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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Jason Combs, Torch reader

After reading the report that Bret "Hitman" Hart is open to returning to the WWE as an onscreen character, I began to ponder the magnitude of that happening.

I became a Bret Hart fan back in 1989 when the Hitman was one half of the best tag team in the WWF, The Hart Foundation. This was long before he was a main eventer and WWE still had plenty of top babyface wrestlers positioned well above him on the card. But for me, something stood out about him. He brought something different to the WWF product - athleticism and believability in what was happening in the ring.

As a long time fan of Bret Hart, the events of Survivor Series 1997 are still a huge black mark on an otherwise storied career. There certainly is a part of me that would love to see Bret Hart return and finally gain a measure of revenge on Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Vince McMahon for what happened in Montreal, but the reality is that Bret Hart's in-ring career is over.

The severe concussion that ended his career and the subsequent stroke he suffered in 2002 have made it life-threatening for him to ever wrestle again. That right there takes a lot of steam out of any potential "revenge" storyline. He could come back as a manager for the Hart Dynasty and have them gain revenge on DX with his guidance from ringside, but that would water down the purpose of the Hitman's return to WWE.

I think the biggest negative against a return to WWE stems from the death of Owen Hart. At the time in 1999, Bret Hart said he would never work with the WWE again. Since then he has made three appearances: his career retrospective DVD (2005), the WWE Hall of Fame induction (2006), and the Mr. McMahon appreciation video (2007).

The first two were not detrimental to the Hitman's stance on working for the WWE again, as his career and contributions to the wrestling business needed to be recognized. I think a return to the WWE on a full-time basis would contradict many of the statements that Bret Hart made back in 1999, and again in his autobiography. His pride is worth more than a paycheck from a company that created so much turmoil and grief for he and his family. As a life long Bret Hart fan, I am saying please don't come back Hitman.

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