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

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

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.

the crowd was against bret in every major feud he had opposing a main event wrestler when he came in.

no dissin, but this thread is a bunch of WWF fans trying to book for WCW.

WCW didnt fumble bret. hes just not as great as yall rank him.

 

[ThaBronxBully]

the crowd was against bret in every major feud against a main event wrestler when he came in.

no dissin, but this thread is a bunch of WWF fans trying to book for WCW.

WCW didnt fumble bret. hes just not as great as yall rank him.

You Bring Him In Fresh Off One Of The Most Controversial Stories To Ever Happen In Wrestling And Do Nothing But Make Him A Ref? That’s Dropping The fukking Ball

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

the crowd was against bret in every major feud against a main event wrestler when he came in.

no dissin, but this thread is a bunch of WWF fans trying to book for WCW.

WCW didnt fumble bret. hes just not as great as yall rank him.

Except there wasn’t that much difference between a WCW fan and a WWF fan, and I say this as someone who grew up a NWA/WCW stan in “Ric Flair country.” Almost everyone switched back and forth.

WCW’s criminal mishandling of Bret Hart was one of the earliest signs that they were dysfunctional and headed for collapse.

He got a lukewarm response because they had him come out and do nothing! Look at this shyt.



Coming out in plain clothes to a garbage ass theme song to accept being a referee for a match between Eric Bischoff and Larry Zbyzko???

Hitman said himself he was asking the WCW bookers wanted him to do and had nothing for him. They were like just go out there. He wasn’t involved in any main event angles other than the awful Sting/Hogan Starrcade finish.

It just illustrates that Bischoff wasn’t very creative. He had the luxury of Billionaire Ted’s endless checkbook, he smartly started public beef with the WWF, and he struck gold with the NWO angle, which he got from New Japan and it was worked to perfection by Hall and Nash, plus Hogan’s heel turn. Other than that, he really had nothing, nor did any of the other stuck in the 80’s guys he had around him. This is what he had to work with with Hitman...

-Reigning 5 time WWF champ that never really lost
-Days removed from being at the centerpiece one of the most seminal events in wrestling history that spilled over into “real” media and was the talk of the wrestling world
-Real friction with Hoegan dating back to the WWF
-Beef with Shawn Michaels kliq (Hall and Nash)
-The Canada heel angle if you wanted to continue it
-He never fought Sting and they were the franchises of their respective companies in the 90’s and have the same finishing hold

You really think he wouldn’t have got more than a lukewarm response if he came out and put Hoegan in the sharpshooter then grabbed the mic and said what you saw in Montreal was a joke and so is the whole WWF and that’s why he left, and told Vince McMahon to kiss his ass and called Shawn Michaels a homo again?

 

[DaHNIC82]

They really didnt have no plans for him. Bischoff wanted him just so he thought this wouId sink the WWF.

Id have him make his debut by saving Sting from getting his ass kicked by the NWO

 

[Reality Check]

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.

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

1) Bret made his debut in Charlotte, NC so it's not very surprising that he didn't get a bigger welcome that he would have gotten say in Boston or something like that. The manner they debuted him in was also very underwhelming and predictable.
2) He was the hottest property in wrestling at that point given everything that went down in Montreal and legitimately knocking out Vince McMahon
3) Correct on him being a big fish in a small pond. Think there was a ceiling with him that he was never really going to rise above unless a few people retired or were let go from their contracts

 

[blues_funk_reggae]

Wcw should've booked a show in Canada somewhere, shyt I would've booked a venue in Montreal. Have Bret come out and save someone and clear the ring. You telling me he wouldn't get a huge pop? Have him cut a promo, "I'm here to set the record straight" or some shyt.

The problem was Bret went to a promotion that had Bischoff up Hogan's ass (Dame) and they couldn't accomplish nothing without Hogan's approval.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

You Bring Him In Fresh Off One Of The Most Controversial Stories To Ever Happen In Wrestling And Do Nothing But Make Him A Ref? That’s Dropping The fukking Ball

it was the most controversial story IN THE WWF.
most WCW fans didnt give a f*ck about the montreal screw-job.

i dont know why this is so hard for yall to understand.
yall really think the WWF was the be all/end all. it wasnt even the biggest promotion at the time.

yall would be better served making a thread on how you would book a WWF return for bret hart, rather than forcing WWF-ideologies on a promotion that most of yall werent in tune with.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

Except there wasn’t that much difference between a WCW fan and a WWF fan, and I say this as someone who grew up a NWA/WCW stan in “Ric Flair country.” Almost everyone switched back and forth.

WCW’s criminal mishandling of Bret Hart was one of the earliest signs that they were dysfunctional and headed for collapse.

He got a lukewarm response because they had him come out and do nothing! Look at this shyt.

theres a big difference between switching channels & being emotionally invested.
and no, the audiences are not the same. hence the reason why the WWF failed to inherit WCW's audience after the buyout.

if bret REALLY had the juice, then the crowd wouldve went nuts the moment he came out the curtain.
why would they wait to pop for him until after they see what he does?? cmon man. that doesnt even make sense.

1) Bret made his debut in Charlotte, NC so it's not very surprising that he didn't get a bigger welcome that he would have gotten say in Boston or something like that. The manner they debuted him in was also very underwhelming and predictable.
2) He was the hottest property in wrestling at that point given everything that went down in Montreal and legitimately knocking out Vince McMahon
3) Correct on him being a big fish in a small pond. Think there was a ceiling with him that he was never really going to rise above unless a few people retired or were let go from their contracts

1.) what about all the other places he got lukewarm responses in across the country throughout the year???

2.) that doesnt make him the hottest property in wrestling. LOL. if that were the case, the crowd wouldve went nuts for him on site. but they didnt. the proof is in the pudding. hell, vince wouldnt have cut him in the first place.

3.) im saying that bret was a big fish in a small pond in the WWF. as opposed to being in WCW where there were a gang of wrestlers who were bigger marquee names and/or more polarizing than him. then adding insult to injury, the stuff that he specialized in over at the WWF, was being done better on a weekly basis in WCW. signing with turner, he became a medium-sized fish. nobody wants to admit this tho.

Wcw should've booked a show in Canada somewhere, shyt I would've booked a venue in Montreal. Have Bret come out and save someone and clear the ring. You telling me he wouldn't get a huge pop? Have him cut a promo, "I'm here to set the record straight" or some shyt.

The problem was Bret went to a promotion that had Bischoff up Hogan's ass (Dame) and they couldn't accomplish nothing without Hogan's approval.

if you have to book a show in his hometown in order to get him over, then he isnt as big as people are in here pretending that he was.

has nothing to do with hogan. yall reaching for every excuse in the book.

 

[CM_Burns]

Bret and WWE documentaries have made the screwjob a way bigger deal in retrospect.

You have to be a smark to care about a guy losing a match when he wasnt supposed to. That happened in kayfabe all the time. "But it was real!" Try convincing a casual fan who watched in the attitude era that thats a big deal.

Its crazy that you have otherwise reasonable people thinking Bret Hart should've been a top 3 guy in WCW against what WWF was putting out in 1998. The last thing WCW needed was to be LESS cool to the millions of new kids getting into wrestling.

 

[ThaBronxBully]

it was the most controversial story IN THE WWF.
most WCW fans didnt give a f*ck about the montreal screw-job.

i dont know why this is so hard for yall to understand.
yall really think the WWF was the be all/end all. it wasnt even the biggest promotion at the time.

yall would be better served making a thread on how you would book a WWF return for bret hart, rather than forcing WWF-ideologies on a promotion that most of yall werent in tune with.

This Might Be True In The 80’s But When That Happened Everybody Was Cross Watching And Reading Online Dirt Stop It Breh, This Wasn’t 1980’s Jim Crockett “We Don’t Watch The WWF” Bullshyt

 

[Buzzed Lightyear]

Have Hulkkk Honkey beat Sting at Starrcade. Bret Hart comes out after the match & challenges Honkey for the title & beat him with the Sharpshooter in 22 seconds.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

This Might Be True In The 80’s But When That Happened Everybody Was Cross Watching And Reading Online Dirt Stop It Breh, This Wasn’t 1980’s Jim Crockett “We Don’t Watch The WWF” Bullshyt

i didnt say all that.

just said WCW fans generally didnt care like that. and the proof is in the pudding. go pull up the tapes.

and truth be told, WWF fans didnt even care to the degree that people carry on about it nowadays. it took on a whole new life once documentaries & shoots became big deals, like @CM_Burns said.

keep telling cats on here, dudes like bret & shawn were b-level main eventers at best. its no coincidence that the WWF took off as soon as they stepped away.

 

[Reggie]

For starters don't involve him in any Bischoff related nonsense at Starrcade, actually don't even announce that he's going to be appearing at Starrcade.

• During the main event when Sting has the upper hand and it looks like he's about to win you have another NWO run-in. Either they distract the ref and try to interfere or you have a ref bump beforehand. Either way, everyone in attendance boos and everyone at home sighs and rolls their eyes.
• NWO guys gang up on Sting, he puts a couple of them down but their sheer numbers subdue him.
• As it starts to look like all hope is lost and Hogan and the NWO are going to get away with this shyt for the 1000th time that's when Bret runs out with a black baseball bat and he starts swinging for the fences and he clears the ring. He just pounds these guys until they scurry like roaches.
• He gets everyone except Hogan who he backs down and before he strikes; Sting gets up and tells Bret that he's got it.
• Bret leaves the ring and the match continues for a few more minutes where it's essentially just Sting beating up Hogan. A couple of Stinger splashes, Scorpion Death Drop then he drags Hogan's carcass to the middle of the ring and locks in the Death Lock for the win.

• The following night you have Sting in the ring for some celebration thing where they hand him a clean and polished Big Gold Belt.
• Bret comes out with the bat in hand, looks Sting right in the eye and hands the bat over and he says that it was pretty useful the night before but it's not really his style.
• Sting thanks him for the help and Bret says that he just did it because it was the right thing to do and before Sting gets too comfortable he should know that Bret came to WCW for 2 reasons. First and foremost to become the World Heavyweight Champion and secondly to get his hands on Sting because he's wanted that match for years.
• Then you build to Sting v Bret.

Pretty damn good to me. Bret was smoking hot and WCW dropped the ball totally with him. Instead of having him contend versus Sting or even Hogan they bring him in as a fukking referee. What type of shyt is this to do to a legend like the Hitman. So much talent in WCW and so many cats he could have good programs with and they literally did not do one thing right whatsoever with Bret. He should have been a main focus from day one and him and Sting versus the NWO eventually leading into them facing each other would have been some classic shyt. But WCW couldn't even put their left foot in front of the right at this point.

 

[CM_Burns]

Brets 2 week introduction in late 97 was not handled well, but look at how they used him in 98. The first half, he's introduced as a star to WCWs audience and goes over familiar big names (Flair, Hennig).

The 2nd half of 98, Bret turned heel and feuded with Sting, DDP, and Booker T, and was positioned as the #2 heel (behind Hogan), who was putting big names on the shelf and beating them. Despite getting to beat and injure DDP and Sting (who were both very over and got 50/50 responses in their matches against Goldberg), he was only kind of over. He got reactions, but clearly not as big of reactions as Nash/Goldberg/Sting/Hall/DDP/Hogan.

I thought his heel promos and character in 98 were pretty good, but he worked with a lot of top talent at the time and the only good match was with Flair. And he wasnt that over despite a really big push. Pushing him even harder would've been a mistake.

 

[Box Factory]

Yeah he should have been feuding with the outsiders the moment he stepped in to wcw. It's an easy obvious transition that writes itself