UnderRated or OverRated - Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper, Wrestlemania 8

One of the other forgotten aspects of this match, and so many others on the Wrestlemania 8 Card, is the tandem commentary by Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. Those two worked so well together in the classic "face / heel" announcer roles, and on this night they were in rare form. Monsoon talking about the history between the two - family friends growing up, both consumate competitors, etc. Heenan scoffed and made jokes about them both in his own way.

Then they argued over how Bret got opened up. Heenan explains it was from a "short" punch, while Monsoon says he think's it was the bulldog. Heenan was right, but it sold the repitoire of Piper as being very dangerous - anything he could do could make you bleed.

This match occured long before Triple Threat was a WWE norm, but can you imagine Mr. Perfect being in this match as well?

Overall, this match is in my top 5 list of greatest IC Title Matches ever, along with Steamboat/Savage, Hart/Bulldog, Hart/Perfect, and Michaels/Jannetty. The psychology was amazing. It was Piper's first ever WWF gold, and still his only singles title. You felt him, willing to do ANYTHING to keep the belt. You watched him do EVERYTHING he could, short of cheat, to put Bret down. This match really helped launch Bret into Superstardom and prepared him for his WWF Title win later that year.