Hart didn’t want to say his phrase to ric. As he felt it wasn’t true. And afraid ric would out his teeth down his throat. He mentions in his book called I’m an adult baby. I don’t know why he called it that. Someone gave him money to call the book that
@Edgehead10075 Ric took exception because he didn't think he was the best he knew he was . He challenged everybody in every promotion , and beat them .
These were some of the best promos ever. Flair and Hart are so opposite in terms of personality. But these are magic, these guys work together well! I love both of these guys.
Flair wrestled the same guys Bret did more times and way more all over the world. For a couple decades longer. It’s not comparable What the hell are you talking about
@@SM-4359 that's not fair, NOBODY could run "the company" in the 90s. Not Hogan, Flair, Yokozuna, Undertaker, Bret, Diesel, or Shawn... They all failed.. 90s was a bad time for wrestleling viewership. If anything Bret ushered in the new generation and out sold Yoko, Taker, Diesel and Shawn.. but his numbers were still low so that makes him a man who can't run a company? Ridiculous. It's not his fault the company didn't have good rivalries or talent... how many times does Bret need to beat Shawn, Diesel, Razor, before he's stuck facing crap characters like Isaac Yankum DDS, Pirate Lafeet, and that karate guy with tattoos all over his body? WWE only started selling out more during 97 cus of the NWO threat.. only then Vince took the war serious and started letting wrestlers speak their minds.
This program should have went on for several months. It drew big numbers at the time and was the most interesting thing going in WCW in the aftermath of the NWO/Sting (botched) blow off at Starrcade 97. These two had great chemistry.
This isn’t Hart’s best promo But he really was legit The hitman’s best promos were with the World Wrestling Federation in the early/mid 1990s trashing the Degenerates, The Rock, Thr Undertaker, Hogan & Stone Cold 💀 Unfortunately Hart made a mistake crossing over to WCW Nitro thanks to Goldberg sending him into retirement
@@dumisatonyjohnson8145 had some great promos in WCW the one he calls out Goldberg in Canada is all time great probably his best ever & one of the great promos you’ll see
Drew Kane Flair is the best talker ever, period. Bret was still monotone, but his timing and comfort level was very good by this time. Bret did his best promos as a heel.
+Jason M. Probably true generally but Hart's best talking moment came in the Goldberg metal plate angle. Oddly that was probably his finest moment in WCW.
Chinaboatman I was at that Nitro, the first Nitro in Canada. The place popped for Bret more than they did anyone else, with Hogan being a close second. That was an awesome night with some great matches. They even filmed scenes from the Jessie Ventura movie at that Nitro.
+Jason M. Ya Bret got more and more comfortable with the promos, thought he was amazing during the Canada vs. Americans angle, he pulled that stuff off with very hostile crowds. He holds his own here pretty well considering its Flairs back yard, and Flair is pretty much big brothering him and being very condescending. This is what's missing today in WWE, both these guys are making the crowd believe that they hate each other, artists at their craft.
You have got to be true real bad ass in real life to have a line like Bret Hart's "The BEST there is, the BEST there was and the BEST there ever will be". Bret Hart was one of the one few wrestler who I bought that he could really kick anybody ass in real fight any day of the week.
In a way, Bret’s line of “the best there is...” was somewhat of a poetic phrase like Muhammad Ali’s “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” In addition to my having watched Bret wrestle countless times over the years,-at times from a front row seat-I felt much respect for his abilities as a technical wrestler and how he could change his style and pace when necessary. I’ve also had the pleasure to meet Bret in person and he always has demonstrated great appreciation for his fans’ support. Bret was among one of the wrestlers who made wrestling fun to watch and I remember looking forward to the next events. At a Q&A that I attended, I’d asked him about how he’d explained his profession to his children, being that they were young at the time. He’d answered that “Wrestling should be fun” and that he’d tried to keep his style with minimal violence although he knew that his children were aware of [the storyline]. He added that the only exception was the “pseudo-feud” with Owen-“that was when Owen and I sat down with my boys and explained to them that we weren’t really fighting.” I could see from his expression that mentioning Owen was bringing up sadness.
Yes. But Bret's persona works best as a heel. He was convincing as a cocky heel. He was the "best in the world" before CM Punk ever was. Bret was always much better as a heel.
Look up the promo that took place 3 days before this tape. It is really good and they do mention it. Bret says "To be the man, you gotta beat the man, and I have already done that". Then ric mentions that while Bret is a 5 time champion, Ric is a 13 time champion. It is really good and I know this is 4 years ago but Wrestling Bios just did an episode on it.
@Wizard Waluigi His exact words were "I think I've done that one time before" and indeed Flair was not 100% and had to drop the title quick - so that's how Bret got his first title run!
Josh Lavian They were just playing their characters well at the time. Flair actually requested to work with Bret and if you look close you can see them laugh at times during this series of faceoffs. They were having fun. The hate came later.
+Josh Lavian Nah. It's a work. Yes, there was genuine heat, if you like, on and off through the years but here it's just Ric Flair selling the seats and selling the pay per view as he is one of the best at doing. But real heat? Flair put Hart over clean as you like submitting in the Sharpshooter when it came to the match. Just being a pro. And another reason Flair is one the greatest. No self-serving crap like Hogan. Flair did what was right for the business.
Never really cared for Brett, but these promos with Flair were pretty good. I know they hated each other but Hart's character did a great job showing respect to Flair.
Bret cant do any character bar Bret. It's what makes him special on the mike. he may lack the theatrics and charisma in his delivery that the likes of flair had but you can't get away from the fact that his promos were so genuine.
It was his decision to leave for the bigger pay check. Vince told him it was a mistake but he wanted money, he wanted to drop the belt in the U.S to Shawn he refused to drop it in Canada. That's wrong. That's not how wrestling works. They have always been independent contractors and they are there when needed to do what is needed. Yes, lots of wrestlers have very good creative control of their character and career - e.g Undertaker. But Undertaker always did what was right for the company because they helped to make him a star, they gave him opportunity and money. You've never heard anything about him complaining about what he had to do. He was furious with Vince for screwing Bret - that shows his intergrity. That's what all wrestlers should aspire to be because otherwise they are out on their arse. They are all indespensible, Vince isn't.
James Macgregor umm Vince let Bret hart go to wcw. Bret had a twenty year contract, Vince dropped him, Bret didn't want to be in wcw period. Bret should hate hogan and biscoff, they buried him.
Also Bret Hart actually beat him once for the wwf title and once in the FIRST iron man match for wwf and in wcw so really three times brets beat the man lol
Nha man John Cena is the best ever hands down. His going to beat flairs Record and his going to be the best their is, the best their was & the best their ever will be.
It is underrated feud no one give it spotlight same as stupid feuds. I love every words said here and tensions between greatest legends on this business
Bret Hart siding with WCW the night or week after 1997's WWE Survivor Series by declining an "invitation" for "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan's "NWO" to side with the good-guys en-route to WCW Starcade of same-year to assist Sting winning the World-Title---or having Bret debuting at respectively the aforementioned event, would've been HUGE, EPIC! Instead...
if we lived in a fair and righteous world where everyone got outta life, the same as they put in, Flair and Hitman's career paths would be swapped. I respect Flair's longevity but as a kid I never understood why he was considered one of the best. He wasn't threatening at all and seemed to be pretty damn basic in the ring, but I guess that playboy persona was enough. I always had more respect for guys like Brett cause he wasn't about running his mouth, he just handled business in the ring. If not for the real athletic guys like him, that era of wrestling would have been way less entertaining. In fact, if not for Brett having traditional wrestling be the forefront of his style and being as popular as he was, all the stars would have just been matches between overgrown, monsterous men, which didn't really make for the most entertaining of matches. Hart is a legend but he still doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Especially with how his career ended WWE should have reached out and found ways to keep him involved
@@Zeke1379 😂 WCW was killing the WWF in the ratings so clearly they were the big leads. But fine you want to talk about Bret in the WWF they were cheering for guys like Austin and Undertaker over him there too
@@blueblur2329 I'm just saying flair never filled huge stadiums. Bret did. Wembley being just one. Plus internationally Bret was huge. And we all know in a legit fight Bret walks all over flair.
@@Zeke1379 Not according to this: forums.wrestlezone.com/threads/list-of-the-biggest-draws-in-wrestling-from-1908-2008.170683/ And who cares who could win in a real fight. Wrestling isn't real!
+Chris I was really young in 1998 so didn't know the politics behind it all. All I'll say is that I loved Bret Hart in wcw and I didn't think he looked out of place at all. Now I've grown up and understand what was happening behind the scenes, I know wcw was apparently meant to be crap and Bret Hart wasn't used correctly and Hulk Hogan shouldn't have still been at the top but as a kid I really didn't care/notice these things. I much preferred this product to the wwf (I was the only one in my school!), there were much more legends and interesting characters in wcw
This is the year I started watching wrestling. I was confused about Hart's story but he was a good heel throughout 98. The first time I saw Flair was him coming out the Nitro before this to talk some mad shit. I was definitely a fan if the match they had.
Luc Alberts There were so many established legends in every division (Hardcore, Heavyweight, US, Tag-Team, Cruiserweight). The talent was poorly managed but even wcw at its worse was still good.
+Chris Yeah, but watching this seemed like they kind of knew what they were doing or at least had some decent idea in mind. Bret vs Flair in a battle for greatness looks good on paper. Having Bret feud with Flair as he entered WCW made sense since Flair's pretty much up there in status.
+Chris He really did, the combination of Bret Hart & WCW was like a glove that just never fit, it was the same for Hogan - pre NWO Hollywood Hogan, They both were ultimate WWF/E guys, Hogan esp looked out of place when he was on WCW TV in 1994 - 96, the red & yellow gimmick on WCW TV looked so wrong, it just didn't mesh with WCW's production values when he first joined the company.
Both great wrestlers, both among my favourites. Hitman probably has the in-ring edge for me because of his creativity and story-telling but Ric Flair shows here that he is hard touch by anyone on the mic.
I'm here to tell everyone that this part where Ric flair started saying everywhere he's been and everything he's done this was off script it's been proven in interview with both bret Hart and Ric flair went off script so this was a legit tense moment that literally almost led to a real fight
The ending for the souled match and first time hart won title from flair are identical, flair chops hart into the corner, hart pulls down straps telling flair he doesn't feel them, hart superplexes flair, then puts sharpshooter and beats flair clean while also fist pumping
Though this might sound trivial, Ric is 8 years older than Bret. I'd think that this would be among the factors as to why Ric would have had 13 World Championships next to Bret's 5 World Championships up to this video. I think one also has to consider that Bret had been the WWF Intercontinental Champion twice as well as co-holder of the WWF Tag Team Championship twice. I'd think having held 9 Championship titles during the 14 years he'd been with the WWF was--and still isn't--nothing to sneeze at. Bret had mentioned that he felt he had to "prove myself all over again;" truthfully everybody knew that as a technical wrestler, he knew the moves left right front center "et cetera et cetera et cetera" to quote Yul Brynner. I remember meeting Bret shortly after he'd joined WCW as we'd met many times during his WWF days. He seemed to be still hurt from the infamous Montreal Screwjob, mentioning that he'd been with the WWF for 14 years and hardly, if ever took time off. I'd told him, "I'd think that employers would consider someone like that a model employee; you didn't deserve to be treated like that!" He gave me a warm smile when I told him that.
+Kenneth Karaffa Good point, there were times when Flair would win the title then lose it a few days later too (i.e. Against Jeff Jarrett). I guess what's more important is how long you've been champion for, not how many times you've won it.
Kenneth Karaffa ric never really won its that ric would help make wrestlers but they didn't draw so giving the belt back to ric thats what the company did to keep a float ric is the man hands down. John cena wearing the belt so many times or hogan same thing.
Exactly! When you've got a guy that has short runs as a champion, then it's easy to win titles back, just so you can say you're the champ again....only to lose it again! In Ric Flair's case, some of those title runs were as follows:"Easy come, easy go"!
Ric flair was wrestling in 1970 to 2013. Y’all need to stop playing ric flair is Wrestling. I’m not taking Nothing from Bret Hart he is great but not better than ric flair guys
Flair was better than Bret in the ring also. More charisma meant he could make the fans care more about whether he won or lost, and Bret's moveset was totally illogical. Please explain how an elbowdrop to the head sets up a leglock finisher?
If you truly believe that then you are demented. Flair was all about his mic skills and his look, that is what made him a draw. He had about 4 or 5 moves in the ring at best, he was awful. figured 4 leg lock, a couple of chops and oversell after oversell. You don't even know Bret's finisher lol, that shows all you know about wrestling.
Yeah I don't know Bret's finisher. The Sharpshooter which was originated by a guy in Japan, without checking in all likelihood Riki Choshu...and which Bret originally executed differently (see Mr. Perfect match in 1991) before getting lazy and just making it the stock Sasori Gatame. Flair had a ton of moves also, try watching his matches before he was middle-aged. That's when he switched to a stock formula (which by the way still worked better than Bret's). If you want to get into this debate, particularly regarding the proper role of heels in wrestling and how Flair executed it to perfection, you're welcome, but I'll snap you like a twig.
No one talks about Flairs wrestling ability, your embarrassing yourself. He had about 4 or 5 moves, most of his success came in the nwa days. Bret was Vince's top paid face from 92 to 97, so he must of been doing something right. When you see the lists of the greatest wrestlers, it's always between hbk and bret hart. Flair was better on the mic but if you somehow think he was a better in ring performer then you need help.
Brett had 10 good yrs in WWE. Ric Flair had 2 damn great decades. Longer than John Cena and Hulk Hollywood Hogan. Ya'll knw whose the best. Woooooooooooo!😎
Brets a mark. Ric flair put him over in Saskatoon Canada for his 1st wwe title put him over in wcw what more you want? I could see him hating hogan, but flair? I'm a Bret hart fan but flair put him over , so chill. Bret being a face was bad, USA fans hated the hart foundation, bischoff should have brought him Jim neidhart as hart foundation. Wcw messed Bret up right off the bat.
Sounds to me like "Slick Ric" wanted to even the score with Bret for what had happened several years previous, when they were both in the WWF, and Bret beat him convincingly. This was, to a degree, an interesting angle, but it's also a desperate move on the part of WCW Creative to keep viewers interested in the product. When Bret joined the nWo later that year, however, that tells me that WCW didn't take Bret seriously enough to keep him in the singles wrestling capacity, and it was the start of what I consider to be a major catastrophe! Bret was pushed farther and farther down the line, to where he unfortunately became irrelevant. Then, in a massively stupid move, Goldberg accidentally kicked Bret upside the head too hard, and, not long after that, I don't remember seeing Bret too much after that incident. Glad that, 10+ years later, he finally got payback against Vince at WrestleMania 26, when he kicked Vince McMahon's backside for him!
That's stupid. Vince let Brett beat Ric. Ric Flair is the GOAT and Brett is overrated. Totally boring on promos and not much better in the ring. He finishes every match he ever won with the same series of moves. He sucked in WCW. Ric had the belt and drew big money in every major federation he's ever been in
Funny how they had no problem with Bret calling himself "WWF world champion". Vince never allowed ex WCW champions to refer to themselves this way on WWF TV back then. Just interesting the different approaches.
BRET THE HITMAN Hart the only wrestler in wrestling who can say he is undefeated against Nature BOY RIC FLAIR Bret beat Flair not once but twice first time was when Bret first became WWEWWF Champion Bret took it from RIC FLAIR then he did it again in WCW at SoULED OUT in 97
What I like about Flair (and what makes him the greatest ever to me) is he always tells you how great he is even when he puts the other guy over, you never see him crying about losing to somebody or not doing bbusiness, he was always willing to drop a match but he always talked like he won and eventually he would win the rematches, he beat all the greats, he lost to all the greats, he never cried about losing to some wrestler or used any creative control clause in his contract to avoid losing to any wrestler
This is the reason why WCW ultimately failed. Bret Hart was THE HOTTEST wrestler in the world after the screwjob. And how do they book him? They throw him into a feud with a guy he beat for the WWF title 6 years BEFORE that. Why couldn't they have done something like, gee, I don't know...thrown him in a feud with Sting (as sting was WCW's top guy at the time), i.e. have him come out during the Starrcade match and help sting win the title, only in a swerve to drop him after he won it. Make him an "outlaw" a la Stone Cold Steve Austin...then have Hart win the title and get a guy like benoit, who was a noted friend of hart, beat him and have hart put him over. Its decisions like this why Bret Hart's career in WCW failed and the promotion went under ultimately.
MMArmaggedon Absolutely. Bret was only 6 months removed from beating Undertaker at Summerslam, he was as hot and performing as well as possible. He is on a different level to Flair, Flair is average that's why Vince made him drop the title to Bret in the first place. Bret and Sting was the most obvious angle and they fucked up.
WCW really...but I mean REALLY mishandled Bret Hart once they got him. Steaming HOT off the Montreal Screwjob, He had the advantage momentum all they needed to do was promote and give him the fixings of WCW's top contenders. If they would've managed him properly, the Monday Night Wars would've looked a lot different in WCW's favor.
