Bret Hart Outlines Why Vince McMahon Cancelled His Early Push

WWE Hall of Famer Bret 'The Hitman' Hart recently revealed that Vince McMahon decided to nix his 'push' back in the day.

'The Hitman' is certainly one of the most iconic names in the world of pro wrestling. He had been one of WWE's biggest names in the early to mid-90s. The main event superstar had massive popularity and faced some of the biggest names in the business.

It has come to light that Vince McMahon promised him a push before WrestleMania IV. However, Vince eventually decided to cancel it.

For those who are unaware of the term, Wikipedia states, "a push is an attempt by the booker to make a wrestler win more matches and become more popular or more reviled with the fans depending on whether they are a babyface or a heel."

Speaking with Inside The Ropes, Bret Hart recalled a conversation with Vince when he told about planning a push for him and turning him babyface. However, he lost to Bad News Brown at multiple events which raised concerns for Hart. He eventually found out that his promo work hasn't been the best which might have been the reason that his push was nixed. He said:

"I got a phone call from Vince McMahon about a week before Wrestlemania that year and he said 'We got more fan mail for you right now than any other wrestler in the company. We can't figure out why.' He goes 'So we're turning you into a good guy. You're gonna turn babyface and we're going to give you a big push.' I was really happy with my relationship and tag experiences with Jim Anvil and I thought we were doing really well at the time but turning me babyface and making me a big star was certainly appetizing for me. I thought jeez that'd be great but it never happened.

I learned something in that whole experience was that they tell you they're gonna give you a big push. A big push is not when you lose to the first guy you wrestle against. I wrestled Bad News [Brown] and he beat me everywhere I went, every town and just basically annihilated me. Basically, my job was to build him up for Hulk Hogan. I was kind of going 'Where is this big push? All the fan letters and everything, that I was supposed to be so popular and you're beating me every night.' Then I found out that it was probably my interviews that weren't very good."

Bret Hart added his he wasn't the best with promo and he wasn't confident with the same as he said:

"But I turned that back on them too because I think my interviews were never my strongest point in those days. I wasn't the best promo guy but I always prided myself on my wrestling skills. The promo thing was all about confidence. If you start building your confidence and start to believe...like I didn't believe in Bret Hart, either. I wasn't being used and wasn't going to be used in any kind of way to make me feel confident. I was the guy losing every night so it's like, I didn't know how you cut a promo sometimes it's supposed to sound like you're gonna win, when every time you go in the ring you lose. So I had that doubt in my own voice like that.

I always learned in wrestling that you never promise anything you can't deliver. So I never really wanted to sound like I was going to win because I wasn't going to win most of the time. So anyway, I think they put a knife in that and said 'Okay, he's not worth pushing' and they put my big push on hold, and it never happened at that time. My job was to make guys for another five years. Just always make guys, make Curt Hennig, make this guy, make that guy. I was like, 'Well, what about me?', but I wasn't there yet."