83 Weeks - Bret Hart's WCW Debut [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Bret Hart's WCW Debut

Bret Hart made his long awaited WCW debut on the December 15th, 1997 edition of Nitro.

What led to Bret's WWF departure has been covered in great detail on Bruce's show, Something to Wrestle

For those who maybe haven't heard our episode on Bret on this show, which is available in our archives, talk about when you first started talking to Bret.

We've talked about this before, but it's been reported in various spots and Bret also talked about it in his book, when you and him met in 1996. 

First, The July 1st 1996 Observer reported - WCW As for the identity of the third party in the 7/7 main event, it's really a secret. Lex Luger, which was the original plan, I can't see happening because it would be almost an exact duplicate of the Steve McMichael angle and it's too soon to do it again. It could still happen but I don't think it will. Bischoff, Hall and Nash were discussing names this past week with Mabel as the top candidate, Crush being considered for a brief period and then dismissed. 

All agreed Bret Hart would be the best candidate and WCW even floated the idea it would be Hart on its hotline over the weekend (you'd think after the lawsuit they'd refrain from doing that crap) but Hart has turned down every offer thrown his way. Did you personally have talks with Bret about possibly being the 3rd guy, which of course ended up being Hulk Hogan

Were there talks about trying to bring Bret in as the 3rd man at Bash at the Beach 96?

Bret said  - On September 25, I headed to Los Angeles, where I’d been asked to do a guest spot on The Simpsons. Barry Bloom knew Eric Bischoff, of course, and he called before I left to tell me that Bischoff was eager for a meeting. I said we’d talk about whether that was a good idea once I had landed in L.A., but when I got to my hotel, Bischoff was already on his way up to my room. He was a small, middle-aged guy with shaggy black hair and dimples.

We talked for nearly an hour about, of all things, our mutual love of Western gunfighters, such as Wyatt Earp, Jesse James and Butch Cassidy (who hung around the streets of Calgary in the 1890s before going to South America, where he was killed). We got on so well I almost forgot why he had come to see me.

Then he asked, “So, what’s it gonna take to bring you to WCW?” “I would want the exact same contract as Hulk Hogan, plus one penny,” I calmly replied. That flabbergasted him. “I can’t do a deal anything like that, not right now.” “That’s fine, I’m not really looking to go anywhere. I’m happy where I’m at.”

“C’mon,” he said. “At least give me something that I can go back to my people with. Anything.” I thought about it for a minute. “I’d think about coming to work for you guys for $3 million a year and a lighter schedule.”

He said he’d take that home to the Turner folks in Atlanta, and we went right back to talking about gunfighters.

Talk about that meeting. Were you willing to give him what he asked for, the same contract as Hogan?

Bret said

On September 27, Bischoff offered me $2.8 million a year for three years if I came over to WCW. I told him I’d think about it, but now it was me who was flabbergasted! Soon Vince was hearing rumors that I’d already signed with the competition. I called him on October 3 and alleviated his worries, telling him I wouldn’t do anything until I had a long talk with him. We left it that he’d call me over the weekend.

True or untrue?

Bret said - On October 9, Vince flew to Calgary to present his offer in person. We settled down for a talk in my dining room. As an opening act to the main topic, I brought up the Paul Jay documentary. He said he liked the idea and had no problem giving Paul access to the matches and the backstage area. Then we got down to it: Vince said he had a better deal for me than WCW. He wanted to sign me for twenty years, for a total of $10.5 million.

The breakdown was $1.5 million a year for three years as a wrestler; $500,000 a year for the next seven years as one of his senior advisers; and then $250,000 a year for ten years thereafter, to be on standby as that Babe Ruth of the company Vince was always looking for. It was a satisfying feeling hearing him say, “I’ll never give you a reason to ever want to leave.”

At Raw in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 21, I’d announce I was coming back to face Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series. I felt badly, but I had to keep Eric hanging until my deal with Vince was done.

Eric was making every concession he could think of, including offering to have both Flair and Hogan call me to tell me themselves that they had no hard feelings about some less than complimentary things I’d said about them in past interviews, and that I’d be welcomed aboard. Even Hall and Nash agreed to waive their favored-nations clause, which had guaranteed that no one in a similar position could be paid more than they were making, just so I could come to WCW.

What do you remember about how Bret was handling this? Was he ignoring your calls or blowing you off when you'd try to contact him, like he sort of made mention about here?

Were you upset when he decided to stay?

Is it true that Hall and Nash waived their favored-nations clause to bring Bret in?

Meltzer reported - 

The contract Hart was looking at from WCW guaranteed him $2.8 million per year over three years. It was broken down initially into an $800,000 per year deal for a maximum of 180 total dates as a pro wrestler, and two movie deals per year at a minimum $1 million per movie with the Turner Time Warner corporation.

This break-down, probably similar to the Hulk Hogan deal, allows WCW to not have all of the expense of the total huge contract on its books and thus make it easier to run as a profitable company. In addition, it circumvents the clause in the contract of Scott Hall, and probably Kevin Nash as well, that guarantees that their contracts would increase individually if any newcomer signed for more money than they earned, in that they were guaranteed to always be, behind Hogan, the highest paid wrestlers in WCW.

Hall and Nash are both earning $780,000 per year, so Hart's signing based on their contract clause, would have given each a small $20,000 per year raise, however if the contract was structured differently and it was a $2.8 million per year WCW offer alone, based on that clause, each of them would also have to be given raises to the same level-- meaning basically to get Hart it would cost WCW nearly $6.8 million extra per year.

After Bret's classic WrestleMania 13 match with Stone Cold Steve Austin, he said Before I left I got an unexpected call from Eric Bischoff to say that he’d been blown away by my match with Steve. He wanted me to know that if things didn’t work out with Vince, the door was always open for me at WCW.

What do you remember about your phone call to Bret, and why did you decide to do that?

When you saw what a huge star Austin was becoming, did you ever have thoughts about possibly trying to get him to come back to WCW at some point?

The September 22nd Raw from Madison Square Garden was the famous Raw when Austin stunned Vince for the first time. Earlier in the day, Vince called Bret into his office, and told Bret that he was going to breach Bret's contract. He told Bret that he wasn't going to pay him his full salary, because of problems with Ted Turner.

Vince then said Bret was the Cal Ripken of the WWF, and that he fully intended to pay him what he owed him on the back end of his 20 year contract. Vince then said “I have no problem if you want to see if WCW will make you that same deal as befire, I hear that Hogan is finishing up there soon, Your timing couldn't be more perfect.”

Vince then told Bret, if he left, he'd actually be doing Vince a favor because he was about to downsize to a Northeastern U.S. Promotion. He told Bret because of his 14 years of loyal service, he wanted to give Bret the opportunity to be able to approach WCW before everyone else did, since he'd be letting a lot of wrestlers go.

When did you hear about this, that Vince couldn't honor Bret's contract and that he was letting him talk to WCW again? Did Bret call you after that meeting with Vince?

Bret said I was in L.A. to do an appearance on Mad TV and was able to arrange a meeting with Eric Bischoff, who also happened to be in town. He was still interested in me, he said, but he couldn’t negotiate until I had clearance to do so from the WWF. Eric told me that there were all kinds of ongoing legal battles between the WWF and WCW, going back as far as when Alundra Blaze, the champion of a short-lived women’s division of the WWF, showed up on Nitro and dropped the WWF belt in a garbage can.

Since Vince’s logo was on the belt, Vince had WCW by the balls for trademark infringement. The latest court battle had Vince charging Eric with tortuous interference over the Hall and Nash deal, saying Eric had encouraged them to breach their contract with him. I didn’t tell Eric that Vince had said he wanted to help me make this deal, but I did tell him that Vince said I could leave any way I wanted, even as champion. Eric made it clear that it didn’t matter to him at all whether I was still champion, advising me simply to leave on good terms.

What do you remember about that meeting with Bret?

Bret said a few days later, WCW's offer came through. 1.8 million a year for 3 years. Bret told you, if he couldn't get him 2.8 to just forget about it. You said he'd get him an answer by the middle of the week.

Bret tried to call you a few times over the next few days, but hadn't heard anything back. When Bret got to the Nassau Coliseum on October 24th Vince told him that he now could pay him, and money wasn't a problem. Bret told him that until he hears back from you, he's going to keep his options open

Do you recall why you hadn't returned Bret's calls at that time?

Bret said on October 31st, Eric called him with an offer of 2.5 million for 125 days a year of work. Eric then asked “What else is it going to take to get you down here?” Bret said he'd call him back. Bret immediately called his lawyer. The lawyer kept repeating “We have a sweetie of a deal.” 

Bret called Vince the next morning & told Vince what WCW offered. Bret then said “I want to stay with you, Vince, and my contract is fine just the way it is but I need you to tell me where I'm going and what I'm doing. What's the rest of my story going to be?” Vince said he'd think about him and call him back. Bret didn't hear anything back and a few years later called Vince, who was getting his haircut.

Bret told him, “Vince, I've only got until midnight.” Vince said not to worry about the deadline and to call him on Sunday Bret then had another conversation with Eric. Eric asked him “What else?” Whatever it is you want, you better say it now!”

Bret said, “I can be late sometimes. I've never missed a show in 14 years or hurt another wrestler in my career. I'll always be on time for my match, but with Vince I'm allowed to get there at show time.”

You asked “What else?” Bret said “Injury insurance. With Vince, I'm totally covered for everything.” You said “We'll get you insurance. Anything else?” After a pause, Bret said “That's it” Then you both said “Done”

The deal was officially made.

What do you remember about those final negotiations with Bret that he talked about, and did they go down exactly as he described them?

Did you feel that what Bret was asking for was fair, or were you willing to agree to anything just to get him signed, whether you thought it was fair or not?

A few weeks later, Survivor Series 1997 happened and infamous Montreal Screwjob happened.

Bret said I didn’t know at the time that Rick Rude had already called Eric Bischoff and told him everything that had happened. When I phoned Eric from my hotel room after the match, he howled with laughter over the fact that I had broken my hand on Vince’s jaw. As far as he was concerned, the whole screwjob only made me hotter.

On Nitro the day after Montreal, the nWo came out waving Canadian flags, and Bischoff called me “a knock-out kind of a guy.” Hogan chimed in, “He passed the initiation!” Then Miss Elizabeth conducted as Bischoff, Hogan, Hennig, Macho, Nash, Razor, Kid, Konan, Virgil and the rest of the nWo sang the worst rendition of “O Canada!” I’ve ever heard! But in many ways it was the best too.

What do you remember about when Rick Rude called you, to tell you about what happened at Survivor Series?

Bret mentioned that he called you that night, what did you guys talk about?

Steve Austin called Bret and told him how sorry he was that it ended up this way for him. And then warned Bret that WCW was a black hole of bad booking, and bad organization

Did anyone that was under contract to the WWF at that time, call you and express interest in possibly coming over, because of what Vince did to Bret?

Bret also has said that you offered to pay Owen what he was making in the WWF, but you wouldn't go higher than that, and Bret thought that was nice of you to offer that. Do you remember discussions with Bret of trying to get Owen to WCW?

Did you ever personally talk to Owen during this time?

Davey Boy Smith would pay Vince $150,000 to get out of his contract and come to WCW and Jim Neidhart signed a 1 year, $150,000 to come to WCW

What do you remember about them coming in, and did Bret suggest reforming the Hart Foundation in WCW with them?

Bret said On my first visit to the WCW offices in Atlanta on December 14, I bumped into Hogan, Macho and Eric Bischoff, who smiled confidently at me as he said, “If you think you’re a big star now, you’re going to be an even bigger star when I’m done with you!”

Do you remember saying that to Bret at the WCW offices?

What was your initial plans for him?

Bret made his debut on the December 15th Nitro. He did an in-ring interview with Gene Okerlund.

Was there any plans on Bret getting physical that night or was an interview always the plan?

Bret said of that night -

I made my WCW debut the next day on a sold-out live Nitro in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was a bit surprised that it didn’t feel that much different

different to me than a WWF show. WCW was loaded with hard-working Mexican boys. I’d never been much of a Lu-cha Libre fan until I saw the dedication and effort those wrestlers put in every night.

In particular, I loved the amazing work of young Rey Mysterio Jr., a masked lightweight Mexican who could spin through, up and over the ropes with backflips and beautiful dives and rolls. In my opinion, he is the most talented Mexican wrestler there has ever been. I felt mucho respect from all the Mexican boys as they came to me to shake my hand. Paul Wight, the new Giant of wrestling at seven-foot-two and four hundred pounds, lumbered up to say hello.

There were old-timers, such as Roddy Piper and Ric Flair, and great young talent, including powerhouse Booker T and, from the Stampede territory, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Even Miss Elizabeth was there, now working as Lex Luger’s valet. Curt Hennig gave me a big, warm smile and a slap on the back. I felt honored to shake Rick Rude’s hand.

He’d been at a taped Raw on November 17, which aired on November 24, just as he walked out live on Nitro. This was the first and only time a wrestler appeared for both organizations on TV at the same time. Raw was taped on alternate weeks from the live Nitros, and Bischoff liked to give out the results of Raw matches before they aired. Rude walked out there and delivered a well-spoken monologue about the rights and wrongs of professional wrestling. He said it was wrong for Shawn to claim he was the World Champion when Vince had cheated me out of the title.

A lot of wrestlers were disgusted by what Vince had done in Montreal, but Rick Rude was one of the few who actually quit the WWF for good over it.

That night on Nitro, you were in the ring with Gene and JJ Dillion and JJ said that he assigned a referee for your match with Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade 1997, and brought Bret out.

Gene welcomed Bret to Nitro. Bret said, it took a long time to get here, and it's great to be here. It's great to be in Ric Flair country. Gene said, that's the magic.

Bret said, so if you're looking for a referee, is that what you want, a referee? I would be honored to be the referee for this match.

You jumped in and said, “Yo, Bret, 7.5 million a year of Ted Turner’s money, you, me, for life.”

Bret looked at you snickered, and said, “He’s pretty happy.” (referring to you) He said to you, “Do what you can, win if you can, but don’t look to me for any help because nobody knows better than I do what it’s like to get screwed over by a referee, so you’re on your own, jack.” you responded, “Bret, 7.5 million a year, weekends off? Bret?” Bret walked away.

Bret also said of that night - That first night in the WCW dressing room in Charlotte, I also met Steve Borden, known as Sting. This hard-working pioneer of WCW was a well-built, born-again Christian with long, dark hair who worked a white-painted-face gimmick based on the movie The Crow; for his entrance, he was lowered from the rafters on a steel cable. He’d been famous for his scorpion death lock long before I ever came up with my own variation of it: the sharpshooter. 

Bret said, I was bedazzled enough by that sold-out Nitro that for the first time I felt that WCW might actually work out for me. I had a great first interview and got a good pop when I said: “Nobody knows better than me what it’s like to get screwed by a referee.” That comment set me up to referee Hogan’s World title match with Sting at the Starrcade ’97 pay-per-view in Washington, D.C., on December 28.

Personally, I thought that appearing as a referee would be a lackluster debut, but what did I know? What did I care? I wanted to comply, to do whatever they asked to the best of my ability—win, lose or draw—then pick up my check and come home safe. Nobody would accuse me of taking this business too seriously ever again.

What did you and Bret talk about for plans, for his debut? Was a match ever considered?

Very ironic that Bret mentioned getting screwed by a ref because the very next morning, he ran into the ref that screwed him over

Bret said, The following morning at the Charlotte airport, I ran right into none other than Earl and Dave Hebner. Earl came up to me with his hand out and an apologetic look on his face. I refused to shake his hand, warning him calmly, “Don’t talk to me.” He insisted that he didn’t know what was up with Shawn and Vince until he was on his way out to the ring in Montreal. “What d’ya mean you didn’t know? I told you, Earl! You promised me, swore on your kids!” But in the end, I forgave him. 

I knew that Vince held Earl’s livelihood in his hands, and the only thing Earl was guilty of was not having the guts to take a stand against the man who wrote the checks. Then Dave asked me if I thought Bischoff would take either him or Earl on, and I told him I’d ask.

Did Bret ever talk to you about bringing Earl and Dave Hebner in?

The rest of the December 15th Nitro -

Ray Traylor pinned Vincent at 1:50. The announcers talked about how Ted DiBiase has offered help to Traylor in his war with the NWO

They replayed Ric Flair’s interview talking about Bret Hart’s bad-mouthing of him over the years… An NWO promo aired with Nash talking about facing Giant

Disco Inferno pinned Yuji Nagata (w/Sonny Onno) at 4:30 with the Chart Buster to retain the TV Title

Fit Finlay beat Dean Malenko at 6:02. Eddie Guerrero provided color commentary for the third straight week during a Malenko match. 

He ripped on Malenko for having no facial expressions, no opinions, and being a boring road companion. At 5:00 Guerrero walked to ringside. Malenko knocked him off the ring apron, but that gave Finlay a chance to go on offense and score the clean pinfall win

An NWO promo aired with Hogan ripping on Roddy Piper

Rey Misterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera beat La Parka & Psicosis when Juventud pinned Psicosis at 6:30. 

Gene Okerlund hosted a segment honoring the local Charlotte police force. At the start of the show an on-screen graphic dedicated Nitro to all of the police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. Flair and Arn presented two police officers with a check. Flair acknowledged the new memorial in Charlotte for police officers killed in the line of duty. Flair concluded by saying he wants Nitro to be memorable and challenged Curt Hennig to a match later

Okerlund interviewed J.J. Dillon. He was quickly interrupted by you who said he shouldn’t have to wrestle Zbyszko since Zbyszko is a former champion wrestler with a 65 pound weight advantage. You said to be fair, Dillon had to allow punches, kicks, and knock outs to be legal. You said it had to be legal to kick someone when they were down. Dillon gladly agreed

Scott Hall came out and polled the crowd whether they were with the NWO or with WCW. The Charlotte crowd was much more pro-WCW, anti-NWO 

Scott Hall pinned Chris Jericho at 2:29

An NWO commercial aired with Hall and Buff Bagwell for the new “Bones & Rules are Made to Be Broken” shirts

Bobby Heenan joined Schiavone and Tenay for the start of the second-half of the three-hour Nitro

Highlights aired of Meng’s death grip… Meng went to the ring to face Steve McMichael. When Mongo didn’t come out, cameras went backstage and showed Goldberg standing over Mongo in the back area. Dillon came up to Goldberg, screaming at him that Mongo was scheduled to wrestle. Goldberg told Dillon he would give him another victim and headed out to the ring. Before he could fought as they went to a commercial

Rick & Scott Steiner beat Scott Norton & Konnan at 3:58 via DQ when Vincent interfered to retain the WCW Tag Team Titles. 

Randy Savage pinned Booker T at 6:45

Chris Benoit beat Scotty Riggs at 4:35. 

Bret's debut

Okerlund was scheduled to interview Luger. Luger’s music played, but Bagwell came out. They switched the music to NWO music. Buff said Luger hasn’t ever and won’t ever beat him. Luger then came out and made fun of Buff for celebrating DQ and countout wins as if he won the SuperBowl. Luger said while Buff was jabbering away, he checked with the production crew and they said there was time for a match between them. Buff said there was no ref. Luger brought out Nick Patrik. Buff said he needed to be warmed up to fight. Luger slapped him to the mat. 

Buff Bagwell beat Lex Luger via DQ at 2:15 when Lex threw him over the top rope

Another NWO commercial aired, taking shots at Dallas Page

Curt Hennig came out and accepted Flair’s challenge. 

Flair beat Curt Hennig via DQ in 0:20. The match barely got started before Hall, Savage, Norton, Konnan, Buff, and Vincent attacked Flair. Hennig was able to apply the figure-four. Page ran out for the save, followed by Luger and the Steiners, who cleared the ring. Hennig was dragged to the back by the NWO, but he shouted, “I want my belt.” The Steiners and Luger carried Flair to the back.

Page remained in the ring and said he was feeling pretty good, then asked Hennig how he was feeling. Instead of Hennig, two fans charged the ring. Randy Anderson put a headlock on one fan who had already gone limp. The camera panned wide. 

You, Hogan, and the rest of the NWO made their way to the ring. Page went into the crowd. 

The lights went out and a spotlight shone on Sting in the rafters. When the lights came back on, another fan had attempted to charge the ring and security was holding him back. 

The lights went out again  Sting then appeared on the top of the WCW logo on the entryway Nitro set. Hogan did his best to fill the final 30 seconds, but an awkward final minute — make that a strange final 30 minutes

If you had to do it over, would you do Bret's debut the same way at Starrcade, referring your match, or would you of had him in a match at Starrcade?

That night, Nitro got a 4.1 and Raw got a 2.7