There are few names more iconic with professional wrestling than Bret Hart himself. Having recently been added to the Canadian Walk Of Fame says it all really, and Hart is truly a cultural icon in the Great White North. However, he’s just as popular in the United States, thanks to a massive run in WWE in the early to mid-90’s.
Bret Hart All But Saved WWE In The 90’s
This is where he changed the game of professional wrestling away from Hulkamania, and brought things into a modern era. While speaking on CBC Radio’s Q podcast, Hart would speak about his first run as WWF Champion – and how he was the one to really pull them out of a downward spiral.
“The company was really sinking fast. And they tried Warrior and they end up with ‘Macho Man’. They end up with Ric Flair. But nobody was really turning things around and things were getting worse. They were losing all these toy deals and…things within the promotion that I really was unaware of. And I was kinda the guy who pulled the sword out of the stone.”
With the steroid trial threatening to send Vince McMahon to jail, he needed to push someone different – and that is where the top tier in-ring work of Bret Hart came into play. He was lean in build, had plenty of charisma, and many folks had their best matches with Hart. Best of all, Hart was a straight shooter – someone who could be relied on to make the company look good, and a hero to kids worldwide… much like Hulk Hogan was.
Modern Wrestling Is More Hart, Less Hogan
With Hart taking the lead in WWE over Hogan, things changed. Their top guy was no longer so reliant on a cartoonish formula. Hogan was limited in the ring, while prime Hart could still work with any wrestler of the modern era. This is because Hart really influenced the style of wrestling that survived today – with Hart saying the following in this same interview.
“I took wrestling in a different direction, I think. When you look back today, they don’t wrestle like Hulk Hogan anymore. They wrestle like Bret Hart. Wrestling’s all about action and speed and telling a story and I think that’s where I came in.”
Modern wrestling owes a lot more to guys like Bret Hart, Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, and other ahead of their time workers of the 90’s. Seeing someone do the Hulk Hogan routine in the modern era would look more like a parody of professional wrestling, while if someone ripped off the style of Hart – no one would bat an eye.
Do you think Bret Hart deserves to take credit for modern wrestlings style? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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