The Details Behind Bret Hart's Final WCW Match

To call yourself "the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be," you must have a great deal of confidence in your abilities. Bret "The Hitman" Hart has tried to embody that moniker throughout his entire wrestling career, having grown up in a legendary wrestling family. After an extremely successful career with WWE, where he was a 5-time WWE Champion, he left in controversial fashion, following the "Montreal Screwjob" at Survivor Series in November 1997 — going on to sign with the rival promotion WCW and debuting on "Monday Nitro" the following month.

Hart would go on to win the WCW Championship twice and the U.S. Title twice during his run with the promotion, adding to his list of accomplishments. However, he suffered a series of concussions that would lead to the end of his storied career. Most notably, he suffered multiple severe concussions in a match with Goldberg at Starrcade in 1999.

Bret Hart's tenure in WCW after the Goldberg match would be tenuous at best. Dealing with post-concussion syndrome resulting from his head injuries, Hart continued to soldier on. In his book, "Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling," he would detail the circumstances of what would come to be his last match. As he arrived at the arena, Vince Russo – the head writer for WCW at the time — would tell him that on-screen he would be forced to defend his WCW Championship against fellow NWO member Kevin Nash. Hart lamented, "With my head thick and thumping and that stabbing pain in my neck, I taped my ankles, wrapped my broken-down knees, and smeared my lower back with gobs of Icy Hot. Just another day in my pain-filled life."

"The Hitman" would never wrestle for WCW after that night, and would leave the company for good in October 2000. "People with concussions are the last ones to figure out how badly hurt they are," he added.