Where would Bret Hart be in WCW for 2000-01 if he hadn't retired via injury?

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

After a 14-year career at the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1984 to 1997, Bret decided to leave the WWF because either he wouldn't concede his main event role to the likes of Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Mick Foley, The Undertaker and Kane, and didn't like the direction of the newly implemented Attitude Era because of the sexual content and vulgar profanities, even though Bret himself was never shy of swearing and had been a philanderer on the road having sex with female groupies and ring rats, not to mention, Sunny; while doing all that behind his then-wife Julie Hart's back.

The Montreal Screwjob at the 1997 Survivor Series PPV gave Bret a sour taste about professional wrestling afterwards, and so he was off to WCW for a three-year contract apparently worth $3.2 million a year from '97-'98 to '99-'00. He debuted in WCW as one of the Team WCW faces who was set on vowing to right the wrongs. After a friendly feud with Ric Flair at Souled Out '98, and fighting Curt Hennig at Uncensored '98, Bret turned heel on the WCW Nitro episode after Spring Stampede '98 when he turned heel by assaulting Kevin Nash and Randy Savage (now tweeners) helping Hollywood Hogan take back the WCW World Heavyweight Chapmionship from Savage, and bringing it back to the nWo (later nWo Hollywood). When Mean Gene questioned his actions, Bret assumed that nice guys finished last because his heart was cold and hardened since Montreal.

As a WCW heel who associated himself with the nWo Hollywood, Bret went on to battle Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, The Ultimate Warrior, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash and Sting before his nWo Hollywood association was quietly phased out and remained a full-time WCW heel before going on hiatus to premiere his Hitman Hart:Wrestling With Shadows documentary and undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia.

Before Bret was to return to WCW from hiatus in the Spring of '99, his brother Owen died during the infamous WWF's Over The Edge '99 PPV which was most remembered for Owen's death as he had a faulty harness that caused him to plummet to the turnbuckle and caused internal bleeding. That led to a further four months of hiatus when Bischoff gave Bret as much time off as he needed to re-collect himself following the loss of Owen.

And after Bret eventually returned in the Fall of 1999, he returned to WCW as a face who was fighting alongside Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, David Flair, Bill Goldberg and Chris Benoit in an attempt to fight off Luger, Sting and DDP from Halloween Havoc '99 through WCW Mayhem '99. Then at Starrcade '99, Bret re-lived the Montreal Screwjob when he defeated Goldberg via Sharpshooter even though Goldberg didn't submit, but Roddy Piper (guest referee) called the bell anyways. Bret turned heel on Goldberg by hitting him with the baseball bat, and became a member of the short-lived nWo 2000 faction, thus joining Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner w/Midajah, Jeff Jarrett and The Harris Brothers feuding with Goldberg, Sid Vicious and Terry Funk.

It was at Starrcade '99 that Bret received a concussion at the hands of Goldberg's mule kick, and it's been stated that Bret did not shield his head with his hands as if to block his mule kick, and Goldberg happened to injure him with his powerhouse wrestling style. Many forget to notice that it was actually Terry Funk who gave Bret a concussion, but many people blamed Goldberg entirely for Bret's career-ending injury, so after spending much of 2000 on the sidelines with a concussion, Bret was finally released from his WCW contract and thus his wrestling career is over.

Let's say if Bret hadn't gotten all the concussion and made it through his Starrcade '99 match with Goldberg unscathed, he would've fully participated in the Millionaire's Club vs New Blood angle, and he was also another one of the veterans. And after the Millionaire's Club/New Blood feud angle was over by Road Wild 2000, would Bret have been positioned to go back to a babyface role to take on Scott Steiner in late 2000, and later The Magnificent Seven in early 2001 or would Bret have been made to stay heel and join up with The Magnificent Seven faction composed of Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Ric Flair, Jeff Jarrett, Buff Bagwell, Lex Luger and Road Warrior Animal?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Doing his broken shell of a man gimmick which he had been perfecting since late November 1997.

 

[TDFG]

I think Bret would have retired at the end of his WCW regardless, he wasn't happy in WCW, he'd lost his brother, he had separated from his wife etc.

I don't think a return to WWE was going to happen back then either.

 

[FromGlasgow]

After a 14-year career at the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1984 to 1997, Bret decided to leave the WWF because either he wouldn't concede his main event role to the likes of Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Mick Foley, The Undertaker and Kane, and didn't like the direction of the newly implemented Attitude Era because of the sexual content and vulgar profanities,

Where did you get this information from? Do you have any evidence like a link to an interview where Bret stated this? Or did you just make it up?
I was under the impression he left for financial reasons and partly the lesser work schedule not because of him having to lose his main event spot if that was an issue he ended up with rarely any main events at WCW compared to his final WWF days.
As for your question, It would have been interesting to see what would of happened if he had of stayed in WCW I think we could of gotten a few good feuds against guys he hadn't really worked with much before like Booker T, Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett or even the match against Hogan I had been hoping to see, Thing about Bret and WCW for me was he just didn't seem to fit in very well I don't know if it was the booking or Bret himself but it never seemed to work. Think things would have worked out better for him if he had of just stayed in the WWE.

 

[HatchetMan84]

After a 14-year career at the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1984 to 1997, Bret decided to leave the WWF because either he wouldn't concede his main event role to the likes of Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Mick Foley, The Undertaker and Kane, and didn't like the direction of the newly implemented Attitude Era because of the sexual content and vulgar profanities, even though Bret himself was never shy of swearing and had been a philanderer on the road having sex with female groupies and ring rats, not to mention, Sunny; while doing all that behind his then-wife Julie Hart's back.

The Montreal Screwjob at the 1997 Survivor Series PPV gave Bret a sour taste about professional wrestling afterwards, and so he was off to WCW for a three-year contract apparently worth $3.2 million a year from '97-'98 to '99-'00. He debuted in WCW as one of the Team WCW faces who was set on vowing to right the wrongs. After a friendly feud with Ric Flair at Souled Out '98, and fighting Curt Hennig at Uncensored '98, Bret turned heel on the WCW Nitro episode after Spring Stampede '98 when he turned heel by assaulting Kevin Nash and Randy Savage (now tweeners) helping Hollywood Hogan take back the WCW World Heavyweight Chapmionship from Savage, and bringing it back to the nWo (later nWo Hollywood). When Mean Gene questioned his actions, Bret assumed that nice guys finished last because his heart was cold and hardened since Montreal.

As a WCW heel who associated himself with the nWo Hollywood, Bret went on to battle Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, The Ultimate Warrior, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash and Sting before his nWo Hollywood association was quietly phased out and remained a full-time WCW heel before going on hiatus to premiere his Hitman Hart:Wrestling With Shadows documentary and undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia.

Before Bret was to return to WCW from hiatus in the Spring of '99, his brother Owen died during the infamous WWF's Over The Edge '99 PPV which was most remembered for Owen's death as he had a faulty harness that caused him to plummet to the turnbuckle and caused internal bleeding. That led to a further four months of hiatus when Bischoff gave Bret as much time off as he needed to re-collect himself following the loss of Owen.

And after Bret eventually returned in the Fall of 1999, he returned to WCW as a face who was fighting alongside Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, David Flair, Bill Goldberg and Chris Benoit in an attempt to fight off Luger, Sting and DDP from Halloween Havoc '99 through WCW Mayhem '99. Then at Starrcade '99, Bret re-lived the Montreal Screwjob when he defeated Goldberg via Sharpshooter even though Goldberg didn't submit, but Roddy Piper (guest referee) called the bell anyways. Bret turned heel on Goldberg by hitting him with the baseball bat, and became a member of the short-lived nWo 2000 faction, thus joining Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner w/Midajah, Jeff Jarrett and The Harris Brothers feuding with Goldberg, Sid Vicious and Terry Funk.

It was at Starrcade '99 that Bret received a concussion at the hands of Goldberg's mule kick, and it's been stated that Bret did not shield his head with his hands as if to block his mule kick, and Goldberg happened to injure him with his powerhouse wrestling style. Many forget to notice that it was actually Terry Funk who gave Bret a concussion, but many people blamed Goldberg entirely for Bret's career-ending injury, so after spending much of 2000 on the sidelines with a concussion, Bret was finally released from his WCW contract and thus his wrestling career is over.

Let's say if Bret hadn't gotten all the concussion and made it through his Starrcade '99 match with Goldberg unscathed, he would've fully participated in the Millionaire's Club vs New Blood angle, and he was also another one of the veterans. And after the Millionaire's Club/New Blood feud angle was over by Road Wild 2000, would Bret have been positioned to go back to a babyface role to take on Scott Steiner in late 2000, and later The Magnificent Seven in early 2001 or would Bret have been made to stay heel and join up with The Magnificent Seven faction composed of Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Ric Flair, Jeff Jarrett, Buff Bagwell, Lex Luger and Road Warrior Animal?

Thank you for reminding us about Terry Funk giving Bret another concussion in the weeks following Starrcade. IIRC, Bret actually continued wrestling after the Goldberg match and wrestled for several weeks afterwards until he finally was feeling severe effects from the concussion and could no longer hide them. I think he said in a WWE interview two or three years ago that perhaps if he would have taken a break right after Goldberg, his career may have survived but he continued wrestling and he thinks he may have suffered as many as two or three more concussions in the weeks afterwards because his brain had never healed from the Goldberg one.

Most net articles always stop Bret's career right after the Goldberg incident, and you are correct, he did keep wrestling for a little while after

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

Thank you for reminding us about Terry Funk giving Bret another concussion in the weeks following Starrcade. IIRC, Bret actually continued wrestling after the Goldberg match and wrestled for several weeks afterwards until he finally was feeling severe effects from the concussion and could no longer hide them. I think he said in a WWE interview two or three years ago that perhaps if he would have taken a break right after Goldberg, his career may have survived but he continued wrestling and he thinks he may have suffered as many as two or three more concussions in the weeks afterwards because his brain had never healed from the Goldberg one.

Most net articles always stop Bret's career right after the Goldberg incident, and you are correct, he did keep wrestling for a little while after

@HatchetMan84 I'm just wondering if Bret Hart would've been a face or a heel when it comes to 2000-01 and the Magnificent Seven faction angle.

 

[Goldie]

Jeff Jarrett, Booker T and Scott Steiner were the 3 guys pushed in 2000, so if Bret was able to wrestle... those 3 fueds spring to mind.

Given Vince Russo was booking... Bret would have become even more disillusioned with the company than he was in 1998 or 1999.
He complained in his book about Russos wacky ideas- 'I'm a wrestler not a stuntman' in the short time he was involved with Russos WCW booking late 1999.

However Brets contract expired in November 2000. There was no way that WCW would be in a financial position to renew it, or even offer Bret a lower contract.
He was too expensive to keep by that point- and given his age 43.... if they were to offer contracts it would be to younger and less expensive talent.

Bret would have left WCW before Vince bought the company anyway

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Don't be so sure he couldn't have gone back to WWE.

While he and Vince were not friends, and the Owen situation was still raw, it is not beyond the realms that Vince would make him an offer - not a mega money one, but a big enough one that he would have grudgingly accepted with certain conditions/100% creative control.

There were matches with Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Triple H (and of course the returning Shawn) that could have made Vince money... Bret vs The Rock would have been a big draw and a rematch with Austin could also have done big numbers.

Angle wise, Bret would have, as somebody made fun of been the embittered guy, back for personal redemption and to honor his brother.

They'd have probably gotten 2 years out of him before he was really at the point his age was an issue. Perhaps it culminated with him finally beating Shawn in a big match at Mania. Once the buyout took place you could see him in the role Ric Flair took as Co-Owner, which would have been a great "meta" story... Vince's arch enemy used his WCW money to buy into the company.

It could have played into the Brand Extension (and helped it) with Bret having Smackdown as a more PG brand while RAW remained TV14.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

He would've still been in the title picture, after all he was champ when he got hurt and was set to lead "NWO 2000" so they obviously had plans for him. But with that said he shouldn't have been in the title picture, and I'm saying this as a die hard Bret Hart fan. He's my favorite wrestler ever but at that point WCW needed to be pushing younger guys and their own guys. Guys like DDP(Yes I know he was old but to a fan he was young since he just got big a couple years prior), Booker T, Goldberg among others. They needed to get away from the old WWE castoffs.

 

[Nature Boy]

Interesting question.

Considering WCW had little over a year to go after Bret was injured, I don't really know what he could have done if he had continued to wrestle.

I think they probably would have turned him face again, taking out the evil nWo

I suppose he and Goldberg would have traded the title another time or two.

Injury or no injury, WCW still would have been sold and Bret still would not have worked with WWE until he did.

So still working on the what if aspect, I always thought Bret would have been great talent in early ROH and could have done wonders as their resident Legend, much like Terry Funk did for ECW.

Imagine it, Bret Hart vs Samoa Joe or Bret Hart vs AJ Styles.

Or maybe we could have gotten a Bret Hart run in TNA after all...

 

[V/CV/]

There's no doubt where Bret Hart would have been..Bret Hart in the WWF was a young young lad when he came into WCW he was still in his prime moving into legendary status when WCW moved into its Space Age Era Bret Hart would have been one of the front-running faces as world champion leading the way and helping the young bucks.
Bret Hart would have gone on to do things that were never done before including beating Ric Flair the record title wins or maybe not due to not losing barely.
One thing is for sure Bret Hart should be more of the face of WCW that he is.
Deep down Bret loves WCW he only hated some problems with certain ones.

 

[GhettoV1]

Who knows Bret Hart would've had a NWA World title run in TNA if he could wrestle.

 

[sikkbones]

Who knows Bret Hart would've had a NWA World title run in TNA if he could wrestle.

No.
TNA couldn't afford him.

If he could have wrestled he'd have made peace with Vince the moment his time warner contract expired.

But he likely would have been someone who sat on the sidelines waiting for it to expire.

 

[GhettoV1]

Or lead the WCW invasion vs the WWF in 2001.