"Bret Hart Didnt Get Over In WCW...NO IMPACT" - Scott Hall

[Wacky D]

He was Hogan’s lackey for much of his run. Bret Hart ain’t Brutus beefcake

if we're being really real, razor ramon was more over than bret hart in the WWF too.

 

[dbp]

I think a lot of yall are conditioned to the WWE's brainwashing.
im noticing that a lot of you have a privileged mentality when speaking on this, not realizing that the WCW was bigger than the WWF, had a way better roster, and to top it off - bret hart was never a top-tier name in the business overall while WCW was full of household names.

1.) why would they build off of another promotion's booking? the WWF hardly ever does this, but you expect another promotion to do it?? a bigger promotion than the WWF on top of that.
2.) youre under the assumption that WCW fans were watching the WWF. again more of that privileged mentality.
3.) the WWF roster was the minor leagues in comparison to the WCW. you cant expect him to be booked as strongly in WCW where they had a lot of guys that were either bigger names or hotter than he was.

and despite all of that, they still rolled out the red carpet for him. its his fault that he couldn't get over.

if the shoe was on the other foot, and he jumped to the WWF while vince had a gang of bigger names, bret would've been stuck in midcard hell, and most of yall wouldn't be complaining either.

yall gotta let that WWF childhood nostalgia go.

No question WCW had the better roster and better product during this period. Well, 96 at least. I'd argue 97 is one of WWE's low key greatest years.

But both Hall and Nash have said this and I agree with it. WCW may have temporarily been #1, but WWE still had the perception of being #1 by the mainstream. It was seen as the top dog temporarily being in a slump, as opposed to the 2nd fiddle brand getting their ass kicked. To the average American non smark fan, I don't think WCW was ever considered the bigger brand.

There's a reason they used former WWE stars as their top guys. There's a reason they took so many cheap shots at WWE. The production and presentation was more bush league.

Certain guys need to be booked and managed well to succeed. Bret's one of the easiest guys to book, there's no excuse for fukking it up. He can work well pretty much anyone, and can at least hold his end on the mic. Especially by 97.

I'm not surprised they didn't, because there were way too many egos and Bischoff seemed to have zero ability at managing that, but they really fukked up a pretty easy opportunity to take advantage of.

 

[stro]

Bret's WCW promos were hilarious, it's just the majority of them weren't in service of angles, they just had him go out and ramble for 9 months and it was wonderful.

 

[reserved_one]

If you watch Bret back when he went to wcw, you can see he was going through the motions alot and was physcologically done. He didn't have that fire he once had. It didn't make it better that wcw booking was all over the place and inconsistent as fukk.

 

[Wacky D]

There's a reason they used former WWE stars as their top guys. There's a reason they took so many cheap shots at WWE. The production and presentation was more bush league.

actually, WWF threw the first stones. they were the ones taking the cheap shots first when the war REALLY started poppin off, back in '94.

and WCW didn't just sign former "WWF" stars. they were signing top talents from everywhere. they had the goat roster. the idea that it was just ex-WWF guys is nothing more than vince propaganda. and if we're keeping it a buck, most of those so-called WWF stars were really stars from other promotions. you can start at the top with hulk Hogan who was already the hottest thing in wrestling when he was still in the AWA.

when you have the money & the clout, youre gonna go after the big names from wherever. I mean, are we gonna sit here and say that the WWF has been on a signing spree the past few years because they want to be seen in the same light as TNA, ROH, NJPW, etc?? cuz theyre dam sure plucking away a ton of talent. what about when they raided all the territories in the '80s, as I just alluded to? hell, the WWF's roster during the time period that we're talking about was full of ex-WCW stars & dudes from other promotions.

meh, I preferred WCW's production back then. and it dam sure wasn't bush league.

​

But both Hall and Nash have said this and I agree with it. WCW may have temporarily been #1, but WWE still had the perception of being #1 by the mainstream. It was seen as the top dog temporarily being in a slump, as opposed to the 2nd fiddle brand getting their ass kicked. To the average American non smark fan, I don't think WCW was ever considered the bigger brand.

WCW was #1 in the mainstream as well.

I see what hall & nash were trying to say, but the average casual fan isn't thinking deep enough to say "the wwf is temporarily in a slump".

I do agree that the WWF was never seen as a 2nd fiddle league either, but that's moreso because of nostalgia/brand loyalty. unless youre from the south or something, the WWF is most likely the promotion that introduced you to the wrestling world. hence, the reason why they've been in a slump for darn near 15 years now and fans are still stuck on their plantation.

Certain guys need to be booked and managed well to succeed. Bret's one of the easiest guys to book, there's no excuse for fukking it up. He can work well pretty much anyone, and can at least hold his end on the mic. Especially by 97.

I'm not surprised they didn't, because there were way too many egos and Bischoff seemed to have zero ability at managing that, but they really fukked up a pretty easy opportunity to take advantage of.

youre contradicting yourself here.
if you need to be booked & managed a certain way in order to succeed(and basically have the front office hold your hand), then youre not as thurl as you think you are, and youre gonna get exposed easy when you get around the big dogs. chit is like going to prison with so-so hands and not having the benefit of bringing your guns & homies with you. that's basically bret hart in WCW. hell, he had homies that went in with him, but they got separated - which is the ONE AND ONLY thing that I feel WCW dropped the ball on, even tho bulldog & anvil were kinda washed.

and lol. did you actually watch WCW? bret hart was getting raped on the mic left & right.
also, the whole "he could work with everybody" thing didn't get you far in WCW where bret hart matches weren't shining like that. he was an automatic MOTN contender in the WWF where they didn't have many good workers. in WCW, darn near everybody could work their asses off. the only people putting up mediocre matches were some of the marquee names who were so over and so much of a spectacle that their match quality didn't matter. a luxury that bret hart didn't have cuz he really wasn't THAT big of a star.​

 

[Wacky D]

If you watch Bret back when he went to wcw, you can see he was going through the motions alot and was physcologically done. He didn't have that fire he once had. It didn't make it better that wcw booking was all over the place and inconsistent as fukk.

im sorry but even a fully charged bret hart doesn't stand out on that WCW roster.

its no coincidence that his best run over there was when the roster began to dwindle.

 

[Slystallion]

Without Brets cool ass WWF music it didn't feel like the real Bret Hart...that's why he wasn't over

 

[Wacky D]

Without Brets cool ass WWF music it didn't feel like the real Bret Hart...that's why he wasn't over

that didn't help either.

but bret standing around in the ring with his hands in his pockets didn't look as cool in WCW, once he got around cooler wrestlers.

especially when they destroyed him in promos.

 

[ThaBronxBully]

Bishoff Said Brett Had A Bad Attitude And Seemed Uninterested, I Think He Went To WCW As A fukk You Then Quicky Realized “This Place Is A Mess” And Didn’t Give It His All

They Had Him Work With Benoit, Goldberg, Sting And Hogan

No One Cared Causes Brett Didn’t Care

 

[Riley Escobar]

Bret's WCW promos were hilarious, it's just the majority of them weren't in service of angles, they just had him go out and ramble for 9 months and it was wonderful.

"Bret Hart came out for an interview. With no programs to talk about, he mainly talked about his cat. He was becoming target practice, and told Gene Okerlund that those cups (being thrown) are being aimed at him" - The Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 14, 1998

 

[Ruby'sRevolver]

and whose fault is that?
if he got exposed that easy, then what does that tell you??

youre proving my point. bret hart was now a small fish in a big pond.
you cant blame WCW for not holding bret hart's hand & burping him.

and a lot of big stars debuting in a new promotion, start out as a special guest referee/enforcer in their first big appearance. that was pretty common back then. that's another thing. a lot of these criticisms are done too much in hindsight.

yall gotta let that mid-90s wwf nostalgia go.
most of that was a wack time period for the WWF anyway.

WCW was trying to get Bret over as a babyface, having his first feud be with Ric Flair in some half-assed face vs face program was probably not the best way to accomplish that, wouldn't you agree? I have no problem placing most of the blame on Bret and I did so in my first post on this topic but even as a huge WCW mark as you seem to be, you'd have to admit they deserve some of blame as well.

 

[hayesc0]

Without Brets cool ass WWF music it didn't feel like the real Bret Hart...that's why he wasn't over

WWE fukked up his music now also shyt is disgusting

 

[stro]

Other guys who didn't make an impact in WCW:


Pretty much everyone after the first NWO wave. There were 50 WWF and ECW guys that came in 1997-2000 (along with dudes like Chono and Muta at arguably their heights of drawing ability in Japan doing absolutely nothing when they'd bring them in for a couple of weeks) and none of them made a positive impact. A few made negative impacts (Harris Brothers, Jeff Jarrett). Almost like WCW was a poorly run company or something

 

[Wacky D]

WCW was trying to get Bret over as a babyface, having his first feud be with Ric Flair in some half-assed face vs face program was probably not the best way to accomplish that, wouldn't you agree? I have no problem placing most of the blame on Bret and I did so in my first post on this topic but even as a huge WCW mark as you seem to be, you'd have to admit they deserve some of blame as well.

just because im not a delusional WWF mark, it doesn't mean that im a WCW mark. im just a wrestling fan.

I don't think they were TRYING to get bret over as a babyface. im just saying that he came in as such & couldn't get over as a top face.
and that was both before AND after the flair feud.
the writing was on the wall when he received lukewarm pops in all of his initial appearances when youre really supposed to get some of your biggest reactions.

 

[Wacky D]

Other guys who didn't make an impact in WCW:


Pretty much everyone after the first NWO wave.

Goldberg
DDP
warrior
scott steiner solo
booker t solo
raven
sid vicious return
etc