So often described as the land of the giants, there was a stage in the 1990s where the WWF turned its attention to what was dubbed the New Generation. After a steroid scandal engulfed the company, the decision was made to get away from some of the overly-jacked physiques of years gone by. One of the superstars who flourished the most at this time was the Excellence of Execution, Bret The Hitman Hart. Going into Wrestlemania 9, Bret was the WWF Champion and was to drop the title to monster heel Yokozuna. Having left the company shortly after Wrestlemania 8, Hulk Hogan agreed a deal to return at Mania 9 to team with Brutus Beefcake against Money Incorporated. Once Hogan found out that Hart was actually dropping the title to Yoko, he ended up changing things so that the WWF Title would leave the event in the grasp of Hogans 24-inch pythons, brother. Some stories suggest that Hogan swayed Vince on the matter by playing up how the fans wouldnt like a heel leaving the event with the belt, whilst the majority of stories claim that Hogan actually flat-out refused to partake in the tag match vs Money Inc. unless he got the surprise title win to end the show. Either way, the Hulkster left Caesars Palace as the WWF Champion. Following Wrestlemania 9, the idea was then to do Hogan vs Hart in a face vs face match at Summerslam 93, with Hogan dropping the title to Bret in a passing of the torch. Hulk refused as he didnt see Hart on his level or as a believable threat to take the gold from him. Instead, Hogan agreed to lose the strap back to Yokozuna at the King of the Ring event in order for Hart to take the WWF Championship from Yoko at Summerslam. Even when it came to drop the title to Yokozuna, Hogan had to get defeated via a controversial finish that saw him blinded by an exploding camera before he then left the company. The big issue with Hogan swerving a Hart match in 1993 is that this was the chance for the star of the 80s and early 90s to give the rub to the face of the New Generation and to endorse the new direction that the company was taking. Instead, the Hulkster just saw Bret Hart as an inferior, non-main event level talent that wasn't worth his time. Hart would wind up in WCW after the 1997 Survivor Series, and there would be a meeting between him and Hogan on a September 1998 edition of Nitro. Yep, as in the one and only time that Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan happened was given away on free TV by WCW. Not only that, the match ended up a bogus no finish where Hart feigned an injury in order to get Sting to replace him in the match and then turn on the Stinger to set up a feud between the two. During Harts WCW run, theres also a long-standing rumour that Hogan purposely pulled himself from the 1998 Souled Out PPV to see the events revenue drop and show that Bret Harts PPV debut was a flop. You stay classy, brother.
