think? Well, just again, that this is our culture's version of Comedia del Arte. For good or ill. And the Jungian archetype nature of so much of it is fascinating to look at, you know, and it's a place where within its culture, within the subculture of wrestling, all of the archetypes are known and called out. Yes. Like overtly called out.

But it never detracts from, but even the fact that everybody in the audience knows this is the archetype, this is the archetype, this is the story arc we're watching, you know, just like in committee, Dell, aren't they? Um, but it never stops having the same level of cathartic power. And, and that like on a, on a meta psychological level, that's just, it's fascinating. Oh yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's my takeaway at this point. Okay. What are you going to recommend for people? I am just generally going to recommend that folks, if wherever you can find it, take a look at the recent Shogun series. I'm not going to say mini series because it's 10 episodes. But the, the limited run series, I guess this is the term that's being used now of Shogun. It's on Hulu.

I know for sure. And yeah, cause I'm that's what I'm going to be talking about next. And just because it is a remarkable piece of work just on its own merits. So that's what I'm going to recommend. How about you? I'm actually going to recommend the book Rowdy, the Roddy Piper story, and it's written it started as a autobiography but then it turned into a biography by his daughter and son, Ariel Teal Tombs and Colt Baird Tombs. I believe he had six kids and loved his family dearly and to read what his children said about him having done the research with their dad while he was alive, it's really quite

something. So it's been compared to Bret Hart's memoir. I don't think that's a fair comparison to make. I don't think it rises to that level. But it's about no less a fascinating character and it really kind of gets to the impact that this industry had on the people who made it. OK, yeah. Cool. Yeah. All right. Where can we be found? We can be found on our website at Wubba Wubba Wubba dot geek history time dot com. That's probably the best place to go if you want to look through our archives, just because of the way it's formatted there on the website.

Go through and find whatever happens to catch your eye because we cover everything from Jeffersonian ideals in Dungeons and Dragons up through the giant robot genre. Both of those are mine. And the personal favorite of mine, the Fantastic Four as a twisted nuclear family. That's one of Damien's that is an eternal favorite of mine. So but whatever it is that you're interested in you can find something there to catch your interest Additionally, of course you're listening to us So you've either found us on the Apple podcast app or on the Amazon podcast app or on Spotify Wherever it is that you have done So, please take a moment to hit the subscribe button and give us a five-star review

Please take a moment to hit the subscribe button and give us a five star review. It'll be a big help and it'll recognize all of the hard work that Damien has put into his research here. How about you? Where can you be found? Well, you can find me at the Sacramento Comedy Spot on the first Friday of every month. So if December 6th has already happened, then go to the January 3rd show at The Comedy Spot at 9 PM or the February 7th show or the March 7th show or the April 4th show. Sacramento Comedy Spot in Sacramento, go to

saccomedyspot.com and click on the calendars. Find our show on the calendar and buy your ticket now. If you live locally, definitely want to avoid the sellout. If you live distance, then absolutely you should buy the digital ticket so you can watch us streaming. So that's where you can find me. So, all right. Well, for A Geek History of Time, I'm Damian Harmony. And I'm Ed Blalock, and that's the bottom line.