Face Vs Heel: Bret 'The Hitman' Hart

3. Moments

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

Face:

The highs and lows of Bret Hart's WWE career were the subjects of two very different in-house DVD projects in the mid-2000s, but thank f*ck that stupid Montreal-obsessed hit piece never saw the light of day.

The Survivor Series screwjob resonated because Vince McMahon put a bullet in your best mate, not a dead horse. He should know - he promoted that kinship with expert touch.

Hart's first three title wins in 1992, 1994 & 1995 were evocative shows of faith, apology and contrition respectively. His kayfabe peaks were epic in scale, his troughs as long and difficult to escape from as they looked. It was appropriate that Jerry Lawler stomped about in horse-sh*t before their Kiss My Foot payoff in 1995 - Hart helped him become more irritating than that bit on the bottom of your shoe you can never scrape off.

Heel:

'The Hitman' changed the art of the heel turn in plain sight and nobody could see it until the most important match in company history had already happened.

Inspiring a new type of persona as the justified complainer following some unfair losses in late-1996 and early-1997, Hart allowed his misery to show itself in flashes. Shoving babyface announcer McMahon on his a*se six days before the brutal WrestleMania 13 war with Stone Cold Steve Austin was the last bit of wizardry before the industry-altering double turn.

Winner: Face

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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