10 Smartest Decisions In Wrestling History
3. Vince Screws Bret
A smart decision by design that manifested as accidental genius, Vince at Survivor Series 1997 betrayed Bret Hart for several reasons too detailed to delve into here.
The motive behind the decision was ruthlessly prescient; above all else, Vince knew Eric Bischoff lacked the ability to book a wrestler like Hart. He didn't improve the competition, but he did improve his own product. A total subversion of today's paradigm, McMahon recognised that Stone Cold Steve Austin was the man, and removed the toxic political obstruction from his path. He was so convinced of this that he withheld the big push until it really mattered: WrestleMania XIV.
That show drew a colossal 730,000 buys, shattering the 1990s record by 170,000. Even before the infamous, incendiary 'Tyson and Austin!' segment, the '98 Royal Rumble, built around Stone Cold versus everybody, drew 351,000 buys - the most purchased WWF event since WrestleMania X in 1994. Austin was the man, and Vince knew it. In one brutal, awful capitalistic gesture, Vince eased his headache and made Sexy Bitch yacht money.
In Vince's mind, Bret was already gone. This was the true, merciless genius behind the move. It was a harrowing illustration of the warped power dynamic inherent to the industry; to Bret, the WWF was everything.
To Vince, Bret had simply outlived his usefulness.