One (positive) thing I always remember was when Rick Rude was with Curt, he never took bumps except to Bret, because Rick trusted Bret and knew Bret would take care of him.
WCW as a company. Had no idea how to book a wrestling show. They got lucky with a couple of good ideas, at a downtime for WWF and wrestling as a whole. However once WWF worked out what the fans were now wanting. It was just a matter of time before it was game over for WCW.
I can't fathom how WCW was unable to track down and employ experienced bookers, even bringing some out of retirement or something idk. Did WCW simply not have the long standing connections like WWF had?
@@HULK-HOGAN1 who you think they could have brought in? Who would you bring in? WCW to their credit did try to bring in Vince Russo, during this time. The booking was shocking. However after he left WWF for WCW. WWFs booking actually did suffer, during the second half of 99 especially. Which is being covered on this channel. With the poor booking of Kane, having a girlfriend and feelings and the whole Big Shows angle with Bossman. Also early 2000 would give us the Mae Young gives birth to a hand angle. This era always gets heralded as some sort of untouchable golden era for wrestling. However both companies had their fair share of terrible booking and angles.
@@HULK-HOGAN1they had Dusty and Watts as bookers at various points. Ole Anderson had been the head booker for awhile in the 80’s I believe. Ric Flair was on the booking committee at one point. The other major problem was that the Turner television people didn’t like wrestling or trust wrestling people.
@@AreaEightyNine Aside from the tail end of the year Bret had an amazing 1997. His character development was the best it had been in years and he was still one of the best performers in the industry.
Great video! I love how, in his book, Bret shares the reason he was always in street clothes in WCW was because there was no locker room security and his gear kept getting stolen!
@@zlinedavid 1) It's city... province, country. 2) Always remember to be serious for a minute (possibly without being interrupted) 3) Use the superior Canadian Metric System 4) Don't blame Canada, blame yourself
Irony of Vince McMahon not being a rasslin' guy is that he knew how to showcase the ultimate ring technician of the '90s. WCW saw the Montreal Screwjob as an opportunity to present a heel mid-carder.
@@PJBlick You still could have had some wiggle room. There were wrestlers that Hogan was willing to do the job to. Use those to transition Bret into the main event.
@yoholmes273 Dude get off your high horse. Hogan is and always will be a selfish jerk and Bret for all his faults is one 0f the greatest wrestlers in the world so show bloody respect you bloody smark
Another way that Bret Hart was misused by WCW was that Bret did not get much of a chance to work with Alex Wright, Norman Smiley, El Dandy, or David Flair.
"To say that Bret Hart was the most talked about wrestler after Survivor Series 97 would be an understatement" is in itself, an understatement. Bret was the most talked about wrestler leading up to the Survivor Series. I was at the last house show before SS in Detroit, and everyone wanted to see if he was going to drop the belt before the Big show. I think Survivor Series 97 might have been the moment where the casual fan started understanding there were dirt sheets and such.
I was watching a stevie Richard's video earlier and he was shouting out wrestling bios editing skills, and hes right, best made wrestling videos on youtube
@@HULK-HOGAN1 Would love to, honestly. It would make editing a lot easier and would save a ton of time. WWE just completely wreck me for using clips these days and they take the videos down.
Bret's promo from the Toronto Nitro is still special when I watch it. Bret was so over with his Canadian fans and his delivery is spot on. The awesome steel plate angle is just icing.
For all the praise going Bret’s way, I still feel he remains underrated. As an in-ring performer. But also on the mic. Terrific face, terrific heel, the greatest technical wrestler this business has seen by a long long way. People talk of Mt. Rushmore and Bret barely sneaks in. If it were me, I’d have four Brets on Mt. Rushmore, have four Mt. Rushmores and then there’d come other wrestlers waiting in line. The pink and black attack. The excellence of execution. The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart 🐐
Fun fact with Brett Hart last WWE run. It looked sad and pathetic on tv but at house shows Bret could still go. He had an insurance pay out from the Lourdes of London and had many stipulations within it so he was very careful not to go full speed on television. At house shows it was a different thing. He went hard and looked like Bret of old. You can still find some 2010 house show content on UA-cam
Even at house shows Bret didn't take bumps. He threw a lot of strikes and reversals. He looked more amazing than on PPV but I think that was because his opponent was Vince lol
For Brets debut Id have him be a surprise opponent for Scott Hall at Starcade where the winner will referee the main event. Bret wins ofc. Then just have Sting beat Hogan clean and start the Sting vs Bret rivalry
Bret was on a 60 day no compete clause hence why he didn't work a match until Souled Out against Flair. Here's what I'd do with Bret for Starrcade: 1. Don't hype him up. Yeah everyone knew he going to Atlanta after Survivor Series, but WCW would still be better off by at least trying to make it a surprise. 2. During the main event have Hogan try to run away but have Bret appear at the entrance ramp and drag the Orange Goblin back to the ring to help Sting.
Any time he doesn't understand something, he calls it a blunder, and all the WWE fans cheer because hatred for WCW getting back to back ratings better than the WWE always leaves them with salty bitter tears.
Man as someone that watched WCW religiously at the time. Watching this video of Bret’s run was more painful than I remember. You’re absolutely right, there was no continuity week to week of his character or motivations. It feels like they came up with just whatever they could think of 5 minutes before the show
That's kind of the narrative he wants to create. Another angle is that Bret had a lot of opportunities he wasted. I used to like Bret, but he has just become a sad, bitter, broken record.
Bret Hart had another 10 years of top notch wrestling left in him. Huge waste opportunity. I hate Vince for breaking the contact. At times I wished Bret didn't punch him so he could have sued Vince into the stratosphere
Eric Bischoff, to his credit, does own up to his part in not making Bret work. He admits he had no idea what to do with him, and also says that Bret had no real spark in his attitude once he came to WCW, since the Montreal incident really broke his heart. On top of that, Owen died during his run, and further depressed him. That said I think that Bret was right that Bischoff had no idea how to really run a wrestling company and that everything was such a clusterf*ck behind the scenes that Bret didn't have much to work with. The whole nWo angle worked great for a while, but fell apart after not too long. There really was no singular cause to the issues. I also do believe that while Goldberg did cut his career short with that kick, Bret probably didn't have that many good years left in him. He was 42 at the time, and had been wrestling for over 2 decades. Not only had he been wrestling, but he was considered a workhorse who rarely took vacations so he was wearing himself down through all that time. While 42 is by no means old in current wrestling (AJ Styles is 47, R Truth is 52), very few wrestlers of the time managed to make it to 50 and still wrestle, much less wrestle well. Bret was still good, and I would even say still in his prime, but that wouldn't have lasted past 45, and I think he wouldn't have been wrestling good enough for his own standards before 50. Still, I wish he had made it and had the chance to retire with full dignity and have a chance to slow down and maybe show the next generation how it's done, instead of basically being pried away from the ring he loved so much.
all of this is true. It can be 2 things at once that Bret wasn't 100% Bret and that Eric didn't know how to use him to his full potential. Honestly, Eric used him like he did others with a lot of inconsistency. His head was too far up Hogan's rear at the time to see it especially when paying him that kind of money. It doesn't help that Bret wasn't like others that came from WWF like Hogan, Piper, Savage, Hall and Nash and guys that had a lot of ideas of what they wanted to do. Bret wasn't that forward about it and Eric was not like Vince to control things
Also, Bret was on the back end of his peak. It's talked about like Bret got injured in the middle of his prime or something. He also mentioned in one interview about a Sid incident that made his concussions worse where he took a few bumps including the powerbomb that made him see stars
I blame Eric for allowing Hogan creative control that continuously hamstrung what he and his predecessor could do. I can totally see Hogan agreeing to wrestle Brett one month and then change his mind the following month. WCW may have survived had they fired Hogan for totally messing up the Starcade finish. Eric still makes excuses for Hogan to this day.
Honestly, I think that he could have had more than 3 years, in 2001 WCW folded, and he could have afforded lighter schedules with ROH and TNA. I totally see him retiring in 2005, maybe against Kurt Angle, in that year Bret did accept an olive branch from WWE.
Bret's entrance music in wwf was so iconic. It felt strange not hearing it in WCW and it made me realize how important the entrance music is. WCW could have at least worked a little harder with his theme music but it sounded half-assed like everything else.
Reading Bret's book and understanding how banged up his body was at that point, even without the Goldberg kick his career wouldn't have lasted much longer.
@@gatchywatchyentertainmentb2090Because by 1999 he was 42 and had a lot of wear and tear on his body from his career. Plus after the Screwjob, Owen's death and dealing with how toxic WCW was, the man was just mentally shot.
I wish he didn't get hurt during that match with Goldberg, just so he could take a break in 2001, recover and then maybe go to Ring of Honor to have bangers with CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. If there was one company he would have thrived in, it was ROH.
What I think would have happened without the kick is he sits out the remainder of the Turner contract when WWF buys out WCW which gives him time to stay home and rest and then he has another couple years left when he goes back to WWF, probably retiring from full time wrestling at 50, with appearances sporadically after that.
Thanks for the video, as Bret is my favorite ever. Very very well done video, congrats! Wow.. these 2 years were hard to follow, storyline wise. 🙄 Bret deserved better for sure after 5 years on top of the WWF!
Bret Hart not getting the push he deserves has everything to do with backstage politics, and no person was more influential in vetoed pushes than Hogan. His creative control card is unmatched in wrestling history and kept him relevant when his star should have long since died out. You can follow a lot of the storylines that ended nonsensical or abruptly and see Hogan's hand in it. Whenever a possible torch passing opponent came, Hogan basically with Bischoff's influence buried their career in an avalanche of poor storylines, nonsensical booking, putting them on the back burner, till their hype or relevancy have been spent. Hogan thought the business was only there to serve him and therefore became the company's biggest trap in not reaching it's consistent goals
Have you ever thought that's part of the reason? I'm sick of this whole BS that Bret deserved this, or Bret deserved that. Sure, he had that wonderful line of being the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. Problem is, there's always someone better, and he couldn't solo it. The biggest part of the Hit Man was being a part of the Hart family. Take away the family name and fame and he's at best a mid-card.
The narrative about Bret being a "shell" peddled by Eric Bischoff and others is nonsense and in Bischoff's case a cop-out to shift the blame onto a talent he mismanaged. Bret had matches with Booker T, Benoit, Flair, Sting, Jarrett, DDP and others in WCW which ranged from good to great. He hadn't lost much of a step in the ring and still put in the effort. The quality of his work was neutered by the lacklustre presentation and constant, senseless heel turns.
Imagine how Bret feels when Flair and Funk could have decent matches at 60 and he didn't even make it to 50 . If wcw sent him to the doctor right after the kick, he probably could have
Or if he didn't bang his head on the floor during the figure 4 spot. Remember, the kick was his second concussion, which I honestly partly attribute to the fact that Bret was already concussed and couldn't protect himself properly.
@@frankyturrizo4240 Yeah, it should be soft. But things don't always go as planned. Same with Owen Hart almost breaking Stone Colds neck with that Piledriver. I doubt that he would lecture Owen for that if Owen was still alive and Stone Cold would've gpt a career ending injury because auf that. Mistakes happen and while i regard Bret Hart as one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time, i can't hear him talking about the same stuff for 25 years anymore. Goldberg failed but Bret Hart should've gone to the doctor immediately to check if everything is fine. Instead he wrestled half a dozen matches after that, even the hardcore match against Funk with that chair shots to the head. Bret Hart wasn't at fault for the kick, but he was at fault for not taking care after it. But yeah, maybe being bitter about the whole thing for another 25 years will do the trick.
Brets demeanor in WCW just wasn't the same. Truly a wasted opportunity with a fresh superstar who people know coming off a legit screw job. Bret could have truly been a megastar in WCW
Here's another Blunder. Bret attacked Bulldog and Neidhart on an episode of Thunder in September 1999 to aid Lex Luger. Bret had always valued his family members. WCW decided to throw the Hart Foundation out the window.
If they insisted on keeping the nWo around that long, they could have built the Hart Foundation as an opposing stable. Given that Davey Boy and Anvil were both in WCW by mid ‘97, bring in Jericho and Benoit to fill the Owen and Pillman slots. Might have changed history.
Bret was never going to get Hogan...Hulk is way too selfish...having Bret cut a promo where he responds to Vince is such a good idea and a great intro and even the easier course of action. I would love to know what Eric was thinking....I believe he had a lot on his plate at this time.... please correct me if I'm wrong.
Yeah half his damn career in Dubya See Dubya was calling out a man he’d never face and even if he did he’d either Job clean within 5 minutes or it would end in DQ. So in other words it would never be worth the wait or promos. Thaaaats WCW!
it's really weird because Hogan has a history of jumping at the chance to make headlines and be in the spotlight. I can't think of another reason besides his own ego when Bret had so much controversy and momentum when he entered the company
Correct, I can just hear Hogan being asked about a Match with the then redhot Brett Hart right after the Montreal Screwjob " That dont work for me, Brother!"
3:50 Hell, even if WCW were obsessed with the referee thing, SURELY directly making Bret the Special Guest Referee for Hogan vs Sting would have been a better idea than the contrived nonsense they came up with. They could even keep the original finish, just have Bret be temporarily incapacitated and have Nick Patrick run in
As a huge fan at the time, like, a Canadian super fan, the Bischoff/Zsbisko thing just destroyed all of his momentum. It was like immediate confirmation that he had gone to a minor league.
I can't remember where I read this it might have been in either Ric Flair or Mick Foleys book that Vince foreshadowed Brets WCW run simply because "Eric Bischoff wouldn't even know how to book the Hitman"
I love videos like this, I remember my friends hated wcw and people who liked it so I never watched it. So as a kid it was like Bret was gone from wrestling after survivor series. So always cool to hear what he was up to even if it wasn't all great
Starcade wasn’t the time for his debut as admittedly WCW were too invested in the Sting-Hogan storyline. But they should have had him chasing the title in early 1998 once all that was in the rear view mirror
I was born in 1990 and remember seeing him on TV. I got into WWF around 98, not long after bret left for WCW and i wasnt into WCW all that much so never watched him over on nitro. Wasnt until i grew up that i realised how damn good he was. The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be.
I actually think the best use of Bret from the moment he came in was to go after the nWo as a sort of "avenger". He could have cut shoot promos about "backstage politics" and how Hogan, Hall and Nash had played politics to get where they were. He could say that politics had ruined his previous career and he was there to put a stop to politics in WCW before it ruined that company too.
Part of why Bret was initially a referee is that, according to the terms of his WWF contract, he couldn't wrestle for a certain period after his release.
Thanks for showing a bigger story there than just the bits people remember. There were some good matches (and really, if it isn't overbooked, you could always rely on Bret to give a good match, just have two people competing for 10-30 minutes without weird interference), but there were so many terrible decisions along the way. As for Russo & Bischoff both giving less than truthful accounts of things, unfortunately, the nature of pro wrestling is that self-promotion is important above almost everything else, so everyone who even used to be in the business but still wants to be sort of connected to it will be a relentless self-promoter, and thus you can never get the whole story from most of them.
Watching this all over on Reliving the War; he was admittedly pretty much always presented as a main event star in WCW, but his run consisted of a whole series of “step 1”s for storylines and never a fleshed-out narrative arc.
Hart should have been booked in a feud with Hall and Nash. It was a ready made feud. And Hart manhandling both of them would have kept his momentum going…
What's really weird about the Hogan v Hart thing is that there's some supposed lost media / mandela effect about it where people claim that there was a photoshoot in the early 90's when they were both in WWF of them playing tug o war with the title belt.
Even tho I don't remember that exact picture (which might still exist), that beginning of a storyline was definitely true. I did own that issue of the WWF magazine (the German version for what's it worth). It was probably in May of 1993, between WMIX and KOTR (the one that Bret won) and I remember an article comparing the strengths and weaknesses of both Bret and Hogan and how a match between them would end, clearly hinting at a future match happening at Summer Slam. Then Hogan apparently dropped out of his commitment and the WWE, dropped the belt to Yoko at KOTR and trashed the WWF in Japan for the next months. Bret was left winning KOTR but that led to nothing for him until he co-won Royal Rumble 1994.
The fact that you omitted the backstage brawl (save for a single clip) between Bret & Sting during their feud leading up to Halloween Havoc is a crime as it's the greatest backstage brawl ever.
Re: Blunder 2 - their hands were legally tied with Hart's non-compete period. I agree that a stare down with Sting (or Hogan) would've been better than what they did, but you can't discuss this w/o at least acknowledging the non-compete period.
18:28 Dude, red Crow Sting with Goatee is CRAZY. It always slips my mind, and jump scares me every time I see it again. An outrageous look. I can't tell if it's amazing or deserves a blunder point.
A screw job like that would mess you up for life. It's not like Tim being fired from the grocery store. This was a highly respected megastar celebrity who was publically excommunicated
To be fair, that plan about Bret being a top guy on Thunder was back when Eric was positioning WCW for a Brand Split. Once nWo Nitro failed, it was back to square one.
I don't know if you watch the Stevie Richards show but he gave your channel a shout out and asked if you can give him some pointers on editing I think it was the episode where he talks about godfather in Right To Censor
Hi Ryan, I have never watched any of these Blunder videos before, and I am not sure why as I am subscribed. I really like this format and found it extremely entertaining. I was one of the ones looking out for the blunder points. Poor Brett didn't have the best of it in the late nineties at all. You really feel for him with the stuff that happened with the WWF and WCW. The only problem I have with him is that he really comes across as a whiner. Maybe it's justified but it doesn't help his cause at all.
I still find it interesting that... One of The Hitman's first shots outside of Stampede was in Amarillo for the Funks.... ... then fast forward to the accidental end of his in-ring career, and one of his last televised matches? ....................... is against Terry Funk.
His whole run was so confusing for a 10-12 year old watching WCW at the time. He seemed to switch allegiance every week and it was impossible to know as a young wrestling fan whether you were supposed to like this guy or not, especially when the majority of his early run was just shooty promos. I wasn't old enough to see him in WWF, so this was sadly my introduction to a guy I've grown to learn is arguably the best to ever do it.
A concussion during training was a contributing factor to ending my wrestling career before it even got started. Definitely not something to mess around with when you're in the ring.
One (positive) thing I always remember was when Rick Rude was with Curt, he never took bumps except to Bret, because Rick trusted Bret and knew Bret would take care of him.
Bret needed a “That doesn’t work for me, eh” clause in his contract.
He had one. Then Vince shat all over it.
@ Like it was a paralegal.
"Uh who are you to doubt El Dandy" will never not be funny 😂
"How about Hypnosis? I was gonna give him a title shot!"
He's a jam-up guy!
He's a serious professional.
Doubting El Dandy is why I stopped watching wrestling.
So to recap, the only idea WCW ever had for Bret was "do a shock heel turn". Over and over.
WCW as a company. Had no idea how to book a wrestling show. They got lucky with a couple of good ideas, at a downtime for WWF and wrestling as a whole. However once WWF worked out what the fans were now wanting. It was just a matter of time before it was game over for WCW.
I can't fathom how WCW was unable to track down and employ experienced bookers, even bringing some out of retirement or something idk. Did WCW simply not have the long standing connections like WWF had?
@@HULK-HOGAN1 who you think they could have brought in? Who would you bring in?
WCW to their credit did try to bring in Vince Russo, during this time. The booking was shocking. However after he left WWF for WCW. WWFs booking actually did suffer, during the second half of 99 especially. Which is being covered on this channel. With the poor booking of Kane, having a girlfriend and feelings and the whole Big Shows angle with Bossman. Also early 2000 would give us the Mae Young gives birth to a hand angle. This era always gets heralded as some sort of untouchable golden era for wrestling. However both companies had their fair share of terrible booking and angles.
Also swerve him to the new nwo2000 leader with hall Nash and double J?!? What a roster.
@@HULK-HOGAN1they had Dusty and Watts as bookers at various points. Ole Anderson had been the head booker for awhile in the 80’s I believe. Ric Flair was on the booking committee at one point. The other major problem was that the Turner television people didn’t like wrestling or trust wrestling people.
The Hitman is one of my all time personal favorites. Bret Hart deserved A LOT better than what he was dealt after 1997.
Was NOT expecting to see you here
WCW was such a dumpster fire, it almost seemed deliberate.
@@AreaEightyNine Aside from the tail end of the year Bret had an amazing 1997. His character development was the best it had been in years and he was still one of the best performers in the industry.
Desrved better than what?
Bret got paid the max to do the least.
@yoholmes273 Money is not everything
Great video!
I love how, in his book, Bret shares the reason he was always in street clothes in WCW was because there was no locker room security and his gear kept getting stolen!
😂😂😂 Unbelievable. Such a WCW thing. They couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot. It's unreal
I genuinely believe Hulk Hogan was the guy primarily keeping Bret down in WCW and Bischoff just takes the bullet for it all.
Bischoff is an absolute clown. Bischoff killed WCW.
Dont be dumb-on-purpose
Biachoff’s a clown but Hogan and Goldberg bored the fans all the way to WWF.
@@sirkjohno0129 Well Bischoff was the one who wrote the creative control clause into Hogans contract so he kinda deserves it
@@yoholmes273 Your right Eric killed WCW him and his boyfriend Hogan killed WCW
But, Bischoff was the boss. If he wasn’t so concerned about ball-washing Hulk Hogan maybe things would’ve been different.
Replying to this video live from Hitman’s bar in Calgary,
* dramatic pause* Alberta Canada
It’s the Canadian rule. Can’t do just city and province. Can’t do just city and country. It’s got to be city……province, country.
If I could be serious for a moment
@@zlinedavid 1) It's city... province, country.
2) Always remember to be serious for a minute (possibly without being interrupted)
3) Use the superior Canadian Metric System
4) Don't blame Canada, blame yourself
@@tafua_aThat's always gonna be classic.
Irony of Vince McMahon not being a rasslin' guy is that he knew how to showcase the ultimate ring technician of the '90s. WCW saw the Montreal Screwjob as an opportunity to present a heel mid-carder.
Ofc, cause anything else wouldn't work for "him," brother.
@@PJBlickBLaming Hogan because Bret SUCKED in WCW is just soooooooo modern day kid MARK nonsense.
@@PJBlick You still could have had some wiggle room. There were wrestlers that Hogan was willing to do the job to. Use those to transition Bret into the main event.
@yoholmes273 Dude get off your high horse. Hogan is and always will be a selfish jerk and Bret for all his faults is one 0f the greatest wrestlers in the world so show bloody respect you bloody smark
@@yoholmes273yea I bet hogan had zero influence over bischoff and wcw right?
2 years??? It took 2 years to get a heavyweight title match? Absolutely crazy!!!
I’m very sad that WCW didn’t handle him better
"So (Bret) could be one of the lowest drawing champions in WCW like he was in WWE? Nah."
- Eric Bischoff
Twitter
@@AWrestlingHistorian eric bishoff should look at his own ideas before saying bret couldnt draw money as champ
Another way that Bret Hart was misused by WCW was that Bret did not get much of a chance to work with Alex Wright, Norman Smiley, El Dandy, or David Flair.
Bret v. Brat(wurst) was such an obvious match.
Beat me to it! 😂
Bret Hart vs David Flair....I would've sold my entire body to see that match.
@@BlueLighteningGojo
Brett would have pulled a classic out of David Flair.
El Dandy. Now, that was a person who had that jam. It would have been an all-time classic.
His greatest moment was when he shouted out Smokey………his cat!
your an animal!!!!
"To say that Bret Hart was the most talked about wrestler after Survivor Series 97 would be an understatement" is in itself, an understatement. Bret was the most talked about wrestler leading up to the Survivor Series. I was at the last house show before SS in Detroit, and everyone wanted to see if he was going to drop the belt before the Big show. I think Survivor Series 97 might have been the moment where the casual fan started understanding there were dirt sheets and such.
His time in WCW is a microcosm of everything wrong with the promotion.
I was watching a stevie Richard's video earlier and he was shouting out wrestling bios editing skills, and hes right, best made wrestling videos on youtube
Definitely needs more video footage weaved in
@@HULK-HOGAN1 Would love to, honestly. It would make editing a lot easier and would save a ton of time. WWE just completely wreck me for using clips these days and they take the videos down.
@WrestlingBios it's a shame they keep doing that, you think there would be an upside to someone promoting them like this
@@WrestlingBiosyou should be working for wwe tbh.
But I know they would totally ruin your creativity though.
Just a quick thank you message for all the entertainement you give us each week . Keep it up ! :)
Bret's promo from the Toronto Nitro is still special when I watch it.
Bret was so over with his Canadian fans and his delivery is spot on.
The awesome steel plate angle is just icing.
Then he said "I quite" like an absolute goof.
@@yoholmes273 Yea, I choose to cut off just before that. LOL
But it is a strong promo.
For all the praise going Bret’s way, I still feel he remains underrated. As an in-ring performer. But also on the mic. Terrific face, terrific heel, the greatest technical wrestler this business has seen by a long long way. People talk of Mt. Rushmore and Bret barely sneaks in. If it were me, I’d have four Brets on Mt. Rushmore, have four Mt. Rushmores and then there’d come other wrestlers waiting in line.
The pink and black attack.
The excellence of execution.
The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart 🐐
All facts
Who are WE to doubt El Dandy? Bret is, was, and always will be my favorite of all time.
Bret Vs Hypnosis
The Match we all wanted but never got.
Fun fact with Brett Hart last WWE run. It looked sad and pathetic on tv but at house shows Bret could still go. He had an insurance pay out from the Lourdes of London and had many stipulations within it so he was very careful not to go full speed on television. At house shows it was a different thing. He went hard and looked like Bret of old. You can still find some 2010 house show content on UA-cam
Brett Baer? That’s the FOX News host. I know you meant Hart.
He ment Brit Hume
Even at house shows Bret didn't take bumps. He threw a lot of strikes and reversals. He looked more amazing than on PPV but I think that was because his opponent was Vince lol
@@ninowaves4061 Bret Baer also works for FOX
@@matthewwoods1016 😂
Awesome episode of WCW blunder bret Hart's run in WCW was indeed a blunder great video.
I want you to know, that these videos of yours make my weeks better. Thank you so much. Greetings from Finland and Kiitos.
For Brets debut Id have him be a surprise opponent for Scott Hall at Starcade where the winner will referee the main event. Bret wins ofc. Then just have Sting beat Hogan clean and start the Sting vs Bret rivalry
Bret was on a 60 day no compete clause hence why he didn't work a match until Souled Out against Flair.
Here's what I'd do with Bret for Starrcade:
1. Don't hype him up. Yeah everyone knew he going to Atlanta after Survivor Series, but WCW would still be better off by at least trying to make it a surprise.
2. During the main event have Hogan try to run away but have Bret appear at the entrance ramp and drag the Orange Goblin back to the ring to help Sting.
Sheamus’ opinion of Bret Hart in WCW: “Blunder after blunder after blunder after blunder!”
Any time he doesn't understand something, he calls it a blunder, and all the WWE fans cheer because hatred for WCW getting back to back ratings better than the WWE always leaves them with salty bitter tears.
But the best moment was the mentioning of the Jammiest of Jam Ups, Smoky, his Cat! :D
Thank you for the fantastic summary at the end of the video! Well spoke!
Man as someone that watched WCW religiously at the time. Watching this video of Bret’s run was more painful than I remember. You’re absolutely right, there was no continuity week to week of his character or motivations. It feels like they came up with just whatever they could think of 5 minutes before the show
That's kind of the narrative he wants to create. Another angle is that Bret had a lot of opportunities he wasted. I used to like Bret, but he has just become a sad, bitter, broken record.
@@JohnCrawford1979he’s not even bitter
Bret Hart wrestled Disco Inferno on Thunder... that's a Blunder point
Lmaooo
It's honestly unfortunate that Bret didn't fully get to grasp his time with WCW as he was still top notch in the ring.
Bret Hart had another 10 years of top notch wrestling left in him. Huge waste opportunity. I hate Vince for breaking the contact. At times I wished Bret didn't punch him so he could have sued Vince into the stratosphere
Eric Bischoff, to his credit, does own up to his part in not making Bret work. He admits he had no idea what to do with him, and also says that Bret had no real spark in his attitude once he came to WCW, since the Montreal incident really broke his heart. On top of that, Owen died during his run, and further depressed him.
That said I think that Bret was right that Bischoff had no idea how to really run a wrestling company and that everything was such a clusterf*ck behind the scenes that Bret didn't have much to work with. The whole nWo angle worked great for a while, but fell apart after not too long. There really was no singular cause to the issues.
I also do believe that while Goldberg did cut his career short with that kick, Bret probably didn't have that many good years left in him. He was 42 at the time, and had been wrestling for over 2 decades. Not only had he been wrestling, but he was considered a workhorse who rarely took vacations so he was wearing himself down through all that time. While 42 is by no means old in current wrestling (AJ Styles is 47, R Truth is 52), very few wrestlers of the time managed to make it to 50 and still wrestle, much less wrestle well. Bret was still good, and I would even say still in his prime, but that wouldn't have lasted past 45, and I think he wouldn't have been wrestling good enough for his own standards before 50.
Still, I wish he had made it and had the chance to retire with full dignity and have a chance to slow down and maybe show the next generation how it's done, instead of basically being pried away from the ring he loved so much.
all of this is true. It can be 2 things at once that Bret wasn't 100% Bret and that Eric didn't know how to use him to his full potential. Honestly, Eric used him like he did others with a lot of inconsistency. His head was too far up Hogan's rear at the time to see it especially when paying him that kind of money. It doesn't help that Bret wasn't like others that came from WWF like Hogan, Piper, Savage, Hall and Nash and guys that had a lot of ideas of what they wanted to do. Bret wasn't that forward about it and Eric was not like Vince to control things
Also, Bret was on the back end of his peak. It's talked about like Bret got injured in the middle of his prime or something. He also mentioned in one interview about a Sid incident that made his concussions worse where he took a few bumps including the powerbomb that made him see stars
I blame Eric for allowing Hogan creative control that continuously hamstrung what he and his predecessor could do. I can totally see Hogan agreeing to wrestle Brett one month and then change his mind the following month. WCW may have survived had they fired Hogan for totally messing up the Starcade finish. Eric still makes excuses for Hogan to this day.
Honestly, I think that he could have had more than 3 years, in 2001 WCW folded, and he could have afforded lighter schedules with ROH and TNA.
I totally see him retiring in 2005, maybe against Kurt Angle, in that year Bret did accept an olive branch from WWE.
Bischoff is just making excuses. Owen died 17 months after Bret joined WCW.
As a hockey fan, I loved seeing Bret wearing hockey shirts and jerseys to the ring. Seeing Calgary Hitmen gear on US TV at the time was wild.
Wcw was a real hartbreaker
Hulk Hogan: Bret just not on my level Brother 😊
He never was
@@yoholmes273 Don't make a fool of yourself!
@@yoholmes273 Hogan WAS NEVER IN BRET HART LEVEL🙂
Bret's entrance music in wwf was so iconic. It felt strange not hearing it in WCW and it made me realize how important the entrance music is. WCW could have at least worked a little harder with his theme music but it sounded half-assed like everything else.
I learned one thing from this and that's not to doubt El Dandy
Goldberg eats corn the long way 🌽
😂😂😂😂
That sign will never get old
Another modern day MARK ....
@@yoholmes273don’t get yourself worked over a 25 year old sign
Reading Bret's book and understanding how banged up his body was at that point, even without the Goldberg kick his career wouldn't have lasted much longer.
Really? How so?
@@gatchywatchyentertainmentb2090Because by 1999 he was 42 and had a lot of wear and tear on his body from his career. Plus after the Screwjob, Owen's death and dealing with how toxic WCW was, the man was just mentally shot.
I wish he didn't get hurt during that match with Goldberg, just so he could take a break in 2001, recover and then maybe go to Ring of Honor to have bangers with CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. If there was one company he would have thrived in, it was ROH.
What I think would have happened without the kick is he sits out the remainder of the Turner contract when WWF buys out WCW which gives him time to stay home and rest and then he has another couple years left when he goes back to WWF, probably retiring from full time wrestling at 50, with appearances sporadically after that.
@@tafua_aROH couldn’t afford Bret Hart.
Bret watching himself sign with WCW Interstellar-style 📚...
"😭NO! NO! NOO! NOOOO!"
Thanks for the video, as Bret is my favorite ever. Very very well done video, congrats! Wow.. these 2 years were hard to follow, storyline wise. 🙄 Bret deserved better for sure after 5 years on top of the WWF!
Thank you for another great video.
Bret Hart not getting the push he deserves has everything to do with backstage politics, and no person was more influential in vetoed pushes than Hogan. His creative control card is unmatched in wrestling history and kept him relevant when his star should have long since died out. You can follow a lot of the storylines that ended nonsensical or abruptly and see Hogan's hand in it. Whenever a possible torch passing opponent came, Hogan basically with Bischoff's influence buried their career in an avalanche of poor storylines, nonsensical booking, putting them on the back burner, till their hype or relevancy have been spent. Hogan thought the business was only there to serve him and therefore became the company's biggest trap in not reaching it's consistent goals
Have you ever thought that's part of the reason? I'm sick of this whole BS that Bret deserved this, or Bret deserved that. Sure, he had that wonderful line of being the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. Problem is, there's always someone better, and he couldn't solo it. The biggest part of the Hit Man was being a part of the Hart family. Take away the family name and fame and he's at best a mid-card.
The narrative about Bret being a "shell" peddled by Eric Bischoff and others is nonsense and in Bischoff's case a cop-out to shift the blame onto a talent he mismanaged.
Bret had matches with Booker T, Benoit, Flair, Sting, Jarrett, DDP and others in WCW which ranged from good to great. He hadn't lost much of a step in the ring and still put in the effort. The quality of his work was neutered by the lacklustre presentation and constant, senseless heel turns.
Imagine how Bret feels when Flair and Funk could have decent matches at 60 and he didn't even make it to 50 . If wcw sent him to the doctor right after the kick, he probably could have
Or if he didn't bang his head on the floor during the figure 4 spot. Remember, the kick was his second concussion, which I honestly partly attribute to the fact that Bret was already concussed and couldn't protect himself properly.
@@tafua_a nah, when a wrestler kicks you, it should be soft
@@frankyturrizo4240 Yeah, it should be soft. But things don't always go as planned. Same with Owen Hart almost breaking Stone Colds neck with that Piledriver. I doubt that he would lecture Owen for that if Owen was still alive and Stone Cold would've gpt a career ending injury because auf that. Mistakes happen and while i regard Bret Hart as one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time, i can't hear him talking about the same stuff for 25 years anymore. Goldberg failed but Bret Hart should've gone to the doctor immediately to check if everything is fine. Instead he wrestled half a dozen matches after that, even the hardcore match against Funk with that chair shots to the head. Bret Hart wasn't at fault for the kick, but he was at fault for not taking care after it. But yeah, maybe being bitter about the whole thing for another 25 years will do the trick.
Brets demeanor in WCW just wasn't the same. Truly a wasted opportunity with a fresh superstar who people know coming off a legit screw job. Bret could have truly been a megastar in WCW
he already was a mega star
Eric bischoff wasted Bret hart in WCW
Sadly there were too many other megastars in WCW by the time Bret arrived. The roster was ridiculously bloated.
They really missed the mark with Bret the eejits
That wouldn't have worked for a certain someone, brother!
No sunny days in WCW just clouds and despair
Here's another Blunder. Bret attacked Bulldog and Neidhart on an episode of Thunder in September 1999 to aid Lex Luger. Bret had always valued his family members. WCW decided to throw the Hart Foundation out the window.
If they insisted on keeping the nWo around that long, they could have built the Hart Foundation as an opposing stable. Given that Davey Boy and Anvil were both in WCW by mid ‘97, bring in Jericho and Benoit to fill the Owen and Pillman slots. Might have changed history.
Yet no one remembers this but everyone remembers Hulkster turning on all those little Hulkamaniacs.
No world title shots until Oct 99 is such a blunder here. WCW, you dropped the ball
It would've been perfect if Bret used the "lost smile" bit when he was nursing his groin injury.
Bret Hart and the real jam up guy his cat Smokey
And El Dandy. Don't you dare doubt him.
Bret was never going to get Hogan...Hulk is way too selfish...having Bret cut a promo where he responds to Vince is such a good idea and a great intro and even the easier course of action. I would love to know what Eric was thinking....I believe he had a lot on his plate at this time.... please correct me if I'm wrong.
Yeah half his damn career in Dubya See Dubya was calling out a man he’d never face and even if he did he’d either Job clean within 5 minutes or it would end in DQ. So in other words it would never be worth the wait or promos.
Thaaaats WCW!
it's really weird because Hogan has a history of jumping at the chance to make headlines and be in the spotlight. I can't think of another reason besides his own ego when Bret had so much controversy and momentum when he entered the company
@@BenjaminBilyeu-jm3tc I think Hogan didn’t think Bret was in his league or something.
Correct, I can just hear Hogan being asked about a Match with the then redhot Brett Hart right after the Montreal Screwjob " That dont work for me, Brother!"
@@BenjaminBilyeu-jm3tcBecause the focus would have been on Bret, not Hogan.
3:50 Hell, even if WCW were obsessed with the referee thing, SURELY directly making Bret the Special Guest Referee for Hogan vs Sting would have been a better idea than the contrived nonsense they came up with. They could even keep the original finish, just have Bret be temporarily incapacitated and have Nick Patrick run in
As a huge fan at the time, like, a Canadian super fan, the Bischoff/Zsbisko thing just destroyed all of his momentum. It was like immediate confirmation that he had gone to a minor league.
I can't remember where I read this it might have been in either Ric Flair or Mick Foleys book that Vince foreshadowed Brets WCW run simply because "Eric Bischoff wouldn't even know how to book the Hitman"
What a fuckin disaster. So many missed opportunities. What a shame
I love videos like this, I remember my friends hated wcw and people who liked it so I never watched it. So as a kid it was like Bret was gone from wrestling after survivor series. So always cool to hear what he was up to even if it wasn't all great
I was so pissed that Bret left WWF and he didn’t even want to.
Bret was definitely being misused in WCW.
Pause
Just to be fair, Bret couldnt have wrestled at Starrcade because of is no-compete clause which didnt allow him to wrestle
They could have just waited until he could actually wrestle.
Both things are true
He have hand injury 🤕
I figured it was something like that.
Still, the special guest referee position was a weird call.
Starcade wasn’t the time for his debut as admittedly WCW were too invested in the Sting-Hogan storyline.
But they should have had him chasing the title in early 1998 once all that was in the rear view mirror
WCW took the biggest name in wrestling in December 1997 and ruined him within half a year. It was criminal what Bischoff (and Hogan) did to him.
Love your videos a video on what Brett did good inwcw ?
I was born in 1990 and remember seeing him on TV. I got into WWF around 98, not long after bret left for WCW and i wasnt into WCW all that much so never watched him over on nitro. Wasnt until i grew up that i realised how damn good he was. The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be.
I actually think the best use of Bret from the moment he came in was to go after the nWo as a sort of "avenger". He could have cut shoot promos about "backstage politics" and how Hogan, Hall and Nash had played politics to get where they were. He could say that politics had ruined his previous career and he was there to put a stop to politics in WCW before it ruined that company too.
Even after watching this video, I'm still failing to find the good in Bret's WCW run.
Part of why Bret was initially a referee is that, according to the terms of his WWF contract, he couldn't wrestle for a certain period after his release.
Absolutely amazing video the detail and info is what i like there isn't anything wrong in from what you said well done
Thanks for showing a bigger story there than just the bits people remember. There were some good matches (and really, if it isn't overbooked, you could always rely on Bret to give a good match, just have two people competing for 10-30 minutes without weird interference), but there were so many terrible decisions along the way. As for Russo & Bischoff both giving less than truthful accounts of things, unfortunately, the nature of pro wrestling is that self-promotion is important above almost everything else, so everyone who even used to be in the business but still wants to be sort of connected to it will be a relentless self-promoter, and thus you can never get the whole story from most of them.
Watching this all over on Reliving the War; he was admittedly pretty much always presented as a main event star in WCW, but his run consisted of a whole series of “step 1”s for storylines and never a fleshed-out narrative arc.
Great video as always 💎💎💎💎😎😎😎😎
With Bret Hart in WCW and how he was used, it reminds me of how people said Vince McMahon used WCW wrestlers in WWF/E.
Hart should have been booked in a feud with Hall and Nash. It was a ready made feud. And Hart manhandling both of them would have kept his momentum going…
Excellent video as always, that said I hate ‘reliving’ this particular Hart breaking garbage
What's really weird about the Hogan v Hart thing is that there's some supposed lost media / mandela effect about it where people claim that there was a photoshoot in the early 90's when they were both in WWF of them playing tug o war with the title belt.
Even tho I don't remember that exact picture (which might still exist), that beginning of a storyline was definitely true.
I did own that issue of the WWF magazine (the German version for what's it worth). It was probably in May of 1993, between WMIX and KOTR (the one that Bret won) and I remember an article comparing the strengths and weaknesses of both Bret and Hogan and how a match between them would end, clearly hinting at a future match happening at Summer Slam. Then Hogan apparently dropped out of his commitment and the WWE, dropped the belt to Yoko at KOTR and trashed the WWF in Japan for the next months. Bret was left winning KOTR but that led to nothing for him until he co-won Royal Rumble 1994.
Going from WWF champion to debuting as a referee to Hogan/Sting was like a complete slap in the face.
Not even the champion part the fact his last appearance on tv was getting screwed by a red and Vince and now he is the ref is a slap
10:25, Scott Steiner almost got pantsed by the Hitman. lol
The fact that you omitted the backstage brawl (save for a single clip) between Bret & Sting during their feud leading up to Halloween Havoc is a crime as it's the greatest backstage brawl ever.
What a CHANCE to finally see Bret vs Hogan, and see Hogan’s BEST MATCH EVER! But WCW did NOT make it happen!
They did, on a random episode of Nitro that ended in DQ and if memory serves me right they only did that match to randomly turn Bret heel.
Hogan *was* the reason why it never happened.
@@TheChrisPhoenixfor not even 4 MINUTES!
Hogan is egomaniac he would never do that
@@TheChrisPhoenix worst part is that Hogan pulled out the stops and started wrestling like he was in Japan, which was really cool to see.
Re: Blunder 2 - their hands were legally tied with Hart's non-compete period. I agree that a stare down with Sting (or Hogan) would've been better than what they did, but you can't discuss this w/o at least acknowledging the non-compete period.
18:28 Dude, red Crow Sting with Goatee is CRAZY. It always slips my mind, and jump scares me every time I see it again. An outrageous look. I can't tell if it's amazing or deserves a blunder point.
bret was mentality checked out after the screw job and the death of owen hart
A screw job like that would mess you up for life. It's not like Tim being fired from the grocery store. This was a highly respected megastar celebrity who was publically excommunicated
To be fair, that plan about Bret being a top guy on Thunder was back when Eric was positioning WCW for a Brand Split. Once nWo Nitro failed, it was back to square one.
Interesting video. (Y) I watched this all on TV as a kid but the "storyline" was lost on me. 😅 It still is but at least now I've got some explanation.
I don't know if you watch the Stevie Richards show but he gave your channel a shout out and asked if you can give him some pointers on editing I think it was the episode where he talks about godfather in Right To Censor
I liked his feud with Mad TV personality Will Sasso. That was entertaining.
Hi Ryan,
I have never watched any of these Blunder videos before, and I am not sure why as I am subscribed. I really like this format and found it extremely entertaining. I was one of the ones looking out for the blunder points. Poor Brett didn't have the best of it in the late nineties at all. You really feel for him with the stuff that happened with the WWF and WCW. The only problem I have with him is that he really comes across as a whiner. Maybe it's justified but it doesn't help his cause at all.
Anyone else love thunder in paradise as a kid? Used to pretend we were cruseing on that sweet boat😂
I still find it interesting that...
One of The Hitman's first shots outside of Stampede was in Amarillo for the Funks....
... then fast forward to the accidental end of his in-ring career, and one of his last televised matches?
....................... is against Terry Funk.
Hogan said to Eric, don't allow Bret to rise to the top here.
My favorite wrestler of all time the hitman
What would have made the most sense? Bret going specifically after The Outsiders after debuting given they were ya know, Shawn's best friends?
I’m 2 mins into this video…and I just want to thank you for this great channel
Why are we saying Bret vs. Hogan never happened when it happened on Nitro in 1998?
It didn’t happen. It was a five min match that just ended with him rejoining the nwo
His whole run was so confusing for a 10-12 year old watching WCW at the time. He seemed to switch allegiance every week and it was impossible to know as a young wrestling fan whether you were supposed to like this guy or not, especially when the majority of his early run was just shooty promos. I wasn't old enough to see him in WWF, so this was sadly my introduction to a guy I've grown to learn is arguably the best to ever do it.
A concussion during training was a contributing factor to ending my wrestling career before it even got started. Definitely not something to mess around with when you're in the ring.
Bret was grossly missused in WCW, just like Sting was grossly missused in WWE
Bret’s whole wcw run is the reason we are all fantasy bookers at heart.
The truth of the matter is,
No one was going to be bigger than Hogan PERIOD
No matter who it was, he just would never allow it
To be fair with Starrcade 97, Bret wasn't involved in the main event until Sting showed up without a tan.
Bret Hart and Goldberg: the beef that was, the beef that is, and the beef that always will be
YEAHHHHH MONDAY NIGHT WRESTLING BIOS
Needed this distraction from the Browns game
😂😂😂😂 so much
Dan Jones just outplayed the Browns multimillion dollar QB Deshawn Weinstein.