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Old 01-30-2003, 05:52 PM   #4
Ravishing Rick Rude
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However the show went off the air with Shamrock down apparently being pinned after Michaels nailed him with the briefcase, however he kicked out just as the show went off the air. The crowd in Ottawa largely pro-Hart finally figured out about 15 minutes before the show was going off the air that none of the Hart Foundation was there and that Bret Hart situation was no angle. The Shamrock-Helmsley main event heat was nonexistent, drowned out by adamant changes of "We Want Bret". Ross went on his hotline and did nothing but praise Hart for all his work even to the point of saying that he himself being right there never heard a submission but that the referee claimed that he heard it.November 11, 1997: The Calgary Sun ran an article about the double-cross reporting that Hart's leaving for WCW was actually requested by the WWF due to the WWF claiming financial hardship.

And Where Does It Go From Here: Its hard to make sense out of all that happened. While Harts contract with the WWF was much higher than anyone else's to dismiss him as being paid above market value is raising a potential valuable point. What is the Canadian wrestling market worth? Far more than $1.5 million per year. At the Calgary Stampede PPV show alone the market was worth about $400,000 on PPV and another $200,000 in live gate, granted those are Canadian money and he was being paid in American money but you get the drift. While WWF has lost its foothold in the United States to WCW it owned Canada. WCW with TBS getting moved from premium cable to basic cable nationwide and with TSN picking up Nitro every week was going to get strong television exposure in the country. No matter what he did or didn't mean elsewhere and there is no denying he was a major draw in the United States and probably more so in Europe, Germany in particular, he was the wrestling star in Canada. Beating him will mean from a Canadian standpoint every bit as much as Hulk Hogan joining with WCW and we've all seen what the long term effects of that turned out to be. It's hard to reclaim fan reaction. Fans are more loyal these days to brand names than ever before more than to wrestlers themselves. When in a similar situation only he didn't get into the ring and was fired before "not" doing the job, Ric Flair came out of a situation with Jim Herd in 1991 recognized by more fans as the real world champion the WCW belt became largely meaningless, Flair went to WWF and did big business in what was never called unification matches but many thought of them as such against Hulk Hogan. For nearly two years before Flair retired as the cult hero the small crowds attending WCW matches never stopped the "We Want Flair" chants There are many similarities here and if anything times being different mean more people than ever will be aware of it making similar chants perhaps more likely. But a lot of the newer fans also for the most part have less respect for the wrestlers as people and more as animals to perform stunts to mesmerize them. Like in other sports have more loyalties to the "home team" than its players who come and go for the bigger buck. And while everyone will put their different spin on what happened and like with Hogan and Bruno and nearly every other wrestler of the WWF beforehand, Bret Hart failed one of the things he wanted most out of his career and that was to walk away from the company without the bitterness and with many good memories. Both Bret Hart and Vince McMahon wanted their legacies to be tied together and represented all that can be good about pro wrestling.

But the fact is no matter how great the match with Smith at Wembley Stadium or at the In Your House in Hershey were or the Wrestlemania match and SummerSlam matches with Owen were or the SummerSlam match with Hennig or the Survivor Series match with Michaels or any of the rest of his legacy, and Vince McMahon's legacy, . the defining moment of both a Hall of Fame wrestler and the man who for a decade was the prominent promoter in the industry will be the moment that the world realized right in front of their eyes with no apologies and with no turning back to rewrite history just how truly deceitful to the core this business can be and just how much 14 years of being one of the great performers in the history of the industry truly meant on the inside to the company that benefited from it. Only the future can determine whether this was a definitive moment in the hallmark of business when it comes to pro wrestling. Did McMahon really hand over the keys to Canada to WCW? Will fans really hate McMahon four weeks later when Michaels headlines a PPV show with a four star match? Will Hart be a huge success keeping WCW at it current level or even taking them to a higher level by having main events on PPV shows that can live up to the quality or the preliminary matches? Or are his best years really behind him and McMahon will have the last laugh at how much Bishoff paid for him? How long will Hart remain a cult hero to wrestlers for doing what none of them had the guts to do? Will McMahon file criminal charges for assault? And will someday - and stranger things have happened - although in this case it would be hard today to believe it is possible, will the two get back together in a few years for a final triumphant run??



NOW, reading all of that ( and trust me, read it all) who do you think should be shot?

Michaels, for lying through his teeth, Hebner, for being a gutless Piece of ****. or Vince, for masterminding it all.
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