Bret Hart: The most decent, mediocre WWE superstar ever
Bret Hart likes to use his catchphrase that he’s the “best there is, best there was and the best there ever will be.” While there’s no question that he’s one of the best in-ring technicians we’ve ever seen, there’s a lot more to the world of professional wrestling than that. Those kinds of technicians are great…as jobbers.
Hart was much more than a jobber, as his list of championships will show:
- 5x WWF Champion
- 2x WWF Intercontinental Champion
- 2x WWF Tag Team Champion
- 2x King of the Ring
- 4x WCW United States Champion
- 2x WCW World Heavyweight Champion
- 1x WCW World Tag Team Champion
While that list is impressive, it’s not the same as looking at a list of accomplishments from other sports. Those championships represent the fact that the powers that be at WWF and WCW trusted that Hart could carry the torch for the company. They trusted that he could have solid matches, would be durable and ultimately, could be trusted to do what’s best for the business.
If I was six, I might have marked out for Bret Hart’s shtick.
All of those traits are certainly true — Hart was durable until concussions ended his career, he routinely put together 4-and-5 star matches and with the notable exception of the Monteal Screwjob, he largely did what was asked of him.
So why do I call him decent and mediocre?
HE WAS BEYOND BORING.
As a techincal wrestler, he was awesome…but how many fans really care if he can be safe with others in the ring? Seriously — aside from fellow wrestlers and the most hardcore wrestling fans, do we really care if a wrestler works a tight, stiff style or not? No. While that was a draw for the dirt sheets and the critics back in the day, it was no draw whatsoever for a teenager (as I was during Bret’s heyday).
He came out wearing hot pink and had glasses that may as well been tin foil. We could pick apart ring attire forever because there have been some real terrible stuff out there (see: Michaels, Shawn). For this piece, we’ll just move on.
On the mic, Hart was as bland and dull as could be. Was it largely his Canadian upbringing, taught to be soft spoken and humble — that was part of it. You can’t teach natural charisma. For every Chris Jericho who just “has it”, there’s a Lance Storm who simply doesn’t. Hart had more charisma than Storm, but he was definitely on that side of the spectrum. Even when Hart turned heel (which did improve his character), it was as if he read a book that instructed him how to do it.
The reason Hart remained so relevant is the WWF did a tremendous job of creating compelling storylines for Bret. It was easy to hide his flaws against his brother, Owen Hart. We didn’t care that Hart couldn’t hype a match when he feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin, because we were enthralled with Austin. The WWF did a great job putting the Harts together with Jim Neidhart, British Bulldog and Brian Pillman because it did a great job of covering up Hart’s faults.
At the end of the day, the best way to describe Hart is a natural physically and book-taught emotionally. He could have great matches, but he couldn’t cut a promo that felt natural and compelling. Best there was? Nah, he was the most mediocre.