Bret Hart Regrets Leaving WWE For WCW

Bret Hart is undoubtedly one of the greatest WWE legends to grace the squared circle. The Excellence of Execution was at the top of the heap in WWE in the mid 1990s before his unceremonious exit from the company following the controversial Montreal Screwjob.

The Pink and Black Attack was the top attraction in WWE reigning as their poster boy before the onset of the Attitude Era. However, with WCW beating WWE in the ratings war for weeks, Vince McMahon could not honor Bret’s previously offered deal which led to Hart deciding to signing with Ted Turner’s WCW.

Bret Hart was the reigning WWE champion at the time and refused to drop the title to his real-life rival Shawn Michaels and therefore, Vince McMahon decided to screw Hart out of the title at Survivor Series 1997, the last night of his contract. Hart mentioned that although he was proud to stand up for himself, but regrets the bad blood between himself and Shawn Michaels for years and his decision to join WCW. Bret Hart spoke about this on The Ringer, where he was quite candid in retrospect.

“I wish that none of the bad history that we had had ever happened. I wished I’d never left for WCW because I probably wouldn’t have had a stroke and I probably wouldn’t have had to wrestle Bill Goldberg.”

Advertising

Advertising

Bret Hart’s run did not turn out to be the way he visioned it. While he was the marquee attraction in WWE, his lackluster run in WCW saw him being featured in meaningless storylines due to poor creative direction. The Hitman’s WCW run came to an end following a stiff kick to the head by Goldberg at Starrcade 1999. Of course, that resentment toward Goldberg from the Hitman carries on to this day as well.

Do you think Bret Hart should not have joined WCW in 1997? Sound off in the comments!