10 Reasons WWE's Worst Era Is Secretly Its BEST Era

For anyone who even remotely knows your writer, did you really think there would be a piece on the New Generation and there not be an entry dedicated entirely to Bret Hart? As if...

There was far more to the New Generation than the Hitman, but that era itself perfectly lines up with Hart's ascension from tag team standout to singles superstar. For those who suggest WrestleMania VIII as taking the tiniest steps to usher in what would become the NG, it's the Hitman's victory over the legendary Roddy Piper that's responsible for that line of thought.

Never was there was as much of a solidified main event act as the Rowdy One. Having not been pinned for years by that point - not by Hulk Hogan, not by Ric Flair, not by Bruno Sammartino, not by Randy Savage - Piper letting Hart get a clean 1-2-3 win over him at the 1992 Showcase of the Immortals was huge not only for Bret's rise up the card, but also for cementing Bret as the standard bearer for the next generation of stars who were emerging.

Grabbing the torch with both hands, the Excellence of Execution would be the backbone of the New Generation. Whether as a babyface or an eventual heel (well, unless you lived outside of the US), those years would see Hart a permanent fixture of the main event picture, putting on good-to-classic offerings with such a wide variety of opponents; from Shawn Michaels, to Owen Hart, to Davey Boy Smith, to Mr. Perfect, to the Undertaker, to Diesel, to Yokozuna, to Razor Ramon, to Bam Bam Bigelow, to 1-2-3 Kid, to Hakushi, to Jean-Pierre LaFitte, to even the likes of Fatu, IRS, Papa Shango, and Doink the Clown.

This era also saw Hart eventually reform the Hart Foundation as a faction, which in itself resulted in absolute pro wrestling gold as the New Generation teetered on the cusp of rolling into the Attitude Era. A major part in that, of course, were the Calgary native's absolute wars with a certain Steve Austin...