10 Wrestlers Who Nearly Defected During The Monday Night Wars

2. Bret Hart (1996)

Next to the Outsiders, Bret Hart was probably WCW€™s biggest defection from WWF during the Monday Night Wars. Sure there were other big stars who jumped, but Hart was the leader of the biggest heel faction in the promotion and the WWF champ who was screwed out of his title on his way out the door. And WCW almost had him a full year earlier. Hart was on the cusp of signing a three-year, $8.4 million deal with WCW in late 1996, but instead opted to sign a 20-year deal to stay with WWF, a deal that Vince McMahon clearly could not honor. It would end up leading to Hart€™s departure a year later via the Montreal Screwjob, at which point WWF turned the corner and began rising from the ashes. But if Hart had signed with WCW in 1996? Who would have faced €œStone Cold€ Steve Austin in the star-making submission match at WrestleMania XIII? Who would Vince have screwed at Survivor Series? Without Hart in WWF in 1997, it€™s unclear if Austin has that career-defining moment that led to people chanting his name. Without Hart, there certainly wouldn€™t have been a Montreal Screwjob, which was a catalyst for WWF€™s rise.