WWF in the late 90s was marked by a sharp turn away from cartoonish gimmicks and toward a more visceral attitude that brought young adults to the promotion and helped transform the company into a sports entertainment juggernaut. It also is what helped push Bret The Hitman Hart out the door, as he bemoaned some of the angles, the language and the sexuality being portrayed on Raw. Still, Hart, along with guys like The Rock, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Triple H and the Undertaker are credited with helping to move WWF into the Attitude Era and its most successful period. For one year, from Survivor Series 1996 to Survivor Series 1997, Hart and Rock shared the same locker room. Unfortunately, for much of that year, it wasnt The Rock who was wrestling, but smiling, rookie babyface Rocky Maivia. Hart, meanwhile, was embroiled in feuds with Austin and Michaels, plus he reformed the Hart Foundation stable. When Rocky returned from injury, he changed his name to The Rock and joined the Nation of Domination. There was a brief moment when it looked like the Foundation and Nation were going to feud, but it turned out to be a D-Generation X ruse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gdwwnat5Mw Had Hart stuck around into 1998, he surely would have found himself squaring off against the rapidly rising Rock. It would have been a great battle, and maybe Hart could have demonstrated to The Rock once and for all how to properly apply the Sharpshooter.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.
