Bret Hart Would Be A Mid-Carder in 2007

[The Tree of Woe]

If Hart were around in his prime today, he would currently be languishing on Smackdown! in a feud with Matt Hardy.

Hart was in the right era, in the right company, at the right time. I fail to see how he consistently ranks in the top 3 of 'best ever' polls. SORELY over-rated, in my opinion.

Discuss.

[The Peoples Elbow]

That's just ridiculous. Bret Hart had charisma, technique, great workrate, and he would definitely be at HHH/HBK level.

[Arturo Classico]

I actually agree. Probaly Micheals if he came into WWE today he would be treated the same as well. It sucks really. Today it's how big you and not how talented you are.

[Dr. T is an alien]

thetreeofwoe said:

If Hart were around in his prime today, he would currently be languishing on Smackdown! in a feud with Matt Hardy.

and it would be the best thing going on WWE programming.

[MGH]

I tend to somewhat agree (except the part about him being over rated). I think he would be in the Chris Benoit spot. He would have gotten his eventual run on top, constantly holding the main midcard title, and having great midcard matches.

[bigHEADinc]

I think Hart would be exactly where Michaels is now... Throughout their time in the WWF, both men were treated as on-screen equals, so I don't see why Hart would've gone down to the mid-card...

[odor31]

Hart had no charisma...he never is, never was, and never will be anywhere near my top favorites...he'd be feuding with Kane on SD, top mid-card

[The OP]

It's pretty ignorant to say Hart had "no charisma" seeing how he was mega over as both a tag team and singles wrestler throughout most of his career, in the era of cartoony wrestlers!

Kids were already buying Bret Hart sunglasses when Hulkamania was running wild. People who got into wrestling during the Attitude Era don't understand that Bret was a huge star as part of the Hart Foundation before becoming a multiple time WWF champ. I love Ric Flair too, but it's almost comical for him to suggest that he somehow drew more money during this time than Bret Hart.

[Legion]

Hart would be upper mid-card. Like Benoit.

True he had charisma, but even then he sucked on the mic half the time.

[hollywood]

I agree, Bret would probably be a mid-carder by today's standards.

Today's midcard consists of Chris Benoit, Fit Finlay, William Regal, Edge, Matt Hardy, and perhaps Tommy Dreamer. The main event card consists of John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Batista, and the Undertaker.

Anyone see where I'm going here...?

[Dr. Marzvon Zombie M.D.]

bigheadinc said:

I think Hart would be exactly where Michaels is now... Throughout their time in the WWF, both men were treated as on-screen equals, so I don't see why Hart would've gone down to the mid-card...

Agreed, i see someone just trying to get a rise out of people.

[reiko22]

odor31 said:

Hart had no charisma...he never is, never was, and never will be anywhere near my top favorites...he'd be feuding with Kane on SD, top mid-card

Hart had a lot of charisma, anything he did in 1997 and after proved it to me.

[bshadye413]

thetreeofwoe said:

If Hart were around in his prime today, he would currently be languishing on Smackdown! in a feud with Matt Hardy.

Hart was in the right era, in the right company, at the right time. I fail to see how he consistently ranks in the top 3 of 'best ever' polls. SORELY over-rated, in my opinion.

Discuss.

I agree completely with you. I've always said Bret was overrated and I never saw his appeal. The only difference between him and Matt Hardy is Bret got a push.

[BRV]

Instead of violently snapping at everyone who says that Bret had no charisma and sucked on the mic, I'll give an example of when he did not:

Summer 1997. His "Anti-American" angle was fantastic, and he gave some of the best promos in wrestling history.

[Austin's Middle Finger]

taxcollector said:

It's pretty ignorant to say Hart had "no charisma" seeing how he was mega over as both a tag team and singles wrestler throughout most of his career, in the era of cartoony wrestlers!

Kids were already buying Bret Hart sunglasses when Hulkamania was running wild. People who got into wrestling during the Attitude Era don't understand that Bret was a huge star as part of the Hart Foundation before becoming a multiple time WWF champ. I love Ric Flair too, but it's almost comical for him to suggest that he somehow drew more money during this time than Bret Hart.

Damn straight.

I think people forget just how big he was back in 92-94. Obviously it was nothing like Hulkamania, but he still drew considerably better than HBK, Nash, Taker, etc. In the end it was only Austin who was the first to do better than him business-wise.

[Outsider744]

You're probably right, but that's only because WWE doesn't seem to push the best in-ring guys anymore. His mic skills would hurt him if he were around today. However, if he were in TNA today, he would be more likely to get the push, but they might even do him like Robert Roode. But who knows and who cares, IMO he's the best wrestler ever....period

[Bobafett]

you can say what you want about Hart but he never doubted El Dandy

[crup]

Ya......I don't really see what the point of even debating if Bret was awesome or not is. Just watch one of his matches if you disagree.

Anyone who can put on the type of match he had with Austin at WM13 would never be a midcarder.

As for no charisma....watch his heel run in the WWF and see how much heat he had...One of if not my favorite heel run of alllllll time.

[The Boss]

taxcollector said:

It's pretty ignorant to say Hart had "no charisma" seeing how he was mega over as both a tag team and singles wrestler throughout most of his career, in the era of cartoony wrestlers!

The charisma of the Hart Foundation came from Jim Niedhart and Jimmy Hart. Bret never had charisma. That's the main reason he had to reform with Niedhart after their initial split. People just didn't care about him.

That said, I must also add that Hart is one of the great in ring workers of our time. While he was never a great draw, he did manage to gain a respectable reputation just on ring work alone. That is very hard to do.

Kids were already buying Bret Hart sunglasses when Hulkamania was running wild.

So? All wrestlers were selling merchandise. They were even buying simple cardboard megaphones labeled "Out Shout the Mouth of the South".

People who got into wrestling during the Attitude Era don't understand that Bret was a huge star as part of the Hart Foundation before becoming a multiple time WWF champ. I love Ric Flair too, but it's almost comical for him to suggest that he somehow drew more money during this time than Bret Hart.

He did. Hart never drew fans. The WWF's low point in the 90s was during Hart's reign. Furthermore, is it not quite a coincidence that WCW's fall from the top and the WWF's rise happened right after Hart went to WCW?

[catwoman]

I keep flip-flopping as to where I think he'd be. On the one hand, it seems like the mid-card today is stacked with wrestlers who have tons of technical talent but dont quite have "The Look" that Vince seems to get off on; with that in mind, yeah, Bret fits. Then again, he had the attitude and the badassity (yes, I know its not a word; just go with me here) that came with having that talent that always propelled him up the card and made him a great champ. In my mind, he's gotta still be up there with Taker and HBK at the top of the card.

As to his mic skills, I always thought he had an honesty about him that made it appealing. For example, I remember when DX was going off on him in a manner most hilarious for being old, lame, etc and all he did was, quite simply say "You wont make it to the Survivor Series; you won't make it that far." Now whether he delivered or not on that statement is moot; the way he delivered it was deadly awesome and you believed in him all the way. Of course, having a bit of shoot hatred behind the words helps...but you get my point.