Vince McMahon Gave Bret Hart This Directive When He Became WWE Champion

While almost wrestling fan is aware of the Vince McMahon-orchestrated circumstances that ended Bret Hart's WWF championship in Montreal on November 9, 1997, many fans might be unaware of how McMahon treated Hart when the latter first gained the championship in 1992.

In an interview with The Ringer, Hart recalled how the WWF (later WWE) chief executive directed him after he won the title.

"When I became champion, Vince gave me a lecture on it one time, saying, 'You're the champion. You call the shots. No one tells you how to wrestle. You're the guy that tells everyone else how to wrestle.' And I made that my new rule," Hart said.

With McMahon's guidance, Hart quickly changed his modus operandi within the promotion.

"For a long time up until that, I always had to incorporate some other wrestler's ideas into my match to make him happy," he continued. "Now I could tell people, 'No, we're not going to do that idea. We're going to cancel that because it doesn't make any sense, but we're going to do this instead.' And nobody would argue with me anymore."

Hart stated that in his role as WWF champion, he became "a very detailed guy," adding that he is now receiving appreciation for the focus and passion that he brought to his work during that period.

"I think my matches hold up better than any wrestlers that I can think of," he said. "I was a perfectionist in the ring and I was an innovator ... I'm always in the right spot at the right time. The timing and the ability to be a great wrestler has often been misunderstood or underappreciated. We don't get credit for being great athletes and we don't get credit for being great actors when in fact we're probably a combination of them both in full motion."