[4.0] "Not sure what the best part of the match was, that lady screaming "You're so sexy! " at Sting or the guy that says "Nice job, Bret." after Bret takes a couple shots at Sting with his bat. Just kinda meandering and whatever as a match. Doing a stretcher spot and having the announcers put on The Serious Voice is so tacky."
[6.0] "Mal ganz ehrlich, das war kein tolles Match an sich, sondern einfach ganz gutes Sports Entertainment. Beide hatten eine klare Rolle und haben auch so agiert. Absolut passend, keine wilden Entscheidungen. Ich fand das echt gut anzusehen und Abzüge hab es für den ausbaufähigen Wrestling Anteil"
[5.0] "This one started off really slowly, and rather dull. However, after the ref bump it picks up and builds momentum. The way Sting is knocked out after the splash and the excessive bat use from Bret worked well to cement this."
[4.0] "Neither Bret or Sting really cared. Sting was just one of the guys in the Wolfpac, while WCW absolutely screwed up Bret's momentum from WWF. Hart stalls a lot here and when they eventually get in the ring there's no fire or energy, which was never the case for Sting's matches, who always had great comebacks."
[2.0] "When Bret talks about how he was so beaten down by BS that he just didn't care during his WCW run, you can really see it in a match like this. And Wolfpac Sting is not the best version of Sting for a burned out Bret working an unsuited cowardly gimmick to face. I think Sting is trying, but apathetic Bret and the idiotic booking are too much. A foreign object gets pulled out for some reason but never even close to being used. Sting finds it and picks it up and looks kind of annoyed about it like they had some sort of spot planned that now they can't do. And what's with the low blows directly in front of referees on this show? Is the entire card under Raven's Rules? Was it legal at the time? (Schiavone was complaining about the competition committee needing to do something about them and that was two matches ago). An actually pretty good ref bump (love Bret deliberately dropping a leg on him to make sure he's really out, too) happens, but is completely undermined by some of the worst placed referee selling after a bump ever as Silverman is lying motionless in the middle of the ring and they have to work around him, run over him, and even land on his legs doing a superplex. The camera misses Sting hitting his head on the ring post (or so the announcers swear happened) on a Stinger Splash, so you just see him hitting the move then drooping over the ropes. (They also missed Bret faking a bad landing on a leap frog earlier). Then Bret gets Sting's bat and delivers the worst looking shots with them over and over and over and over like it's a running gag. And Sting gets stretchered off post-match, cause in real life he would already be dead from that many shots with a bat. Bad match structure, sloppy and lethargic execution of that bad plan."
[5.0] "Bret was a decent heel, but it just didn't fit with his wrestling personality. Ref bump paradoxically lowered any kind of excitement here, whole stuff around illegal weapons was weird."
[5.0] "One of those dream matces that could've been so much more. A bout that's just going through themotions, an illegal object saga that goes nowhere and both wrestlers looking for the 'go home' signal to come."
[4.0] "A rather weak match energetically, like the crowd when Bret dominates the match. The public only wakes up when Sting regains the advantage. I did not understand why Sting takes Bret's knuckle-duster to attack him in front of the referee... Disappointing finish. (2*1/4)"
[4.0] "This match wasnt bad as such, but it was immensely disappointing when you consider the talent of the two wrestlers involved. Having somewhat disappointing matches with people youd actually be interested to see him wrestle if you read it on paper summed up most of Bret Harts WCW stint in all honesty. The stuff with the ref was ridiculous, and I have no idea whose fault it was, so Ill blame everyone. For all you aspiring referees though, if one of the wrestlers bumps you then make sure you end up somewhere thats out of the way, otherwise you might get Sting Superplexed onto you"
[7.0] "Ich verstehe die doch sehr niedrigen Bewertungen hier nicht ganz. Dieses Aufeinandertreffen war ein Traummatch in der damaligen WCW Zeit! Zwei Fanlieblinge zeigten hier feines Oldschool Wrestling mit leichten Schwächen, die aber für mich nicht allzu störten. Trotz alledem ein Klassiker, unbedingt ansehen! ***1/4"
[3.0] "Very underwhelming. Sting and Bret Hart are two industry icons, but they couldn't pull it off. Very disappointing and boring. Could've been much better a few years earlier. 3/10"
[2.0] "How bored I was with this match... I found it slow, it took a long time to start, there was nothing interesting in this match. And above all, Bret Hart taking a low blow to Sting IN FRONT OF the referee, and he's not disqualified! ? Seriously! ? In short, it was really not cool. [*1/4]"
[4.0] "Bret made 2 or 3 turns on Sting to the point where I didn't really care about the feud anymore. Mirror-Mirror Sting is making his only appearance ever. Bret kills a few minutes stalling. Bret with his moves of finish, but Sting catches him off the second rope and applies the Scorpion but it's too early for that. Sting works on the leg, Bret plays possum on a leapfrog attempt, fooling the ref into thinking he tweaked the knee on the landing. Bret takes the opportunity to load up taped knuckles, Sting gets it but the ref grabs his hand and stops him from punching Bret with the weapon, allowing Bret to execute ball breaker #16 or so of the ppv. They end up on the floor and Bret drops Sting on the steel railing. Ref checks on Sting who's standing on the outside apron and gets an elbow in the mouth for his trouble, then Bret drops a leg on him for good measure. They exchange some stuff walking around the ref who visually is doing a poor job of scooting out of the fighting path while trying to pretend he's one foot in the grave and Sting gives Bret a super plex but no ref. Stinger splash but Sting slides over Bret and parts his head on the ring post. Bret grabs Stings bat and wallops Sting a few times, then applies the Sharpshooter as the ref revives to count the Sting gets stretchered out and wouldn't be seen again until Spring Stampede 99. Sting spent over a year hanging out in the rafters and when he finally came back he couldn't even do 12 months before another long vacation? Sting's career as a big time main eventer died after Starrcade 97."
[4.0] "Nowhere near as good as you would expect from these two. Bret doesn't really work as a cowardly heel and despite the men's best efforts this just fell flat on all fronts."
[5.0] "Not much of a match by the standards of these two, with Hart in particular seeming uninterested. There's far too much nonsense and far too little wrestling in a match which should be the opposite. Of course, Bret Hart has to beat Sting with his borrowed version of the Scorpion Death Lock, something that they should have made more of with Hart as a heel - but then, they should have made more of Hart as a heel generally, he was great at it given the chance."
[4.0] "I HATE giving them a low record, and it's not saying anything bad about them as wrestlers, but this match was really slow paced. I won't call it bad, but there were no emotions or heat. Some creative spots with the referee being knocked out. But the match itself, something was off. *1/2"
[6.0] "I honestly think this is a sign of just how good of a wrestler Bret is, as a heel he wrestled perfectly with effective offence that is not that exciting to watch. The problem was Sting hardly did anything to get anyone excited. I will never ever get used to Sting with a goatee"
[5.0] "A slow-paced match that never truly got off the ground, but still offered some memorable moments. The referee spot was actually perfectly done and did not feel forced at all, which is tough to do. I also enjoyed the finish, with Bret Hart going off of the deep end. If nothing else, it was cool to see them wrestle. An adequate 5 out of 10."
[3.0] "I don't think it's as terrible as some, but it is a mathc between two wrestlers who are in a pretty big slump. It's supposed to be a massive grudge match, but their backstage brawl felt like it was a lot more hate-fueled than this. It's slow as hell, but it's not terrible."
[0.0] "This is an I N C R E D I B L Y slow match where absolutely nothing of interest happens. Sting is awful by this time and Bret Hart seriously couldn't care less about this match, and I can't really blame him."
[5.0] "This match was so average and it was so slow . i expected a way better match from these two . i am not the biggest fan of heel bret hart he cant wrestle so good as a heel but as a face he is top . and i dont understand every match on wcw should finish with the referee down because the wrestlers attacked him ."
