What if Bret Hart went to WCW in 1991?

The year is 1991, the Hart Foundation loses the WWF World Tag Team Title to the Nasty Boys at Wrestlemania VII. Bret goes on to win the IC Title from Curt Hennig at Summerslam. I wonder, though, what would have happened if he had gone to WCW at this point, right after WMVII? Whereas it was shocking to some that he eventually got the WWF World Title, due to him being considered small, in WCW a man of similar stature was doing just fine; Sting.

Here's my take on how this could have worked out:

August 1991 - defeats Steve Austin in tourney final to win WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title. This establishes him as a singles wrestler and a contender for other belts. Loses it to Rick Rude, a few months later.

Early 1992 - feuds with the Dangerous Alliance. Defeats Steve Austin for the WCW World TV Title in April. Quickly becomes one of the top stars in the company. Classic matches with Arn Anderson.

August 1992 - vacates the TV Title for a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Loses first match, then goes on to defeat Big Van Vader to win the WCW World Title.

December 1992 - loses the title back to Vader, despite an impressive showing.

May 1993 - regains the WCW World Title from Vader. Turns heel shortly thereafter and feuds with Ricky Steamboat and Sting. Forms a stable with Austin and Pillman.

December 1993 - defeats Ric Flair, one-on-one, then loses the World Title to Flair at Starrcade.

March 1994 - wins WCW International Heavyweight Title, from Hiroshi Hase, in Japan and loses it to Flair in a unification match a couple months later.

July 1994 - returns to WWF...

***

I think he could have been a big deal, in WCW, in the early 90s. Pure wrestlers were more appreciated in WCW, and size wasn't nearly as important. Add your comments or just book it your own way. I think this would have been very interesting...

Hart almost went to WCW in 1991 when Jim Herd was in charge. In the era that Herd was firing Ric Flair...they tried pretty hard to steal WWF mid-to-upper midcarders like Bret Hart, The Rockers (...and supposedly, Janetty gave Vince his notice that they were leaving for WCW, Shawn Michaels balked last second...and that's one of the main reasons Vince broke them up), Curt Hennig, and Ted DiBiase.

Those were the days when Vince worked essentially on handshake contracts, guaranteed very little money (with huge upside as you moved up the card), but you could jump to WCW and be on their TV in a few weeks...and WCW was paying guys like Luger & Sting $700,000 a year, even though their TV ratings and house show gates were in the crapper.

From 1990 all the way to 1997 or whenever Curt Hennig actually left WWF, he was almost seasonally reported to be close to jumping to WCW when he wasn't injured. And right after Herd fired Flair in 1991, WCW offered Randy Savage a guaranteed contract of like $750,000 or something to jump and be the top star...that was in one of Meltzer's latest archived 1991 Observers.

Bret Hart would've been high on the card in 1991 in WCW. At the time, he & Hennig were two guys who everyone thought would be the stars of the 1990s. If you think Hart wouldn't have been a main eventer during that time in WCW...remember that The British Bulldog was. Davey Boy Smith was good in his prime, but Bret Hart was heads above.

Plus, it would've been neat to see Hart, Hennig, and The Rockers work in WCW with guys like Sting, Vader, Luger, Steamboat, Pillman, Rude, Steve Austin, Windham, Gordy & Dr. Death, and The Steiners during their athletic primes in 1991-93-ish WCW....WCW was SO far behind the WWF juggernaut in those days, but they usually had really cool matches, and Bret Hart obviously would've excelled in that environment.