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I think Bret Hart made the wrong decision to leave WWF for WCW in 1997. He should have attempted to get a better contract from WWF by negotiating a contract with WCW, but he should have figured out that WCW was at the time full of stars with large egos, so becoming the top dog there (as opposed to remaining the top dog in WWF) would have been very difficult. What Bret should have done instead was take a break from wrestling if Vince McMahon couldn't pay him what he was demanding. Also, Bret could have avoided the double-cross incident by voluntarily dropping the belt to another wrestler whom he wasn't at odds with, such as the Undertaker. Since Shawn was feuding with the Undertaker at the time, and Shawn inadvertently helped Bret defeat Undertaker for the title, it would have made sense for Shawn to accidentally help Undertaker defeat Bret Hart in a match between the two by trying to attack Undertaker and hitting Bret Hart instead.

Although Vince considered Bret honorable since Bret stood up for himself in his off-screen rivalry with Shawn Michaels, he wasn't willing to risk his belt appearing on WCW TV, so he chose to double-cross Bret, and willingly let Bret Hart beat him up backstage. Vince was grateful for the assistance Shawn Michaels and Triple H provided, and repayed them by keeping them as headliners (and in Triple H's case helping him become a headliner as well) for many years. Vince also respected Bret greatly for standing up to him, just like he respected the Ultimate Warrior who had no problem breaking ties with Vince if he felt slighted by him, but he never respected Jim Ross despite paying him handsomely during his tenure. Vince constantly took pleasure in humiliating Ross on TV as he wanted Ross to stand up to him, but sadly that never happened so he eventually fired him.