How would Bret's career have gone if he stayed in WWF?

[richaveli83]

Way back in like 1999 or 2000 from I think Dave Meltzer reported that Bret would have faced Austin at Wrestlemania 14 with Austin finally getting a clean victory over Bret and thus becoming the face of the WWF. Austin was going to be the main man no matter what. Bret would have stayed around but eventually become a road agent or booker, hence the 20 year contract he signed in 1996.

He was never going to wrestle until 2016 but retire probably in 2000/2001.

The attitude era stuff we got in late 1998/early 1999 more than likely wouldn't have happened but the WWF was going in that direction even before Montreal. None of that Undertaker ministry stuff, Val Venis, Mae Young giving birth to a hand, Bossman cooking and serving Al Snow dog meat, etc but more risqué than mid 90s WWF.

The WWF would have eventually come back in the ratings because WCW was bound to fukk up anyway because they really had no good way of ending the NWO angle and people would have eventually got bored with it. I could probably see HBK jumping ship to WCW and maybe Savage and Flair coming back to the WWF.

I don't think ratings would have reached the levels they did because Vincr McMahon wouldn't become "Mr. McMahon" without the screwjob so there wouldn't be a corporate villain for Austin to feud with.

Overall with Bret not leaving the WWF, Owen wouldn't have done the stupid stunt that got him killed, Bulldog wouldn't have went to WCW so he wouldn't have gotten hurt on that trap door which caused him to get addicted to drugs which cut his life even shorter.

I don't think wrestling would have gotten as big as it did in 1999-2000 but it would have remained decent and probably WCW wouldn't have gone out of business.

 

[prime]

Every Mania drew more


You clearly didn't watch wrestling at that time then because Bret vs Austin was booked as the main event more then Sid vs Taker was. Austin won the rumble and him and Bret was the main storyline heading into Mania. Bret was in a world title match the week before Mania which could've made Austin vs Bret for the title. Bret vs Austin was the most promoted match for WM 13 and it drew the worse WM buyrate of all-time. HBK vs Bret at WM 12 outdrew Bret vs Austin at WM13.

Bret wasn't a draw ever

I don’t think it was because of Bret WCW was white hot at that time and if I remember correctly the austin vs hart submission match was put together last minute because Shawn lost his smile Austin himself didn’t even know about the match as he stated multiple times Austin wasn’t even on the promo posters around here in Chicago I was 8 I remember it was Shawn,taker,Sid and hart on the posters around here

Plus beside the two top matches the rest of the event was trash as fukk

 

[John Reena]

He woulda def be higher on the Mt. Rushmore topic. Bret coulda had classics with Kurt Angle, The Rock, Jericho, Kane (back when he was still athletic) RVD, Brock Lesnar, etc.,

 

[Reality Check]

Really tough "what if" because not only would there not have been a Mr. McMahon character that grew out of the screwjob, but there also more than likely wouldn't have been the (then) career ending injury for HBK in the Royal Rumble coffin match. Without HBK, the company was put in the palm of Austin's hand at Mania in 98; if HBK never has that injury who knows how everything could have played out.

 

[Grifter]

Stone Cold would've had better matches setup post Shawn.

 

[BrehWyatt]

Way back in like 1999 or 2000 from I think Dave Meltzer reported that Bret would have faced Austin at Wrestlemania 14 with Austin finally getting a clean victory over Bret and thus becoming the face of the WWF. Austin was going to be the main man no matter what. Bret would have stayed around but eventually become a road agent or booker, hence the 20 year contract he signed in 1996.

He was never going to wrestle until 2016 but retire probably in 2000/2001.

The attitude era stuff we got in late 1998/early 1999 more than likely wouldn't have happened but the WWF was going in that direction even before Montreal. None of that Undertaker ministry stuff, Val Venis, Mae Young giving birth to a hand, Bossman cooking and serving Al Snow dog meat, etc but more risqué than mid 90s WWF.

The WWF would have eventually come back in the ratings because WCW was bound to fukk up anyway because they really had no good way of ending the NWO angle and people would have eventually got bored with it. I could probably see HBK jumping ship to WCW and maybe Savage and Flair coming back to the WWF.

I don't think ratings would have reached the levels they did because Vincr McMahon wouldn't become "Mr. McMahon" without the screwjob so there wouldn't be a corporate villain for Austin to feud with.

Overall with Bret not leaving the WWF, Owen wouldn't have done the stupid stunt that got him killed, Bulldog wouldn't have went to WCW so he wouldn't have gotten hurt on that trap door which caused him to get addicted to drugs which cut his life even shorter.

I don't think wrestling would have gotten as big as it did in 1999-2000 but it would have remained decent and probably WCW wouldn't have gone out of business.

This. The main thing being that Austin finally gets the clean win over Bret and officially becomes the man. Bret would most likely leave later that year, no later than mid-1999 as he would hate what the product had become and where it is going.

One could only hope he stayed until May 23, 1999. If he did, Owen Hart would still be alive.

 

[JQ Legend]

This is silly.

WWF barely had any stars, and their top workers paled in comparison to WCW's.

WWF ppvs basically had just a couple good matches, and they would've just been regular nitro matches in WCW - which you clearly didn't watch.

In all honesty WCW had matches on Nitro that was more high profile than the main events on their own PPVs tho

They did Warrior/Sting vs Bret/Hoegan on Nitro when that was easily one of the biggest tag team matches in history especially for the time frame

And they treated that like WWE treat modern throw away matches

 

[Jmare007]

Owen's death is avoided


And yeah, no doubt WM 14 is Austin vs Bret III.


I still believe we get Vince vs Austin though, that seemed like a direction before the screwjob ever happened (the MSG segment were Austin stuns McMahon) and that's what basically saved the WWF.

Even if he stayed the whole time and really did ride out most of that 20 year contract (including having an agent role or whatever), I can’t see him not butting heads at times with Vince creatively in terms of the raunchiness of the “Era” or how he’d go about putting some of the matches together psychology wise.

Yeah, even if the Screwjob never happens and he stays in the WWF, he was going end up burning out because of the direction the company was going and how the Attitude Era unfolded. He was already not happy with the DX stuff in 97'. Russo's crash TV of 98' and 99' would've made Bret go crazy

So he probably has a falling out anyway and either retires early, has a more amicable departure from the company or ends up in a more secondary role up until 2000.

What's more interesting though is what happens in the early to mid 00's. How many comebacks does a healthy Bret make during the Ruthless Aggression Era?

Really tough "what if" because not only would there not have been a Mr. McMahon character that grew out of the screwjob, but there also more than likely wouldn't have been the (then) career ending injury for HBK in the Royal Rumble coffin match. Without HBK, the company was put in the palm of Austin's hand at Mania in 98; if HBK never has that injury who knows how everything could have played out.

The Michaels/Hart stuff reached such retarded levels that I don't think they could've coexisted. If somehow the Screwjob doesn't happen and somehow Cokeboy chooses Bret over Shawn (because Hart stays in the Federation), then Michaels throws a fit and leaves for WCW. Question is, does HHH stay in the WWF without Michaels AND enemy n°1 (Bret) still in the company? My guess would be that La Nariz jumps ship too. Imagine the possibilities of a WWE without Hunter having the power he started to have from 1999

Sure, they all comeback eventually after WCW folds but we probably have a completely different transition to the Cena/Orton/Batista/Edge Era.

 

[JQ Legend]

Some good scenarios in here but I strongly disagree with the upper midcarder. This is Bret Hart. He would not have been top top dog forever but he would have stayed in the main event scene.

Yea I’m not understanding all this “mid card” talk

I’d argue there was not a single wrestler on the WWF roster in the 90s booked stronger than Bret. He was in the main event for his last 5+ years there and beat literally everyone anywhere close to the main event scene.

 

[JQ Legend]

I don’t remember Bret vs The Rock for the IC title

This was dope

Stone Cold coming to The Rock’s rescue

Surprised they let a dude with a NWO shirt in, let alone that close to ringside in Spring of 97

 

[Wacky D]

In all honesty WCW had matches on Nitro that was more high profile than the main events on their own PPVs tho

I was talking about workrates.

Bul tried to say that the WWF had better workers. and there were idiots on here that dapped him up.

 

[HipHopStan]

I still wonder how that 20 year contract would have worked out. Did Vince and/or Bret really think they could get that much mileage out of a wrestling career? Bret was pushing 40 in 97.

 

[LexDiamonds]

Nahhh Bret vs Austin at WM 13 drew the worst WM buyrate of all time no way were they gonna run that shyt back the next year. HBK vs Austin drew way more then that shyt. Bret wasn't a draw in WWF or WCW

Bret vs Austin wasn't for the belt though. Sid and Taker was the headliner. Also Tyson contributed significantly to Austin/Michaels.

 

[Hey_zeus]

Idk but it's the far better timeline. Wonder if HBK then leaves?

 

[Blackmamba24]

As long as HBK is still injured Mania 14 is Bret vs Austin for the title. HBK is either done right away or is put into something with Triple H for Mania to pass the DX torch to and then he's gone.

After Mania Bret probably is gone till leading into Summer Slam where I'd assume they'd turn him back face by helping Austin somehow. He'd spend those next couple of years in the main event mix but Austin Rock still happens at 15. He has good feuds with Triple H, Rock, Taker, Foley, Kurt Angle etc. while slowly becoming a part-timer.

He's likely face the whole time until HBK returns in 02 and that's the perfect excuse for him to turn heel. Bret Shawn at 19 could then start a year long feud and then Shawn retires him at 20 and they squash their long standing beef.