What would have been of Bret Hart's career without the Starrcade 1999 injury?

[Doomsday Device]

This has always been on my mind. I remember that Starrcade 1999 when it was Bret vs Goldberg, and Goldberg gave Hart that mule-kick to the side of his neck. That was painful just watching it.

So lets imagine this didnt happen, and also excluding his return now this year, what would have been of Bret Hart's career if he had not been injured in the ring at the hands of Goldberg and forced to retire?

I say, he eventually would have come back to the WWE somewhere around 2002-2003.

When WWE bought WCW, these wrestlers had no choice but to be on WWE TV, basically Vince owned them now. Either that or they just refused to work for Vince, like Sting did.

He would have certainly came back to the E, and I guess wrestle some 5 or 6 more years before retiring for good. Instead of the Shawn vs Vince we saw at Wrestlemania 22, we could have seen Bret Hart vs Vince, and it would have been awesome because both would have been younger and stronger.

What do you guys think would have been Bret's career if not for his career-ending injury.

 

[Барбоса]

Had Bret chosen to sign on WWE after the WCW purchase, which I personally doubt, it could have added a whole new level to the Invasion storyline.

It wouldn't have been WCW wrestlers coming in to takeover WWE, it would have been Bret Hart returning to destroy Vince McMahon. It could have added that much needed depth to the story. Fans would have been torn about whether to support the hated McMahon or the invading Hart instead of the clearly heel WCW vs face WWE.

After WWE's inevitable victory over the invasion, the Hart/McMahon could have become a much more personal and individual feud culminating with a showdown at Wrestlemania

 

[Dragonslayer]

Hm, I don't think that Bret's career would've been much different without the injury, actually. I imagine he'd have stayed with WCW, probably even as champion, until the purchase by WWE; but following that, I believe he would've sat out his remaining contract (much like Goldberg), but wouldn't have resigned with WWE after that ran out - remember, the Montreal Screwjob wasn't THAT long gone by that time, and Bret definitely still held his major grudge against Vince at that point.

Thus, considering there was no real place left for him to go as there was no serious competition to WWE anymore (that could've afforded the paycheck Bret Hart could most certainly still have demanded, considering he was still a comparatively hot commodity and big name back then), and also considering that he also was well past 40 at that time and thus the prime of his career was also behind him, I think he would just have retired after his WCW contract expired, without people seeing or hearing much more from him than we did anyways.

Maybe the "making-up" with Vince and the WWE for the Screwjob would've come a bit sooner this way, without Bret having to deal with the additional emotional and physical distress his injuries caused him, and maybe he could've had another "tribue run" the likes of which Hulk Hogan got, but all in all, I don't think it would've mattered much on a professional basis for Bret Hart; but of course it would have mattered a great deal for his personal life and health, quite obviously.

 

[Rasha]

Bret's career would've mirrored Sting's; refusing to work with Vince and eventually showing up in TNA. I'm sure Jarrett could've convinced him to come, probably even before the arrivals of guys like Christian and Angle. He'd probably had some programs against Jarrett during the height of his "King of the Mountain" days. Then I'm sure there would've been a feud with Angle over who's the best technical wrestler in the world.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

I doubt that Bret's pride would have allowed him to return to the WWE without first mending fences with Mcmahon. As far as we know, this process between Vince and Bret only began after Bret's stroke. Would the bike accident and the stroke have occurred without the original concussion damage? Who knows? Would Vince have felt the need to reach out to Bret if not for seeing him with dire medical issues? Again, who knows?

Regardless, I think that Bret's perception of returning to the WWE so soon would have been something akin to surrendering. He would likely suspect that Vince Mcmahon would retaliate by booking him poorly and generally making his life a living hell (polka-dot ring attire, perhaps?). This isn't to say that would have happened; Vince's guilt over Owen and the screwjob might have prevented this. Nonetheless, Bret saw this happen to other performers in his time with the WWF and would no doubt be expecting it to happen to himself as well. Therefore, I think the most likely outcome would be Bret Hart continuing to wrestle, but not for Mcmahon. He may have gone to Japan, or perhaps attempted to revamp Stampede wrestling in Canada. He may have even been a part of early TNA, attempting to go to war with Mcmahon.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

I think it would of been great seeing Bret have a real title run in WCW. I think it might of saved the company. Imagine it! The real world's champion in WCW. Others say they have the champion, but he never lost his title, WCW where the real champions are.

I think Bret's career would of gone longer. I think it would of been a while before he went o WWE again, but he would of made an appearance at one of those manias. Maybe the night he was inducted to the hall of fame.

I still get upset thinking how WCW had one of the biggest names, and had one of the most controversial send offs, and dropped the ball big time. If you look at wrestling History. It would of been so much more logical to have Bret hold the title for a long time, instead of Goldberg.

 

[Doomsday Device]

I believe Bret would have eventually gone back to WWE to wrestle a few more years and end his career there. One of the main reasons he left the E for WCW was money. For Bret's caliber and the money he used to ask for, TNA could not afford him. Unless they went and robbed a bank every couple of months.

Plus, Bret stands for tradition, sure what happened in Montreal was ugly, but if he could come to terms with Vince he'd put that behind him. The E is where he became someone, Tag Belts, IC Title, WWE Title.

We all cant wait for the Mania Hart/McMahon thing, but most likely these 2 will just be throwing light punches at eachother, and most likely it'll be Vince taking the brunt of the punishment, since he's not the one who had the stroke. But hey, we could be surprised.

 

[Mr_billy]

Since this is a what if, what if after the invasion story line went Brett Buying half the company from shane and Stephanie, and they had a revenge story line with Vince and Brett to make up for the Montreal Screw Job, and Flair could have worked his way as a tweener between the owners. Also another Benoit/HArt match would have been a technicians dream.

 

[Dre Guevara]

IMO, everyone on this forum have made valid points in regards 2 this topic.
I feel that without the kick 2 the head by Goldberg, Bret being a part of that Invasion story line could have been a possibility, keep in mind, this happened a few months after Owen's death, & according 2 Bret's autobio, he & Vince had a face 2 face discussion after Owen died, so without the concussion, Bret's return 2 the WWE would've been alot sooner, as well ash his HOF induction, OR as Rasha said, Bret could've just helped Jeff Jarrett with getting TNA started.

P.S. either way, I'm sure we would've gotten 2 see Bret Hart vs. Kurt Angle

plus, it just occured 2 me that Shawn came back months after the Invasion angle, now, with Bret back in the WWE & HBK returning, I wonder how those 2 may have been able 2 deal with each other @ the time with the bad blood.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

As far as we know, this process between Vince and Bret only began after Bret's stroke. Would the bike accident and the stroke have occurred without the original concussion damage? Who knows? Would Vince have felt the need to reach out to Bret if not for seeing him with dire medical issues? Again, who knows?

Exactly. In every interview I've seen of Bret he credits the stroke as being the turning point in mending his relationship with Vince.

Now would the stroke have happened without the mule kick? I don't know. I don't know if anyone knows. But I think without the stroke Vince and Bret may have taken even longer to reconcile their differences.

He probably would have gone to TNA, feuded with Jarrett, Angle, Styles, etc. and had a negligible impact (no pun intended) before retiring for good. Who knows if he'd ever have been inducted into the Hall of Fame or anything, or had the DVD retrospective made.

 

[XgringolocoX]

I'm leaning more toward TNA. Simply because I don't think he'd be willing to work with Vince after the buy out. It was just too soon.

 

[Travaje]

I agree with the poster that it's more likely Bret would have went the road of Jeff Jarrett or Sting and started his own federation/joined TNA instead of going straight back to WWE in 2001-2002. The Screwjob was still very fresh in people's minds at that time, most of all Bret's, as well as the death of Owen. Shawn also came back right around the same time and took back the spot Bret thought was his all along, but wasn't.