AEW turned down the chance to sign Bret Hart as an agent.
Bret Hart hasn’t worked in wrestling in an official capacity since his run with WWE came to an end in 2010. During this period Hart returned to the ring and competed at WrestleMania against Vince McMahon, although he was severely limited in what he could actually do, and was unable to take any bumps.
Since then The Hitman has made a number of appearances for WWE and others although these have been one-off cameos. However, things could have been very different.
Writing on Twitter — or whatever the social media platform is called by the time this article goes live — writer Brian R. Solomon who contributes to Inside The Ropes Magazine, revealed that Hart made an incredible pitch to AEW, only for the company to turn it down.
Following the news that Orange Cassidy has landed a job as an agent with AEW, Solomon questioned why he had been given the job ahead of the likes of Sting, Dustin Rhodes, and others. In a follow-up tweet, Solomon stated that Bret Hart had told him he offered to work as an agent but the company wanted him to be an on-screen character, as a result, the deal never happened.
“I’m actually a big fan of Orange Cassidy and his work. But in a company that has Arn Anderson, Jake Roberts, Tazz, Billy Gunn, Christian Cage, Chris Jericho, Dustin Rhodes and Sting in the locker room, shouldn’t they be the ones being tapped to be road agents?
When I recently interviewed Bret Hart for my book, he told me that he offered to agent for them, but they only wanted to bring him in as a manager like Tully, Arn, Jake, etc. Imagine having the ability to have Bret Hart coach your talent and saying, no just be a TV character.”
Has Bret Hart Ever Worked With AEW?
Although he is largely synonymous with WWE, Bret Hart has appeared for AEW previously. The WWE Hall of Famer was on hand at Double or Nothing in 2019 to unveil the AEW World Championship.
AEW also hosts an annual tournament dedicated to his late brother Owen, which has seen Owen’s widow Martha appear on AEW television.
There had been suggestions that Bret Hart could make a special appearance with AEW at All In at Wembley Stadium, given that it’s the scene of one of his most famous matches. However, it was reported in May that his legen7ds deal with WWE could prevent him from appearing.
Paul Wight, who is under contract to AEW in 2023, recently spoke about a prank that Bret Hart pulled on him, which may have led to Hart’s in-ring return.