Quote:
| Four years later in 2001, I came across The Calgary Sun website, and I found some of Bret Hart's old columns from 1997, and read how he actually really hated being a bad guy wrestler, and he never wanted to be a heel. |
It's more like Bret was nervous about turning heel because he didn't want to hurt his non-American fan base. Bret's said on several occasions that he preferred being a heel since it gave you more freedom and you could lead the match.
That summer of 1997 was an incredible time to be a WWE fan. Just the complete contrast of reactions depending on what country you were in, but always a hot crowd made things a lot of fun. The Hart character had evolved to probably his best character ever. Finally, Bret was good on the mic and seemed comfortable out there talking a lot. The whole heel turn was so interesting since it wasn't your traditional heel turn. Hart never really did anything heelish. All he did was up the intensity of the Austin feud and mended the fences with Owen and Bulldog. All of this started in 1996, but things finally started to come together around this time period. Even though Bret wasn't around when the WWE came back and over take WCW in the ratings, I would say he was a crucial part in the change of the company. The two biggest things that the WWE had in defeating WCW (Austin and the Mr. McMahon characters) were made because of Bret.