In all fairness, you have to look at the context of Bret coming back.
1) Give some much needed (albiet wasted) credibility to the Hart Dynasty
2) The final public settling of scores of the Montreal Screwjob
My impression is that putting the US Title on Bret (for all 15 minutes he had it), was a parting gift and a way of putting water under the bridge for what Vince and the others did to him in 1997. If Bret had not left WWF for WCW, he would have likely had countless more title reigns and would have likely faded off into the sunset when his career came to a close. I obviously can't speak on his behalf, but my sense is that he wouldn't be trying to wring anything else out of the ring if his story was a different tale. Also, remember that at the time, it was Miz with the US belt and they needed to get it off him without him having to feud with the other person so he could be moved up the card.
As far as questionable booking, what questionable booking was done for Bret? Outside of the McMahon fight, his matches have all been tag efforts in order to keep his contact to a minimum and keep him out of harm's way. In the McMahon fight, he beat him with a chair for what seemed like 4 hours and even stopped to sit down in the middle. He really didn't do much more work than a manager would have done anyways. And at least he doesn't look as ridiculous doing it as Hogan does with his flab flying everywhere and that leg drop that wasn't even believable 20 years ago.
And those are fair points to make as well, it's just that to me the closure on the Montreal Screwjob could have been done without some of those matches albeit they were made to keep him from getting into any major physical contact, because to me that's not the Bret Hart I grew up watching every Saturday Morning from the early to mid 90s. I liked having closure, but at the same time, I think there could have been better ways to even his score with Vince in a match that for understandable reasons does not do justice to Bret's career. I mean I grew up with all the classic matches boss as a kid I can roll all of them off, the SSlam 91 IC Title Match with Perfect, the year after at SS 92 against the Bulldog, the WM VIII IC title match with Roddy Piper, his tag team matches with the Anvil vs the Killer Bees, Bulldogs, Demolition, all classics. His WWF title matches against Nash, Michaels (The Survivor Series 1992 is a TRUE classic that rarely gets mentioned). I mean what made me like Bret in addition to Hogan growing up was that I had variety with my favorite performers, If i wanted my more power based wrestling match with more showmanship and a few power moves and just plain silliness at times, I'd watch Hogan. But if I wanted to watch a match that looked like a real fight, I'd watch Bret. Just the way he could immobilize men bigger than him in the storylines like Taker, Vader and Nash was just compelling stuff. The way he'd trade holds with Bob Backlund or test his endurance in the ring with Shawn Michaels just spoke volumes of his in ring work. When he went back to WWE in those limited roles during his matches it's just a disappointment. Just my opinion considering the circumstances of what Bret's been through for so long. Can't say I found it all bad. It was great to have Bret out there to do appearances, and I knew not to expect much but I just didn't enjoy it the same way. I think Bret just coming back and finding closure with Shawn Michaels in that one segment on RAW would have been enough to really add closure to the Montreal screwjob and then we could have seen him do something to make Vince's life miserable, i.e. take WWE over, I mean I know it's been done before, but with Bret pulling that on Vince, it would have been a better and more poetic idea than just beating Vince with a chair in a substandard match. Afterall, Bret got his physical retaliation that same night at Survivor Series 97.
So with the whole Hogan-Bret controversy we've discussed here, I just feel there are double standards and I prefer as a fan to only point this out when I hear other people act as first hand witnesses to events that happen backstage, not saying that you're making yourself out to be an authority though, so I don't put you in that category. On a side note, didn't Miz get the title back anyway after Bret vacated it?
You're countering my opinion with a solid one of your own even if I don't see eye to eye with all of it. I can respect that, totally. But in all fairness it was a great business move for Bret to do and for WWE in general. I can't dispute that fact.
Looking at how Hogan's doing things, as a fan I would have preferred seeing him do what Bret is doing now, and staying with WWE, but at the same time he wanted to try to go out on his own outside of WWE again, obviously it's not working like it did in WCW, I'd like to hope the format changes eventually in TNA but time will tell on that.
And as far as the Legdrop goes man, yeah it's laughable and lame if we were talking about something that was supposed to be a legit sport, but hell Hogan was the Superman of pro wrestling. It's like the Man Of Steel's heat vision or super-breath ridiculous in nature but in their context are what they are. On top of that we have to suspend the disbelief, as goofy as it is on the surface or else there'd be nothing about this stuff to like in the first place.
Overall though kudos man and I appreciate your willingness to defend your point in a democratic way, I wanted to do my best to treat you with tact as well and hopefully I have.