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Mailbag, Bret Hart Edition

I think Prime Bret Hart would've been a great face for the current PG WWE. Men respect him, kids deified him, and while he didn't do it well as Shawn, chicks digged him enough. He can work all styles, and he can even do effective PG versions of anything-goes matches. His previous "weakness" with promos and sports entertainment segments is now (thanks to Shawn, Jericho, and Undertaker) not only no longer a liability, but a great asset. Instead of trying to create a PG Austin or Rock, they should be looking for the next Bret Hart.

Yeah, if Bret Hart of 1985 had come up through the developmental system today, he’d be more likely to be a Husky Harris, given a look based on his family, but given up on because of his lack of talking skills and unimpressive physique.  These days, if someone doesn’t blossom 2 months after their callup, they’re toast.  I think Daniel Bryan fits the mold of a Bret Hart type pretty well, actually, as the master ring technician who can get himself over in the ring without the geniuses in Creative needing to script their masterpieces for him to memorize.  What I really wish is that Bret Hart had been able to take the front office job promised to him in 1996 and risen up to be where HHH is now. 

Scott,
It's pretty universally agreed that WCW completely botched Bret Hart's initial run.  My question: in what role would you have brought Hart into the company?

This one was followed by some kinda wacky fantasy booking stuff, but let’s not trod on Jesse Baker’s territory too much here. 

I think they blew a major opportunity by not having be a giant sympathetic babyface after Montreal.  The Starrcade booking was the right idea, but obviously Hogan screwed it up.  But yeah, I’d have Hogan put Sting in the Scorpion Deathlock and Nick Patrick call for the bell without a submission, at which point Bret makes a surprise entrance and punches out Patrick so that Randy Anderson can run down and count a Sting pinfall on Hogan.  That way Sting can go off and defend the World title for a few months against some of the second-tier heels while Bret runs through the nWo leading up to the showdown with Hogan.  You could even do a storyline where Hogan admits that he told Vince to screw Bret out of the title.  Frankly I wouldn’t be shocked if that happened in real life.

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