10 Wrestlers Who Saved Other Wrestlers From Getting Fired

10. Bret Hart Saves Ken Shamrock

Bret Hart always held "the boys" in near-sacred reverence.

He knew the chasm between the office and the locker room was obscene, and that the boys needed to look after themselves. Nobody else was going to do that for them. He believed that the talent should protect and flatter one another, which is why he was so tremendous at crafting a match around the strengths of his opponents (or their limitations).

Watch his match with Papa Shango on the October 27, 1992 Saturday Night's Main Event. Hart wrestled with an uncharacteristic urgency and viciousness because he knew there was no point trying to get a slow-burning bit of craft going with him. WrestleMania 13? King Of The Ring 1993?

The best illustration of Hart's genius is watching that match, and then anything the Godfather did in 1999.

Godfather himself credits Hart with prolonging the feud and not letting his character flounder, and it was consistent with Hart's moral code; speaking to the 81 podcast last year, he revealed that Vince McMahon wanted to fire Ken Shamrock because he wasn't well-liked amongst management.

Hard told him not to do that - there was money to be made - and there was; Shamrock's super-serious intensity was a fabulous contrast to get the Rock's animated selling and comedy game over early in his breakthrough run.