How did Vince McMahon help WCW sign 10-time WWE champion? Exploring his insane revelation

Vince McMahon is widely regarded as the man who made pro wrestling great. He put the industry on the map and distributed it around the world. However, while McMahon did hold a monopoly over the industry, he faced stiff competition in the 90s from WCW. Now, one would assume that he would give no quarter in this war. However, in a shocking turn of events, he once helped WCW sign a 10-time WWE champion.

The 10-time WWE champion in question is none other than Bret Hart. The Hitman, at one point in time, was the top star in WWE but in 1997 he made the move to WCW. Now, many believe that this was about a strained relationship with Vince McMahon, and his impending departure. But, as was revealed recently, it was The Boss himself who helped him with the transition.

In the third episode of the Netflix docuseries Mr. McMahon, Vince's son, Shane McMahon, revealed that his father helped Bret Hart make the move to WCW. In the episode, Vince McMahon reveals that the 20-year contract he gave The Excellence of Execution was proving to be too much. A few seconds later, Shane claimed that his father pointed out loopholes in the contract to help Hart negotiate a better deal with his biggest competitor.

"My dad took Bret's contract and showed Bret where the loopholes were, and said, 'Look you can use this as leverage to negotiate yourself a much better deal at WCW,'" revealed Shane McMahon. [From 40:00 to 40:15]

From the outside looking in, it would seem crazy to hand your top star a way out of your company. But perhaps that's what made Vince McMahon the perfect person to take WWE right to the very top.

Vince McMahon was desperate to keep Bret Hart following the rise of WCW

Given the aforementioned statement, one might wonder why Vince McMahon handed Bret Hart such a lucrative contract. After all, a 20-year contract, some would say, is as good as a lifetime deal. However, while McMahon would like to portray himself as someone who never felt fear, that was exactly why he handed The Hitman the said deal.

As mentioned earlier, at the time when McMahon signed Hart to the 20-year deal, WWE was in a heated war with WCW. The Eric Bischoff-led promotion was consistently beating WWE in the ratings, week in and week out. So, as Vince himself admitted, he believed that tying Hart down for such a long time would help him remain competitive.

In the docuseries, Vince would go on to explain how much he regretted this decision. McMahon believes he would have been better off creating new stars rather than keeping hold of the ones he had.