Bret Hart says he threatened to quit WWE after Vince McMahon’s plans left him fearing another promised singles push would go nowhere.

Speaking to Inside The Ropes, Hart recalled being promised a major opportunity once the Hart Foundation lost the Tag Team Championships. Having heard it all before, he wanted McMahon to deliver.

“I remember Vince going, ‘This is the real push, the real one that everyone dreams about. I’m going to push you to the top.’”

“So I got pretty jacked up and pumped up. I was really excited about this. I was going to go singles, and Jim was going to go into commentary.”

However, Hart’s excitement faded when McMahon proposed putting him against Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect straight away, without a title change planned.

Hart believed an immediate defeat would undermine his fresh start.

“And I remember saying, ‘Well, who’s going to win?’ He goes, ‘It doesn’t matter,’ or something like that. And I’m like, ‘It matters.’ Anyway, there was no title change planned for me and Curt.”

Rather than accept the decision, Hart told McMahon he was going home.

“And then I come up short, and everyone goes, ‘Oh, well, Bret Hart can’t get the job done.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m done. I’m going home. I’m not sticking around for this.’ Like, you guys promised me a big push, and a big push isn’t losing to Curt in my first match.”

“And I said, ‘You guys did this to me the last time. You did it to me the time before that.’ And I said, ‘I’m going home,’ which was a bluff, but I held him to it.”

The gamble worked. According to Hart, WWE changed his opponent and began building him through victories. He recalled possibly facing The Barbarian, although he was unsure of that detail.

Hart eventually defeated Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam, delivering the breakthrough he had been promised.

“And they started to build me. And I could almost tell that by making that stand that day, I remember just telling myself, ‘I’ll probably get the belt at SummerSlam from Curt,’ and that’s what happened. That’s when I finally got my push, but I had to put a gun to their head, kind of thing.”

Was Bret Hart right to challenge Vince McMahon’s plans? Share your thoughts in the comments.