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Bret Hart was "the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be". There is no questioning his in-ring ability or his status as a WWE legend. But it would be a stretch to say that extended to his WCW run, which was a mix of oddities, failures, and rare successes.
Of course, Bret Hart's most infamous moment came at the hands of Bill Goldberg. Hart has said that Goldberg practically ended his career and said that his work rate was 0/10. In the Confessions of the Hitman series, Bret Hart revealed that Goldberg's career-ending kick cost him his WCW contract.
Bret Hart was terminated from WCW before WWE bought them out
Bret Hart believes that had it not been for Goldberg ending his career in WCW, he wouldn't have been released from his contract. Moreover, had he hung on, he might have gotten paid in full when WWE bought WCW. He said: (H/T Wrestling Inc)
"If I hadn't got hurt when I did-- they ended my [contract]. I hung on 'til it wasn't quite a year; I hung on for 10 months and then they sacked me. But [WWE] bought out WCW and the guys that both got paid out where Goldberg and [Hulk] Hogan. They both got paid out in full in their contract what was owed to them by Ted Turner as part of the deal."
"I would have been part of that deal. I would have been paid out in full. I wouldn't have to go back and work for WWE. I wouldn't have to have had to work for anybody. I would have cashed in and made $15 million. But because Goldberg's kick ended my career, they terminated me 10 months after I got hurt and I never got anything. My contract was null and void. If I couldn't wrestle within six weeks, you're done. And it's one of those loopholes in my contract, but my contract was always with Ted Turner - not with WCW, and that was the key. That's what Hogan had and that's what Goldberg had. They had their contracts with Ted Turner."
It's interesting to see how much Bret Hart would have made had he stayed in WCW. Perhaps, it's also possible that he could have been wooed back into WWE and worked legitimate matches, if not for the injury. Sadly, fans will never really know.
