You Won't Believe WWE's Original Plan For Bret Hart's Comeback

That Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon disaster at WrestleMania XXVI? Yeah, WWE had other plans.

Bret Hart Vince McMahon
WWE

WWE's original plans for Bret Hart's comeback were very different.

Ex-WWE writer and current MLW owner Court Bauer told 'The Insiders' on AdFreeShows that Bret vs. Vince McMahon was initially pencilled in for WrestleMania 22, not 'Mania 26. Hart knocked that back, so Bauer and other WWE creative team members got erm...creative.

Get this: Court and pals pitched an elaborate Hart Foundation vs. 'Team WWE' match instead. He didn't reveal who would've been on the Foundation side other than Bret, but the WWE side was going to be comprised of Vince, Shane, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and possibly a few of Shawn's students.

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Paul London and Brian Kendrick were considered, and so was future World Champ and current AEW master Bryan Danielson. Yep, Bauer claims Danielson would've been signed to a deal so he could work some spots in the match as a HBK trainee who was determined to take Bret down for good.

That's incredible, but it didn't happen. Bret got cold feet on the whole thing, and wouldn't launch his comeback until early-2010. The resultant match with McMahon at 'Mania was an outright disaster - it's possibly one of the least-loved matches in the pay-per-view's history.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.