10 Biggest Post-WWE WrestleMania Shockers

6. Bret Hart Takes It Out On The Crowd (1997)

Lesnar Cole
WWE.com

The double-turn the WWF executed with Steve Austin and Bret Hart remains one of the greatest (and ultimately, most lucrative) angles in company history.

To make a long story short, longtime hero Hart was starting to get dismayed by the positive reaction his devious foe, Austin, was receiving from the fans. At WrestleMania 13, the two battled in a Submission match and Hart won - but only because Austin, refusing to submit, passed out from pain and blood loss. That made him a valiant babyface, and when Hart attacked the unconscious Austin, he became a hated heel.

Less remembered, though, is the following evening's Raw, when Hart cemented his heel turn with a scathing promo on all of the fans (particularly those in the United States) whom he felt had abandoned him. It was Hart lashing out in a way that he never really had before; the last time he was played a heel, he was an undercard tag team worker.

Fans were stunned, and things got even more shocking the following week when he reunited his family as the villainous Hart Foundation.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013