Booking Bret Hart's 2nd title reign

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

After some recent posts of mine I have been thinking more and more about how the world title situation and Shawn's face turn could have been better handeled to add even more to both wrestlers legacy as well as their WM XII match. I would begin by saying that Bret's second title reign should have never ended forcing WWF to give him the title for a third time so he could drop it to Shawn. Bret should have had the title from WM X to WM XII. There was enough top talent at the time that Bret could have worked his way through various stories that would have kept the title picture hot. During this time I would have had Bret work with Yokozuna, Lex Luger, Owen Hart, Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Diesel and Bulldog before going down the road to WrestleMania XII and his match with Michaels.

The benifits for Bret are obvious. He was the WWF's guy after Hogan. This should have been his difinitive title run as his first title run was not. Bret's 2nd run consisted of a thrown together fued with Diesel (who was pushed too hard too fast) a great fued with Owen, before the horrible ending with Backlund. Just like that his 2nd run (with Bret now being established as the top guy) was way too similar to his first run where he was on his way to being the man. This title run for Bret should have been his stamp on the WWF. This was still a time before quick changes and before monthly ppv's where longer reigns were easier to pull off. Could you imagine looking back at history and seeing a 700+ day title reign for Bret that included great matches with the likes of Owen, Bulldog, Undertaker, Razor and Diesel?

As for Shawn, besides the obvious advantage of defeating a 2 year running champ for the title, there were other benifits to be had. The 1st and biggest would be holding off his Rumble win in 95 until 96. This would have allowed the WWF to have Shawn win as the #1 entrant and survive a 60 minute Rumble on his way to a 60 minute iron man match against Bret. It just makes too much sense storyline wise and adds to Shawn's legacy. Now another advantage to be had would be having Bret and Shawn interact sooner. While their match at Mania was great, it always bothered me how it seemed rushed and a little forced. Under my scenario, Bret's last fued before getting involved with Michaels full blown would be against Bulldog and Owen. After months of Bulldog and Owen beating down Bret, a now face Shawn would step in and help Bret out. After taking on Bulldog and Owen in various matches (including a traditional survivor series match), Shawn would step in and help Bret end the score in a tag match at the December IN Your House PPV. After that match Bret would finish his story with Bulldog and Owen by beating Bulldog at the Rumble for the title while Shawn goes on to win the Rumble as the 1st entrant. What this does is get Bret and Shawn together as soon as following the Survivor Series. And while they would work together, there would be that little bit of Shawn looking at Bret's title and Bret noticing that Shawn is coming for him.

This way when you have them square off at WM XII, you have a 2 year champ in Bret coming off of successful defenses against the likes of Yoko, Luger, Owen, Taker, Razor, Diesel and Bulldog take on a challenger who would have won his 1st rumble as the 1st entrant and have that lead up to a match where the two men involved were involved with each other for the past 4 months.

So how do you see it. Would this have been better than what we got from mid 94- mid 96? Am I on the right track but missing something? Or would this have been too much to pull off back than and just chalk this up to fantasy booking at its worst?

 

[theHeadliner]

I agree that his reign shouldn't have ended like it did. In my opinion he should have held the belt longer because his first reign was almost fraudulent in the sense that he won in a non-televised Coliseum Home Video match that never made air, and he won it when they only had the big 4 PPVs with KOTR starting in 1993. If he held the title thru 1995 when IYH started he would have gotten a ton more exposure in the big match PPV setting, buying into the fact that he was the legit main event champ thru all those PPVs. I don't know if Vince felt people wouldn't buy into the same guy being champ for almost two years or got bored with no title changes, but I felt he prematurely took the belt of Bret.

Vince must have wanted the belt on Diesel because of his look, or he thought people would buy into a bigger guy more than a guy Bret's size. He had his mind made up that he was going with Diesel, and Bret told Vince it wasn't the best idea but that didn't stop him. So in conclusion Vince must have not been happy with the way Bret was drawing or how the business was going, though in fairness to Bret once Nash got the belt business nose-dived and he is considered the worse drawing champ in WWF history. If you read Bret's book he points out thru the whole thing that Vince was always trying to have guys take his spot at the top or as champ, so there must be a reason that Vince was never happy or sold on Bret as THE main event, because Vince has a business-first mindset that made him want to find a better drawing top guy.

If anything, Vince should have taken the belt of Nash sooner than later so Bret could have re-established himself as the champ. Nash held the belt for a year and Bret's previous 2nd reign was 8 months. If Bret took the belt off Nash at Summerslam, he would have had more time to win and get over in his third reign, leading to a better build for WM12. Diesel wasn't drawing anyways, so I don't know if Vince had such a soft spot for the Kliq that he kept it on Nash because of blind optimism or that things would turn around.

I agree that Shawn's face turn could have been handled a lot better as well. They could have put him in more serious feuds and storylines at first instead of having him be a panderer to the audience. The concussion angle towards the end of 1995 was cool because it was based on real-life events.

 

[HBsam31]

After some recent posts of mine I have been thinking more and more about how the world title situation and Shawn's face turn could have been better handeled to add even more to both wrestlers legacy as well as their WM XII match. I would begin by saying that Bret's second title reign should have never ended forcing WWF to give him the title for a third time so he could drop it to Shawn. Bret should have had the title from WM X to WM XII. There was enough top talent at the time that Bret could have worked his way through various stories that would have kept the title picture hot. During this time I would have had Bret work with Yokozuna, Lex Luger, Owen Hart, Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Diesel and Bulldog before going down the road to WrestleMania XII and his match with Michaels.

The benifits for Bret are obvious. He was the WWF's guy after Hogan. This should have been his difinitive title run as his first title run was not. Bret's 2nd run consisted of a thrown together fued with Diesel (who was pushed too hard too fast) a great fued with Owen, before the horrible ending with Backlund. Just like that his 2nd run (with Bret now being established as the top guy) was way too similar to his first run where he was on his way to being the man. This title run for Bret should have been his stamp on the WWF. This was still a time before quick changes and before monthly ppv's where longer reigns were easier to pull off. Could you imagine looking back at history and seeing a 700+ day title reign for Bret that included great matches with the likes of Owen, Bulldog, Undertaker, Razor and Diesel?

As for Shawn, besides the obvious advantage of defeating a 2 year running champ for the title, there were other benifits to be had. The 1st and biggest would be holding off his Rumble win in 95 until 96. This would have allowed the WWF to have Shawn win as the #1 entrant and survive a 60 minute Rumble on his way to a 60 minute iron man match against Bret. It just makes too much sense storyline wise and adds to Shawn's legacy. Now another advantage to be had would be having Bret and Shawn interact sooner. While their match at Mania was great, it always bothered me how it seemed rushed and a little forced. Under my scenario, Bret's last fued before getting involved with Michaels full blown would be against Bulldog and Owen. After months of Bulldog and Owen beating down Bret, a now face Shawn would step in and help Bret out. After taking on Bulldog and Owen in various matches (including a traditional survivor series match), Shawn would step in and help Bret end the score in a tag match at the December IN Your House PPV. After that match Bret would finish his story with Bulldog and Owen by beating Bulldog at the Rumble for the title while Shawn goes on to win the Rumble as the 1st entrant. What this does is get Bret and Shawn together as soon as following the Survivor Series. And while they would work together, there would be that little bit of Shawn looking at Bret's title and Bret noticing that Shawn is coming for him.

This way when you have them square off at WM XII, you have a 2 year champ in Bret coming off of successful defenses against the likes of Yoko, Luger, Owen, Taker, Razor, Diesel and Bulldog take on a challenger who would have won his 1st rumble as the 1st entrant and have that lead up to a match where the two men involved were involved with each other for the past 4 months.

So how do you see it. Would this have been better than what we got from mid 94- mid 96? Am I on the right track but missing something? Or would this have been too much to pull off back than and just chalk this up to fantasy booking at its worst?

I think you pretty much hit this one right on the head. Bret was their guy after Hogan, and after the way his first run went (losing to Yoko so Hogan could win, and winning the title non televised) I think a long reign would have been exactly what Bret needed. That could have been his stamp like the OP said. I like that HBK won the Rumble 2 years in a row, but in 95 I think it should have been more of a fluke before going on to lose to Diesel. Then as a face in 96 he could come in at number 1 to prove last year was not a fluke and win it all from number one. Then after that to win the title from a 2 year champ in a 60 minute Ironman match would have done wonders for HBk's first reign. I know this is all hindsight, and it is easy to book what we would have wanted to see, but this to me would have been a great idea.

 

[TM Punk]

Bret should have dropped the belt to deisel. This would have given him a fair shot at actually getting over as champion. They could have had a nice face vs face feud. Instead they chose to protect Bret, and keep him away from Deisel. I feel they did this because they were rolling the dice with big daddy cool, and needed Bret to fall back on in case things didnt work. I believe that had Shawn Michaels not started to get so ridiculously popular that it would have been Bret Hart vs Deisel at WM12. But Deisel wasnt working, and he was leaving. And Vince was so desperatly in need of a newer, younger face. I just dont think it was ever in the cards for Bret to be THE guy. He was a Ford f150. An old, reliable workhorse. Vince wanted a new porsch. Probably literally and figuratively.

 

[theHeadliner]

Bret should have dropped the belt to deisel. This would have given him a fair shot at actually getting over as champion. They could have had a nice face vs face feud. Instead they chose to protect Bret, and keep him away from Deisel. I feel they did this because they were rolling the dice with big daddy cool, and needed Bret to fall back on in case things didnt work. I believe that had Shawn Michaels not started to get so ridiculously popular that it would have been Bret Hart vs Deisel at WM12. But Deisel wasnt working, and he was leaving. And Vince was so desperatly in need of a newer, younger face. I just dont think it was ever in the cards for Bret to be THE guy. He was a Ford f150. An old, reliable workhorse. Vince wanted a new porsch. Probably literally and figuratively.

The original plan was to drop the belt back to Diesel. Bret had the idea to go through the table to garner sympathy for Nash, and he was planning to drop the belt back to him. Vince called him out of the blue one day and told him that he would instead be dropping the belt to Shawn at WM12 instead of Diesel.

 

[Wald]

Here's the thing with Bret, he become the number one guy in the WWF in spite of Vince, not because of him.

Bret was never Vince's 'chosen one' in the same way that Hogan, Warrior, HBK, Austin and the Rock were. Much like the Macho Man, and more recently CM Punk, he clawed his way to the top on sheer guts and skill and made himself be the guy in the WWF. he never had the promotional juggernaut put behind him like Hogan had with Hulkamania or Michaels had with the Kliq (kayfabe not backstage). Vince never saw him as the guy to carry the company.

So Bret having a two year title reign wouldn't ever be on the cards. Vince went back to Hogan, threw his lot behind Diesel as soon as he could, positioned Shawn as the number one guy before Bret's time was up and screwed him out of the company in the end. Vince never rated Bret as much as the fans did, which is a shame.

I like your idea though in the opening post, would have been great

 

[Just Do It]

Here's the thing with Bret, he become the number one guy in the WWF in spite of Vince, not because of him.

Oh put it away. Vince wouldn't make anybody his champion if he didn't want it (let alone 5 times over six years!). Sure sometimes the belt goes on people out of a lack of options, but from 1992 - 1997 you had the likes of Austin, Michaels, Sid, Piper, Savage, Yokozuna, Undertaker, Cactus, Warrior, Luger.... pleanty of people who the belt could have gone on instead at various times. Bret was a steady draw in the States, and a huge draw in Europe.

Bottom line, the belt wouldn't go on anybody Vince didn't want it on. It would be like me eating an egg salad if I didn't want an egg salad.

 

[HBKperfect23]

I dont think the time frame was right for a 2 year reign. Also, Bret wasnt good enough on the mic to have been champion that long. Diesil/Michaels deserved the title feud in 95. I do think Bret was a good transition to Michaels and deserved the title from survivor series to wrestlemania.

 

[Emmet]

TFR you hit the nail on the head with your OP, it would have helped out both men to be honest, Nash was horrible as champion, he had the look but not much else. After all the great matches Bret was putting on during his 8 month reign, I would imagine the fans weren't too happy with Diesels slow and lumbering matches.

A Bret/Razor feud through the winter of '94 would have been pretty good, hell you could have had Bret feud with Lawler for the title at the 95' Rumble and it would have been better than the crap that Nash produced. You could have even kept Macho Man around and started a feud with Bret, would have been an all time classic in my book.

From going by Bret's book, he never seemed to have Vince's full confidence as a champion, sure he wasn't drawing megabucks in the US, but he was delivering great matches and was a draw overseas. And besides, who really would have drawn tons of money during that period?

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Yeah I heard a lot of Bret being a huge draw overseas but so-so in the US. Does anyone think if the Global Economy in 93 to 96 was it is now (i.e much much bigger) that Bret Hart would have been the #1 guy even extending to 98 to transition to someone like Rock or Austin?

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I like the idea of giving him a two year long reign. That would have been pretty impressive during this time period. Not sure if they could have pulled it off. Though, only having 5 major PPVs a year instead of 12 definitely would have helped.

He definitely could have gone one year though, from WMX to WMXI. He still had a ton of momentum as champion when he lost the title at Survivor Series.

He could have capped off his feud with Owen at the Royal Rumble, and then dropped the title in a face vs face match vs the Undertaker at WMXI. If Shawn and Diesel were going to have their match at WMXI anyways, it didn't need the belt. They had their own history to build that feud around.

Maybe give Diesel a shorter reign after WMXI and then dropping it back to Bret so we could still have the epic Iron Man match at WMXII. Fantasy booking.