10 Wrestlers Who Were Secretly Promo GODS

Bret Hart, as has been written on this author page more than once, wasn't a draw - he oversaw business during a terrible down cycle - but he was a hook. If you (as a millennial) watched wrestling past the shallow fad surface level and fell in love with the art, Hart was the man responsible. He embodied the art.

So technically precise that almost everybody else looked like they had two left feet in comparison, Hart chaptered his stories in a beautiful, gripping way, locking fans into the long-form wrestling match. Few actually watched Hart systemically take down Diesel in their excellent series, but those who did marvelled at a new idea of wrestling as a strategic, more realistic-feeling medium. Hart hated Hulk Hogan, and if it's any consolation, Hart was responsible for the critical battering Hogan took as the hardcore fandom found new outlets with which to voice their opinions.

Hogan looked like a phoney faker compared to the 'Hitman'.

While Bret was praised universally for his heel work in 1997 - it helped very much that he was bitter and passionate about expressing his disgust at the state of an industry he no longer could sanction - Hart was very good as the pared-back hero who made the young obsessives believe in him and what he was about. He didn't do much to make fans get behind him; he just radiated good value and people were drawn to that.

He was never the most composed of promos, and was often unable to collect the thoughts he tripped over, but that just enhanced his image of a real man in a fake world.