10 Times Vince McMahon Was Made Somebody's Bitch

7. Bret Hart, 1996 Contract

In 1996 during the height of multiple talents jumping from WWF to the "greener pastures" of WCW, Vince McMahon was on the verge of losing another one of the biggest superstars in Bret Hart. He had already seen Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and many others flee New York, and he feared the loss of another top star would have been potentially insurmountable. It was a risk that McMahon was not willing to take. It was for this reason that Bret Hart was able to gain a whole lot of leverage over Vince McMahon during his 1996 contract negotiations. The offer that Bret received from WCW was for 3 years, totaling nearly $9 million over the course of the contract. Vince did all he could to keep Bret in the WWF, which included his own multi-million dollar deal, only spread out over the course of 20 years. Part of the deal included a "reasonable creative control" clause in the final 30 days of his contract which meant that if Bret were to leave the company - for whatever reason - he would have to agree to the way he was used in the last 30 days he was employed. The WWF could not force Hart to lose matches or do anything that would disparage him on the way out. This was a groundbreaking contract that was, ironically enough, ultimately not honored by the shrewd Vince McMahon. No talent had ever negotiated the kind of deal that Bret had with Vince, but if anyone deserved it after years of sacrifice, patience, loyalty and commitment to the WWF, it was Bret. On the night of October 21, 1996 just prior to walking out in front of a live Monday Night RAW audience, Bret Hart had compromised Vince McMahon when he signed the most talent-friendly deal in WWF history.