How Close AEW Came To Signing Bret Hart

Bret Hart showed up at the first Double or Nothing to unveil the AEW World Title. That was a big moment to The Hitman to be a part of, but did AEW want him for even more moments?

The idea of AEW signing up WWE Hall of Famers is nothing new. They have several WWE HOFers on their roster right now. Bret Hart was apparently not in the running to get a contract at any point.

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained that AEW just wasn’t in the cards for Bret Hart. Him showing up at Double or Nothing was actually a last-minute deal and they knew that he would anger Vince McMahon as well.

“I never heard of anything in that realm of them signing him. It was a last minute thing. They asked him to present the title and said ‘sure’. He knew he would get heat with Vince, but you know Bret. He didn’t have a contract saying he couldn’t do it, and he didn’t worry that much about getting heat from Vince. So, he worries to a degree, because Nattie is still there and you don’t want them to take out reprisals against her.”

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“That is the actual reason he’s not doing a podcast anymore, and really not doing podcast interviews hardly anymore. I guess he may do some, but he doesn’t do hardly any because I remember I asked him to come on after Dynamite Kid died, and he was super polite because we’re really good friends and it was just like, ‘I don’t do podcast interviews’. Because he says what he thinks, and sometimes WWE gets really mad. So, he just figures that he doesn’t need to get them mad. But, you know what, when it came to presenting that belt, he obviously knew it would and he still did it.”

It turns out that Bret Hart agreed to present the AEW World Title while knowing that he didn’t have a deal with AEW. He just really wanted to get under WWE’s skin. As the years go on and Bret Hart continues telling about his time working in pro wrestling it’s pretty evident at this point that Hart doesn’t really care who he upsets.

What’s your take on this situation? Should AEW have signed Bret Hart? Sound off in the comments!