The WORST Wrestling Moment Every Year (1989 - 2025)
16. 2010 | Bret Gets His Revenge
Bret Hart, to many fans of a certain age, is the gateway drug. He wasn’t a draw stateside, but a better word is dealer. His approach to wrestling was so incredible that he hooked a small generation for life.
It’s difficult to begrudge him for whatever he got out of his 2010 return. After battling a particularly cruel series of health issues, which plagued him after his glittering career ended prematurely, Bret took years and years to mentally steel himself into a position to return. By that point - January 4, 2010 - he was unable to take bumps, and was not insured.
His match against Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania 26 was as depressing as this escapist hobby gets, the very idea of which was unappealing, since the Montreal Screwjob:
- Took place 13 years prior to it;
- Had been discussed to a tedious death more often than any happening in wrestling history;
- Was ripped off as a finish so often that it became less of a shocking transgression, more something WWE did when they wanted to burn through a pay-per-view cycle
And then, when the match happened, it was such a miserable, one-sided, never-ending beat-down that Bret barely felt like the wronged babyface by the finish. There was little else they could realistically do, which all but confirms they shouldn’t have done it.
McMahon should have just volunteered to take a full force punch to the jaw, this time with the world watching. That’s all that was left to give people after the Screwjob and the retrospectives.