1998: Rebooking the WCW debuts of Bret Hart, British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart

[dsotm5150]

First off I'd like to give The Brain credit for giving me this idea with his Davey Boy Smith 1999 WWF Run thread from earlier today.

We all know that the events of Survivor Series '97 would lead to Hart, Smith and Neidhart making the jump to WCW all within a month or two of each other. Knowing the political clusterfuck WCW had going on at the time they failed to realize that they had just acquired an instant baby face success in the man that got screwed over by Vince McMahon. The amount of baby face momentum Bret Hart had going following Montreal easily could have been turned into success for The British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart. WCW instead chose to waste Bret's time teasing an alligning himself with either Hogan or Sting through out much of 1998, while Smith and Neidhart would be sentenced to the almost non-existant tag team division.

I think I would have booked Bret to come in as a major baby face coming in, almost following the exact same format they used to debut Scott Hall. Knowing Smith and Neidhart weren't but a few weeks behind him, just bring Hart out every week building support and sympathy over what happened at Survivor Series.

The Starrcade Screwjob doesn't go down in fact Bret Hart doesn't even make an appearance at Starrcade, Scott Hall comes out to aid Hogan against Sting while the referee is down instead accidentally takes out Hogan leading to problems within the nWo, and leaving Sting to finally step away from the nWo storyline and giving us the finish that made sense. With Sting no longer focused on the nWo and the nWo focused on issues within its own organization, this sets the seeds for Bret to start bringing in Jim and Davey to take out the nWo once and for all.

So how would you book it? Would you have reformed the Hart foundation in WCW as a major face stable to battle the nWo or would you have done it differently?

 

[sikkbones]

the hart foundation as a faction should have just joined the NWO as back up as an invading force.

bret got screwed by WWE he's not going to let Time warner do the same thing....

Oh wait.. they did.

 

[sMark]

With the amount of talent WCW had at this time and Thunder debuting very soon, i'll save Bret for the first episode of Thunder, give him the title (that he never lost in WWF), split the roster in 2 shows, with Bret being the major main eventer on Thunder, and run with it.

 

[TDFG]

I would have had the fans guessing for 3 or 4 weeks what Bret was going to do with WCW & NWO figures calling for him to join them.

Bret makes his debut and takes out Goldberg, the next week on Nitro, Nash introduces Bret as the newest member of NWO only for Bret to attack him.

The next week Bret basically says that in times like these you need family more than the lackys of the NWO or WCW's jobbers and brings in Davey Boy Smith & Neidhart. Bret declares war on both NWO & WCW and The Family Dungeon adds Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho & Lance Storm to the stable.

 

[HBKperfect23]

The biggest downfall for the NWO, IMO, was the lack of faces to go up against them. I would have reformed the Hart Foundation with Bret, Bulldog, Neidhart, Jericho, and Benoit. They should have took Montreal and ran with it. everyone knew Nash, hall, and Waltman were real life friends with Michaels....the storyline wrote itself. NWO was originally WWF defects and nobody was more anti-WWF then Bret. It would have worked well in my opinion.

Also Bret should have debuted the night after Montreal if it was contractually possible. IIRC, he couldn't debut for another month. In that case, his debut should have been annouced, it should have been annouced Bret will have a live mic to discuss all controversy. This should have closed the show. It all but guarantees a ratings win for WCW that night.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

HBKperfect23 has it right, there is NO WAY that Bret Hart should have teased joining the nWo when he started. The promo that Bischoff and Hogan made the night after Montreal totally belongs - inviting Bret into the fold. But he should have declined and aligned himself with Sting - maybe by announcing himself as Sting's corner man at Starrcade to prevent any nWo shenanigans.

Sting wins clean at Starrcade as Bret fends off interference, and Hogan holds Hart responsible. Suddenly you have two top storylines: Sting as champion, defending against the likes of Nash and Hall; Hogan against Bret in the match that *should* have happened at Summerslam 1993. Maybe Bret can even reference that, break the fourth wall, when the nWo court him upon arrival - "you say it's a disgrace McMahon screwed me - well he obviously learnt his tricks from you, Hogan!"

In the meantime, Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart secure their releases, which actually took a lot longer than people realise, hence they didn't debut together. Davey had to buy out his own contract, and Neidhart, though clearly regarded as the 'weak link' of the Hart Foundation (only three multi-man match ppv appearances since his return to WWE), he was used briefly to further the storyline a week after Montreal when he actually joined D-X before they turned on him the same night, and I think he had a match with one of Michaels and Helmsley a week later in his final WWE appearance. Owen Hart tried quitting as well but couldn't raise the funds to buy out his contract, I believe (I assume his contract was longer than Davey's) - in lieu of Owen, WCW had a ready-made replacement in Chris Benoit. So the Hart Foundation version 3 could have lived on 'down south'. Benoit and Davey Boy could easily have taken on the role that Benoit and Malenko later played.

I've always thought that, like the final Survivor match at which ended the Invasion storyline, the nWo story arc should have reached a natural conclusion like that. It's WCW though, so maybe a War Games match would have made sense. Back to basics though, strip the nWo of their dead weight and have their key members fight against WCW, maybe Hogan, Savage, Nash, Hall and Scott Steiner (who is a natural heel so I don't mind that he turned) against Sting, Luger, Flair, DDP and the Giant. However, this idea makes it quite interesting. Maybe in place of Luger and the Giant, we could sub in Bret and Davey Boy?

Whatever, the fact is irrefutable. WCW badly mishandled all three of the Hart Foundation members when they joined, and had they booked them better, the company *might* have survived longer.

 

[dsotm5150]

HBKperfect23 has it right, there is NO WAY that Bret Hart should have teased joining the nWo when he started. The promo that Bischoff and Hogan made the night after Montreal totally belongs - inviting Bret into the fold. But he should have declined and aligned himself with Sting - maybe by announcing himself as Sting's corner man at Starrcade to prevent any nWo shenanigans.

Sting wins clean at Starrcade as Bret fends off interference, and Hogan holds Hart responsible. Suddenly you have two top storylines: Sting as champion, defending against the likes of Nash and Hall; Hogan against Bret in the match that *should* have happened at Summerslam 1993. Maybe Bret can even reference that, break the fourth wall, when the nWo court him upon arrival - "you say it's a disgrace McMahon screwed me - well he obviously learnt his tricks from you, Hogan!"

In the meantime, Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart secure their releases, which actually took a lot longer than people realise, hence they didn't debut together. Davey had to buy out his own contract, and Neidhart, though clearly regarded as the 'weak link' of the Hart Foundation (only three multi-man match ppv appearances since his return to WWE), he was used briefly to further the storyline a week after Montreal when he actually joined D-X before they turned on him the same night, and I think he had a match with one of Michaels and Helmsley a week later in his final WWE appearance. Owen Hart tried quitting as well but couldn't raise the funds to buy out his contract, I believe (I assume his contract was longer than Davey's) - in lieu of Owen, WCW had a ready-made replacement in Chris Benoit. So the Hart Foundation version 3 could have lived on 'down south'. Benoit and Davey Boy could easily have taken on the role that Benoit and Malenko later played.

I've always thought that, like the final Survivor match at which ended the Invasion storyline, the nWo story arc should have reached a natural conclusion like that. It's WCW though, so maybe a War Games match would have made sense. Back to basics though, strip the nWo of their dead weight and have their key members fight against WCW, maybe Hogan, Savage, Nash, Hall and Scott Steiner (who is a natural heel so I don't mind that he turned) against Sting, Luger, Flair, DDP and the Giant. However, this idea makes it quite interesting. Maybe in place of Luger and the Giant, we could sub in Bret and Davey Boy?

Whatever, the fact is irrefutable. WCW badly mishandled all three of the Hart Foundation members when they joined, and had they booked them better, the company *might* have survived longer.

Probably the best one I've read yet. Like i said in the original post, WCW couldn't have asked for an easier storyline in Bret Hart. Yes Hart was a WWF guy and we'd been trained to assume all WWF guys belonged nWo, but you couldn't have gotten a more anti-WWF player at that time than Bret. Play on the fact Hogan was McMahon's right hand man, and Nash & Hall were part of the Kliq and you've easily got you're next feud for the nWo. With both Jericho and Benoit having ties to the Hart family, and then adding in Bulldog and Anvil, you've got a stable that actually would have looked strong against the nWo. It would have brought Benoit and Jericho up the ladder towards superstardom which desperately would have helped WCW hold onto both Benoit and Jericho.

You could easily have run the feud until Fall Brawl, have the two factions fight a "Loser Leaves WCW" match taking the nWo off TV for a period off time and saves WCW the embarrassment of two travesties. Nash ending the streak, and the finger point of doom.

 

[Goldie]

It would have been smart to have another 'WWE invasion' type angle- much like the original NWO of Hall, Nash, Hogan.
The Hart Foundation had been red hot just months earlier in 1997- and all 3 had long term careers in the WWE.

Bret debuted in December 1997- and could have played the Hall role... teasing the arrival of more of his buddies (Davey wanted out of WWE right after survivor series and Jim would also be free in very early '98).

 

[peter_midnight]

First off I'd like to give The Brain credit for giving me this idea with his Davey Boy Smith 1999 WWF Run thread from earlier today.

We all know that the events of Survivor Series '97 would lead to Hart, Smith and Neidhart making the jump to WCW all within a month or two of each other. Knowing the political clusterfuck WCW had going on at the time they failed to realize that they had just acquired an instant baby face success in the man that got screwed over by Vince McMahon. The amount of baby face momentum Bret Hart had going following Montreal easily could have been turned into success for The British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart. WCW instead chose to waste Bret's time teasing an alligning himself with either Hogan or Sting through out much of 1998, while Smith and Neidhart would be sentenced to the almost non-existant tag team division.

I think I would have booked Bret to come in as a major baby face coming in, almost following the exact same format they used to debut Scott Hall. Knowing Smith and Neidhart weren't but a few weeks behind him, just bring Hart out every week building support and sympathy over what happened at Survivor Series.

The Starrcade Screwjob doesn't go down in fact Bret Hart doesn't even make an appearance at Starrcade, Scott Hall comes out to aid Hogan against Sting while the referee is down instead accidentally takes out Hogan leading to problems within the nWo, and leaving Sting to finally step away from the nWo storyline and giving us the finish that made sense. With Sting no longer focused on the nWo and the nWo focused on issues within its own organization, this sets the seeds for Bret to start bringing in Jim and Davey to take out the nWo once and for all.

So how would you book it? Would you have reformed the Hart foundation in WCW as a major face stable to battle the nWo or would you have done it differently?

Let me get this straight, you have the hottest angle in wrestling going and you're going to build another angle around a story that only the smart fans know about (probably less than 5% of the audience at the time) and give the #1 babyface in wrestling (Sting) a non-clean finish with a run-in on PPV to win the title?

No offense, but booking Bret Hart is not as easy as it sounds on paper when everything else going on at the time gets factored. You had Rick Rude showing up out of nowhere the night after the show happened, so you have to find a way to use him. They had no idea if Anvil and Davey were going to get their releases until later. I think by the time Bret had his first match Goldberg was starting to pick up steam so now you have his push you have to deal with. They also had a Scott Steiner heel turn that took MONTHS to develop and on top of that Hall & Nash were playing shenanigans like Nash not jobbing to the Giant.

I'm a huge Bret fan, but objectively looking at the situation, he should have never signed that contract with the WWF in 1996. His heel run in 1997 was great, but he really had no where to go once it was over and the timing to jump was right before the hottest angle in wrestling took off in the nWo. Now that would have been interesting because you have Hogan or Hart a choice for leader and it gives Bret an extended babyface run if he goes WCW, which he did not have in the WWF (only lasted about 5-6 months before going heel).

No one really knew about Montreal other than insiders until the documentary is shown on television. I barely knew about it because once he left the WWF, I never tuned into Raw again until Owen came back and then I sort of knew what happened, but not really until the documentary came out. I even missed the midget skit because I was watching Nitro. Playing monday morning quarterback, the best thing to do was to let Sting beat Hogan, CLEAN. Then, he holds the belt until Goldberg comes in and have another CLEAN finish. Then, you have Bret Hart beat Goldberg. Another scenario would be to have Hogan beat Sting. Immediately build Bret to take out Hogan within 4-6 months, then have Bret job to Goldberg at Starrcade 98. I can see the last minute switch to have Sting lose to Hogan because even at that time Sting was not a very good world champion. His crow gimmick was better for kicking ass without getting in the ring, but once he wrestled a lot of that mystique went away.

The biggest downfall for the NWO, IMO, was the lack of faces to go up against them. I would have reformed the Hart Foundation with Bret, Bulldog, Neidhart, Jericho, and Benoit. They should have took Montreal and ran with it. everyone knew Nash, hall, and Waltman were real life friends with Michaels....the storyline wrote itself. NWO was originally WWF defects and nobody was more anti-WWF then Bret. It would have worked well in my opinion.

Also Bret should have debuted the night after Montreal if it was contractually possible. IIRC, he couldn't debut for another month. In that case, his debut should have been annouced, it should have been annouced Bret will have a live mic to discuss all controversy. This should have closed the show. It all but guarantees a ratings win for WCW that night.

They had babyfaces, but they jobbed all of them out. Lex Luger was over as hell in 1997, but he jobbed a week after beating Hogan. DDP was also easily ready to get pushed if Sting didn't take the win.

HBKperfect23 has it right, there is NO WAY that Bret Hart should have teased joining the nWo when he started. The promo that Bischoff and Hogan made the night after Montreal totally belongs - inviting Bret into the fold. But he should have declined and aligned himself with Sting - maybe by announcing himself as Sting's corner man at Starrcade to prevent any nWo shenanigans.

Sting wins clean at Starrcade as Bret fends off interference, and Hogan holds Hart responsible. Suddenly you have two top storylines: Sting as champion, defending against the likes of Nash and Hall; Hogan against Bret in the match that *should* have happened at Summerslam 1993. Maybe Bret can even reference that, break the fourth wall, when the nWo court him upon arrival - "you say it's a disgrace McMahon screwed me - well he obviously learnt his tricks from you, Hogan!"

In the meantime, Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart secure their releases, which actually took a lot longer than people realise, hence they didn't debut together. Davey had to buy out his own contract, and Neidhart, though clearly regarded as the 'weak link' of the Hart Foundation (only three multi-man match ppv appearances since his return to WWE), he was used briefly to further the storyline a week after Montreal when he actually joined D-X before they turned on him the same night, and I think he had a match with one of Michaels and Helmsley a week later in his final WWE appearance. Owen Hart tried quitting as well but couldn't raise the funds to buy out his contract, I believe (I assume his contract was longer than Davey's) - in lieu of Owen, WCW had a ready-made replacement in Chris Benoit. So the Hart Foundation version 3 could have lived on 'down south'. Benoit and Davey Boy could easily have taken on the role that Benoit and Malenko later played.

I've always thought that, like the final Survivor match at which ended the Invasion storyline, the nWo story arc should have reached a natural conclusion like that. It's WCW though, so maybe a War Games match would have made sense. Back to basics though, strip the nWo of their dead weight and have their key members fight against WCW, maybe Hogan, Savage, Nash, Hall and Scott Steiner (who is a natural heel so I don't mind that he turned) against Sting, Luger, Flair, DDP and the Giant. However, this idea makes it quite interesting. Maybe in place of Luger and the Giant, we could sub in Bret and Davey Boy?

Whatever, the fact is irrefutable. WCW badly mishandled all three of the Hart Foundation members when they joined, and had they booked them better, the company *might* have survived longer.

It would have been interesting to see Bret booked differently, but most of his heat goes away once Shawn Michaels is injured. Bret's sympathy comes from Shawn not being the real world champion. Obviously it's really from Vince, but the likelihood of those 2 having a showdown back then was nonexistent so once Shawn is gone Bret loses steam unless HHH becomes champion.

 

[MWRedskins]

Personally....i would've debuted Bulldog and Neidhart as a tag team and maybe down the road have them join up with Bret...but i would've had them as a major tag team and had them climb the ladder and eventually grab the tag team titles.

As for Bret Hart, i would've not even mentioned his name until it was close to his (in ring) debut, then have nWo recruit him..then on the day his non-30 day compete clause was out of the way, have him decide to not join the nWo and attack Hogan, then have Bret claim that he's an uncrowned true world champion since he never lost his title and have him battle Sting where Hogan gets involved and it ends in a double dq and then have Hart run through the nWo stars like Hall, Steiner and Nash until Sting's run with the title ends to Macho Man, then (if WCW really didnt want to give Macho a run with the title) have a 3 way for the title where Hart defeats Macho and set up a match with him and Hogan.

now i doubt WCW would've ever done that, but that would've been better than having him debut like he did. i wasnt a fan of the Starrcade play on the screw job.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

That's a pretty tough assignment. Bulldog and The Anvil could have a tag team run as a face team taking on all. Brett Hart was in a tough spot coming in. The NWO was boiling hot with roots taking hold and growing, Brett seemed lost in the deck, a deck stacked with established stars. I'd have The Hitman start in the midcard area to earn his respect in WCW. That could have been his theme, claiming that he's here in WCW to start over and build his legacy. His first feud could be against somebody outside the main story of the NWO. Then he can be attacked by The Macho Man eventually during an interview, thus starting his - Hitlist- storyline vs The NWO. A lone gunner like Sting, he won't accept help and fights off faces who try to help him. It eventually leads to Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan to headline a PPV.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

The biggest downfall for the NWO, IMO, was the lack of faces to go up against them. I would have reformed the Hart Foundation with Bret, Bulldog, Neidhart, Jericho, and Benoit. They should have took Montreal and ran with it. everyone knew Nash, hall, and Waltman were real life friends with Michaels....the storyline wrote itself. NWO was originally WWF defects and nobody was more anti-WWF then Bret. It would have worked well in my opinion.

Also Bret should have debuted the night after Montreal if it was contractually possible. IIRC, he couldn't debut for another month. In that case, his debut should have been annouced, it should have been annouced Bret will have a live mic to discuss all controversy. This should have closed the show. It all but guarantees a ratings win for WCW that night.

That sounds a great idea to me. They should have certainly aligned Bret with Bulldog and The Anvil as soon as possible, creating a WCW version of The Hart Foundation like you said, and I like the idea of adding Jericho, Benoit and Storm to the faction. With talent like that you've got a new strong faction to take on the nWo as faces. Davey/Neidhart can go after The Outsiders Tag Team Titles, Jericho can feud with Syxx over the Cruiserweight Title, with Storm competing for the TV and Benoit and Hall clashing for the US Title. Obviously Bret would focus on the World Title.

 

[relentless1]

best way to utilize Bret would be to have him immediately start a feud with the Outsiders which would make sense for two reasons: 1. they are good friends with HBK who actually alluded to them beefing with Bret on RAW the night after his title win and 2. it sets the stage for his huge match with Hollywood Hogan down the line. Most important is to keep him firmly trenched in the main event scene and have the World Title around his waist by July

 

[justtxyank]

Most people who post in these threads didn't even watch WCW and only know how to "rebook" it based on summaries of what happened.

Have Bret Hart debut and take out Goldberg? LOL Goldberg was a nobody. He had just debuted on tv at the end of September. You want to feed him to Bret? Bret would have gained nothing from it BUT you would have derailed Goldberg and prevented WCW from ever realizing their biggest money making star.

Have the Hart Foundation feud with the nWo? THEY DID! The first few months of 98 was Neidhart/Bulldog feuding with the nWo and Bret having their back. Pretty cool match between Bulldog and Hennig with Rude and Neidhart handcuffed together. Hart took out Hennig, attacked by Brian Adams, etc.

The reason they dropped it and pushed Neidhart and Bulldog down the card and put Bret in the nWo is that WCW fans were not WWF fans. Bulldog and Neidhart did not get reactions from the crowd. Bret as a face was not getting the reactions they wanted either.

I know everyone loves to say that Bret should have just been put in the main event and given the title because they liked him in the WWF, but he was not over as a face with WCW audiences like he was with WWF audiences. When they turned him heel he became the #2 heel in the company and drew massive heat from the crowds.

Lastly, when Bret Hart was in WCW they did NOT have a problem with faces to go against the nWo. By the time he had been active in the company for a few months and turned heel, WCW had red hot faces in Nash, Savage, Luger, Sting in the main event, Booker T and Benoit rising through the midcards along with Konnan starting to get over, DDP having one of the best years of all time, Goldberg rising, etc.

WCW did NOT have a problem with a lack of faces in 1998. They had a problem with lack of HEELS. That's why Bret being a heel was perfect. The crowds were not going to boo Nash, Hall and Savage anymore. They were too cool.

 

[New Hot Fed]

To me it would have gone further than just fixing things with Bret.

In my opinion Sting showed his true colors too soon in early 1997. Of course the build was great for almost the the whole year culmilating in Sting facing Hogan in December. If it were me, I would wait before turning face and facing the nWo. I probably would have kept Sting occupied with other people in 97 maybe Raven and the Raven's Flock. Because Sting vs the nWo is your ultimate card. And when he defeats Hogan, it should be the end of the nWo. So you play the card of we don't know what side Sting is on throughout 97.

On the Nitro following the Montreal screwjob, the nWo go to the ring, Hogan cut a promo laughing at Bret for what happened. Mr. Bret Hart is in the crowd as a spectator. The nWo instigate him, there's a push and shoving. Hogan say Bret doesn't have the guts to face him.

Rick Rude comes in with a black suit on and he has a big shinny belt with a eagle on. He says this is the real belt of champions, for now this is belt is getting held up until a real Champion wins it. Rude also say he's the new Sheriff around here, the new commish, there's been too many swerves and screw jobs in pro wrestling recently and he's the law from now on and there's not gonna have any shanigans for this match. You have Hogan and Bret shaking hands(even if Bret is in the crowd) and the match is set for Starccade.

During the match, you can have Rude acting as ref or lawmaker to keep things fair. (during the next weeks the nWo try to corrupt Rude but no avail).

Hogan vs Bret for the the two Belts. Of course the nWo try to intervene in Hogan's favor, Rude try to chase them away. But they eventualy take him out. Then you see many wrestlers coming from the crowd, guys like Neidhart, The Bulldog, other Canadian Wrestlers or guys that jumped ship from the WWF. It's like an invasion and they fight the nWo, it's a free-for-all. Bret takes Hogan out, Rude make the count, Bret Hart becomes the new Undisputed Champion.

From then on, you could have Bret feuding with a variety of guys leading to the summer where Hogan would win it back(via screwjob). So that Sting can beat him at Starrcade 1998.

 

[relentless1]

nah, Sting and Hogan was done well enough... Brets time to shine in WCW was 1998/1999; he feuds with Shawns Kliq buddies which culminates in a feud with Hogan and eventually puts Goldberg over...if Bret was built up well enough he'd have been a great guy for Goldberg to win the belt from

 

[enviousdominous]

WCW had an amazing opportunity with Bret, I remember me and my friends freaking out when Mean Gene was announcing that Bret Hart would be appearing soon. Then our excitement soured when Eric Bischoff did a ridiculously stupid bit where he and the horribly inflated nWo would butcher the Canadian national anthem while carrying an upside down Canadian flag.

I get it, it's satire. With satire, you never want to draw it out beyond it's potential for amusement and you shouldn't cross lines that will annoy more people than you would entertain or upset.

So yeah, off to a really fucking stupid start. Then supposedly Bret was going to join the nWo, but then he didn't, right before he really did. Ahhhh, WCW.

The choice is obvious enough for me, allow Bret to be a part of the movement to beat the nWo. There were enough nWo members to start a fucking baseball league, Sting and Goldberg could have shared that spot with Bret Hart, Davey Boy and Jim.

I imagine that it would have been better to have Mean Gene announce that Bret Hart has not yet signed a WCW contract. This leads to the nWo running a campaign where they try to persuade the WCW brass to not sign Bret Hart with Eric Bischoff cutting promos about how he can't use Bret because Bret is useless.

Later on down the road have Eric announce that he's signed a Hart, Jim Neidhart. Have Jim wrestle in nWo colors against random jobbers for a few weeks. Do a bit one week where the nWo are about to beat down Sting when suddenly Davey Boy runs in and stares them all down, only to hug Jim and participate in a beat-down of Sting. Have Jim and Davey cut a promo the next week talking about how Bret will never show his face in WCW.

At Starrcade, have Hogan cheat with help from Jim and Davey and look to be about to pick up a fluke win when Bret Hart enters the ringside area from the crowd and takes out Jim and Davey. Hogan breaks the pin and stares at Bret with horror, leaving him open to a scorpion death drop. Sting gets the belt and shakes Bret's hand in the ring.

The next week Eric Bischoff rants and raves in the ring about how Bret Hart should be arrested because he's not under contract to WCW. Music hits; Stu Hart, Nick Bockwinkel and JJ Dillon come to the ring. After words are exchanged, it's announced that Bret Hart has been unanimously voted by the board of directors to be WCW's commissioner. Bret's WCW music hits and Bret comes to the ring. Bret mentions that now he's (kayfabe) in a position higher than Bischoff, and asks that he leave the ring. Bret cuts a promo about how pro-wrestling as he knows and loves it has fallen by the wayside, and that he aims to bring back the traditions that made the art form great. He barely touches on the Montreal Screwjob, and mainly focuses on his presence being a signal for political change in WCW.

Bret feuds with Jim and Davey, until eventually Bret cuts a promo on them about family and they relent. This causes a chain reaction that eventually disbands the nWo, for good.

 

[peter_midnight]

To me it would have gone further than just fixing things with Bret.

In my opinion Sting showed his true colors too soon in early 1997. Of course the build was great for almost the the whole year culmilating in Sting facing Hogan in December. If it were me, I would wait before turning face and facing the nWo. I probably would have kept Sting occupied with other people in 97 maybe Raven and the Raven's Flock. Because Sting vs the nWo is your ultimate card. And when he defeats Hogan, it should be the end of the nWo. So you play the card of we don't know what side Sting is on throughout 97.

On the Nitro following the Montreal screwjob, the nWo go to the ring, Hogan cut a promo laughing at Bret for what happened. Mr. Bret Hart is in the crowd as a spectator. The nWo instigate him, there's a push and shoving. Hogan say Bret doesn't have the guts to face him.

Although I wouldn't do it, having Raven as hired mercenaries from Trillionaire Ted Dibiase works (especially before Dibiase is pushed out of the NWO). You can even have Raven turn on them later when he finds out that they consider him and the Flock on the same level as the Nasty Boys whom they pushed out of their cool group earlier referencing him as Johnny Polo. WCW never backed anyone up throughout the feud, but now you have Raven's flock backing up Sting ensuring no outside interference against Hogan. They're outcasts the way Sting felt he was an outcast after WCW betrayed him. The Flock aren't necessarily babyfaces, but you have anti-hero tendencies, which if you look at pop culture in 1997 as a whole was the trend.

Another possible scenario is that Bret makes amends with Razor & Diesel and kicks Hogan out of the nWo since the core guys were basically New Generation guys from the WWF.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Now that I've had nearly 20 years to figure things out I would have turned Bret Hart in to an anxiety riddled conspiracy theorist. Give him no allies and make him go out and accuse every wrestler, ref, time keeper and fan as being out to get him.

Keep him strong by giving him wins and DQ losses. Let him screw himself by assaulting refs, time keepers, and announcers. At some point give him a title match with Hogan and have Bischoff actually screw him leading to a full on feud with NWO.

Nevermind, this sucks. Hart was never a top guy. He was a pain in the ass on top of that. He had no sense of humor and thought way too highly of himself to become an interesting character.

 

[Ubermensch]

They certainly could have done more with Bret, and I think everyone agrees that he was underused and that WCW didn't recoup their investment properly. Bret could have been the subject of the nWo's wrath after costing Hogan the title and this really could have elevated a match we all never got to see between Bret and Hogan. Bret's value was very at that time and Bret could have cut scathing promos comparing Bischoff to Vince, and how he was the WWF Heavyweigth Champion and anyone who held it after him didn't earn it.

While entertaining, I don't think anyone wanted to see the Canada vs. USA angle in the WCW.

Once Hogan and the nWo started to come at Bret I would have brought Davey Boy and Neidhart in. Also would have been nice to Benoit in their group, and I'm sure WCW could have thrown some money at Lance Storm to pull him from ECW as well.

How a Hart Family stable fit in during the NWO Hollywood and Wolfpack split is anyone's guess though.

 

[OYDK]

As pertains to Bret, I personally would have waited until Starrcade to debut him, all the while dropping pretty obvious hints along the way WITHOUT actually naming him outright. Build the suspense instead of doing what WCW was famous for, blowing your load right out of the gate. By Bischoff coming straight out the night after the Screwjob with "Bret Hart's joining the NWO" the story arc became rather obvious, I don't think anybody seriously bought that Hart was going to align himself with the group that already included nearly every other mega star in WCW. Also, debuting him in a talking segment two weeks before the PPV was dumb as fuck.

They SHOULD have advertised a "huge surprise" for Starrcade and announced his signing at the event, going as far as saying that Hart wasn't in the building but will appear at Nitro. In the main event, Sting wins handily but eventually gets overwhelmed by the entire NWO. Cue Bret Hart who runs out, helps Sting clear the ring, and than goes face to face with the Stinger. There's your closing image of Starrcade 97 giving the fans a real reason to tune in the next night. From there, Hart and Sting work together to rid WCW of the NWO, while the tension continues to build between the two. For a month Hart comes out and plays the "nobody's going to get screwed like I did" angle explaining why he's out to get rid of Hogan and company. The Souled Out main event sees Hart and Sting take on Hogan/Hall/Nash, the two win the match, tensions boil over, and both start throwing punches.

From there they build towards Hart/Sting at Superbrawl while the NWO begins to implode. Once Hart's diatribe began to get old after a few months, they could have debuted Neidhart and Bulldog and re-formed the Hart Foundation by helping Bret win the title from Sting. Sting could have chased, Nash and Hall could have been your next big baby's, and the Hart Foundation could have heeled it up until Sting finally won the strap back. Of course, there's no Hogan/Bret feud in that plan but there was always time for that later.

Also, I get this had no chance of happening as it left Hogan out of the title picture for 6 months and that was never going to happen at this time. Still, a man can dream.

 

[Ubermensch]

I would have thought that Hall, Nash, and Syxx's relationship with Michaels and HHH would have been a natural bridge into a feud between the nWo and Hart, possibly with Bulldog and Neidhart.

I think it's obvious that WCW didn't have real plans for Hart, and in large part it was more about getting him away from the WWF then to the WCW.

 

[Wald]

I'm going to leave out rebooking Sting v Hogan's finish at Starrcade as part of this and just focus on the Hitman.

Given Bret's contract with WWF was up until a month after Survivor Series that puts a potential debut for the second week of December. But since Starrcade was at the end of December I'd have held off debuting him until the Nitro after. In the meantime I would have had the nWo do their bit in the ring the night after the Screwjob and then just had the commentators talk about when Bret might show up in the weeks following, talking up how he's in Canada trying to decide what he wants to do. Hell I'd maybe have played up that he might be contemplating retiring.

So we get the screwy finish to Starrcade 97 without Bret in the mix and the next night Sting has the title taken back off him. I'd book a rematch for the belt between Hogan and Sting for that night's Nitro. They do the match they should have done at Starrcade where Sting looks dominant, he locks on the Scorpion Deathlock but before Hogan taps four members of the nWo rush in (lets say Hall, Norton, Hennig and Savage) to break it up, causing a DQ. They start beating on Sting and that prompts the Hitman to jump the guardrail, grab Sting's bat and fight them off. He doesn't touch Hogan though and he escapes. Bret helps Sting up and they look at each other to end the show.

Next week on Nitro, the nWo kick things off and Bischoff and Hogan call out the Hitman. He doesn't come out, so they call him a chicken and book him in the main event versus Savage (Macho looks pissed about this too, I'd have been planting those seeds of dissension leading in to Starrcade & the Nitro the week prior about him losing too), daring him to show up with the nWo at ringside. Show builds towards whether or not he will be there, time arrives, nWo wait in the ring out he comes to his new music with leather jacket, shades and all. The match kicks off, Savage and Bret do their thing but as soon as Bret has the Sharpshooter locked on the nWo rush in and jump him, causing a DQ. Sting comes out and fights some of them off but the numbers game gets the better of the duo until Savage turns on the nWo and helps them out.

Nitro the week after starts with the Hitman coming out, talking about joining WCW, saying he's there to prove he is the best there is, was and ever will be. Savage comes out, puts over the Hitman as the guy he has respected more than all for years and says he wasn't going to allow the nWo to continue doing what they did. Sting comes in, talks about meeting the Hitman finally and this prompts the nWo out. Bischoff reminds them that the title is still vacant and that Hogan is the true champion and greatest wrestler of all time so puts him in the Souled Out main event and announces Bret v Sting for that night's main event, winner gets a title shot. That goes to a double pin and so the Souled Out match, much to Hogan's annoyance becomes a triple threat between Hogan, Sting and Bret.

Bret win the WCW World Championship at Souled Out by pinning Hogan (nore, not submitting, you want to build to that). At Superbrawl the match set is Sting, Bret & Savage v Hogan, Hall & Nash in a six man tag, Hogan inadvertently hits Nash, allowing Sting to pin him and we start setting up the fall of the nWo from here. Uncensored is booked by Bischoff as Savage v Bret for the title but its a stop gap feud/match with Bret going over really so that we can get to Bret v Hogan at Spring Stampede for the title and then Bret v Nash at Slamboree. Bret submits Hogan clean in his match with the nWo banned from ringside. During the Nash match, Hogan runs down and mistakenly costs Nash the match.

That sets up a turn by/on Nash with the nWo so that main event #1 of the Bash at the Beach is set between Hogan v Nash, with the existence of the nWo on the line two years after Nash and Hogan formed it. I'd throw Hall at ringside to eventually turn on Hogan and reunite with his fellow Outsider in destroying the nWo too. For Bret, well his story is easy. The Nitro after the Nash match, Bret is the ring saying he thinks he has proven he is the best there is, was and ever will be since he arrived in WCW and out comes Sting to say he hasn't beaten him yet. So main event #2 is set up between Bret and Sting for the WCW Title for Bash at the Beach with Sting going over in the match to end the Hitman's first, multi-month reign in the company.

 

[Just Do It]

It's amazing but we, a bunch of random forum posters, can come up with better scenarios than what WCW did: booking him as a guest referee for a mid card match.

They also presented him as a "traditionalist" not a superstar. Epic fail.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Hart coming in at Starrcade.....with the tease from the NWO that he was coming to join them (which made sense since much of the top NWO guys were WWE stars previously and Hart played a heel for most of the year before he left WWE) was smart. SC was the biggest show of the year, already with a main event that was built up for a full year, adding the guy who essentially was WWE's top star post Hogan made perfect sense.

Taking advantage of the "Montreal Screwjob" made sense.....the vast majority of wrestling fans already knew what had happened and WWE even acknowledged as much in Vince's interview on RAW, having the NWO (who already had a long running stortline about Ref Nick Patrick being sympathetic to them) try to swerve Sting only to have Har (Used earlier in the night in a guest ref role) come out and reverse the decision was smart. Now the execution was sloppy, Patrick's 3 count should have been clearly fast and Sting's win afterwards should have been clear & decisive but the decision here was very smart, even if the execution was poor.

Unfortunately it all falls apart here. Supposedly the long term plan was for Starrcade 98 to be fan fave Brett vs Hollywood Hogan but Hogan wouldn't work a full program with Hart. In the interim Bischoff at first tried his previous formula of making money by revisiting Ric Flair's WWE storylines like he did with Hogan and Savage, but Flair was so over with fans that no matter what he did Hart couldn't get cheered. If the plan was to establish Hart as a major hero (which it was, and that is what Hart wanted, he didn't like playing the heel) then why match him vs Flair, a guy who was almost bullet proof in his popularity ?? It was dumb and while we got some of the best promo segments Hart ever did and a very good PPV match no one was happy because half the crowd was booing Hart and no one seemed jazzed to watch him win.

You could have dealt with Hogan over the course of the year. As it was Hogan ended up taking one of his sabbaticals and skipping Starracde altogether that year (in the storylines he was "running for president" and Scott Stiener was elevated to "Leader" of the NWO). Amazingly, a card that didn't have Hart, Sting, Luger (all MIA with injuries), or Hogan, built exclusively around just two matches did extremely well ratings wise, nearly equaling the previous year's huge success and topping nearly everything WWE did that year except for W-Mania (which had Autsin's title win and Mike Tyson).

So, Sting is champ, NWO is reeling, WCW should have continued Hogan vs Sting for the early months of 1998, along with Savage's dissatisfaction and eventual turn. Hogan should have stayed away from Hart but other NWO characters (at Bischoff's behest) should have been dispatched. Sting could have remained the "lone wolf" type character but still a fa fave, Hart could have teamed with Flair and Luger and brought in his friends slowly in the early months of 1998 as a way of protecting himself from being buried by the NWO, plus the rub from being friendly with Sting and teaming with Flair would have helped get Hart over with die hard WCW fans.

During those early months of 1998 Hart could have feuded with the likes of Scott Hall and Scott Norton, two legit names that could lose to Hart but give him good matches, Konan as well (who was NWO at the time, remember the NWO in early 1998 was filled with 2nd & 3rd teamers boasting the Hogan-Nash-Hall Trio). I would have had Hart end up helping Savage in his eventual turn on the NWO and set up another round of Hogan-Savage matches, this time with Hogan as the clear heel and Savage as the clear hero, a complete 360 from all their previous battles. I would have Savage steal the title from Sting here, maybe taking a title shot that was meant for Hogan under controversial circumstances after an NWO beatdown leaves Sting injured and not at full strength. Hogan (with help from Nash & Friends) steals the title from Savage and put him in his place and we head to summer.

Savage would be gone at this point and I'd have Hart feuding with Nash, eventually setting up a Great American Bash/Bash At The Beach PPV combo of matches, maybe give Nash the 1st win, Hart the second. Notice there is no NWO split, no Red & Black vs Black & White, keep the corps together and keep them evil. Assuming Goldberg is still gaining momentum as he was I'm fine with him beating Hogan that summer for the belt, but Hogan should have moved down the card a bit instead of continuing to main event while Goldberg got 2nd tier matches. Let Bischoff be furious Goldberg won the title and send NWO guys after him (everyone except Nash), all failing, with some sort of schedule set up where Sting manages to get a title shot for Halloween Havoc with the idea Hart gets the title match at Starrcade.

I'd have Sting put over Goldberg clean, setting up Hart vs Goldberg for the title, infuriating the NWO. Hogan would "boycott" the event. The NWO would feud with both men through the fall into winter. At Starrcade I would have kept the "David vs Goliath" match between DDP & Big Show, maybe adding some match stipulations to make DDP more of an under dog. I would have had Bischoff force Flair to "run the gauntlet" to get reinstated (remember he missed most of the spring & summer in a nasty contract dispute with Bischoff and lawsuit) where he wrestles 3 matches against NWO characters (two second teamers like Norton & Bagwwell plus someone with some heft like Hall) forcing him to win all 3 to get his "Win & Be Preisdent or Retire" Match one on one with Bichofff for the next night's Nitro, and in the main event I would have had Hart beat Goldberg in a very close and competitive match to become champ, ending with Hogan's return to beat the %$#^ out of Hart (and Goldberg) at the end of the show with the rest of the NWO.

This would set up a scenario as 1998 draws to a close of a unified NWO on the outside without the World Title & The Presidency, WCW having the momentum for the 1st time in the long running feud, with the idea that Pres Flair (after he wins vs Bischoff on the following Nitro) forces Hogan to face Hart at SuperBrawl 99. Goldberg would be unhappy that he didn't get the prime title shot setting up essentially a 3 way feud (remember we haven't actually had Goldberg-Hogan II yet) which could go on for months. Lost of potential directions for Nash, Steiner, DDP, Flair, Sting, Luger as well carrying us to Spring of 99. Ultimately I would have Goldberg regain the title and the NWO turn on Hogan and kick him to the curb (essentially for failing to get the title from either Goldberg or Hart while everyone fought all his battles vs the rest of the company).

Thus moving into summer 99 Hogan would be a fan fave......with no friends who trust him operating as stand alone loner with the NWO trying to destroy him, the big question being what WCW fan fave would actually help him.....I would also have Nash win the title around this time, maybe late summer, to add to the intrigue