Following the infamous Montreal Screwjob, Bret Hart made the jump from WWE to WCW and a lot of fans expected him to be one of WCW's top stars, but that wasn't the case. "The Hitman" would ultimately have his career ended in WCW, capping off a two year run that is widely regarded as the most disappointing stint of his career. Current AEW star Jeff Jarrett is an old friend of Hart and talked about his run in WCW on a recent episode of his "My World" podcast, stating that he knew things weren't going well for him, and that Hart didn't care as much as he used to.
"I knew things weren't going right for him creatively on so many deals,"Jarrett said, who recalled Hart not being into the idea of another New World Order reboot after the faction had been oversaturated at the time. "I knew that he wasn't going to be taking many flatbacks, so his heart wasn't in itI could probably rephrase that. His heart wasn't into it. He was injured, he was on the mend coming back, but not a lot of passion into it."
After suffering a concussion at WCW Starrcade 1999 during a match with Goldberg, Hart would only wrestle a handful of matches before being sidelined permanently, and aside from some sporadic appearances in 2000, Hart would be cut from the company while he concussed and retired from wrestling completely by the end of the year. Jarrett knew cost-cutting measures were going on in WCW at the time, but he and the rest of the locker room never thought they would release "The Hitman."
"Bret being released and all that, it went so far under the radar of most folks, it happened without a lot of us even knowing,"Jarrett said. "His bell was rung, he had a concussion, but you know what? He'll work through that, he'll back...I don't think I really everit never processed...You know what? Even the summer of no worries, if you would have asked me is Bret still getting paid? I would have said yes."
Please credit "My World" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/Tto Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
