What WCW Should Have Done With Bret Hart

When WCW signed Bret Hart that should have been the final nail in the coffin for the WWF, they had lost their champion and now their competition had all the biggest stars. Yet somehow his leaving was the big bang that started the whole attitude era in the WWF, meanwhile WCW completely wasted Bret Hart. 

So let’s rewrite history and figure out what WCW should have done with Bret Hart…

The day Bret Hart made his debut on WCW Monday Nitro should have been the most exciting night in wrestling history. Eric Bischoff should have thrown a Bret Hart appreciation night, black white and pink confetti should have fallen from the ceiling. He should have given him an open mic to let him get everything off his chest. He should have been there to give his side of the Montreal Screw Job, to bad mouth Vince more than any other wrestler, and to want to make sure WCW won the Monday Night Wars.

Then Eric Bischoff should have made Bret an offer to join the NWO, to be the #2 man in the whole organization under Hollywood Hogan who was the World Champion. Bret would have turned down this offer though, and told Eric Bischoff he didn’t sign with the NWO he signed with WCW, and the real reason he signed with the company was to finally get his chance to defeat Hogan for the World Championship. 

This would have outraged Bishoff and Hogan obviously, and they would have been furious with Bret, so Bischoff would have told him that instead of being the #2 in the NWO he would be starting from the very bottom of the list in WCW and he would never be able to earn his way to the top to get a title shot against Hogan. Bret would have said he expected nothing less, and was ready to prove himself in WCW, and that nothing was going to stop him from earning his shot against Hogan. 

First, Bret would be forced to compete in a battle royal against all of the cruiserweights in WCW to earn a match against the Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero. Bret would win the battle royal and earn the match against Guerrero, however, it would not be for the title since Bret was not a cruiserweight. The following week when it was time for the match, Bret would announce that he wanted to give away the match that he earned to a more deserving cruiserweight who could win the title, Chris Beniot. Beniot would go on to defeat Guerrero and become the new Cruiserweight Champion, and Bret’s first allie in WCW. 

Next, Bret Hart would challenge the reigning WCW Television Champion, Booker T, who would be excited to have the match with Bret, however, Bischoff would try to put a stop to it of course claiming that Bret hadn’t earned it yet. First Bret would have to run the gauntlet against three previous Television Champions: Disco Inferno, Perry Saturn, and Alex Wright. Of course Bret would defeat them all and earn his shot. Then Bret would defeat Booker T to become the new WCW Television Champion. I always thought Bret Hart and Booker T would have an amazing match together, this would be a dream match for sure. 

Bischoff would force Bret to defend his WCW Television Championship constantly, against various wrestlers such as: Fit Finlay, Stevie Ray, Konnan, Rick Steiner, and Rick Martel just to name a few. Ultimately, the feud would be building between Bret and the NWO, so their members would start challenging him more frequently. So at this point Bret would really start to need more Allies. That is when Jim The Anvil Neidhart and the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith would arrive in WCW. 

With the help of Bret, the Anvil and the Bulldog would earn themselves a shot at the WCW Tag Team Championships quickly after arriving. They would defeat the Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) and become the new WCW Tag Team Champions, with the help of Bret Hart of course. Now Bret would start to gain some power in WCW, controlling the Cruiserweight Championship, Televisions Championship, and now Tag Team Championships. Bret would want his shot against Hogan, but he would be told he still had to go through the United States Champion first. 

So far I’ve been trying to keep things somewhat historically accurate by having Bret face who the actual reigning champions were at the time, Eddie Guerrero and Booker T, even The Outsiders. However, for the United States Championship I would have the NWO go after it more determined to keep it from Bret. So looking back at Starcade that year, Diamond Dallas Page had won the title from Curt Henning. However, I think it might go better if Lex Luger defeats DDP to win the title and set up a better feud with Bret. Still, Bret would have to defeat DDP on his way to earning that title shot. He would also have to go through Curt Henning, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, even Scott Steiner, or anyone else the NWO could throw in his way. 

Of course, Bret would eventually earn his shot at the United States Championship, and he would go on to defeat Lex Luger to win the title, making him the reigning Television and United States Champion. He would have defeated most members of the NWO by this point, and most of the stars of WCW for that matter. Winning the United States Championship would make Bret a contender for the World Championship whether the NWO liked it or not. However, Bischoff would claim there were still other top contenders ahead of Bret, like former World Champion Sting. 

By this point, Bret would finally be where he was meant to be all along, he would be the hottest babyface in all of WCW, in the main event scene with Sting and Hogan. 

At this point I would have things start to fall apart for Bret. Chris Jericho would join the NWO and defeat Beniot for the Cruiserweight Championship. The Outsiders, Hall and Nash, would defeat the Anvil and the Bulldog for the Tag Team Championships. Not only would Bret’s allies lose their titles, they would be beat down and put out of action leaving Bret all alone. The NWO would mock Bret and offer him a rematch for the Tag Team Championships, if only he could find a partner… That’s when Sting would answer the call. 

Bret and Sting would defeat the Outsiders to win the Tag Team Championships. Then they would declare themselves the number one contenders for Hogan’s World Championship. Bischoff would refuse and demand that they face each other in a number one contenders match. They would be torn about facing each other, and in the end Sting would walk out of the ring taking a count out loss to allow Bret to win and earn his long awaited title shot against Hogan finally. 

When it finally happens the rest of the NWO is there to try to make sure Bret doesn’t win, However, Sting and other WCW stars are there to help even the playing field. In all the chaos of the match, Kevin Nash hits Bret with the Jacknife Powerbomb, and later Scott Hall hits him with the Outsider’s Edge. Just as it looks like Hogan is about to get the win with his leg drop, Sting enters the ring and hits Hogan with his black bat, a quick shot to the knee then one across the lower back. As Bret eventually gets back to his feet he sees Hogan down and slowly puts him into the Sharpshooter. To everyone’s shock, Hogan taps out as he is in absolute agony after those shots from Sting’s bat. The bell rings and Bret Hart is the new WCW World Champion. Most of all, Bret Hart has finally defeated Hulk Hogan.