The Official Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart Thread

**The One** · 12-15-2007, 01:18 PM

AND ANOTHER THING...

This is something that's ALWAYS bothered me. Could someone point to the years that Bret Hart carried the company? I mean seriously, from the time I started watching WWE religiously in '92 to present day, I struggle with finding these years that the entire company was carried on Bret's back.

Most people claim that once Hogan left, it was the Bret Hart show...ok...Hogan left in 1993. And by the way, in 1993 Hogan left WrestleMania with the WWF Title who he won from Yokozuna because, as I understand it (and I could be wrong on this one, so any details about why 9 ended the way it did would be great), Hogan felt Hart wasn't a big enough name to win the belt off of. Anyway, Bret spent the last part of 1993 (the Hogan free section) feuding with...Jerry Lawler. No exactly the center focus of the WWF, nor was it keeping the entire company afloat I'd imagine...

OK, well maybe it was 1994. I mean he was the Champ during 94. But wait a second, was he supposed to be? I mean the fact that Luger couldn't keep his damn mouth closed before Mania X is really the only reason Bret walked away with the belt that night. And if memory serves me, Lex was just as much over if not maybe a little more so going into that event. Sounds like at best he might be co-carrying the company with old Lexy boy. And of course then AT WrestleMania X the entire WWF Title situation was overshaddowed by....oh this is gonna be good...Shawn Michaels and Scott Hall's ladder match. Bret had 2 matches that night, one against golden boy Owen (which he lost) and the other winning the freakin' title, and what do people remember from that night? The Kliq doing their thing. If you ask me, from that point on Michaels and Razor were at least on the same tier in terms of drawing ability and popularity as Hart. So wow, that's Bret, Lex, Shawn and Razor, sure isn't sounding like poor old Bret has the entire promotion on his back right now. But that's only one part of 1994...

Later in 1994, I'm going to do something I HATE doing, but I am going to admit that at SummerSlam 1994, Bret and Owen had everything going for them and did a better job than Hall/Nash/Michaels did. Their program was incredible...too bad both were outshined by Taker vs. Fake Taker. And BOOM, now we have The Undertaker to also be there to take some of the load off of poor Bret's back. And we round out the year 1994 with BRet Hart carrying the company by....droping the belt to Bob Backlund and not doing much else of importance.

So we open 1995; Kevin Nash is WWF Champion, Shawn Michaels and Razor while both still working the IC level could jump seamlessly from the IC belt to seriously WWF Title contender in the blink of an eye (including Michaels working the WWF Title match at Mania that year), we have The Undertaker doing his thing, we have Owen being looked up as a legit threat to anyone and everyone (especially big brother Bret) and then we have Bret Hart who after a brief feud with Nash goes back to feuding with Bob Backlund. Now I'm not even going to say a word about the quality of the matches, that's up to you to deside how you liked them, but I am going to say quite positively that Bret/Bob wasn't keeping the WWF afloat. Bret then went back to working with Lawler. Again, not the stuff a company is based on. Then at the tail end of the year Bret wins the belt again, and begins a feud with The Undertaker over the belt. Bret and the Undertaker, even if that was the ONLY drawing point of the company (which is WAS NOT) he still has the freakin' Undertaker to work off of.

We're now in 1996, and as far as I can tell Bret hasn't had a single second were he had to carry the entire company, well maybe 1996 will be the year; nope, cause he's got his program with Shawn Michaels for the title leading up to the Iron Man at Mania XII. We all know how it ends. And Bret's off, only to return months later to feud with; Steve Austin. By the end of their feud...nah fuck it...by the time their feud really began Austin was a bigger name and bigger draw than Bret EVER was.

So there you have it. If someone would like to point to the time; hell I'd accept something as asinine as the one day that Bret Hart was carrying the entire company on his own, I might give some validity to the concept that Bret is great because he kept WWE afloat during it's dark times. But in the mean time, I'm gonna go with the theory that unless your name is Hogan or Austin, you aren't carrying the company.

View Poll Results: Heartbreak Kid or The Hitman?
Shawn Michaels	43	58.11%
Bret Hart	31	41.89%
Voters: 74. You must log in or register to vote on this poll.

12-15-2007, 01:18 PM	#14
The One Boss Posts: 17,611	AND ANOTHER THING... This is something that's ALWAYS bothered me. Could someone point to the years that Bret Hart carried the company? I mean seriously, from the time I started watching WWE religiously in '92 to present day, I struggle with finding these years that the entire company was carried on Bret's back. Most people claim that once Hogan left, it was the Bret Hart show...ok...Hogan left in 1993. And by the way, in 1993 Hogan left WrestleMania with the WWF Title who he won from Yokozuna because, as I understand it (and I could be wrong on this one, so any details about why 9 ended the way it did would be great), Hogan felt Hart wasn't a big enough name to win the belt off of. Anyway, Bret spent the last part of 1993 (the Hogan free section) feuding with...Jerry Lawler. No exactly the center focus of the WWF, nor was it keeping the entire company afloat I'd imagine... OK, well maybe it was 1994. I mean he was the Champ during 94. But wait a second, was he supposed to be? I mean the fact that Luger couldn't keep his damn mouth closed before Mania X is really the only reason Bret walked away with the belt that night. And if memory serves me, Lex was just as much over if not maybe a little more so going into that event. Sounds like at best he might be co-carrying the company with old Lexy boy. And of course then AT WrestleMania X the entire WWF Title situation was overshaddowed by....oh this is gonna be good...Shawn Michaels and Scott Hall's ladder match. Bret had 2 matches that night, one against golden boy Owen (which he lost) and the other winning the freakin' title, and what do people remember from that night? The Kliq doing their thing. If you ask me, from that point on Michaels and Razor were at least on the same tier in terms of drawing ability and popularity as Hart. So wow, that's Bret, Lex, Shawn and Razor, sure isn't sounding like poor old Bret has the entire promotion on his back right now. But that's only one part of 1994... Later in 1994, I'm going to do something I HATE doing, but I am going to admit that at SummerSlam 1994, Bret and Owen had everything going for them and did a better job than Hall/Nash/Michaels did. Their program was incredible...too bad both were outshined by Taker vs. Fake Taker. And BOOM, now we have The Undertaker to also be there to take some of the load off of poor Bret's back. And we round out the year 1994 with BRet Hart carrying the company by....droping the belt to Bob Backlund and not doing much else of importance. So we open 1995; Kevin Nash is WWF Champion, Shawn Michaels and Razor while both still working the IC level could jump seamlessly from the IC belt to seriously WWF Title contender in the blink of an eye (including Michaels working the WWF Title match at Mania that year), we have The Undertaker doing his thing, we have Owen being looked up as a legit threat to anyone and everyone (especially big brother Bret) and then we have Bret Hart who after a brief feud with Nash goes back to feuding with Bob Backlund. Now I'm not even going to say a word about the quality of the matches, that's up to you to deside how you liked them, but I am going to say quite positively that Bret/Bob wasn't keeping the WWF afloat. Bret then went back to working with Lawler. Again, not the stuff a company is based on. Then at the tail end of the year Bret wins the belt again, and begins a feud with The Undertaker over the belt. Bret and the Undertaker, even if that was the ONLY drawing point of the company (which is WAS NOT) he still has the freakin' Undertaker to work off of. We're now in 1996, and as far as I can tell Bret hasn't had a single second were he had to carry the entire company, well maybe 1996 will be the year; nope, cause he's got his program with Shawn Michaels for the title leading up to the Iron Man at Mania XII. We all know how it ends. And Bret's off, only to return months later to feud with; Steve Austin. By the end of their feud...nah fuck it...by the time their feud really began Austin was a bigger name and bigger draw than Bret EVER was. So there you have it. If someone would like to point to the time; hell I'd accept something as asinine as the one day that Bret Hart was carrying the entire company on his own, I might give some validity to the concept that Bret is great because he kept WWE afloat during it's dark times. But in the mean time, I'm gonna go with the theory that unless your name is Hogan or Austin, you aren't carrying the company.