Eric Bischoff’s arrogance and stupidity in the Bret Hart 83 Weeks episode is astounding. That’s the best he felt he could use Bret Hart? Coming in as a special guest referee and just using him as Hogan’s sidekick and having more heel turns than Big Show. Bret Hart should have been booked as a face. Being hurt and screwed by the company he helped saved and wants revenge on Shawn Michael’s friends and finally getting his hands on Hogan. The amount of baby face momentum Bret Hart had going following Montreal easily could have been turned into success instead chose to waste Bret Hart. They had the hottest star coming out of a controversial finish and it eventually costed Bret Hart’s wrestling career. What they should’ve done is use Bret Hart for all he’s worth. Feud with Hogan, the NWO and the Four Horseman. Keep Bret Hart the face of WCW. Instead he had some lame feud with Ric Flair and turned heel and face more than Big Show. His WCW career went nowhere.
It’s very simple. Bring Bret in the Nitro after Montreal. Put Bret in the ring with a live mic and let him rip into Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. Bring up everything that happened, especially punching Vince’s lights out. Security comes to the ring to escort Bret out but he refuses to leave. Eric Bischoff comes out with a big smile on his face and tells security to back off. He’s loving every minute of everything Bret’s saying. Bischoff eventually welcomes Bret to the nWo. Bret shakes his hand, then decks him. The nWo hit the ring and Bret jumps the guardrail and escapes through the crowd. WCW should have given Bret the mic, let him cut a brutal shoot on Vince and Shawn, ending it by saying "Since I can't beat the shit out of Shawn Michaels I am gonna do the next best thing, hurt Shawn where it hurts, his friends" hinting at Bret gunning after Hall and Nash. It could be like Austin. If Bret was hurt from punching Vince, Bret could just be shooting non-stop and attacking from behind like Austin was when he was injured.
STARRCADE: Dec 28, 1997 Bret’s first big feud is logically against the nWo. He’s just come from a company run by a corrupt owner and a couple of degenerates with too much backstage political power, so when he sees Bischoff, Hogan, Hall, and Nash all he can see is Vince, Shawn and Helmsley. It’s too early for Bret to face Hogan for the title, besides Hogan is facing Sting on this night in one of the best built feuds in wrestling history, but Hall and Nash make perfect sense. Hall and Nash were Shawns real life best friends, so it only makes sense for Bret to specifically target them as they could make the feud that much more personal by bringing their friendship with Shawn into things. Neither Hall nor Nash were even used at Starrcade 97 which is itself a mystery so they were both available to face Bret.
So at Starrcade its Bret Hart vs Kevin Nash. Bret’s first match is against Shawn Michaels real life best friend Kevin Nash. I believe this is the most logical way to start Bret’s run in WCW. Bret wins via DQ when Hall interferes just as Nash is about to tap to the sharpshooter. Bret wins his first big match in WCW but Hall and Nash get the last laugh double teaming Bret and leaving him laying in the ring with nWo spraypainted on his back.
nWo SOULED OUT: January 24, 1998 After defeating Nash, Bret moves on to the other outsider and former Kliq member: Scott Hall. Bret Hart def Scott Hall After the match Nash arrives and the Outsiders doubleteam Bret. But this time Bret has come prepared. Bulldog and Anvil jump the guardrail to make the save in their WCW debut.
SUPERBRAWL: February 22, 1998 Hollywood Hogan vs Bret Hart After Hogan drops the belt to Sting at Starcade he gets his rematch at nWo Souled out but loses, this means Sting can face some fresh faces for the title and Hogan can move on to feuding with Bret. After beating both of Hogan’s flunkies at the previous two ppv’s, Bret wants to get his hands on the man who’s avoided him for years: Hulk Hogan.
For the first few weeks of the build to this event Hogan doesn’t accept Bret’s challenge as he wants Sting one more time for the title. Hogan feels Bret is beneath him and he has nothing to gain by facing him. But when it’s announced that if Hogan were to win the match he’d get another shot at Sting, then Hogan agrees to the match.
At the ppv, I have Hogan getting the win here when Bischoff comes down and, ala Vince McMahon at Survivor Series, rings the bell when Hogan puts Bret in the sharpshooter. Referee Nick Patrick calls for the bell and the match ends in a Survivor Series screwjob much to the delight of Hogan and Bischoff. After the match, the entire nWo beat down Bret. Anvil and Bulldog show up but they are greatly outnumbered. All the Harts are spraypainted in nWo letters to close out the show.
UNCENSORED: March 15 1998 Bret Hart def Curt Hennig This is what actually happened at this event and I wouldn’t change it. It furthers Bret’s war against the nWo and these two were always capable of putting on a great match. Bret gets the win and starts his climb back up the ladder in hopes of getting a fair shot against Hogan in a rematch.
Speaking of Hogan, he gets his one final match against Sting in a cage match to settle their feud. Sting wins thus bringing their rivalry to a close.
SPRING STAMPEDE: April 19, 1998 Live! From Calgary Alberta Canada: Home of Stampede Wrestling 1998’s Spring Stampede would have been the perfect time for WCW to make a big impression on Canadian wrestling fans. At this point WCW was still number one in the United States, but it was never able to surpass the WWF in popularity in Canada. That was one of the reasons why WCW wanted Bret as they wanted to make headway in the Canadian market. So why on earth not schedule a ppv or NItro in Canada every once in a while?? Bret’s career began in Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, so why not hold the 1998 edition of Spring Stampede in the former home of Stampede Wrestling and Bret’s hometown of Calgary.
Bret knows Hogan has an army watching his back which is why he’s going to need more than just his two family members Jim and Davey Boy watching his back. So two former Stampede Wrestling Alumni decide to align themselves with Bret in his war against the nWo: Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Together the 5 man tandom is known as The Hart Dungeon. WWF would undoubtedly have a copyright on Hart Foundation, but The Hart Dungeon was never a creation of Vince McMahon but rather the training grounds for all 5 members of the group.
During a Nitro beatdown of Bret during the build to Stampede, Benoit and Jericho hit the ring and come to Bret’s aid officially joining the group. Jericho is very similar to Owen in style, while Benoit has Pillman’s intensity making them the perfect replacements for the two Hart Foundation members that didn’t make the transition to WCW with Bret. This also would have catapulted Jericho and Benoit into a main event program and injected some youth and freshness into Brets stable.
At Spring Stampede it’s The Hart Dungeon vs The Nwo Bret, Benoit, Jericho, Bulldog, Anvil def Hogan, Hall, Nash, Savage, Hennig.
Not sure who gets the pinfall over who, I would go for Bret pinning Hogan but I’m sure Hogan would never go for it. Either way the Harts pin someone to get the win and maybe, just maybe, this marks the beginning of WCW surpassing WWF in popularity in Canada and taking a stranglehold on the north american television market.
Slamboree: May 17, 1998 World Title Submission Match: Bret Hart vs Sting After winning the war against the nWo, Bret sets his sights on the World title and Sting in a battle of the sharpshooter vs the scorpion deathlock. At this point Sting has a had nice long run with the belt from Starcade in December to Slamboree in May, and along the way defended the title succesfully against Hogan 3x, The Giant, and maybe Savage. But now it’s time for him to drop the belt to Bret.
Bret gets the win here in what could have and should have been a classic match between two of the all time great babyfaces.
GREAT AMERICAN BASH: June 14, 1998 After beating Sting for the title fair and square, Bret and company kickoff Nitro the next night but are interrupted by none other than Ric Flair. Flair congratulates Bret on not only beating Sting, taking on the nWo, winning the world title, but also doing something he didnt think was possible which is winning over the American fans who seem to have forgotten some of the things Bret said in public about them and this great country of ours. Flair calls Bret a fraud and Benoit a traitor for leaving the Horseman for the poor imitation that is the Dungeon.
Flair is joined in the ring by Arn Anderson and Dean Malenko his fellow Horsemen, as well as the newest Horsemen: Lex Luger. With Benoit gone, and Mongo McMichael a joke that never should have happened, the horsemen need a fourth guy and Luger makes a lot more sense in this WCW traditional stable then he ever did in the nWo. Plus he knows Bret and Bulldog well from his time in WWF.
After beating the nWo the Harts have now entered a feud with the Four Horseman. During the build to the ppv different members of the group face off against one another But Sting is still owed a rematch and has his own history with Ric Flair.
So at The Great American Bash it’s Bret vs Flair vs Sting in a triple threat submission match for the World Title. Bret comes out on top making Flair tap to the sharpshooter after blocking and reversing a figure four attempt by Ric. Post match: Hogan, Hall and Nash beat down all 3 guys. The nWo had been off tv licking their wounds for a while but were now back for revenge. So after two months of WCW stars battling each other, they will have to put aside those differences and once again focus on their common enemy in the nWo.
BASH AT THE BEACH: July 12, 1998 WORLD TITLE: Bret Hitman Hart vs Hollywood Hogan Hogan holds a controversial victory over Bret from back at Superbrawl meaning he is owed a title shot against the new champion. This was the event in which 2 years to the day the nWo was formed and Hogan plans on history repeating itself by reclaiming the title and his spot at the top of the mountain.
In reality Hogan lost the title on Nitro to Goldberg during this period which was a huge ratings success at the time but another example of WCW’s short term booking philosophy. Goldberg would burn out quickly and a huge potential ppv buyrate was squandered. So I would have saved that moment for later on in the year which we we will get to later. For now it’s Bret vs Hogan. This time, no Bischoff shenanigans, just a straight up Bret victory.
ROAD WILD: August 8, 1998 World Title: Bret Hart def Randy Savage We never got to see a well built up program between the Hitman and The Macho Man. After Hogan fails to get the job done, Macho steps up to the plate to do what Hogan couldn’t do and thats get the best of the supposed best their is. This would not be the main event of the show, but it would make for a good title match in the middle of the card perhaps as part of a double main event billing. Bret gets the win.
FALL BRAWL: WAR GAMES: September 13, 1998 The NWO vs The Hart Dungeon vs The Four Horseman nWo: Hogan, Hall, Nash, Savage Hart Dungeon: Bret, Benoit, Jericho, Bulldog 4 Horseman: Flair, Anderson, Malenko, Luger
In reality, they did have three teams competing in the War Games that year but 2 of them were nWo groups: nwo Hollywood and nwo Wolfpack. I never liked them splitting the nWo into two factions as it only dilluted the group. If the nWo was losing steam, then simply take them off TV for a while as I would have done sometime after Spring Stampede but then bring them back for Bash At The Beach. Here I still have three factions in the war games but instead of 2 nWo’s and a generic team WCW, we have three legit stables: the original nWo, The Harts and The Horseman.
NWO get the win as they are the dominant stable of this time.
HALLOWEEN HAVOC: October 25, 1998 In realty this was the event that saw the horrific Hogan vs Warrior II, a match that only took place because Hulk was still insecure over being pinned cleanly by Warrior EIGHT fricking years ago. This feud was embarrasingly bad and Warrior would have been better off having never appeared in WCW. Therefore in my timeline this simply doesn’t happen.
After Hogan’s team won the War Games that puts him back into #1 contendership for the title. Since we had three stables facing off at War Games I think it only makes sense to have the three stable leaders face off at the next event.
So we have a triple threat for the World Title between Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart and Ric Flair which results in a controversial finish. Ric Flair has Hogan in the figure four when Bret pins flair. The ref counts 3 at the exact same time Hogan taps out. So who is the champion? We end the show with Bret and Flair arguing over who won while Bischoff grabs the belt and runs off with Hogan.
WORLD WAR 3: November 22, 1998 The title is declared vacant on Nitro but will be awarded to the winner of a 6 man match at World War 3. The participants are Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Sting. 3 nwo members. 3 wcw members. And 3 rings. Remember this is the often maligned 3 ring pay per view featuring the 60 man battle royal. I would never hold the title up for grabs in a 60 man battle royal as there arent that many men who deserve a shot. We dont want La Parka walking out champion. BUT I like the idea of incorporating the 3 rings for this 6 man match.
Here’s how it works: There are 3 matches going on at once in 3 different rings. In one ring its Bret Hart vs Kevin Nash. In another ring its Hogan vs Flair. And in the final ring it’s Sting vs Scott Hall. Three different matches going on simulataneously with the title being awarded to the first man who gains a fall. The only rule is that you can’t enter any of the other rings. Meaning Bret can’t jump to ring two to interrupt a pin attempt by Hogan, etc. You have to beat your opponent before anyone in either of the other rings does the same. This is a concept that’s never been done so I like it.
The finish: Bret has Nash in the sharshooter in one ring. Sting has Hall in the scorpion deathlock in the other ring. Neither will tap out. Meanwhile in ring 3 an exhausted Hogan drapes his arm over a down and out Flair and gets the pin to win the gold. Bret and Sting both come so close but Hogan walks out champion…barely.
At this same event GOLDBERG wins the 60 man battle royal to earn a shot at the champion.
STARRCADE: December 27, 1998 Live From Atlanta Georgia in the sold out Georgia Dome World Title: Hollywood Hogan vs Goldberg Everything that happened on that famous Nitro in July of 98 could have and SHOULD have been saved for Starrcade. The ppv buyrate would have been sky high and probably set an all time attendance record for any WCW show and maybe even any WWF show at the time.
As for Bret, it’s time for some descension in the dungeon. After failing to win the title, the hart dungeon disbands. At this point I would have already phased Bulldog and Anvil out sometime after Fall Brawl. Just have Bret, Benoit and Jericho. But now after Bret’s loss, Jericho gets in his face and mocks him, perhaps even says that WCW would have been better off if it had been Shawn Michaels who came over to WCW instead of Bret. That he only used Bret as a stepping stone to get to the top because he wasn’t being given the opportunity and spotlight that he deserved. But now that Bret is a failure, Jericho has no use for him. Jericho kicks Bret between the legs and poses with one foot on Brets chest and his arms raised and a big grin on his face. The evil Jericho is back.
During the buildup to their feud Jericho continues mocking Bret by dressing like him, adopting his mannerisms, wearing his trademark pink shades and using the sharshooter from time to time.
Starrcade: Chris Jericho def Bret Hart: liontamer vs sharpshooter Bret puts Jericho over. It doesn’t have to be a submission match but it’s too tempting to resist. I would have Jericho knock Bret out with the ring bell or a steel chair while the ref is looking the other way, then apply the liontamer to an unconscious Bret. The ref calls for the bell. Bret never taps, he just passes out. Bret is written off tv to sell an injury for the next month or so.
As we enter 1999, Benoit takes exception to Jericho’s disrespecting Bret and they enter a feud of their own in early 1999. When Bret returns he faces Jericho in a rematch and then enters a program with Benoit. He and Benoit meet in a face vs face best of 7 series with Benoit coming out on top 4 wins to 3. In other words, during the first half of 99 Bret spends most of his time helping the next generation of canadian wrestlers get over. Even though he comes out on the losing end of both feuds, he never looks weak and is still a viable world title contender. Although I might keep him away from Goldberg. Just to be on the safe side.
