The Rochester War Memorial Arena (now the Blue Cross Arena), the venue in which the match took place.
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| Date | October 7, 1986 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Rochester War Memorial Arena | ||||||||||||||||
| Kayfabe | |||||||||||||||||
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| Working | |||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||
| Tom Magee defeats Bret Hart[1] | |||||||||||||||||
Bret Hart vs. Tom Magee was a professional wrestling match between Bret Hart and Tom Magee, of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The un-televised match took place at the Rochester War Memorial ArenainRochester, New York on October 7, 1986 as part of a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping.[2]
The infamous match, which was one of Magee's first after signing with the WWF,[3] was a carry job by Hart,[4] impressed WWF chairman Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson, who felt Magee was the next Hulk Hogan.[5][6]
The tape was thought to have been lost, as the WWE could not locate it in its vault.[7] This led many professional wrestling tape traders to consider it a "holy grail".[8] Professional wrestling photographer Mary-Kate Anthony had previously helped Bret Hart convert his VHS copies of his movies into digital, and Hart did not request the physical VHS tapes back.[9] In March 2019 Anthony announced on Twitter she had located the tape.[10] On May 13, 2019, the WWE Network aired a documentary entitled Holy Grail: The Search for WWE's Most Infamous Lost Match which detailed the legend behind the match and the recovery of the tape, and also featured interviews with Magee and Hart.[11]
