Jim Ross on How Bret Hart Would Have Done in WWE’s Attitude Era, The Era Being ‘Reality-Based’

– On the latest Grilling JR, Jim Ross weighed in on how Bret Hart would have fared in the Attitude Era in WWE. Of course, Hart left WWE due to Vince McMahon not being able to pay the contract he gave Hart and McMahon giving him permission to leave for WCW, which culminated in the Montreal Screwjob. As a result of that, Hart was in WCW at the time of the Attitude Era when WWE took off and beat WCW. JR explained why he thought Hart would have done fantastic in WWE at the time due to the company’s reality-based storylines.

Highlights from the discussion, and the full podcast, are below:

On the Attitude Era being a “reality-based” era: “Now, please folks. I swear to God, give me a break. Yes, there were the Katie Vicks, and some other ridiculous horses**t that we did. Absolutely, some embarrassingly bad television. But with that said, there was also some incredible television that got ratings that were absolutely tremendous. That haven’t even been approached in recent years by any organization in that genre. But reality-based is what drew the most money. Look, Rock and Austin had three main events at WrestleMania. And none of those matches were cheesy, corn pone, you know, wrasslin’ angles. They were personal issues. And because the personal issues between those two thoroughbreds were so strong, it made their quest to be the champion even that much stronger which gave the title credibility. So whoever held the title after Rock and Austin got a pretty good deal. The belt was very shiny and positioned in a nice way.”

On how Hart would have done in WWE in the Attitude Era: “So I think Bret would have thrived in that Attitude Era, Conrad. I really do, man. His promos, he didn’t bulls**t in his promos, it was all believable. And look, anybody that saw WrestleMania 13 and saw Austin and Bret have a match, I’ll kiss your ass in the post office on the third day of the month if you believed that that was not a good match. You gotta be kidding me. That was one of the greatest matches I ever witnessed in my entire life, and we could have gotten more of it in different ways. They could have become allies, and then they could have become adversaries. They could have been partners. There’s a zillion things you could have done with the chemistry of those two guys. You could have found some faction that wanted to eliminate them both to take over the company-type deal. So you give them something to fight against. There’s a ton of storylines that could have happened there. But he would have fit in like a hand in glove, baby.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.