Bret Hart Shoots On ’97 Heel Turn

Bret Hart Shoots On ’97 Heel Turn

In the early and mid-1990’s, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart was the epitome of a ‘white meat babyface’. His strong following as a heel in the late 80’s made a babyface turn once a singles run came around possible. However, the industry went through a seismic shift in the mid-90’s and to stand-out above the competition, Bret would be a hero no more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqHEfvsD4Ao

Vince McMahon called time on the babyface run at WrestleMania XIII. Bret was very fond of his role as a respectable figure on WWF’s roster, however, and was not a fan of the idea of being a villain and turning his back on an incredibly strong fan base.

In a recent interview with Sky Sports in the UK, the ‘Excellence of Execution’ opened up on when McMahon pitched the idea of turning him heel:

“I very much worried about losing my fan base when they wanted to turn me heel. I remember that Vince McMahon laughed and joked on the phone when he called me to tell me, and I said ‘I don’t want to turn heel, I don’t want to be a bad guy.’ I really took pride in being a worldwide hero, much the same as John Cena today. But much the same as John Cena today, the wrestling audience was wanting something different. They wanted somebody new. So it was like, ‘Do I change styles to stay alive?’

Vince said ‘Give me five minutes and I’ll talk you into it’, and I said ‘No, thank you, I’m not interested,’ but he talked me into it pretty fast because my option as a good guy was that I was going to wrestle Vader for the next year. That was going to be brutal, and I was thinking ‘anything but Vader.’ So the heel turn was a difficult choice to make, and I remember Vince stressed to me – and I wonder whether that was the beginning of them trying to tear me down – that ‘You are going to be a hero everywhere else except the United States.’

I don’t know if they were totally honest. I remember when we wrestled that pay-per-view in ’97 in Birmingham that they were clearly trying to turn me heal or trying to turn the audience against me on the mic and commentary, and that was Vince and Jim Ross and guys like that.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPEZHofN7m8

The turn, of course, went ahead and became one of the several factors in Hart’s WWF departure. Bret, however, still retains a loyal and passionate fan base which he cherishes to this day.

 

What do you think of Vince McMahon’s monumental decision back in the Attitude Era? Should we have seen Bret remain as a babyface – was there another way? Be sure give us your take on Twitter and Discord!

6 years ago by Wrestle Talk

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