From Tag Team To Top Guy: Bret Hart's Ascension To The WrestleMania Main Event

9. Cooler Than The Other Side Of The Pillow

The Hart Foundation Bret Hart
WWE

By 1988, more and more fans were starting to appreciate the Hart Foundation.

With the vibrant electric pink colours, badass jackets, sunglasses, a banger of an entrance theme, plentiful in-ring classics to their name, a devastating Hart Attack finishing manouvre, and a general cool as f**k charisma to them, simply put, people wanted to cheer for the Anvil and the Hitman. In particular, it was Bret Hart's star that was starting to shine bright, as it became apparent that Hart could well be a truly special talent.

The official babyface turn of the Foundation came in and around WrestleMania IV. At that 1988 edition of the Showcase of the Immortals, Bret formally became a fan favourite after being screwed by the villainous Bad News Brown in a 20-man Battle Royal. It was here that dissention grew between the Hart Foundation and Jimmy Hart, and Jimmy would end up disowning the team in order to side with heel tandems such as Demolition and the Fabulous Rougeaus.

As babyfaces, the Pink and Black Attack become one of the most popular acts in the promotion. And while Neidhart and Hart's time together saw them win the Tag Team Titles on two occasions, Bret would start to be featured in more and more prominent singles bouts, with him getting big-time TV matches against major players such as Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect, the Honky Tonk Man as WWF began to test the waters of Bret Hart as a singles star.

Senior Writer
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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.