Bret Hart on SummerSlam ’94: ‘We Never Wanted to Have a Cage Match’

Hart seemed to produce a new SummerSlam highlight every year

Bret Hart wrestled Owen Hart in a steel cage at SummerSlam in 1994 / WWE

This story is part of the Sports Illustrated SummerSlam Series.

From the beginning, SummerSlam was meant to be a larger-than-life spectacle.

The main event of the very first SummerSlam in 1988 was a tag match pitting world champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan against “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and Andre The Giant. That formula was followed the very next year, when Hogan teamed with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake against Savage and Zeus.

A world title match finally took place at SummerSlam, when The Ultimate Warrior defeated “Ravishing” Rick Rude in a steel cage match in 1990. SummerSlam ’91 was another tag match–this time, it was Hogan and Warrior against the triumvirate of Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, and Gen. Adnan. In ’92, Savage and the Warrior wrestled for the belt in a 28-minute affair–yes, 28 minutes–that ended in a count-out. That continued in ’93, when Lex Luger celebrated his count-out victory against Yokozuna.

For all its stars and grandeur, SummerSlam lacked a world title match to define the pay-per-view.

Until, that is, 1994.

Bret Hart wrestled his brother Owen at SummerSlam ’94 in a steel cage match. For over 32 minutes, the two crafted what, up until that point, was the single best world title match in the history of the event.

But it was never intended to take place inside that big blue steel cage.

“We never wanted to have a cage match,” Hart told me in 2017. “The truth was, I would have liked to have had a ladder match against Owen. We couldn’t do that because Shawn Michaels had used the idea at WrestleMania [against Scott Hall].”

Even when they weren’t wrestling, the Hart-Michaels feud found a way to continue. Yet this worked out for the best, as Bret and Owen worked magic inside the cage–and did so in their own distinct manner.

“A cage is generally a gory, hardcore match with a lot of blood,” explained Hart, who also had SummerSlam masterpieces against Mr. Perfect and “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith. “I didn’t want to have that kind of match with Owen. We were two brothers feuding, but we didn’t want to across like we’d kill each other to win. We didn’t go the blood route, but nearly every great cage match has blood.

“The way I described it in my book is a cage match without blood is a chocolate sundae without the chocolate sauce, but Owen and I never wanted the image of us bleeding on each other, so we went without blood. We told the wrestlers’ story. We wanted to tell the suspense of getting in and out of the cage, and we were proud of the match. I thought it was a beautiful story.”

Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam '97 / WWE

Months before the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” in 1997, Hart was in the midst of yet another career-defining run–this time as an anti-American hero. He wrestled The Undertaker at SummerSlam ’97 for the title with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee.

If you see connective tissue between the current CM Punk-Drew McIntyre-Seth Rollins storyline, it isn’t by accident.

“That was my last great WWF match ever, and I’m always grateful for that moment with Undertaker,” said Hart. “We were two pros who really had respect for each other and enjoyed one another, and we loved working together. He told me one time, ‘Wrestling you is one of the few chances I have to show I can wrestle.’ That meant a lot. Our match was really well planned out and orchestrated, and that was one of my favorite matches of all-time.”