10 WWE Gimmicks Wrestlers Refused

10. 'Cowboy' Bret Hart Has Bolted

One of the more famous gimmick refusals was Bret Hart shooting down the idea of making him 'Cowboy' Bret Hart.

The Hitman has discussed this at several points over the years, and he even went into detail in his 2009 book, My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling. As Bret explains, this idea was put to him upon him first landing in the World Wrestling Federation back in 1984.

Not only did Vince McMahon want to give Hart the 'Cowboy' moniker, McMahon also envisioned the Excellence of Execution riding to the ring on horseback, complete with full cowboy getup and turning the stereotypical cowboy tendencies up to 11 for the gimmick. In Hart's eyes, with his Calgary, Alberta background, if you're going to pretend to be a cowboy then you had to be a real cowboy - and he was not a cowboy.

As has so often been said about Vince McMahon, if you're against one of his ideas then you best have an alternative suggestion up your sleeve. For Bret, this alternative idea was to pair him up with the recently arrived Jim Neidhart and have Jimmy Hart manage the duo as the Hart Foundation.

Vince obviously agreed to Hart's counteroffer, although Bret did end up working a handful of live events as 'Cowboy' Bret Hart first. And while the Hitman thankfully got his way here, he would later go on to portray a cowboy in the shape of Luther Root in the Lonesome Dove series in 1994.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 9th Dec 2020

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