What If...

Growing up I was a huge comic book fan, along with being a wrestling fan, and Marvel comics used to have a series called "What If?" and the basic premise was what would have happened if at key moments went a different way and the repercussions of that. I've decided to steal the idea and use it for my blog to basically give me something to write about creatively. For my first What If? blog the topic will be What If Bret Hart was the third member of the NWO?

The year is 1996 and WCW is trying to beat the kingpin of the wrestling industry the WWF. During the summer of that year two men who were huge parts of the WWF over the past few years arrived and threatened to take over and destroy the WCW. It started with Scott Hall showing up on Monday Nitro and basically making the declaration of war. A few weeks later Kevin Nash showed up and the two of them terrorized WCW until a match was set up between three representatives of WCW versus Hall, Nash, and a third mystery partner.  The rumors going around at the time were that Bret Hart would be the mystery man. Hart's WWF contract was expiring and it was believed he could be brought in at the right price. Hart remained loyal and stayed with the WWF and Hulk Hogan became the third man and the rest is history.What if instead of Hogan, Hart been the third man?

Leading up to Bash At The Beach everything was exactly the same build up wise. The match starts off with the three WCW guys Randy Savage, Lex Luger, and Sting coming to the ring followed by Hall and Nash without the third man. Just as in the original match Sting gets injured early leaving it a two on two match. During the match the crowd starts to rumble and out of the crowd comes Bret "The Hitman" Hart to join Hall and Nash. The trio lay waste to the WCW team and Hart puts an already unconscious Sting in the sharpshooter aka Sting's own finisher the scorpion death lock.  After the match "Mean" Gene Okerlund came into the ring to interview them when Hart grabbed the mic and said "Gene, I am sick and tired of not getting respect and being held down and now we are taking over" he paused for the fans to boo him and than continued to say "Gone are the days of the superhero and their over inflated ego's this is the dawn of a new era the era of the New World Order"

The next night on Monday Nitro the NWO showed up a few times attempting to attack Sting, Arn Anderson, and Randy Savage only to have security stop them. During the show a limo shows up outside the arena. After a commercial break Hulk Hogan is seen getting out of then limo. Hogan, who had not been seen on tv for several weeks, made his way to the ring. He grabbed the mic and laid down a challenge for the NWO "Listen brother I have been gone for a little while and I don't like what has been going on" he pauses for the fans to cheer and follows with "I'm laying a challenge out to the so called New World Order, any one of you three against me at Hog Wild if I win all three of you leave WCW and if you win Hulkamania is done I will retire, now what are you going to do when brother?" Monday Nitro goes off the air with the announcers in stunned silence.

The next week Eric Bischoff begins the show saying that the NWO have been invited tonight to answer Hogan's challenge. During a match between Rey Mysterio, Jr and William Regal the NWO hit the ring and attacked Mysterio while Regal backed away not wanting any part of the beat down. Nash grabs the mic and simply says "We accept" without mentioning who would be the one facing Hogan.

The night of Hog Wild arrives and the NWO has still not named their opponent for Hogan when Eric Bischoff comes out and announces that if the NWO doesn't announce their representative so they could officially weigh in the will forfeit the match, thus officially loosing the match and leaving WCW for good. the NWO come out and do an impromptu rock, paper, scissors which Hart wins making the match Hogan vs. Hart. The match begins and Nick Pattrick is the referee. Hart comes to ring by himself and the match is going well for Hogan and WCW when Pattrick  took a bump and Hall and Nash came down to attack. The Horsemen followed and Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Steve  McMichael chased off Hall and Nash while Chris Benoit checked on Pattrick. Hogan tapped Benoit on the shoulder only for Benoit to hit him, Benoit rolls out of the ring looking upset. Hart takes the opportunity and hits Hogan with a chain. He climbs on top of Hogan as Pattrick wakes up just in time to count the pin fall. The other three Horseman make there way down to the ring side area and question Benoit who hits Anderson  when Nash and Hall distract the Horsemen. The Pay Per View ends with Benoit in the ring with the NWO holding his four fingers upside down mocking the Horsemen and joining the NWO.

Monday Nitro begins with the now four member NWO in the ring with a casket proclaiming that this is the funeral for Hulkamania. Benoit grabs the mic and and proclaims "When your hero calls, you listen. This man(pointing at Hart) and his family have given me everything thing I have in wrestling. The only thing I ever got being a Horsemen was my ass kicked defending the two fossils Arn Anderson and Ric Flair". Nash than grabs the mic and announces "With Hulkamania now dead and gone we are coming after all the gold and the power". Hall is next up and says "This is an open invite to anyone else ready to join the winners either you're with us or you're against us, Chris has seen the writing on the wall and he is now on the winning team. Open invites will be held next week try and impress us" Hart grabs the mic and says "Hogan for years you and Vince held me back, now you are finished and Vince is going bankrupt so it looks like I win in the end" Hart hands the mic back to Hall who closes with "Another one for the bad guys".

Ray Traylor is the first to try out for the team. He beats Super Calo breaking his leg on purpose. Traylor grabs the mic and says "That is what I bring to the table, I can be the man to do the dirty work". Hall and Nash walk to the ring clapping seemingly impressed by Traylor's actions. They enter the ring and shake his hand and give him an NWO shirt, as Traylor is putting it on Benoit sneaks up behind him and lays him out and the three spray paint NWO on him. Later during a match between the Horsemen combo of Arn Anderson and Steve McMichael vs. Harlem Heat a man that looks like Sting attacks the teams and runs to the back and jumps in a limo with the NWO. Tony Schiavone is heard saying "It looks like Sting has joined them....damn it!!" as the show ends.

The next Nitro has Eric Bischoff saying that tonight we will get to the bottom of the Sting situation. The Horsemen demand answers and they look for Sting's best friend Lex Luger. They catch up with Luger while "Mean" Gene is interviewing him. Flair questions him about his best friend and says "Come on Luger you know the truth" Anderson follows with "Luger if it looks like a duck and attacks like a duck than it is a duck" before Luger can answer Sting arrives and asks "So Lex buddy is this what you think? You of all people who i defend no matter what, you know the truth. Tell me Lex do you agree with them?" Luger says "I don't know what to believe anymore" and walks off. Later during the night 1-2-3 Kid is shown sitting ringside. During a match between The Giant and Scott Norton 1-2-3 Kid starts trying to gain attention of the camera he make a cutting motion across his neck and the lights go out. When they come back on he is standing in the with the NWO who have laid out The Giant and Norton and the man that looks like Sting is shown leaving through the crowd.

On the next weeks show the Horseman approach Luger again, this time asking him to be the forth member for their team at Fall Brawl. Luger accepts the invite. During the night The Giant cuts a promo calling out Hart for a title match at Fall Brawl as well. The NWO accept both matches. The NWO announce their team is Hall, Nash, 1-2-3 Kid who is now known as Syxx, and Sting. During Fall Brawl Steve McMichael is shown laid out in the back leaving WCW down a man. After the four NWO guys are in the cage including the NWO Sting and the WCW three the timer runs down and the announcers question who the forth man will be. The real Sting comes out much to the excitement of the announce team. When he enters the ring he attacks the NWO and just leaves. The numbers game catches up with the WCW team and the NWO win. The main event is next, The Giant vs. Bret Hart, Hart wins after another questionable call by Nick Pattrick.

Sting makes basically the same proclamation as he did with the Hogan led NWO and begins his turn to the Crow inspired version of himself. Over the next several months the NWO would gain power and add a few new members, not getting out of control like the original. The only guys that they add are Scott Steiner, Chris Jericho, and Konan while Syxx is released from his contract.

After a little over a year Sting returns for the big match against Hart at Starrcade 1997 during the build up Sean Michaels jumps to WCW after losing the WWF title to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in controversial fashion at Survivor Series. Michaels calls the match right down the middle right until the end when he goes for Sweet Chin Music on Sting but Sting ducks and Michaels hits Hart. Michaels begrudgingly counts the pin fall.

Michaels begins the next nights Nitro apologizing to Hart for his mistake as Hart reaches to shake his hand Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on Hart. The NWO hits the ring and Michaels looks scared Nash raises his fist only for the two to hug and Hall throws a NWO shirt to Michaels they proceed to attack Hart and kick him out of the NWO. Hart tries to gain the trust of the WCW wrestlers he has spent over a year fighting against. He fights against the NWO before being de-pushed to the mid card where he flounders around until his release just before Summer Slam 1998 where he mysteriously shows up ring side during the main event between Steve Austin and The Undertaker.

He goes on to have long feuds with Austin, Triple H, and the Rock helping to elevate them all before retiring in 2003 after loosing the WWE title to his former NWO ally Chris Jericho. He would go directly into the hall of fame the next year being inducted by his brother Owen who wins his first WWE championship the next night at Wrestlemania 19 against Kurt Angle in an Iron Man match that Dave Meltzer gives 5 stars and is widely considered the match of the decade. Hart would make sporadic appearances the last of which would be returning the favor for Owen and inducting him into the hall of fame in 2008 after Owen died in a freak car accident during the summer of 2007.