Sultan of Submission | The Biography - by Rohan | page 6

WCW (What a Colossal Waste)

Bret entered the WCW fresh from having his heart ripped out by the World Wrestling Federation and Vince McMahon. Meanwhile the nWo (New World Order, led by Hollywood "Hulk" Hogan and Eric Bischoff) announced that the Hit Man was about to join their band of outlaws.Bret was asked t to officiate a match between Larry Zybysco and Eric Bischoff. The Hit Man agreed, but cautioned Easy E that if he was looking for someone to help him in the match, he had come to the wrong person. During the match, Bret nailed Bischoff and placed Scott Hall in the Sharpshooter, proving that he was, in fact, not with the nWo. Bret's first major Pay-Per-View match was against the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Flair and Hart had gotten into an argument many a time about who was better. Bret beat Flair with the Sharpshooter at the 1998 Soul'd Out Pay-Per-View.

The following month, Bret took on Curt Hennig at Uncensored'98 and beat him with the Sharpshooter, just as he had done at the 1991 Survivor Series. Bret didn't last long as a face in the organization. In a World Title match on Monday Nitro between World Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, Bret came up from behind, cleared the ring and placed Hogan on top of Savage. Hogan won the match and the World Title.

The week that followed was the official 'Why Bret Why' week and during an in-ring interview with "Mean" Gene Okerland, Bret accepted the Macho Man's challenge to square off at Slamboree 98. Savage and Hart had only fought once before in the late 80's during Bret's days as a singles jobber. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was the special guest referee for this match. The Hit Man destroyed Randy Savage and the Macho Man tapped out to the Sharpshooter. The following month, Bret teamed up with none other than Hulk Hogan to take on the pair of Macho Man Randy Savage and Rowdy Roddy Piper. Bret went on to win his first ever WCW United States title by beating a heavily injured Diamond Dallas Page.

The Hit Man character meant a lot of things to the fans, and it was something the WCW couldn't understand. They forced Bret to tap out to Lex Luger's torture rack on Monday Nitro, bringing to end Bret's first WCW US title reign. Two days later on Thunder, Bret took on and beat Luger and regained his title.

The Man they call Sting with the move they call Sharpshooter

Bret's first major feud was with Sting. For many years now, Sting had used the double-leg grapvine as his finisher - a move that was popularized by Bret Hart as the Sharpshooter. So it was only natural that a feud between the two should develop. For a while, Bret insisted that he was Sting's friend, even though The Stinger was part of the rival nWo Wolfpac. Then during The Stinger's match with Hulk Hogan, Bret ran in and nailed the Stinger in a DDT, costing him the match. Bret then challenged Sting to a match at Haloween Havoc. The Hit Man demolished Sting, first with a baseball bat and then with the Sharpshooter, to retain the US title. However the following day ,Bret lost the title to DDP. The following month, after constantly provoking Page, Bret earned a shot against the champion, and beat him for the US title, when The Giant attacked DDP from behind.

The WCW continued to misuse Bret Hart. Neither was he developing any one strong persona, nor was he competing in major main-event matches against the likes of Hulk Hogan or Bill Goldberg.

The WCW continually destroyed the Bret 'Hit Man' Hart persona by having him fight people like Wil Sasso from MAD TV. If that wasn't bad enough, Bret was forced to drop the title to a non active participant in the WCW - "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

"Put that in your pipe and smoke it!"

The WCW was making inroads to Canada and Bret was their ticket to success. Bret came out to Toronto, Canada to a sold out crowd of Hit Man crazy fans and criticized the way the WCW had used him in the past. Bret said that he was a five time world champion and he couldn't get a match with anybody. He criticized Hogan and Flair and said they were too scared to face him. He then criticized Goldberg, calling him a big chicken. He said he was not leaving the ring until Goldberg came out there and fought him. A hot headed Goldberg entered the ring and speared Bret Hart. Surprisingly, both Hart and Goldberg lay on the mat and it was Bret Hart who was the first to get up. The Hit Man pinned Goldberg and revealed the steel armor under his Calgary Hitmen jacket that he had used as protection against Goldberg's spear. Bret said he was sick of the mess he was in and "quit" the WCW. This was, in my opinion the best angle Bret was ever involved in in the WCW. The WCW should have really capitalized on it, but the Hit Man was out of action nursing a groin injury. Bret was expected to come back and feud with Bill Goldberg.

Then in May, 1999, Bret returned home to be with his family during the most unfortunate death of his brother Owen Hart during a WWF Fully Loaded Pay-Per View event in Kansas City. Bret appeared on CNN's Larry King Live, the following morning with Owen's widow Martha Hart. Before Owen's funeral, WWF owner Vince McMahon asked to meet with Bret. It was McMahon's intention to bury the hatchet. Bret did meet with McMahon, who came off as deeply apologetic for what he did to Bret at the Survivor Series. The very next day, Vince appeared on TSN's Off The Record and said that Bret had begged to meet with him, and that McMahon had decided to meet with Bret in a public place because he feared for his life. Owen's funeral was attended by many of the big names in professional wrestling including Benoit, Jericho, The Rock, Hogan, Funk and Chyna.

When the WCW toured Kansas City a few months later, Bret Hart and Chris Benoit, put on the most spectacular show of technical wrestling in a classic face vs face Owen Hart Tribute Match. Both the wrestlers displayed amazing skill and eventually, Benoit fell to the Sharpshooter.

An injured Bret Hart then took on Goldberg for the United States title. Bret had a hairline fracture and Goldberg tried to make Bret submit, but the Hit Man stuck on. Eventually the Outsiders and Sid destroyed Goldberg, and Bret became the WCW champion for the fourth time. After learning that Goldberg had lost the title due to outside interference, Bret forfeited the United States title.

The very same month, Bret went through a series of contenders for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. At WCW Mayhem, 1999, Bret took on Sting in the semi finals. In a thrilling encounter, Bret reversed Sting's Scorpion Deathlock into the Sharpshooter. Sting tapped out and Bret went into the finals against Chirs Benoit, in front of his home crowd. Bret and Benoit contested for the title in yet another phenomenal display of technical skills. Eventually, Bret placed the Sharpshooter on Benoit and became WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The Hart Family and Bret's ex-wife Julie joined in the ring for the celebrations in Toronto Canada.

As World Champion, Bret put the title on the line against the number one contender, Bill Goldberg. During the match, Bret placed Goldberg in the Sharpshooter, but guest referee Roddy Piper rang the bell before Goldberg tapped out - this was WCW's way of taking a jab at the World Wrestling Federation, at the expense of what could have been a perfectly good match. During the match, Bret received several kicks from Bill Goldberg, which would later be the cause of a most devastating concussion.

Angered by what Piper had done the previous night, Bret surrendered the World Title, in protest and asked for another Hart-Goldberg match on Monday Nitro to determine the WCW Champion. As Bret and Bill fought on, the nWo attacked Goldberg, and helped Bret win the title for the second time. For the next couple of weeks, Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner reformed the nWO, with Bret 'Hit Man' Hart as their new leader. Bret grossly underestimated the impact of Goldberg's kicks, and continued to appear on WCW television. Eventually, the pain grew so intense, that he was forced to forfeit the title and take time off the recuperate. Bret was diagnosed of having Post Concussion Syndrome - the Hit Man suffered from bouts of severe headache, slurred speech and short term amnesia. Doctors were still not sure of whether Bret would be able to return to wrestling. Meanwhile, Bret made appearances on WCW TV at New Blood Rising to save face with his Canadian fans. Bret also appeared on Nitro, attacking Goldberg in New Mexico. The following Thunder, Bret criticized Goldberg and blamed him for the injury. When Goldberg attacked the Hit Man, Scott Steiner charged at Goldberg from behind and placed him in the Steiner Recliner.

The same Saturday, Bret published an article in the Calgary Sun criticizing the WCW for misusing him. He said that he had never blamed Goldberg for the injury and was forced to say the things he said on television. On reading the article, WCW canceled a Bret Hart appearance on the WCW Australian tour, on disciplinary grounds. The WCW itself was in dire straits, and was estimating an $ 80 million dollar loss for the fiscal year 2000-01

October 19, 2000 - The WCW extends Bret's contract set to expire November 2000 to November 2002.

October 21, 2000 - The WCW excersizes clause 8(e) of their contract with Bret which allows them to terminate Bret Hart for not wrestling for over 90 days.

October 23, 2000 - Bret Hart officially retires from professional wrestling.

Next : Bret Hart the wrestler, an analysis.