Would it have been any better if he had returned as a heel?

[Cookie14]

I was lying in bed this morning, trying to think of reasons not to drag my ass out of bed to get ready for work. Then, all of a sudden, I thought of the idea for this thread.

The much lauded and anticipated return of Bret Hart ended up falling quite flat and, in my opinion at least, ended up being a disappointment(in my eyes at least)

I can't help but think it would have been a lot better if he had returned as a heel.

Imagine Shawn Michaels had come out to make ammends but Bret refused, then Vince tried to appologise for all the years that WWE refused to aknowledge the Hitman, again Bret refuses to accept the apology.

The rest of the storyline could have been pretty similar to the way WWE actually carried it out, but with Bret as a heel, the interference of the Hart Dynasty in the WM match between Hart and McMahon could have cemented the tag team as solid heels, and kept Bret more relevent than he is now or was during his WWE return.

This could have lead to a tag title reign for the Hart Dynasty. It could have lead to Hart being the leader of Nexus or the mystery GM. Maybe even a fued between Hart and Vince or HBK for control of Raw.

Bottom line is, there were far more possibilities for WWE if Hart had returned as a heel, and almost all of them could have been better than what actually ended up happening.

Agree? Disagree? Comments?

 

[mulkeymania]

it might have worked better but it would have to involve the hart dynasty for sure since bret is not up to wrestling anymore-not sure if it would or not but maybe set up a new montreal screwjob scenario or bring back the evil mr mcmahon character.shawn would be retiring after WM26 so that would rule him out of it.

 

[PhD]

Sorry, but this is a terrible idea. Why would a legend who left the company after having been screwed by the boss possibly come back to be a heel? The main reason he was brought back was for the Wrestlemania match with Vince, for which he absolutely had to be a face. Do you think a heel Bret feuding with a face Vince would have gotten anyone to give an extra shit about Wrestlemania? Of course not.

The reason Bret's comeback fell flat is because he had to stop working TV on a regular basis because he didn't want to wreck his new marriage. He was a major part of the Nexus angle, and then had to be written off TV in a hurry.

At this point it's a cliche to note that internet smarks think everyone is better as a heel, but, damn, this is ridiculous.

 

[GideonGodsend]

you cant just come back as a heel. no body can, not even if you left as a heel. if youre gone long enough you will always comeback face (brooklyn brawler doesnt count) i dont think they couldve even tries turning him throughtout this process, cause in the screwjob situation hbl was the 'heel', mcmahon cannot be a face in a storyline like this

 

[Cookie14]

Sorry, but this is a terrible idea. Why would a legend who left the company after having been screwed by the boss possibly come back to be a heel? The main reason he was brought back was for the Wrestlemania match with Vince, for which he absolutely had to be a face. Do you think a heel Bret feuding with a face Vince would have gotten anyone to give an extra shit about Wrestlemania? Of course not.

The reason Bret's comeback fell flat is because he had to stop working TV on a regular basis because he didn't want to wreck his new marriage. He was a major part of the Nexus angle, and then had to be written off TV in a hurry.

At this point it's a cliche to note that internet smarks think everyone is better as a heel, but, damn, this is ridiculous.

I'm not saying that everyone should be heel, infact Bret sucked as a heel before he left for WCW.

Vince has NEVER fueded with anyone as a face, I personally would love to see him do it at some point, and I honestly thought this would be the best opportunity for him to do so.

Why did Bret have to be a face? if he refused an appology from Shawn or Vince then he would have instantly been a heel, viewed as being bitter and not over the past.

Ann he was actually written off TV because all active on-screen talent have to have health insurance for medical reasons. Due to the stroke Bret suffered a few years ago, no-one would insure him to have any sort of physical contact with anyone else, much less wrestle any more matches.

 

[warchildrex]

vince actually had a couple feuds where he was the face...one of those feuds even garnered him his own WWF championship...

i personally did not enjoy his face feuds against triple h or the undertaker (and to a lesser extent randy orton), so i was glad that bret didn't come back as a heel...because i would not want to see another vince face feud.

 

[LSN80]

Hart's at the point of his career where he's anm iconic figure, like an Undertaker or a Ric Flair. He's almost impossible to boo.

Look at TNA for example. Flair tears the crowd down, tells them to shut up, and calls them names. And what do they do? They "woooo" along with him! He's just so revered within the wrestliong community that he's hard to boo.

Hart is much the same way. Most of the people at this point know about him, and all of the health issues he's endured. So when he came back, it was a feel good story for a lot of people. For him to come back as a heel wouldnt have worked because of that. Nobody wants to boo a former stroke victim who was their hero 15 years ago.

It would have been hard for him to feud with HBK as well, because as you said, he can't wrestle anymore. There would have been simply little value for Hart as a heel, and he wouldn't have been received as one. In theory, its not a terrible idea, but I honestly don't see a way it could have worked.

 

[bluejt16]

I'm not saying that everyone should be heel, infact Bret sucked as a heel before he left for WCW.

Vince has NEVER fueded with anyone as a face, I personally would love to see him do it at some point, and I honestly thought this would be the best opportunity for him to do so.

Why did Bret have to be a face? if he refused an appology from Shawn or Vince then he would have instantly been a heel, viewed as being bitter and not over the past.

Ann he was actually written off TV because all active on-screen talent have to have health insurance for medical reasons. Due to the stroke Bret suffered a few years ago, no-one would insure him to have any sort of physical contact with anyone else, much less wrestle any more matches.

what was you watching when vince got kicked in the head by randy orton? vince HAS fucking with people as a face and with his new contract i can see him making a big return as a face, probably to bring down the nexus.

as for the thread topic.. as people above me have said, it's damn near impossible to make a true WWE/F legend a heel. so bret returning and trying to play a heel would fail even worse than his face return.

 

[PhD]

I don't understand how you can still argue that he should have come back as a heel. He was brought back primarily to cash in on enduring fan animosity over the montreal screwjob, a scenario for which Vince was never appropriately punished in a narrative sense. You still haven't explained how you somehow turn the scenario of Brett as a heel into a viable storyline, other than suggesting it would have been "interesting." I'm telling you it would have been impossible.

Also, you're clearly wrong about the insurance issue. Brett has been working house shows in Canada in Europe, which contradicts the claim that he can't work TV for insurance reasons.

 

[orton0384]

Vince has NEVER fueded with anyone as a face, I personally would love to see him do it at some point, and I honestly thought this would be the best opportunity for him to do so.
.

He feuded as a face with his son Shane during the Alliance Invasion, and against Triple H and DX when he was courting/stealing his daughter in 1999.

 

[DertyDOH]

I think it makes perfect sense actually. Not full out heel where he's a heel to everyone, but just to HBK and Vince, because that would be reality. He hated them for so long, it would make it way more believable and made for some good moments on Raw seeing Bret and the Hart Dynasty do an attack or 2 and cut a few heel promos on HBK and Vince

 

[Ferbian]

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Can you hear the crowd? This is the very reason it would've made no sense for Bret Hart to return as a heel. He was back to solve his problems kayfabe wise with Vince McMahon, and for a momentary closure with Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels being a face, and Bret being a face would've ultimately been the best way to go for that, considering it makes no sense for a face and heel to hug it out.

Vince McMahon is and always will be mostly a career heel. He gets a great heel reaction, and if he was to do the closure feud with Bret Hart, he was OBVIOUSLY never gonna be able to turn face and be the cheered one in a feud with Bret Hart of all people.

So, no it would not have been better if he returned as a heel.