Ranking 10 Most Successful Wrestling Defections

10. Bret Hart To WCW

On paper, WCW acquiring Bret Hart should have been the company’s biggest coup since signing Hulk Hogan. The Hitman was fresh off a hot anti-American heel run, and had lost the WWE Championship in controversial fashion at Survivor Series 1997. In theory, WCW had taken WWE’s main star, a performer regarded as a legend but who could still go in the ring.

However, as McMahon would reportedly tell Hart, “they won’t know what to do with you.”

Although he won the U.S. and World Titles, and regularly hovered around the main event scene, Hart went from a major fixture of WWE TV to just another name in WCW. Ironically, his departure from WWE actually boosted the company to its creative and financial zenith, as McMahon capitalized on the real-life animosity stemming from the Montreal Screwjob and let it play out storyline-wise between Stone Cold and him.