10 Major WWE Rumors That Never Came To Pass
3. Bret Hart Leads The Invasion
The WCW Invasion of WWE was a mess from the very start. Rather than shell out big money to buy out the contracts of stars like Goldberg, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, and the like, WWE decided to just go with the talent whose contracts they acquired in the buyout. That wouldn't have even been so bad if they were treated like stars, but from the very beginning, the WCW talent was booked to look inferior to the guys from WWE.
After an initial flop, WWE made a halfhearted attempt to salvage the angle by adding ECW stars to the mix, but it ultimately didn't amount to much, given that WWE simply didn't want to make the newly-christened "Alliance" look good.
According to a rumour popularised by Bob Ryder, then of 1wrestling.com, Bret Hart was supposed to make his return to WWE in order to lead the WCW forces. The swerve with ECW that followed was a backup plan. This was reported as fact by the website - they said that Hart agreed to the deal and everything - and when it didn't materialise, Ryder and 1wrestling.com took a huge hit in terms of credibility.
It's hard to say exactly how close Hart came to actually joining the company at that point, but he didn't work with WWE again until 2005 - and he wouldn't appear on TV until 2010. Had Hart taken part in the Invasion, though, odds are that he would have been as horribly misused as everyone else involved was.