[CaptainCrunch]

5) Bret turns his back on the fans in the US

What do you do when a top wrestlers fans start slowly turning on them? Or a top wrestlers gimmick no longer really works? And how can you take a simple heel turn and make it one of the most unique storylines in wrestling?

Bret Hart was a pure awshucks style of heel in 1996 when the seeds were planted for his heel turn. He was nice to fans, didn’t swear a lot, didn’t cheat, he always saw himself as a hero, but the seeds were planted thanks to the fans swinging into the attitude era. Suddenly bad asses were cool, swearing was tits, and a foul-mouthed Red Neck was heading towards becoming the greatest draw of all time. And Bret Hart was getting left behind.



Backstage Bret could see the shifting sands with Austin, in fact Bret was partially responsible for the WWE bringing Austin in, and after a terrible start as the bland Ring Master. Austin exploded with his Austin 3:16 speech, his straight-talking manner, his simple ring style and his black boots. In 1996 Bret was pretty much the top dog in the WWE, but it was a time of difficult draws, and the WWE was losing the wrestle war.



You can say a lot of things about Hart, but one thing he was exceptionally good at was elevating his opponent, whether it was single matches with Tom Mcgee, or Sean Waltman. OR in a lengthy feud like he did with Austin.

Bret was decidedly undecided about his wrestling career, he had left the company to heel years of wear and tear and try his hand at other things like acting. But he hand picked Austin as his opponent for his return.

When Bret returned in November on 1996, at MSG, it was the last time that he would receive a truly explosive hero’s welcome. And he faced off against Austin at Survivor series in a 5 star match where Bret may have won, but Austin won the respect of the fans.








But Bret’s character was stale, and the fans in 1996 were not like the fans in 1995. In Bret’s book, he talked about Vince McMahon sitting down with him to try to convince him to turn heel, something that Bret hadn’t been since he was part of the Hart Foundation tag team. Bret had also signed the infamous 20-year deal with the WWE and Vince was concerned about Bret’s fading ability to draw.



But Bret wasn’t sure, he admitted that turning heel would give his character new energy, he also, and Bret does have an ego, believed that the fans had turned heel on him, he didn’t really understand why the fans had turned on him.

In truth, Bret came across as a bit whiny and entitled, not like the hard-working ass kicking Texas Rattlesnake. Bret started laying the ground work. On Monday Night Raw Bret lost a cage match his title in a cage match to Psycho Sid, after the Undertaker slammed the door in his face. When Vince McMahon entered the ring to interview Bret, Bret attacked the at the time Vince Commentator action figure, shoved him to the ground and unleashed one of his best blistering promo’s in his WWE tenure. It was an angry bitter profanity laced promo, and it got the intended reaction as part of the crowd started to boo him.

In his promo Bret proclaimed that “Frustrated isn’t the word for it, this is Bullsh$t. Bret then blamed everyone for screwing his out of his title. He then got into an altercation with the Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin and McMahon.





6 days later, Bret and Stone Cold Steve Austin engaged in what I think is the best Wrestlemania match ever. Bret entered the ring as a face and left as the top heel in the company, Austin entered as a heel and left as the top face in the company.



The visual of Bret holding a bloody and screaming Austin in the Sharp Shooter, and Austin never giving up but passing out, and then Bret attacking Austin after the match, until refereen Ken Shamrock challenged him, and then Bret did something that he never has done before, he walked away from the fight and marched up the aisle to the back with the entire audience booing him.


Here’s where this heel turn bordered on genius. Vince convinced Bret to be a heel in the United States and the company’s number 1 face everywhere else. Bret went on his best character based run in the WWE and showed that he could be a completely detestable heel.






When he was in the States he blamed American’s for everything wrong in the world, compared cities to toilet bowls, and suddenly Bret began to draw better in the States. In Europe and Canada Bret played off a wave of anti-Americanism, and the fans saw him as a hero fighting against a corrupt system.






On the Raw after Wrestlemania Bret opened the show with a 22 minute bile filled promo, and it made sense, Bret justified his actions brilliantly. Bret bitterly talked about how American fans had turned against him, they cheered for the bad guys. Hart claimed that only in America could criminals like OJ Simpson and Charles Manson become heroes. Bret’s promo game with the freedom of being a heel had definitely gone up a notch.
The next week, Bret interrupted a match between his brother Owen and the British Bulldog, and delivered a another top notch promo, where he blamed American fans for the split in his family and reminded Owen who broke down in tears that family was the most important thing. And then in a brilliant ending when he was hugging his brother, he looked at the American fans with a look of complete disdain.





On the span of two weeks Bret had delivered a series of promos that were so much better then his face promo’s over the last 5 years. And he had created a powerful heel faction in the Hart Foundation, that was composed of Bret, Owen, Davey Boy Smith, Jim Niedhard and the loose Cannon Brian Pillman.

The late 90’s WWE was heavy with factions, everyone was in a group. But the Hart Foundation quickly moved to the top of the card. Completely despicable in the United States, completely popular everywhere else.
So what changed with Hart, why was he suddenly knocking it out of the park in the ring and on the mic? Because, simply put, Bret whole hardily believed what he was saying, he never understood why the attitude era fans turned on him, He was resentful at the attitude era changes and sexualization of the attitude era, and he was allowed to use that to keep his hero status everywhere in the world but the United States.


The USA versus Canda storyline continued to grow, but you could see storm clouds gathering in the back with Shawn Michaels, and Bret poured more of that real life bitterness at Michael’s into his promo.

The height of the heel turn occurred in Calgary at the In your house ppv, for those in attendance it was the loudest the Saddledome has ever been, especially when Bret walked out to the ring.






After In your House, Bret continued to use reality based promo’s as he insulted American, and it lead to his 5th WWE title taking it from the Undertaker in a match that featured special referee in Shawn Michaels who cost Taker his title. And the heel turn began to fizzle thanks to Sean Michaels decided he wanted to be the number 1 heel in the company and turning during that match.

With Shawn and Hart both being heels, the fans found it easier to hate Sean who by that point was equally hated by the fans and everyone in the back. Bret started sliding down the card working a program with the Patriot. By the time Bret and Shawn moved into a program, all of Bret’s momentum had been sucked out of the room, he had given up his spot as the number 1 face in the company to become the number 1 heel, and now Shawn was the to heel, and Bret couldn’t really become a good guy again.
We know the rest of the story, and Bret’s heel turn was buried by time and the WWE, but Bret’s turn in my opinion was one of the top turns in TV, not because of name recognition, or a tag team breaking up, but because it felt real and authentic and it just made sense.