Face Vs Heel: Bret 'The Hitman' Hart

4. Promos

Bret Hart Faces The One Opponent Good Enough To Lace His Boots
WWE

Face:

Bret Hart's wonky way with words is overstated by his critics and adored by his fans.

He rendered participles and clauses as twisted as left and right legs trapped in a Sharpshooter, and made legendarily confusing use of "the" when you'd least expect it. But he was a pro wrestler outlining how he'd win a match - in canon, this bit wasn't what he was there to do.

If that reads as generous, it's perhaps because your writer was too young to catch a load of slightly awkward micro-flubs in the early-'90s. He was believable, even if some of those organic stumbles would be pounced upon as a botch in the modern age.

Heel:

Bret Hart completed wrestling in 1997.

Already peerless between the ropes, he'd main evented WrestleManias, helped draw at least one huge crowd for a SummerSlam in 1992, and secured the first of two huge contracts in 12 months. He only had talking left to tick off, and all of the wobbles as a face were erased with a slew of amazing speeches that shifted the tectonic plates moving beneath the business.

Refining himself as a whiner to foreshadow the turn, he deflected all his rage on the American audience only when he formally made the switch. This gave him weekly ammo against Your Town He Now Hates as well as a newly-acquired glint his eye working babyface when back in Canada.

There's no WrestleMania 13 match without his microphone skills in the weeks and months prior, and there's probably no Attitude Era without the WrestleMania 13 match, sooooo.

Winner: Heel

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett