How would you have booked Bret Hart’s debut in WCW?

[Peter Parker]

Brets hand was broken directly off the Montreal Screwjob when he punched Vince and he had a non-compete which is why he didn’t wrestle for months later.

Honestly the best thing to do would have been to just leave him off TV and play vignettes that he was coming

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

Brets hand was broken directly off the Montreal Screwjob when he punched Vince and he had a non-compete which is why he didn’t wrestle for months later.

Honestly the best thing to do would have been to just leave him off TV and play vignettes that he was coming

Nah he didn’t wrestle cause he had a 60 day no compete clause in his WWF contract.

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Have him come in as the Prickman Hart. Continue being the a$$hole Canadian of WWF, while being the non shyt given shytbird heel during the end of his WCW run. It would had put asses into seats to see Bret beat the breaks out of dudes like Melenko, Eddie, and Benoit, just for him to bless the masses with some of the GOATest of GOAT matches that WCW would had cooked up if they got off of the NWO's dikk.

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

Have him come in as the Prickman Hart. Continue being the a$$hole Canadian of WWF, while being the non shyt given shytbird heel during the end of his WCW run. It would had put asses into seats to see Bret beat the breaks out of dudes like Melenko, Eddie, and Benoit, just for him to bless the masses with some of the GOATest of GOAT matches that WCW would had cooked up if they got off of the NWO's dikk.

Or what if he just continued the same character and formed a Canada heel clique with Benoit and Jericho.

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Or what if he just continued the same character and formed a Canada heel clique with Benoit and Jericho.

Breh....breh

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

Breh....breh

Add Lance Storm too.

Hitman
Jericho
Benoit
Storm

WCW Hart Foundation.

 

[Peter Parker]

Nah he didn’t wrestle cause he had a 60 day no compete clause in his WWF contract.

I said that he had a no compete, his hand was also completely broken

 

[showtime]

I've said this before and I'll say it again after the screwjob Bret was the hottest babyface in the business and WCW had to immediately cash in here. People hate seeing other people get legit screwed over and Bret would've been a huge hero and people would've wanted to see him get redemption. They had to book Hogan vs Bret for the title WWE handed them a massive ratings and cash cow and they dropped it


You have a contract signing between Hogan and Sting a couple weeks before Starrcade Hogan goes to the ring and Sting is supposed to come out next but he is nowhere to be found, it cuts to the cameras in the back and Sting is laid out with blood covering his face and broken glass everywhere. Sting is put in an ambulance and rushed to the hospital as Nitro goes off the air.


Next week on Nitro it is announced Sting will not be able to compete at Starrcade due to the attack and JJ Dillon will have an announcement on that later in the show. JJ Dillon calls out Hogan. Hogan says he had nothing to do with the attack JJ Dillon tells Hogan he should strip him of the belt and fire him right here right now. But he tells Hogan this would be letting you off easy and Hogan should be beaten down like the NWO did to Sting so he has a replacement to face Hogan at Starrcade. Bret Hart's music hits to a huge pop and Bret and Hogan have a stare down to end Nitro.


Bret beats Hogan at Starrcade by making him tap to the sharpshooter Bret is the new WCW World Champion.


Next night on Nitro Bret does a promo and they let him shoot and say whatever he wants about Vince the WWF and HBK saying he was never beaten and he's still their World Champ.


Bret's super over as a babyface now and he goes on to defend his title against Macho Man at Souled Out, Ric Flair at SuperBrawl, and Kevin Nash in a NO DQ match at Uncensored.


Then the Nitro after Uncensored Bret is cutting a promo and the lights flicker and a crow flies to the ring ending Bret's promo


The next week the lights flicker again when Bret's giving a promo and Bret says this is bullshyt and whoever is doing this should come out and face him like a man. Then Sting descends from the rafters and appears in the ring he points his bat at the screen and a video plays of security footage of Bret attacking Sting and throwing him into the glass. Bret turns around trying to cheap shot Sting but Sting ducks and hit's Bret with the bat leaving Bret laying there to end Nitro. Bret is now a monster heel


Sting vs Bret Hart for the world title at Spring Stampede Sting beats Bret by reversing the Sharpshooter into the Scorpion Death Lock making Bret Hart tap out. Sting is now your new World Champ and we go on a run and face Hogan at Bash At The Beach for the World Title and Bret goes on to being a heel like he was at the end of his run in WWF.

 

[PharaohAtem]

Or what if he just continued the same character and formed a Canada heel clique with Benoit and Jericho.

The Canadian World Order

 

[The Ruler 09]

I wouldn't have put him in a faction for a while, they could have done the dream Bret vs Hogan match after a great build, Bret's momentum was huge, people knew he never legit lost to Shawn so he could claim to be the best, could even mention that. Would have given him a run as champ, beat Hall, Nash at TV's, have a great match regularly against talent and make them look good as he beats them, eventually have him put someone over, if they needed to at the time even Goldberg if he was who they were going with. Then he could get in a personal feud with another legend like Flair. High profile great matches and stories, make use of his wrestling ability and credibility and book him strong so when he rarely loses it really puts over a talent strongly and does a lot for them.

 

[FaygoMI]

I would have had him debut on Nitro during the opening segment of a Hogan NWO promo the night after Hogan lost to Sting. He kicks Hogan out the NWO and takes his spot.

 

[Cheercomp]

I've said this before and I'll say it again after the screwjob Bret was the hottest babyface in the business and WCW had to immediately cash in here. People hate seeing other people get legit screwed over and Bret would've been a huge hero and people would've wanted to see him get redemption. They had to book Hogan vs Bret for the title WWE handed them a massive ratings and cash cow and they dropped it


You have a contract signing between Hogan and Sting a couple weeks before Starrcade Hogan goes to the ring and Sting is supposed to come out next but he is nowhere to be found, it cuts to the cameras in the back and Sting is laid out with blood covering his face and broken glass everywhere. Sting is put in an ambulance and rushed to the hospital as Nitro goes off the air.


Next week on Nitro it is announced Sting will not be able to compete at Starrcade due to the attack and JJ Dillon will have an announcement on that later in the show. JJ Dillon calls out Hogan. Hogan says he had nothing to do with the attack JJ Dillon tells Hogan he should strip him of the belt and fire him right here right now. But he tells Hogan this would be letting you off easy and Hogan should be beaten down like the NWO did to Sting so he has a replacement to face Hogan at Starrcade. Bret Hart's music hits to a huge pop and Bret and Hogan have a stare down to end Nitro.


Bret beats Hogan at Starrcade by making him tap to the sharpshooter Bret is the new WCW World Champion.


Next night on Nitro Bret does a promo and they let him shoot and say whatever he wants about Vince the WWF and HBK saying he was never beaten and he's still their World Champ.


Bret's super over as a babyface now and he goes on to defend his title against Macho Man at Souled Out, Ric Flair at SuperBrawl, and Kevin Nash in a NO DQ match at Uncensored.


Then the Nitro after Uncensored Bret is cutting a promo and the lights flicker and a crow flies to the ring ending Bret's promo


The next week the lights flicker again when Bret's giving a promo and Bret says this is bullshyt and whoever is doing this should come out and face him like a man. Then Sting descends from the rafters and appears in the ring he points his bat at the screen and a video plays of security footage of Bret attacking Sting and throwing him into the glass. Bret turns around trying to cheap shot Sting but Sting ducks and hit's Bret with the bat leaving Bret laying there to end Nitro. Bret is now a monster heel


Sting vs Bret Hart for the world title at Spring Stampede Sting beats Bret by reversing the Sharpshooter into the Scorpion Death Lock making Bret Hart tap out. Sting is now your new World Champ and we go on a run and face Hogan at Bash At The Beach for the World Title and Bret goes on to being a heel like he was at the end of his run in WWF.

While I love this, I feel like it doesn't allow a payoff for the Sting/NWO storyline. Sure Sting faces Hogan right after Bret, but that NWO thing takes a major backseat. With Bret landing in their laps, there's no choice but to alter the course and develop this new villain?

 

[showtime]

While I love this, I feel like it doesn't allow a payoff for the Sting/NWO storyline. Sure Sting faces Hogan right after Bret, but that NWO thing takes a major backseat. With Bret landing in their laps, there's no choice but to alter the course and develop this new villain?

It's not kicking Sting out of the storyline he's still the major focal point in the storyline, it's just adding a twist to make it even better and extending it a couple months. They would've had the 3 hottest wrestlers Sting, Hogan (nwo), and Bret all involved in the same storyline.


Massive Heel Bret vs Crow Sting Sharpshooter vs Scorpion Deathlock would've been a classic at the time

So you get Bret vs Hogan, Bret vs Sting, and Sting vs Hogan all within a couple months

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

He was literally the hottest property in wrestling at that time, you gotta put that dude in the main event picture right away.

No need for any kind of slow build with Hitman in late '97.

WCW fans simply werent interested in bret hart like that.
it was evident from jump when he got that lukewarm crowd reaction during his big first appearance.

he wasnt the hottest property in wrestling. he wasnt even the hottest property in the WWF.
and everything that made him popular in the WWF, was just regular chit in WCW.

i know this is a pro-WWF board but people gotta realize that youre dealing with different audiences when you jump ship.
and the elephant in the room, is that bret hart was a big fish in a small pond in the WWF - which had a very much inferior roster in comparison to WCW's at the time.

he shoulda immediately been in the title picture. he got treated like a scrub.

as someone who was an actual WCW fan, we werent trying to see that.

 

[El Guapo]

I would've delayed his debut till after Starrcade and at Souled Out. The way he left WWF and wrote WCW in the air at Survivor Series, Bret's coming in as a face.

Sting defeats Hogan clean at Starrcade and Hogan is off TV. Outsiders are now in charge of the nWo and challenge Sting and Luger at Souled Out to show that the nWo is still the dominant force in wrestling. However, Sting's win at Starrcade has the nWo is in disarray, so Hall and Nash take out Luger on Nitro a couple weeks before Souled Out. The last Nitro before Souled Out, Hall and Nash taunt Sting that he has to take them on by himself. Sting says he's got someone to replace Luger and basically says it's Bret without mentioning Bret's name. Something cheesy like "my partner will be at Souled Out and he'll give you a Hart attack when you find out who it is" just to advertise that people should buy the PPV, but trying to make it somewhat of a surprise.

Anyways, it's Souled Out and Outsiders make their entrance. Sting makes his entrance, but waits in the aisle and Bret makes his debut. Have the finish be Bret and Sting giving the Outsiders the Sharpshooter and Scorpion Deathlock. The next night on Nitro, Bret gives his first promo and says he did a favor for Sting and that in return he wants shot at the World Title at SuperBrawl because no one really beat him for his Championship. Sting obliges and they face off. Bret wins the title and then him and Sting do the hand shake deal to show that their both faces. Have the end of the PPV be Bret in the ring celebrating and then the camera cuts to the back where Sting is attacked by a returning Hogan. Sting is now in an angle to finish off the nWo once and for all and his main priority is not the title which leaves Bret free to work with any heel not named Hogan.

The only thing is Bret would have to drop the belt in a few months because that Goldberg momentum is rolling. I'm undecided if he should drop it to Goldberg straight up or have the belt transition to a heel (Savage? Nash? Hall? Raven? There's no WolfPac faction in this timeline) before it goes to Goldberg