Another what if question... WCW - Booking Bret Hart?

[The Rick]

The Ric Flair What If Question got me thinking what if you were Eric Bischoff, it's 1997 and Starrcard is upon us. Bret Hart is to debut at the PPV, what do you do with Bret from his debut to the next few months.

Here's my ideas:

It's the Nitro after Survivor Series 1997, and Eric Bischoff is gleaming at the fact that Bret "Hitman" Hart, the true World Wrestling Federation Champion will be the next member of the nWo! A series of black & white nWo videos promote that Bret is going to be joining the New World Order although in none of the videos does he speak they are all clips of Bret training and preparing for a new chapter in his career. Bischoff announces to the World that at Starrcard, Bret Hart will take his rightful place besides The Bisch and Hollywood Hogan as one of the main players in the nWo and make sure that Hogan leaves the show still holding the World Championship. (In this fantasy booking, the Bischoff/Larry Z match never takes place.)

At Starrcade, the main event begins and Bret has still not made an appearance. Sting gains the upper hand and hits the Stinger Splash in the corner, it's time for the Scorpion Deathlock but the referee notices Randy Savage and Scott Hall making their way to the ring and in the confusion is knocked down to the mat. Hall hits the Outsider Edge on Sting, and Macho Man grabs the Stinger's baseball bat with the intent of smashing his skull in by dropping down from the top rope. This brings out WCW's Diamond Dallas Page and Lex Luger but they are attacked by the remaining nWo members as they make their way down to the ring. As the nWo and WCW wrestlers filter out from the dressing rooms and brawl in the aisle, Bret Hart finally makes his appearance wearing an nWo T-shirt. Bret walks through the crowd and enters the ring with Hogan signalling to Macho and Hall that he and Bret have this sewn up, Hall and Savage leave the ring and join the brawl in the aisle which is now filtering around the ringside area. Hogan hands Bret the baseball bat and invites him to finish off Sting. Turning his back to lift the Stinger up, Hogan doesn't notice Bret bring the bat smashing over the back of his head. Hogan falls and Sting locks in the Scorpion Deathlock and Bret revives the referee. Hogan taps out and Sting is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. All of the wrestlers at ringside hear the bell ring and look towards the ring to see Sting with his arm raised in victory. The WCW wrestlers go to the ring to celebrate as the nWo take their fallen leader away from ringside. The show ends with Bret removing his nWo T-shirt to reveal a WCW one.

On Nitro the next night, Bret explains his actions and how he was raised to respect tradition. For that reason, he has decided to stand by the tradition that WCW has and that's why he didn't join the nWo. Bischoff crashes the party, and Hart demands a match with Hogan at Souled Out. Bischoff declines, as Hogan has used his rematch clause to face Sting at Souled Out but the nWo had plenty of members who Bischoff would pay a reward to for taking out The Hitman.

This would lead to Bret fighting off lower card nWo members on Nitro for a couple of weeks and then working his way through to a Nash, Savage or Scott Hall match at Souled Out. Sting would retain the title over Hogan in a cage match. The next Nitro, Bret and Sting stand united and the nWo challenge them to find a team to face them at Superbrawl where it will be an nWo team of Hogan, Hall, Nash and Macho Man. Bret and Sting recruit Ric Flair to join their team but don't announce another partner. At Superbrawl, the British Bulldog debuts and joins Bret, Sting and Flair. Hogan cheats to pick up the win by pinning Bret, and instantly lays claim to the World Championship again. Bret and Davey Boy feud with Hall, Nash and Savage up until Uncensored where Hogan regains the World Championship due to the defection of Lex Luger.

Spring Stampede 1998, Hogan battles Bret one on one at last but the match ends in confusion as Bret appears to make Hogan tap out as the 30 minute time limit expires. The fans want more time, but Hogan bails and takes the belt with him. On Nitro, Bret says the whole world saw him make Hogan tap out and he can do it again and again until he is the WCW World Champion. He is already the unbeaten champion of the WWF and now he's the uncrowned champion of WCW. Hogan tells Bret to get in line, he needs to earn his shot again and will do so on a 3 hour Nitro. At the start of the show, Bret must defeat Scott Hall. Bret wins, but Hogan then forces Bret to face Nash to gain the #1 contendership. After a 15 minute battle, Bret manages to get the pinfall over Nash but is then beaten up by the Outsiders and left laying. Macho Man Randy Savage and Hogan arrive and Savage hits the big elbow and covers Bret, Hogan makes the count and declares Bret doesn't get a shot. The next week, Sting, Davey Boy and Ric Flair team with Bret in a match to determine the main event of Slamboree. The nWo team is a five man team consisting of Hogan, Hall, Nash, Macho Man and Scott Steiner. Team WCW has an ace up their sleeve, Bill Goldberg! Goldberg helps team WCW keep the nWo at bay as Bret pins Hogan with a Victory Roll and goes to Slamboree for a shot at the title.

Finally at Slamboree, Bret defeats Hogan. Hogan bans the nWo from ringside, claiming that hge can beat Hart on his own. After Bret's win, the nWo kick Hogan out and Nash assumes leadership and begins trimming the fat of the lowercard wrestlers in the nWo. Hogan ends up seeing the error of his ways and joins up with the WCW as things take a new direction with Nash's nWo taking on a WCW with plenty of big name babyfaces to fight them off.

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As you can see, I've thought about this for a while. Hope people think it's at least better than what WCW actually did and heck could have helped to keep them in business even.

[Black Death]

You know Rick that sounds really good and watchable but  you forgot we are deal with WCW... as Micky Foley once said " They can fuck up a wet dream"   Remember Lost in Cleveland and be scared