What if Bret Hart stayed (more alternate history)

[humanracer]

I think Vince did the right thing by encouraging Bret to leave. It was a shock for me at the time as I was a huge Hart fan but in retrospect I don't think Bret would have fitted into the Attitude era easily.

 

But suppose Bret did stay? What do you think would have happened? I would say Bret loses to Shawn at Survivor Series but gets it back at IYH DX in a triple threat with Shamrock. He then defeats Shamrock at Royal Rumble in a title match. Also at the Royal Rumble Shawn and Taker have the casket match but it is now non title. Bret then loses to Austin at WM 14. Shawn turns face and loses to Triple H at Wrestlemania 14 instead.

 

How would the USA vs Canada storyline be resolved. It ended rather nicely at SS 97 (crowd cheers for Austin after beating Owen). I would hate to see a crappy apology like the one Slaughter gave.

[King Pitcos]

I always thought Bret was pretty useless to the attitude era, but someone (I think Ian) suggested he'd have been a great corporate henchman for Vince against Austin in spring '98. I reckon that would've worked. I think they'd have been as well to get rid of him by the end of '98 anyway though to make way for Rock, Mankind and Triple H to become world champions and proper main eventers.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

If Bret would have stayed, might not have brought in Mike Tyson for $3.5 million. If he had stayed, Vince told him what the matches were going to be. He was going to wrestle Michaels at Survivor Series, wrestle in a four corners match against HBK, Shamrock and Undertaker at the In Your House, wrestle Michaels again in a ladder match at Royal Rumble and wrestle Austin at Mania. He didn't want to do that though, because it involved dropping his wages and losing a few times on PPV. I'm sure it would have been better than wrestling Curt Hennig and Brian Adams. The Canada vs USA thing was more or less done anyway, during the buildup to Survivor Series. So much went on during the Attitude era, if you saved Dude Love from a beating off Mark Henry and D'Lo you'd have easily turned face again.

[King Pitcos]

So much went on during the Attitude era, if you saved Dude Love from a beating off Mark Henry and D'Lo you'd have easily turned face again.

It's true. We whinge about continuity when Randy Orton teams with John Cena or Triple H six months after feuding with them, but the attitude era was mental for that sort of stuff. Austin and Vince went from mortal enemies in February '99 to allies in April to enemies again in May to Austin helping Vince win the belt in December. Big Show turned from face to heel and back four hundred times in that same span. Rock and Austin were tag team partners a fortnight after throwing each other off a bridge and into a grave.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Kane and Undertaker's feud was the best example of that. Undertaker and Kane got together in the August, after feuding throughout the early part of 1998. By November, we'd found out Undertaker actually set the funeral home on fire and Paul Bearer was managing Undertaker again. January, Kane was a heel again helping Vince and Shane.

[The Miz]

Bret once said that he would never of allowed Owen to take part in the stunt that ultimately killed him if he had been there. So Owen would still be alive. Storyline wise Owen would have still been a heel, as would Bret I guess. Bret was doing great as a heel at the time.

 

The Screw Job incident created the whole Mr McMahon character. Without that the McMahon/Austin feud would never have happened. So if Bret had not left wrestling would be very different now. Hell Goldberg wouldn't have ended Brets career either.

[tiger_rick]

I've been thinking about this a lot recently as I'm currently re-watching the Hart Foundation 1997 compilation.

 

I honestly don't think history would have changed too much. Vince McMahon's involvement was becoming greater throughout 1997. There was the on screen recognition that he was the owner of the company and then him eating stunners. The Montreal incident sparked the Mr McMahon character but I think that would have come about anyway. If you watch the shows again, it just seems like such a natural progression.

 

Steve Austin was super-over and being groomed for the top spot so that wouldn't have changed. As Ian says, the Tyson deal might not have gone down which would have been a blow. I still think Austin winning the Rumble and going on to challenge Shawn Michaels would have done good business.

 

Overall, the WWF would still have outgrown WCW. They were putting on better shows for a year before they took over in the ratings war and Nitro was repetitive shit. The WWF was cooler.

 

Bret's role is an interesting one. There's no way he could have been the #1 guy, Austin was well on his way. Bret would've settled into a role below the mid-card, getting guys ready for Austin. Watching them become allies would have been great too. There were plenty of opponents left for Bret on PPV too. Shamrock is the obvious one, also Foley, The Rock, Trips, Kane, etc. It's such a shame that Bret wasn't there. Especially with Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Angle, Hardy's and Edge & Christian turning up.

 

I have a feeling Owen Hart would still be alive today too. That must eat away at Bret every single day.