Face Vs Heel: Bret 'The Hitman' Hart
6. Drawing Power
Face:
Somebody had to follow Hulk Hogan as the company's top draw, and when The Ultimate Warrior failed, somebody had to follow him again.
Bret Hart was that man, but a business in domestic decline depressingly wasn’t addressed by excellent execution alone. The genius of 'The Hitman' was doing with his in-ring skill what WWE have done as business strategy for the last decade or so. In 2020, toy Fiend belts are priced in the four figure range to tip the last remaining hardcore fans upside down for loose change. At WWE's 1990s financial nadir, a company led by Bret Hart squeezed every ticket sale out of producing the best matches in the organisation's history. Quality isn't always reflected by quantity, reducing Hart and career rival Shawn Michaels to the hair-ruffling rung below when Mount Rushmore conversations take hold.
Heel:
WWE never won a Monday Night ratings battle with Bret Hart on Raw in 1997, but it could be argued they won just about every one of them in 1998 for the foundations he'd laid.
The thrilling landscape in Hart's last year was cultivated almost entirely by his making of Steve Austin in their iconic and enduring programme. A style that once only barely kept the ship afloat suddenly steadied it entirely. The tragic irony remains that Vince McMahon ultimately deemed him one of the few remaining holes in the boat.
Winner: Heel