- Scott Keith

Okay, we’re at the end of the run for the Stampede Wrestling tapes, and they picked the absolute best for last here, putting all the best matches and angles on this one tape, and the result is astonishingly great.

- Dynamite Kid v. Davey Boy Smith. Case in point, it’s the battle of the Bulldogs right off the bat. This was 1980ish, when both weighed 200 pounds combined and Smith was greener than Kermit the Frog, but at least he cared about his craft then. Kid tosses Smith, allowing Foley to get his shots in. Back in, Kid clobbers Smith and drops a knee. He goes up, but gets slammed off and cradled for two. Both down, and Smith rolls over for two. Kid gets a backbreaker, but apparently the knee was injured earlier. Davey gets a tilt-a-whirl slam for two. Sunset flip gets two. Kid pounds him down again and snaps off an elbowdrop for two. Clothesline and kneedrop, but Davey gets a crucifix out of nowhere for the pin at 4:22. But wait! It’s evil ref Sandy Scott, so Dynamite simply clocks him and blames it on Davey Boy, prompting a reversal of decision after the fact and thus saving Kid’s title. Goofy finish there. **1/2

- Bruce Hart v. Dynamite Kid. We’re in the second fall of a 2/3 falls affair and Kid is up 1-0. Same sequence from the last match starts, as he tosses Hart and Foley gets shots in. Hart grabs Kid from the apron and rams him into the turnbuckle, allowing Kid to take his usual dramatic bump, and then takes an even MORE dramatic bump off a cross-corner whip before Bruce ties up the match with the running clothesline. Third fall: Bruce drops the leg and pounds away. Another legdrop and a piledriver get two. Kid fires back, but Hart goes low and drops an elbow for two. Hart delivers a kneedrop so stiff that he breaks the Kid’s nose, and they start potatoing each other like 9th graders as a result. Pretty funny to see Kid lose his temper like that and Bruce casually hit him right back. Kid drops a headbutt and goes up, but misses. Bruce goes up, and also misses. Okay then. Kid starts dishing out the vicious crossface forearms, but Bruce comes back with a backdrop suplex. They collide and Kid recovers with a full-nelson, but Hart pushes him over and gets the pin at 7:10. But wait! Once again, Sandy Scott rears his ugly Scottish head, as he insists to the in-ring NWA referee that Kid’s foot was on the ropes. While Bruce argues the legitimacy of that, Dynamite figures “what the hell” and suplexes Hart, and gets another pin at 8:17, which makes HIM the winner. *** Hart has finally had enough and gives Sandy an ass-whooping, which the crowd of course digs.

- Bret Hart v. Bad News Allen. This is not the semi-famous ladder match. Allen attacks before the bell and pounds away with a pair of hiptosses. Bret gets his own and backdrops Allen out of the corner, which sends him scurrying. Bret pulls him in and pounds him with forearms and an elbowdrop. Bret uses the old bootlace rub, but Allen discombobulates him before missing a blind charge.  Allen gets tied up in the ropes, but comes back with a headbutt. We’re clipped to him missed a kneedrop as Bret comes back with a bodypress for two. They slug it out, and Bret dropkicks him to the floor and follows him out for the no-contest at 5:24. They really should have put the ladder match here. *

- Bret Hart v. Davey Boy Smith. Still in Stampede, this time from 1987 while both guys were on loan from the WWF. Bret is playing heel because it was a different climate in wrestling then – fans cheered and booed who they were conditioned to, and Canadian fans cheering heels because they were Canadian was a relatively rare thing. Besides which, the British Bulldogs were crazy over as babyfaces up here back then and Stu would have been insane to waste that kind of money-drawing opportunity. Bret hits a chinlock, but Davey powers out, and runs into a knee. D’oh. Bret hammers him in the corner, but gets dropkicked. Bret comes back with an elbow, but Smith sunset flips him for two. Bret nails him and goes up, but misses an elbow. Smith clotheslines him and drops him on his head, then pounds away in the corner. Delayed suplex gets two. Bret bails and gets retrieved by Smith, who uses a fisherman’s suplex for two. Bret bails again like a good heel, really making sure to get ALL of the audience good and pissed off at him, but Smith tosses him back in again. Davey goes up with a kneedrop off the top and a splash for two. Bret bails again, and this time a pissed-off Davey Boy pays off the subplot by gorilla-pressing him and walking through the audience, back to the ring.  More...