Bret Hart Openly Regrets Leaving WWE for WCW

Bret Hart's decision to leave the WWF (now WWE) for WCW back in late 1997 turned out to be one of the most pivotal moments in the Monday Night Wars, but the decision didn't turn out so well for him. He was on the receiving end of the Montreal Screwjob, which wound up launching Vince McMahon as the top heel in wrestling and opened the door for Steve Austin to emerge as the company's biggest babyface. Meanwhile Hart languished in WCW thanks to months of poor booking, eventually culminating in him suffering a career-ending concussion against Goldberg at Starrcade 1999.

Hart was a guest on this week's WWE Backstage alongside Renee Young, Booker T and CM Punk. During his interview he reflected on just how badly he was used in WCW.

:The funny thing about it all is I remember Vince saying that to me, 'WCW would never know what to do with a Bret Hart.' And you know, after about three or four months there, I realized how incredibly true that was," Hart said. :"They really find;t know what to do with me, they had no appreciation for my skills or my abilities. I remember often going to Eric Bischoff and going, 'How about throw me with this guy? Or how bout putting me with Booker T?' They would always comes up with the most lame reason why I couldn't wrestle you (Booker), because you were wrestling somebody else. I remember going, 'That's not even a reason why.' They really didn't know what they were doing.

Booker said it was because they were good workers, and that WCW officials didn't want them outshining the bigger stars who couldn't deliver as well in the ring.

Hart was then asked if he'd do it all over again.

"If I could do it all over again, I think would find a better way to say in WWE. Knowing what I know about WCW, I'm sorry I ever went there," Hart said.

During a recent interview with ESPN, The Undertaker argued that he could have prevented the Montreal Screwjob from happening if he had been booked instead of Shawn Michaels at the 1997 Survivor Series.

"You should've put me in the match somehow with Bret," Calaway said. "I'm sure Bret would have dropped it to me. I could have dropped it to Shawn later on. You know, right after that. There was a different way to do it. But, you know, Vince had to make sure and he had to cover his bases, I guess, in his mind. That's kind of the point, I think, where the whole locker room leader really started to come about. The boys knew how upset I was that one of us got screwed over. But then the office kind of could see the point of, 'okay. He's trying to do what's best for business,' and it always was that way for me.