The Holy Grail Match

HEY! I’m from Rochester and trained there. I was just with my old indy
promotion in that same arena where they set up a show at a Comic-Con. Lot’s of fun
(Upstate Professional Wrestling – formerly known as NWA: Upstate).

Anyway, I read your review of the Holy Grail and I wholeheartedly
agree with you that it was a FINE match. Generally speaking, most things looked
fine and the basic psychology of the match was Wrestling School 101. In all
honesty, as much crap as people give Bret Hart for being stylistically boring or
a mark for himself (there are certainly camps of people inside the industry and
fans themselves that say this), Bret is absolutely right about that match being
his crowning achievement and masterpiece. The carry job with Bulldog in SS ‘92
was probably more of a physical and athletic feat, but Bulldog was many times
the level talent and experienced worker that Mcgee was. It’s not even close.
The pacing and execution of the Iron Man match was nearly flawless, but even
Bret would tell you that he was working with one of the best ever in that
match. Michaels was every bit as ON and down to work as Bret was for that match.

NONE OF THAT comes close to what he was able to accomplish with McGee
in Rochester that night. To the trained eye, you can actually see where Mcgee
gets lost and doesn’t know what to do at certain points. Bret ONLY asked him
to perform the very basics that someone would have nailed down in their first
90 days of training (arm drag, dropkick, up and over, sunset flip, O'Connor Roll).
Yet, he flopped and rolled, and bumped every which way to keep this thing from
falling apart. It was on the brink of failure at least 3 different times. An example would
be when Tom was way out of position for the dropkick on his shine and Bret had
to reposition his bump to cover and call something else to get things back on
track. It was amazing and I’m glad the footage surfaced because it should be
reviewed and taught at every wrestling school in the country.

What’s odd to me was that Vince somehow got the complete opposite out
of this match. I can buy that he was excited that his new toy had a good match,
but I don’t ascribe to the “Vince is out of touch and doesn’t appreciate real
wrestling” conspiracy theories. Vince is on record as saying that Bret was his
favorite in-ring wrestler. We know that he knows psychology, an yet, he saw
Mcgee as the big deal here… so odd.

I know you prefer shorter e-mails, but this kinda stuff is why I have
always loved the performance art aspect of the wrestling business. Enjoy your
weekend.

Brad