11 WWE Superstars Who Were Given Huge Contracts

11. Bret Hart

The Hitman was involved in one of the most notorious contract disputes that the wrestling world has even seen, as documented in the Wrestling With Shadows documentary and leading to the infamous Montreal Screwjob. With Hart€™s contract expiring in 1997, Vince McMahon couldn€™t offer him the annual salary that WCW were dangling in Bret€™s face, so instead he offered him a 20-year contract. This would initially be for $1.5 million for the first 3 years before then reducing to a six figure amount. Hart signed the deal, turning down the advances of WCW, before Vince had to tell the Calgary native that he could no longer stick to the agreed deal due to business being down. In the end, McMahon told Bret to sign with WCW, who by this point had dropped their offer from $2.8 million per year to $2.5 million per year. Hart would pen a 3-year deal with Ted Turner€™s organisation. Bret would end up returning to the WWE years later, even taking part in one more Wrestlemania match. His last WWE contract expired in 2010 although he still makes sporadic appearances for the company.
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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.