Was Bret's time over in 97?

[willywonka666]

Had he not left and we didn't have the screw job, wasn't his time as champ about over? He was 40 and represented the old guard almost by that point(if you want to consider being a consummate pro on tv, the old guard) while Shawn was 32 and making waves,

It's sad but it seems like Bret was going to have to pass the torch whether he wanted to or not.

Thoughts?

[FinalGwen]

I think he could have still lasted a long while after that in the main event. Considering how many extra years they got out of Shawn and managed to present him as a main event figure, a decade after any waves were made... Even if Bret wasn't always champion, he could have been easily slotted in for feuds with the champ, and depended on for quality matches whenever they needed him.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Bret in 1997 was excellent in the ring, willing to work with practically anyone (compared to Shawn) and he'd really come into his own on the mic as a snarky heel, so yeah, he still had a lot of mileage left and the WWF agreed, given how they'd recently signed Bret to a 20 year deal. His departure was purely financial as he didn't want to jeopardise the future of a company that had, up to that point, treated him and his family so well.

Painting Shawn as a hot up and comer who was making waves is wide of the mark however, given how they'd been pushing him every bit as long as Bret and even harder to boot, given how as of January 1997, he was a 3 time former IC champ (when the belt meant something), 2 time former tag champ and a former world champion. Despite that push, and Bret passing the torch to him at Wrestlemania XII, he didn't do all that well when on top. At that point he was more the Randy Orton of today than Steve Austin, someone who really was making waves back then.

[TGM]

Imagine how hot a Bret vs. Austin match would have been at Wrestlemania 14 with the title on the line.

But after that, where would Bret slot in? I like to think he'd take some time off for his health, or just retire completely.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Nah, if Bret wouldn't have left, I think he would have held the title till Wrestlemania 14. Bret vs Austin a year after their classic (IMO the greatest match ever), and this time for the WWF Title. That's when they would have given Austin his first clean win over Bret. They probably would have had Austin tear through the Hart Foundation leading up to Mania.

The storyline would have made perfect sense, and I think Vince would have had it play out that way.

After that, I don't know. Maybe have the Hart Foundation involved in the DX vs Nation feud.

[Crusty Ruffles]

There was plenty left to keep him on the upper card and working with the newest wave of talent. I could see him in that role, either heel or face, where he's a solid upper card hand that could be slotted into the title picture when needed and then harmlessly moved back down.

[CMWaters]

Well, without what happened, we wouldn't have had some of the bigger stuff of the Attitude Era (mostly Evil Vince McMahon), so it's hard to say.

At the very least, I could have seen him taking over the "Good Authority" figure and be a true replacement to Gorilla Monsoon.

[________ has left the building]

I do sense if Bret did stick around, WWF would had made him the new Bob Backlund: a throwback who lost his mind.

[agent817]

Didn't Bret say that he didn't like the direction the WWF was going at the time? I know he didn't like the racial angles, the sexual stuff, and other things that weren't kid-friendly.

[RedDevil]

Wasn't part of the 20 year deal based on him wrestling only a few more years before "going upstairs" as an agent or something?

I doubt he would've wrestled much longer than he actually did (though hopefully he'd make the decision himself rather than due to injury). Maybe he could work with Angle for a bit, with his final big programme being against Benoit/the Radicals? Then after that maybe the odd legend-type re-appearances, or maybe short runs if they had someone he could really do something special with (Punk maybe?) if he didn't have his stroke or concussion issues?

[OGBoardPoster2005]

My question is...if Bret doesn't leave and we get that Austin/Hart program at WM 14.....what exactly is Shawn doing then?

[Deleted]

I had heard, That Bret was going to go to Wrestlemania 14 and loose to Steve Austin. Austin wins the title and Bret retires and moves into a booking job. Maybe wrestling occasionally.

That seems to be the likely thing as Austin was white hot and they would have been insane to keep him away from the title.

BUt I do think that Bret had a lot more left in the tank and could have wrestled on for years. He was still putting on great matches...until he faced Goldberg in that fateful match.

[wwefan71080]

If Bret had stayed then Austin wouldn't have become one of the greatest of all time as far as reaction

[willywonka666]

Oct 11, 2013 10:55:48 GMT -5 agent817 said:

Didn't Bret say that he didn't like the direction the WWF was going at the time? I know he didn't like the racial angles, the sexual stuff, and other things that weren't kid-friendly.

And he wound up being a heel for saying it on tv. The wrestling world was being turned upside down and he would have seemed kinda corny sadly if he stuck around. Did he like playing the heel generally?

[amaron]

Morbid hypothetical: If Bret stayed, would Owen still be alive?

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Ideally, here's what I see, but I can't find a way to make it work without him taking someone else's spot.

Survivor Series, Shawn wins the title, and then takes a vacation, things happen as they did, Shawn v Taker, gets injured, passes the torch. After Vince tries to make Austin his corporate champion, gets his ass kicked, he brings out his hand picked champion, the ultimate company man Bret Hart. Austin battle him over the summer. You still have the midcard with The Rock gaining momentum, then in the Deadly Game tournament, he takes the Mankind role, being screwed over and discarded for The Rock, the future of the business.

[rybackrulez]

I became a bigger bret fan in his wcw run.

His promos and two faced heel character were great. His best promos were in wcw and i became a bigger fan thanks to him being a prick. WCW knew how to make credible heels

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

In '97 WWF? I don't think so. The guard was changing. In wrestling in general, and then back in WWF in '01? Yeah I could see it.

In fact, Bret leading the WCW charge back to try and destroy McMahon after McMahon destroyed him?

[NOwave]

i think Bret had really just come into his own as far as promos go in 1997. Plus, he could still go in the ring, so yeah, he could have stayed as a Main Event guy. Or, he could have been a Main Event guy with WCW, had they used him right. Bret was the perfect guy to team with Sting against the NWO. Hart (with Sting in his corner) vs Hogan for the world title in April or so of 1998? Could be. But then what do you do with Goldberg, the biggest face they'd ever developed? Another alternative: Build up the Bret vs Ric Flair angle appropriately, Their confrontation in the ring with Gene Okerland in January, 1998 was terrific, and then it fizzled. If they could find a way to work together, they could have been the alternate Main event to the NWO and whoever. Tough call.....But there's no doubt in my mind he COULD have been a top guy for several more years.

[Deleted]

Yeah I think the Monday night wars wasn't Bret's time. His 1997 WWF work was among the best stuff any wrestler ever pulled off, but based on interviews it sounds like he was dreading where the overall product was headed, and his character was just so dark on his way out that I don't think WWE could have sustained that without it becoming a parody of itself somewhere down the line. Speaking selfishly, if you take away the fact that it devastated him and really sent him on a rough path in life, the Montreal Screwjob was a really poetic end for the Bret Hart character. One of the best wrestlers and biggest role models in the WWE slowly picked apart and broken by a business that doesn't care how great you are or how nice you are, but how popular you are to a point of insanity. I think Bret Hart's time in WWE had to be one of the most complete and compelling narratives of anyone WWE's ever had.

But yeah I don't think wrestling was the place for Bret Hart post-Screwjob whether it happened or not. WWF would have gotten really wacky with him for sure, WCW obviously didn't know what to do with him. In a perfect world he would have taken a sabbatical and came back when there was room for him to come back and resume being "the Excellence of Execution". The perfect scenario would be Bret Hart coming back and mixing it up with the Smackdown Six.