What Was The Appeal Of Bret Hart?

[agentmichaelscarn]

This is the problem smarks have when understanding mic skills. Having good mic skills does not simply mean you sling a zillion catchphrases allover the place, cuss like a trucker, yell your own last name, or crib jokes from some banal sitcom. It means that what you are saying is believable and fits your gimmick. Bret Hart was Bret Hart. He was an actual human being as opposed to the clowns, mantaurs, pig farmers, hockey goons, and all the other overgimmicked crap that was running around strinkin' up the joint.

Exactly. Two of the most important thing when it comes to mic skills is advancing a storyline and believability of the feud. And Bret accomplished both those things when he cut promos. Seriously look back at every major feud he had and did he not make you think that he genuinely hated the guy? Whether it be Jerry Lawler, HBK, Hennig, Austin, Taker, his own brother or even the United States. When he cut a promo did you not think that he wanted to really kill those people? What more can you really ask for? If he went on the mic and was cutting sophomoric jokes it wouldn't seem believable. He was a no nonsense guy and he played that to a T.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

First of all, I don't think Bret had bad promos, and I think he did a good job of selling a match and making people want to pay to see him. But to judge him these days is ridiculous, you are probably thinking guys like Rock and Punk do awesome promos so Bret's are unbearable, but don't bother to consider the time period. Bret's promos were great during his eras and as the times changed he did a damn good job of changing with them as his anti-American promos were some of the best in the business. Guys today are fun to listen to but only ONE promo made me want to see a match and that was Punks. Bret used to create so much anticipation for a match that I always tuned in, not to mention the fact that I knew it would be a great match. The guy had matches with all kinds of opponents and made them all look good, who else in the business can really say that. Who else in the biz can change their style up so much depending on the opponent too? Bret may not have the most catch phrases or made you laugh the most, but he made every feud he was in worth every penny, and at the end of the day that is what matters most.

 

[dashing]

He was a brilliant wrestler, and one of the absolute best between 1992 to 1997, probably the best in fact (Shawn Michaels hadn't quite peaked at this point, Austin/Rock were just starting to come into their own). Watching him at the time you couldn't envision anyone beating him, and even when someone did it was rarely clean. 4 matches off the top of my head that were classics - Mr Perfect / Roddy Piper / Shawn Michaels IMM / Steve Austin WM. Bret is great in all four of these matches for slightly different reasons.

He absolutely made Steve Austin in their feud. There was no one else in the company he could have had a fued with like that to help put him over as a genuine main eventer, and infact the intensity and quality of that feud and it's build remains one of my favorites of all time.

 

[scarmada]

As a kid watching Bret I can most definitely say that his biggest selling point was how real he was. In a time of wrestling where over the top gimmicks would completely be the norm, Bret's gimmick was simply that he was the best wrestler on the roster. Although to call it a gimmick would be somewhat of an insult to him since it was so true.

His technical abilities were obvious, even to a kid. He possessed a certain intensity and he knew how to portray emotion through his moves. Particularly when Bret threw punches. They are to this day the most convincing punches anyone in the wrestling world has produced. It was almost a surreal experience when he came out to wrestle. His matches would follow up the most outrageously obvious fake gimmicks (Papa Shango, Repo Man) with such precise technique in his matches that, as a kid, you would forget wrestling was even fake.

As someone mentioned before, his obsession with being the best and being the heavyweight champion was so relatable, that when he got on the mic, it didn't matter that his voice was bland because the things he said were legitimate. He gave the championship title a true prestige.

 

[TheBeefCake]

He was named "The best there is, The best there was, and the Best there ever will be" for a reason. His in ring skill was the best I have ever seen and if you look at guys like Taker, Austin and HBK they would tell you that Bret was the best to work with. If it wasn't for Bret Austin wouldn't have been as big as what he turned out to be.

 

[GrandSword]

I think this thread has answered the OP's question Well done everyone.

Bret is a traditionalist, he beleived in the whole wrestling being a game of "human chess" but brought some great action with it. Those who think of Bret think about his technical skills, but what about the times he would hit the suicide dives through the ropes, or pretend to be hurt but tell the fans to be qiet as he played possum. He just had great ways to keep us all in the match while he always "overcame the odds".

One of my favourite characters and wrestlers. The man has his critics as many say he lived his gimmick which is bad in the business, but the man never hurt anybody, he never botched and he always delivered a solid match against anyone and everyone. That's why he was thought to be the best.

 

[kdk5680]

For me its two words, Jimmy Hart. I started watching wrestling when the Hart Foundation were just starting. Jimmy Hart was and is awesome on the mike. He sold the foundation and Brett as the best, and when Brett and the Anvil went into the ring, they proved it. By the time Brett went solo, I was already a huge fan. He may not have been the best on the mike, but neither was the Undertaker when he started, so they just stayed quiet and when they did talk, EVERYONE listened.

 

[rockfresh]

It's for the same reason Benoit got over. Because Bret could go in the ring and deliver better than anyone else on the roster. And unlike a lot of guys, Bret could work with anyone, of any size or style. Go and watch Bret's solo DVD and look at everyone he had a 5-star with. It's easy to get one with Mr. Perfect. It's not that easy to have a classic with Nash. But even guys like Hakushi looked amazing looking with Bret.

And Bret was never a terrible promo. In fact, other than Stone Cold and maybe Mick, his promo work during his "Anti-America" run was far and away the best in the company. His babyface promos made him even more realistic, because instead of someone "selling himself" or trying to sell PPVs, Brett came across as a humble everyman trying to live out his dream. You could see yourself as Bret...just a guy who loved wrestling.

 

[Defekt]

Bret's promos were very serious and to the point, and it worked for him.

He was the greatest wrestler in the world, and that was his gimmick.

Shawn or whoever could cut a very funny promo, but that wasn't Bret's style. He would aggressively, but methodically talk about how he was going to win the match, and the fans bought it because he always put on a great match, and usually did win.

I'm not saying Bret was the greatest talker in the business, but I wouldn't change his promo style. He was a serious wrestler in a time when most guys were real life cartoons, and he let you know it.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

For me, a life long Hitman fan since the early Hart Foundation days, its simple - realism and being genuine. Hart was one of the first wrestlers to use his real name and he didn't have a ridiculous or comical gimmick, he was a wrestler's wrestler. His matches told beautiful stories and, for me anyways, took wrestling from a Saturday afternoon tradition to an art to be understood and celebrated.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Is it ok if I say someting now?

Ok, first of all I'm very impressed with the quality of turnout. Great wrestling fans and great insight.


Now hear this, Bret Hart's promo were never golden. Bret Hart became a national antagonist and was gonna get a heated reaction no matter what because he was Mr. Canada back then. The man had zero expressions and if anyone can look back and give me a vid of him giving a promo with expressions rather than screaming how America sucks over and over so you just had to boo him, would make me stand corrected. I would appreciate that.


Bret Hart was a brilliant technical wrestler and I dunno how some posters, who were kids back then, are giving the reason that he was telling a story in the ring and what not...EVERY WRESTLER WAS DOING THAT! From Hulk to Shawn to Booger, everyone sold, took bumps and did what he was doing, if you are talking about telling a story in the ring.


He was graceful and did deliever his moves with such ease and sweetness that it made him what he is. I still remember him limping to the Royal Rumble of 94 was it, and he sold his leg injury from the curtain to the end of the match. Looking back, I get it that he did a great job suspending the disbelief but almost all the top dogs did that. So I don't know if that really distinguishes his appeal to me.


And people who are flippantly saying 'oh the sunglasses theory is assinine', get yourself checked. The WWF was still Kiddie friendly when he started that bit and I still remember watching tapes and almost every kid used to wear those pink slapons. And there were a LOT of kids folks. It maybe a little moved but great mat wrestling doesn't connect you to 10 year olds, go ask Cena.

Hey, I got into the Hart myth as a kid but was never sold on the man. This is a thread 20 years due.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Outside of the obvious differences in drawing ability where Cena trumps him, they are also similar in the fact that they both had this "Je ne sais quoi" quality about them where you just loved them. It was probably because he was such a real person on real levels with his fans, plus having a cool look and nickname doesn't hurt either. In general though, the fans loved him because they could relate to him and that's what his appeal was.

 

[justinept]

I think the biggest reason I was such a Bret Hart mark growing up was because I saw his entire progression through the WWE. I believe he was the first "star" that the WWE built from the ground up (meaning, he went from an afterthought to a star over an extended period of time.)

Look at the other major stars in the WWE in the 80's and early 90's

Hulk Hogan joined Vince K. McMahon's WWF in December 1983 (He had been fired from Vince Sr's version of the WWF in 1981). Four weeks after "re-joining" the company, he won the WWF Title

The Warrior joined the WWF in 1987. He won the IC Title in the summer of 1988 and the WWF Title at 'Mania in 1990.

Savage joined WWF in the summer of 1985. He won the IC Title in late 1985 and the WWF Title at 'Mania in 1988.

The Undertaker debuted at Survivor Series 1990. He won his first WWF Title at Survivor Series 1991.

Compare that to Bret Hart. The guy joined the WWF in 1984. He finally won a tag team title in 1987. He didn't win his first IC Title until 1991. He won his first WWF Title in December 1992, eight years after his debut. Think about everything we saw from him in those eight years ... we saw him "job", we saw him have success as a tag team wrestler ... we saw him excel in the mid-card ... by the time he finally won the WWF Title, most of us were cheering him like crazy because we had been following him for so long and had an emotional investment in him. The same things can be said for Shawn Michaels, by the way.

 

[OptimusReim]

To me personnelly, it was 2 words, Canada, and Pink. now im obviously a little biased cuz im canadian myself eh, but thats what stuck out to me, and im not even that big of a bret hart fan, i dont like anything he did to much, but i dont hate it either, the best bret hart was thw tweener bret, when they had the USA vs Canada rivalry, and the bret, austin rivalry, i loved when bret got booed, cuz thats the only time i really enjoyed watching him.. and of course anybody who wears pink is gonna stand out.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The first things that made Bret stand out for me (I first saw him around WM2) was the sunglasses and the nickname. This was when the Foundation wore Blue, but the glasses coupled with a cool sounding moniker projected an image of a proper villain. For all his skill, Bret would probably admit the first reason he got over in WWE was as eye candy for the girls. In his book he alludes to the amount of fan mail he'd get from them. In a WWF with guys like George Steele, Andre, Bundy and Volkoff, Bret was a good looking guy in comparison.

Guys got into him later on as he was good at what he did in the ring and lived up to his gimmick in the main, he was baddie you didn't mind seeing being bad even when he was feuding with my beloved Bulldogs. He was also clearly respected by everyone in the back, he got rub from Andre at WM2 who insisted he be the last man eliminated and did the same feat at WM4. Those moments made him stand out to fans and the constant praise from the announcers only helped.

As Bret moved into singles I think people bought into the "Cinderella story" pretty well, he was first Tag guy of the WWE era to move up through the belts to the big one and basically created the progression. When Bret got the big belt, even those who were not fans of his gave him a chance.

 

[playboy210]

well first he had a unique look to him. I mean come on? he wore black and pink and actually pulled it off! than he appealed to the kids by always handing out his glasses before the match. He had very recognizable theme music that i think doesn't get the credit it deserves in the best entrance themes topic. He was actually a little bit better back than on the mic than he was now. Back than however you needed catch phrases and not conversations. H had some of the best catchphrases i.e. best there is best there was, and the excellence of execution. I wouldn't judge him on the this but woman did find him attractive. And for the simple fact that he was one of the best technical wrestlers of all time.... helps that he was from a long lineage of greatness too.

 

[Ken_Shamrock]

Definitely the underdog stuff plus I am more of a fan of the technical stuff than the 'big man' stuff.

I always hated the finish to Wrestlemania IX. Utterly dreadful way to devalue the title reign of the Hitman

 

[The Third Man]

You know how you hear the popular saying '________ is so good he could have a 4-star match with a broomstick'? Bret Hart was the apex of that kind of wrestler. Go watch his match at Summerslam '92(?) against British Bulldog. Bulldog had been out with an injury for months smoking crack with 'Anvil' Neidhart and was not in good shape mentally or physically. Bret talked him through what turned out to be an all-time great match.

It's too bad he all but disappeared after he signed with WCW. They paid him millions to mostly just sit at home and not wrestle and then Goldberg kicked his head off and and ended his career. He was a guy I wish was able to have one more strong run.

 

[Wald]

I think everyone has pretty much nailed the answer here by saying he was a believable, honest and likeable character.

Look at it this way. HBK never got over as much as Bret did at that time as a face because Bret was basically the embodiment of a working class hero before Stone Cold came along. He was brought up tough, but was always fair. HBK was a pretty boy from Texas who was seemingly handed so much to try to get him over.

Even reading in Bret's book about HBK at that time you can nearly see how Bret could have gotten him over so much more if they could have worked together. Bret understood storytelling in the ring more than any wrestler before or since (it's why I do think he's the greatest of all time), he knew that Shawn playing the same smug character and going over big guys like Diesel, Vader and Sid in a Supercena fashion wouldn't appeal to male adults, and it didn't.

Take that and look at how Bret got Austin over in their feud and you'll see the amount of money that was left on the table because of the personal feud between HBK and Bret.

Also, and I think this is important, I was on another forum a few months talking about Bret and one guy, who wasn't really a Bret fan, said that he never realised how good he was until he was asked to list 10 of his favourite matches of all time and Bret was in 5 of them, more than any other wrestler. That says a lot about the type of match Bret was able to put together and why he was the top dog in the WWF at that time, and why he still has a huge fanbase today

 

[Mustang Sally]

What was it then? Pink and black?

In many ways.....yes. I remember Adrian Adonis wearing pink, accenting his gimmick of being gay. Pink is a "girly" color and guys stay away from wearing it. But when Bret Hart did it, no one thought of him as being anything but a "real" man, and it was a tribute to his presence that he could not only get away with it, but could bring Jim Neidhart along with him. Can you imagine Neidhart wearing that color had he not been partnered with Bret?

Bret had the persona of a professional wrestler; you couldn't imagine him being anything else. He seemed like a legitimate tough guy, whether operating as a heel or face. When he started out as a bad guy, you expected him to be a brawler, as most heels are. Instead, we got a guy with a technical proficiency that took a back seat to no one.

When he was turning face, I didn't think he could bring it off successfully ......and I was dead wrong. He proved he could still be the ultimate tough guy while winning the favor of the fans.

What was Bret's appeal? He looked as if there was nothing he couldn't do in a wrestling ring. He could lose matches, but no one could take him out of his fight plan and turn him into anything less than what we always knew him to be. He was the consummate professional, the man whom you always knew you could count on to give a great performance. Whomever else was sharing the stage with Bret, you would always find yourself watching him, a quality shared by John Cena.

He belonged to WWE and should never have had to leave. He was that damn good.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Bret had this honest and hardworking guy vibe going for him. He would go out into the arena every single night and try his hardest to give a great performance which was something that the fans understood after a while. You could say that other wrestlers like HBK also did the same but it was possibly the gimmicks that made it different. HBK started out as a cocky ladies man and so maybe because of that he could not generate the good guy vibe that Hart generated.

Bret turned face when the Hart Foundation turned face in that famous 2/3 falls tag match with Demolition and from that point onwards he behaved like a righteous babyface right upto his heel turn. Even when he was heel, from the little I have seen of him, I do not think that he did too many heelish things. Him and Niedhart were heels mostly just because they were opposing babyfaces. After he turned babyface, he did not get embroiled in any controversy, kayfabe or otherwise and never showed even a shred of cockiness despite his achievements. In a way you could say that the appeal of Bret Hart was a case of acquired taste.

Plus, like I said earlier, he somehow looked the part. It's hard to explain that part but it's similar to the vibe that Cena exudes or even Styles does in TNA. I guess he just found his character. Even though he was not the greatest on the mic, I do not think he was bad. Whatever he said, he said with conviction if no flair, but that is more than what can be said of the current roster.

Bret's heel turn worked because of his righteous babyface character. Like I said, he had been this righteous babyface all along and it was just unbelievable to see him snap and go south like that.