The legendary career of Bret Hart saw him prime coming nearly three decades ago with noteworthy stints in WWE and WCW. Any wrestler to have a run as relevant as Bret in the public eye will end up seeing their fans having some harsh realities involved in their careers. No one has a perfect stint in wrestling with all good matches and great programs. <\/p>\n
RELATED: 10 Wrestlers Bret Hart Successfully Got Over <\/p>\n
However, Hart is on the short list of all-time respected names that will get treated with full appreciation from the wrestling community. That makes it harder to pinpoint his lower moments of what could have been different. Each of the following memories from Brets career will look in depth at some harsh realities from his career. <\/p>\n
Bret Harts promo skills are among the rare weaknesses of his career when looking back. There were times when Bret cut great promos if the context of a feud or character made sense, but he wasnt as colorful or charismatic as most other wrestlers on his tier. <\/p>\n
RELATED: 5 Best Opponents Of Bret Hart's Wrestling Career (& 5 Worst) <\/p>\n
A wrestler as iconic is Hart has a tougher scale since hes on the short list of Mount Rushmore worthy talents. Names like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and The Rock all cut much better promos one for one. Even recent years of John Cena, CM Punk and Roman Reigns sees the top stars having stronger talking skills than Bret. <\/p>\n
WWE booked the feud between Bret Hart and Bob Backlund to showcase a former WWE Champion from over a decade ago trying to challenge the new top dog. Backlund beating Bret to win the title came due to Owen Hart manipulating the Hart parents to throw in a towel. <\/p>\n
Even with the story protecting Bret, the idea of him losing the title to Backlund should have been stopped from day one. Backlund didnt feel like a credible top star in 1994 and dropped the belt to Diesel days later. Hart suffered embarrassment from the worst possible name ending his title run. <\/p>\n
WCW made Starrcade their biggest annual event for the companys entire history. Every WCW talent hoped to have a main event level match on that event in the same manner that WWE talents treated and still treat WrestleMania like the highest honor. <\/p>\n
Bret Hart surprisingly was in arguably the worst Starrcade main event ever in 1999 against Goldberg when WCW did a horrible Montreal Screwjob recreation finish. Other matches like Hulk Hogan vs The Butcher, Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper and Sid Vicious vs Scott Steiner should be in the conversation, but Hart vs Goldberg is a strong contender. <\/p>\n
WWE fell into the habit of always wanting a popular authority figure character as part of the show for many years. Bret Hart was placed into the Raw General Manager role after his return to WWE in 2010 saw fans loving it and wanting to see more of him. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, a babyface authority figure always has a harder path, and Hart didnt feel too important compared to past names. Bret felt more like a figurehead that appeared to get a good pop every week. Nexus attacking Hart ended the Raw GM stint in lackluster fashion. <\/p>\n
Bret Hart thrived most due to the realism he presented himself as representing when holding the WWE Championship. However, not even Brets credibility could make some of the hokey storylines from the New Generation Era. <\/p>\n
Vince McMahon booked hokey characters and storylines during this time thinking it was the best way to tell stories. Harts feud with Jerry Lawler turned into both men wanting the other to kiss their feet for humiliation. Kane playing an evil dentist or Jean-Pierre LaFitte stealing Brets jacket were some of the stories Hart had to overcome. <\/p>\n
The first-ever WWE Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels may be the polarizing match in wrestling history today. Fans of 1996 loved it when seeing Michaels and Hart have an hour-long match in the main event of WrestleMania 12. <\/p>\n
RELATED: 5 Ways Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels Are Similar (& 5 Ways They're Different) <\/p>\n
Fans today have a hard time watching the slow and long match back since a criticism is that a large percentage of that match was rest hold based. Future Iron Man matches like The Rock vs Triple H, Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle, and the recent Bryan Danielson vs MJF outing from 2023 all showed that more exciting action can come with the format. <\/p>\n
WWE benefited immensely from Bret Hart returning to the company in 2010 after a long time away following the Montreal Screwjob. Hart agreed to even wrestle a match at WrestleMania 26 to give his in-ring career some closure when facing Vince McMahon. <\/p>\n
The idea of paying off this long history of tension by having Bret beat McMahon was great on paper, but it should have been a quick match five minutes or less given Harts limitations. WWE booked the match to go about twelve minutes with Bret hitting Vince with a chair for most of the time. <\/p>\n
Both Sting and Bret Hart using variations of the same finishing move with the scorpion death lock and sharpshooter made this a dream feud fans wanted to see. WCW somehow fumbled the bag by having a terrible program based more about the New World Order civil war than these two wrestlers. <\/p>\n
Halloween Havoc 1998 featured one of the worst matches of Brets career with WCWs creative ruining a nearly flawless concept on paper. Another match at Mayhem 1999 failed to live up to expectations as these two barely did anything of note when working against each other. <\/p>\n
It has become a joke of sorts that Bret Hart hates everyone and everything about wrestling today since he doesnt hide his opinions when asked. That criticism isnt fully fair as Bret also goes out of his way to praise names that he enjoys watching. <\/p>\n
The valid knock against Hart is that he gets too personal and makes some deeply insulting comments. Seth Rollins talked about Bret knocking his safety as a worker as being a low point of his career. Even old enemies like Goldberg get hit with a handful of insults from Hart per year after trying to make peace. <\/p>\n
Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart are friends today, but their fans still have the online debates about which was the better wrestler. Anyone saying Bret was the better overall performer has a fair argument until their career accomplishments are compared. <\/p>\n
Michaels having a longer run and a deeper library of all-time great matches puts him above Hart. It isnt fully fair to use Brets shortened career against him since he was forced to retire after WCW. However, any all-time great debate will lead to scenarios like this unfolding with longevity as part of the equation. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The rest is here:<\/p>\n
10 Harsh Realities About Bret Hart His Fans Need To Realize - TheSportster<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The legendary career of Bret Hart saw him prime coming nearly three decades ago with noteworthy stints in WWE and WCW. Any wrestler to have a run as relevant as Bret in the public eye will end up seeing their fans having some harsh realities involved in their careers. Continue reading