What if Bret Hart didnt have that stroke and never got kicked in the head by Goldberg

[quink987]

So I just rewatched the Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon match and i was watching how Bret was really slow with his movements and how the fans wasnt even into it which is a real shame because Bret is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

so i was thinking if he never had that storke and got kicked in his head by Goldberg what do you reckon would of happened to Bret harts career?

do you reckon he would of came back to the WWE earlyer or gone to TNA when it started up?

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

Bret was miserable in WCW so I think he would have hauled ass back to WWE as soon as his contract was up and Vince would have welcomed him back with open arms. We then could have had some epic matches between Kurt Angle and Bret Hart!! Fuck you Goldberg for making that impossible!

 

[akrassikauda]

HE'D BE IN TNA! And that would be a very sad thing to watch. Watching the best there is was and ever will be would be a former shell of himself like the other guys over 40 but that's not the sad part the sad part would be Bret out wrestling those same guys and half the guys under 40.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

Well, I hope he would of done something great. I hoped his run in WCW would of been better, after the kick to the head.

Overall, I would think he would of popped back in around 04 or 05 to cash in on some nostalgia. I would of loved to seen an HBK vs. Hart at Wrestlemania again. That would of been so huge.

But, yes, he would of worked some small circuits, but he would over time come back to the WWE. But, we really can't dwell on what happen, but just be happy for that great career he gave us.

 

[Peaky1969]

And be happy that he is healthy these days....I thought it was sad to watch the match (or what was supposed to be a match) with Vince....very sad indeed

I too believe he would had gone back to WWE. I couldn't believe how creative mis-managed him in WCW. Certainly I enjoyed the matches with Sting & DDP, but his run should have been so much more. I remember being excited watching the night he cut the promo in the ring about going after the NWO and taking them out "brick by brick"....then nothing.....

 

[dxparza]

He would've stunk it up in WCW untill they eventually got bought out by WWF.. And he woulda been begging Vince for a contract.. And hopefully have a WrestleMania Main even awith Shawn Michaels or Undertaker, hopefully Taker would drop him on his head or HBK would kick him in the head and knock him out of wrestling FOREVER!!

 

[Mustang Sally]

That's a really good question. Most everyone in this thread feels he would have gone back to WWE, but I wonder. Three things make me think he might have retired from wrestling rather than go back to Vince:

1) Bret's bitterness....... How many years was he bitching about how he was treated at the end of his WWE tenure? Even after saying he was over it, he had a continuing topic heading in the column he wrote for that Calgary newspaper called "Montreal." I mean.....jeez.

2) Bret's "character control clause"..... He had this in WWE and it led to all the problems at the end when he felt he could dictate who he would (and who he would not) lose his title to before leaving the company. Mick Foley wrote in his autobiography that Bret told Vince he was willing to lose his title to Steve Austin or Foley, but he refused to lose it to Shawn Michaels, which I felt was the reason the whole damn Montreal thing happened in the first place. How could Bret go back to WWE after all that?

3) Bret's salary..... I don't have exact numbers, but if Vince was paying him an annual salary of $1 million, but he was getting $3 million in WCW, could he have allowed himself to go back for less money? Yes, I know others from WCW took salary cuts to get work in WWE, but I truly wonder if Bret would have, especially after everything that had happened.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

If he had never gotten that kick and/or that stroke, I think he would've gone back to WWE for a number of reasons:
1) He never wanted to leave WWE and he has friends there. Once he left there, they stopped contacting him
leaving him feeling isolated.
2) He loves the business and still thinks he can contribute, which given the issues mentioned here in this
discussion, he could contribute a lot.
3) He'd like to make some more money and finally leave the WWE in a much better way than his last exit.

Say whatever you want, he can work, and give you quality matches on any show. The match that I'd, love to see would've been Bret vs. Angle, but he could really do some great things with Austin, the Rock, Kane, Jericho, Mysterio, Edge, Guerrero, Lesnar among others. He'd have some problems though. Any one he leaves WWE and returns, always has to pay some price for leaving. Triple H ( who Bret doesn't like) would clearly have more backstage power and will clearly rub Bret's nose in it. He'd be on SD more than be on Raw, (that's Triple H's show), and they'd try to bury him there. If he got tired of things, he'd more than likely retire when he got fed up this time, rather than go to another promotion.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would like to have seen Bret return to the WWE, and I do think he would have come back.

Think about it, Shawn Michaels was not around at the time of WCW's demise, he only came back in 2002, so Bret would not have had to worry about dealing with Shawn on his return to the company. If HBK had been there, it could have been a major barrier in Hart coming back to the WWE.

In 2001 when WCW went out of business, Bret was still a really big name in the industry, so I think its likely that Vince would have been interested in bringing him back, even if it was simply for the financial/merchandise benefit on having Bret back in his good books. We know how desperate Vince was to release the Hitman DVD, as Bret is one of the most popular wrestlers of all time, and has a goldmine in his back catalogue of matches. And if he was still healthy, I think the pair of them could have put the past behind them and we would have seen Hart back in the WWE.

However, there are a couple of reasons why this may not have happened. Owen Harts death in a WWE ring and Bret's anger at the stupid stunt that went wrong could have been a big stumbling block to his return to the WWE. In 2001 the tragedy had only happened a few years previously and who knows if the scars had healed, or whether Bret would have been ready or willing to return to a WWE ring.

Secondly, after the end of WCW Vince didnt really bring in many of the top stars. Yes Booker T and DDP arrived almost immediately, but we didnt see Goldberg, Steiner, Nash, Hall and Hogan into over a year later. Also, there were plenty of stars such as Sting, Lex Luger, Piper, and Sid Vicious who never made the jump over after the buyout. Maybe Vince would have ignored Bret like he ignored these guys?

Thirdly, Bret was on a ridiculously high salary in WCW, would Vince have been willing to match that? He originally left the WWE after Vince deciding that he was no longer worth the money they were paying him, so why would he want to pay double that to have Bret back? Also, would Bret's pride allow him to accept a greatly reduced salary?

If I had to make a bet however, I would put money on Bret returning to the WWE, maybe not immediately, but I think he would eventually. With opportunities to wrestle guys like Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, The Rock, Chris Jericho and Undertaker, there would have been so many great matches we never saw, or never got to see again.

 

[AttitudeAJM]

Bret probably would have retired once WCW went under. I remember when he signed his 20 year contract with the WWF, it only planned for three more years of being an active competitor. He would have probably faded away doing a few appearances here or there. I doubt he would have returned to the WWF considering he and McMahon didn't start speaking again until the stroke.

 

[gkelly24]

if bret was use right in wcw it might have not gone out of bussinees most of me think vince sent bret to wcw to tear it down from the inside