Bret Hart: Vince McMahon Promised Him Seven Years As Champion

Bret Hart says Vince McMahon once told him he was being lined up for a championship reign lasting as long as six or seven years, a promise that fell apart by WrestleMania 9.

On Inside The Ropes, Hart recalled McMahon framing the plan around the legendary long-term reigns of Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund, telling him directly that the company intended to build around him for years to come. Hart says McMahon put it in blunt terms, telling him the title would stay on him for at least seven years, comparing it to how the promotion used to protect its top guy for the long haul.

Hart admitted the news initially got him thinking about the financial upside as much as the prestige, recalling his reaction as essentially cha-ching, since the WWE Champion was the top-paid performer in the company. He says he responded by throwing himself fully into the role, determined not to squander the position after McMahon assured him repeatedly that his spot atop the card wasn’t in question and that the company had big plans for him.

Of course, that’s not how it played out. At WrestleMania 9 in 1993, Hart dropped the title to Yokozuna, and in one of the more chaotic finishes in WrestleMania history, Hulk Hogan inserted himself into the moment and beat Yokozuna for the belt just minutes later — leaving Hart on the outside looking in almost immediately after losing the strap he says he’d been told would be his for years.

This isn’t just a footnote for wrestling historians — it’s a story that fits into the broader, well-documented narrative of Hart’s career: a technically brilliant, hard-working champion who often found himself at the mercy of shifting backstage priorities and Hogan’s star power in that era. The WrestleMania 9 finish has long been viewed as a symbol of WWE hedging its bets on Hart as a true long-term franchise cornerstone, even after telling him otherwise.

Hart would, of course, go on to have a decorated career and multiple additional title reigns through the mid-1990s, culminating in his central role in the Montreal Screwjob and his rivalry with Shawn Michaels — sagas that, in hindsight, echo this same theme of promises made and plans changed at the top of WWE. Hearing him revisit the seven-year promise now adds another layer to how Hart has processed his complicated relationship with McMahon and the company over the decades.

Whether McMahon’s comments were a genuine plan that fell through or simply talk to keep Hart motivated remains open to interpretation, but the anecdote underscores just how quickly WWE’s championship plans could — and did — change on a dime, even for one of its most decorated in-ring performers.