WWE’s biggest superstar ‘Bret “The Hit Man” Hart’ received a phone call from WCW’s Eric Bichoff. Bichoff wanted Hart to switch to WCW from WWE and offered him a whooping 9 million dollars per year contract, plus a creative control of his character. Hart at that time was getting much less from what he was offered, but being a through gentleman he is he amicably turned down the offer. Vince on the other hand could not see his biggest draw leaving the company and offered him a 20 year deal with WWE, which Hart accepted.

As the ‘Monday Night Wars’ became more and more intense WWE was incurring heavy losses on all its bookings, hence financials of the company were getting bad from worse. Vince felt that he cannot pay Hart what was originally offered to him and asked him to settle down for much less. Hart already compromised allot on the offerings could not do it anymore and refused to do it. Vince suggested as he cannot pay him that much Hart should seriously consider rival WCW’s offer. Hart was completely shattered, he considered Vince as a father like figure, but he was just a shrewd businessman doing business the way it should be done.

Vince was in turmoil, he knew the business was going down and there were other upcoming stars like- Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin who might also ask for the some package what Hart was getting and he might not be able to oblige them, thereby opening an exit door for these superstars who may switch to rival WCW for more lucrative deals.

Vince suggested coming survivor series in Montreal Canada, Hart should lose the championship to Shawn Michaels as it would be Hart’s last match in WWE before leaving for WCW. Hart was a bit reluctant to lose his championship belt in front of his home crowd which considers him an icon. Instead Hart suggested he will win the match at Survivor series in Montreal but will lose the belt to Shawn Michael in the next ‘Raw’ broadcasting. Vince was a bit apprehensive about this plan because he cannot take risk of letting his Champion switch to his rival WCW with a WWE Championship belt on his shoulder.

Vince knew he had to do something and prepared a plan in which Shawn Michaels during the course of the match would put Hart to his own submission move (Sharpshooter) and Vince will order the referee (Earl Hebner) to ring the bell and award the match to Shawn Michaels. But the story line referred to Hart was that, he will successfully move out of the submission move and will put Shawn Michaels on to the submission, where he will submit and thus the match will be awarded to Hart.

Vince did what he had to and he never regrets what he has done. According to him it was in favor of his business and he had to take the decision. After the match was completed, Hart was shown decimating everything in and around the ring. His brother ‘Owen’ with friend ‘Nied Hart’ are seen in the ring consoling him. Hart in his rage could not do anything thing because he knew he got screwed, screwed in front of his home crowd and by his own mentor ,for whom he did everything and anything. Past fourteen years in wrestling business just went passed him in a flash. He could not say or do anything, but when he saw Vince standing besides the ring Hart went near him and spitted on his face and made a sign to public signifying WCW. Vince knew he has done something terrible and never retaliated. He was ready for all the blames thrown at him because he knew what he has done is in favor of his business.

Backstage, in locker room Hart could be seen talking to Shawn Michaels and asking him “Shawn did you knew about this?” Shawn on the other hand denied it completely and said he had no idea that it’s going to end this way. Although years later, Shawn Michaels said in an interview that he knew about the finish. Hart’s wife is also seen walking through the locker room corridor and asking family friend ‘HHH’ (who at that time was a member of Shawn Michaels group DX in WWE) “Hunter did you knew about this?” to which he also replied “I am sorry but I had no idea”. Vince along with his son Shane went to Hart to console him knowing the fact that Hart might turn violent but he was ready to take the risk. Hart inside his locker room attacked Vince as soon as he entered for apology and punched him in the forehead. Vince received multiple injuries as a result of that punch and hurt his knee as well. Vince came out of Hart’s locker room limping and holding his head. Vince knew in his heart he deserved the treatment meted out to him by Hart.

Soon Hart went to the rival WCW and started a new career thereby ending the legacy created by him in WWE. Though Hart left WWE in a bitter taste but promised to himself that he will return the day WWE will admit him to the ‘Hall of Fame’ and truly he returned and accepted the honor in the 2006 class of ‘Hall of Fame’. Hart was inducted by none other than ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin’ who remained Hart’s worst enemy throughout his wrestling life and gave us many memorable matches.

We can argue for days, months and years that who was right and who was wrong. Whether Hart got really screwed or whatever Vince did was a perfect business decision. At the end of the time it’s your own inner conscience which has to decide and take a side. I will leave it to you guys because in my opinion neither of the parties actually got affected by this, Hart went to WCW with a lucrative contract while WWE’s rating soared day by day. The only party who got affected are the fans who never got to see the same rivalries ever again, rivalries which immortalized Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and ‘The Excellence of Execution Bret “The Hit man” Hart’.

Mick has worked in all the major wrestling promotions from WCW, ECW to WWE and currently he is employed with TNA (Total Nonstop Action). Foley is 3 times World champion, 8 times Tag team champion and 1 time Hardcore champion. Mick is considered to be a ‘Hardcore Legend’ along with none other than ‘Terry Funk’.

Many wrestlers like ‘Ric Flair’ consider him as a ‘Glorified Stuntman’. Flair in his autobiography has mentioned that he considers Foley no better than a Glorified Stuntman. Foley instantly shot into fame with his ‘Hell in a Cell’ match with Undertaker at King of the Ring 1998. Foley went through not one but two death defying drops, one from top of the cage to the Spanish announce table and second from top of the cage to the ring. Foley wrote in his autobiography although first drop was planned the second drop happened accidently. Due to result of the second drop Foley fall flat inside the ring on top of a steel chair knocking one of his teeth off. Though unconscious for few minutes Foley managed to complete the match and received a standing ovation from the audience and the wrestlers as well.

In one of the wrestling documentaries the life of Foley has been depicted along with his beautiful wife Colette and 2 kids (now have 4 kids-3 sons and a daughter). His match with Rock has been shown and the effects of this match are being shown on his wife and two kids sitting besides the ring. Wife and children could very well be seen crying with every chair shot that Foley received. Colette could also be seen closing the eyes of her kids with her hands, so that they avoid watching their father getting beaten up so bad. Colette in one of the interviews says she is very much concerned about the safety of her husband; this is true because with every match the expectations of the fans increase, they want more pain and blood forgetting Foley is also a human being and he has a family to feed and look after. After the completion of the match Foley is shown going through the locker room corridor and fellow wrestlers applauding him and giving him hugs. Later on Foley enters the wash room to clean his face which is drenched in blood and bruises. When he sees his face tears start floating from his eyes not because he is in pain or scared of his wounds but because what he is going to tell his son and daughter who were sitting near the ring along with his wife. Paramedics enter soon and start cleaning up his wounds. After few minutes Colette is seen entering with the kids worried about the condition of her husband who by the time was stitched and cleaned from blood stains. While leaving the arena when everything is settled down ‘The Rock’ is seen coming down to Foley appreciating his efforts. Foley was not at all happy with ‘The Rock’ because after the completion of the match Rock was nowhere to be seen for a word of appreciation. Foley further said the plan was that Rock would hit him with the chair just once but don’t know what happened and ‘The rock’ was seen hitting him on the head with multiple chair shots which resulted in cutting Foley’s head open.

Foley sitting in his home was shown the video clip of his wife and kids- their reaction, pain and suffering, while their beloved is getting beaten up so badly. Foley at the end said I have done enough favors to other wrestlers so that their careers could be promoted but not anymore. He promised he will throw more caution from now on, but the big question will the fans ever allow him to do so.

Devastated by all this, Austin received a phone call from his former manager and friend Paul Heyman who was whole and sole of another wrestling promotion ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling). Paul knew the kind of anger Austin has for WCW could very well be used for gaining some popularity for his own promotion. Austin did exactly the same and denounced WCW and Eric Bichoff in every possible way, calling WCW’s flagship show ‘Monday Nitro’ as ‘Monday Nyquil’. Austin had a number of memorable matches in ECW with Sand Man and Whipreck.

Austin was not at all happy with his characterization and the way his career was moving in ECW. In early 1995 he got an offer from WWE and grabbed it with both hands. In WWE his good fortune was awaiting him. Austin changed his look, shaved his head and adopted a persona which portrayed him as an angry young man. Austin entered into different league of wrestlers after his feud with’ Jake the Snake Roberts’ where Roberts was acting as a reverend person. Austin got an instant fame when he said “Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass” to ‘Jake the Snake Roberts’.

Later on Austin had a number of brawls with hand full of wrestlers amongst whom his feud with ‘Bret the Hit man Hart’ was the all time hit. His submission match (Wrestle mania 13, 1997) with Hart is still regarded as one of the best of all times. In this match Austin cut his forehead open and was bleeding profusely while he was under Hart’s ending maneuver ‘The Sharp-shooter’. Austin did not submit in this match instead passed out due to loss of blood. After the end of the match Austin refused to receive any medical help and even managed to walk back to the locker room without any help from paramedics. This day onwards Austin was a complete fan favorite in any match he stood in.  

Austin’s next achievement was winning ‘King of the Ring’ where his ending maneuver ‘Stone Cold Stunner’ was very effective. Austin hated Vince Mcmahon and the feeling was mutual. Vince received stunner whenever he confronted Austin and crowd just went berserk every time Austin did that. By the end of 90’s Austin was wrestling God, Packed arenas were a must wherever Austin was booked for a wrestling match.

With the advent of Invasion tagline (and takeover of WCW by WWE) there were too many big names (Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Nash, DDP, Booker T etc.) of the wrestling world present at one place. Austin felt that his character is getting diluted a bit with poor story lines and unscheduled losses to rookie wrestlers culminating into setting up a stage for a match at Pay per view. Austin not getting what he wanted left WWE without any notice in 2002. Since then he made sporadic appearances as a referee, Commissioner and Sheriff. His last match in WWE was scheduled in Wrestle mania 19 with ‘The Rock’ which he lost.

Austin, throughout his career had a number of injuries from neck to knees but his will and passion for wrestling never faded. He married one of the divas of WWE Debra, which ended in a bitter divorce. Austin was inducted into the 2009 class of ‘Hall of Fame’ by none other than ‘The Rock’. In this ceremony Austin formally announced his retirement from active wrestling and said he will explore the possibilities of his new career in films. Austin has already made his debut in WWE’s film ‘The Condemned’ and his other releases are in the pipe line.

Austin may be retired from active wrestling but his catch phrases will forever remain with his fans like- Give me a hell yeah, That’s the bottom line because Stone Cold set so, Austin 3:16 says I just whipped Your ass, and last but not the least What?. The image of Stone Cold delivering the stunner winning the match and drinking beer standing on the turn buckle of the ring and doing cheers with the fans are forever immortalized in the memories of all wrestling fans.

Popularity of WCW reached to such a level that it dominated the Pro wrestling television ratings for 84 straight weeks (1996-1998). WWE at that time was registering heavy losses due to inability to stop their top wrestlers from migrating to their rivals. Many theories are put forward as to why WCW was such a fan favorite, one such theory says their theme of NWO (New World Order, a faction created within WCW which out rightly opposed what Powers to be said). The reason for NWO’s popularity could very well be levied on American public, which at that time was becoming more rebel-like and though NWO faction portrayed a negative character still they were fan favorite as the general public could very well identify themselves with this faction.

Suddenly, we saw a change, the immortal Hulk Hogan, leader of the NWO faction became Hollywood Hogan, from red and yellow he wore black and white, even his beard was turned black while moustache remained white just to portray him in a negative role. Fans simply adored this new look of Hogan who was always a baby face before. Bichoff was on a high, his roster was the best in the business and his arch rival WWE was going down like anything.

WWE amidst all its problems took a brave turn; they started a new era in professional wrestling which is soon going to change the whole face of wrestling all over again, this was termed as ATTITUDE era. Vince Mcmahon, the owner of WWE used his negative character which he assumed after Montreal screw job (screwing Bret hart of his world title). Vince wanted to create characters which American public can identify with. He handpicked two prominent wrestlers Shawn Michaels (who was an instant hit with public because of his bizarre stage performances) and the man ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin’. Vince would have never thought in his wildest dream that this bald Texas red neck will be the face of WWE for the next decade or so and will also single handedly revive his fortune. Austin with his angry young man, no nonsense, Beer drinking, monster truck driving image and a theme song which essays destruction everywhere once he enters the ring was a instant fan favorite.

Vince knew this might work but the kind of businessman he is, his appetite is not going to be satisfied with a bunch of characters including him doing the business. He noticed how much famous the tag team of Shawn Michaels and Nash (Diesel) was going by the name of DX. But Nash migrated to WCW as he was offered a lucrative contract; DX was only left with Shawn and HHH who was not so famous at that time. Vince created a faction just to carry on with the same theme of DX (Degeneration X) and target the young and the restless. DX was soon a group of 5 wrestlers HHH, Jesse James, Billy Gunn, Chyna, X-pack and Shawn Michaels as their leader.

All of this was adding might to Vince’s WWE, which was on the path of revival. Every move that Vince took was well calculated whether it’s a launching of a new character, theme or story lines.

On the other side WCW was facing great problem their wrestlers were turning old, same story lines were repeated again and again and often matches booked never  took place. The reason for all this was only selected few (wrestlers) were controlling the whole thing, plus they also had complete creative control of their characters. Fans were often seen leaving the arena bored and disappointed. Ted turner the owner of WCW took a strategic decision of merging his company Time Warner with AOL. Once AOL took over its reign they thought wrestling doesn’t fall under their business expertise, so they wanted to do away with it as already WCW was booking heavy losses. Ted Turner finally decided to sell WCW and guess what WWE bought all exclusive copyrights of WCW, video library collection of WCW matches, plus the contracts of few wrestlers whom they thought are good enough to be used in their own arena. This deal left over a number of good wrestlers, ring announcers, technical staff, referees and other support staff jobless and those who were offered the jobs in WWE were not used to their full potential and received indifferent treatment by the hands of power to be and were never accepted dearly by the new roster. Poor story lines, less exposure and minimum in ring time lead to the demise of many talented wrestlers who either died or faded with the passage of time. Some way or the other Vince knew now is the time to hit back at those wrestlers who left his company for more lucrative deals in WCW. Only those who switched to WWE before WCW’s demise fared better and were treated as loyalists.

Many titles used in WCW were also withdrawn like-Television Champion and Hardcore Champion, apart from a couple of titles like United States Championship, Cruiser weight Champion and World Heavy Weight Champion which are still prevalent in WWE.

Later on we saw WWE also taking over their other rival ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) in a bitter takeover buying all its rights, thereby removing all its competition once in for all.

At the age of 21 Tiger migrated to Toronto from his home town of Ludhiana in Punjab. Tiger just had $6 in his pocket and dream of doing really big in life. Tiger coming from his free style Indian wrestling background and a buildup to match the best in the business received brush-up training from Fred Atkins and soon a new avatar was ready by the name of Tiger. Tiger received instant fame and praise from all corners.

Tiger wrestled for a brief period on different organization from 60s and 70s. But his prominence came only when he reached Japan where he slapped wrestler Inoki’s wife in a shopping centre. He gained unprecedented publicity from this event and became most hated yet famous wrestler in the whole of Japan. Since then Tiger has been into a number of memorable matches with Mick Foley, Terry Funk and many other Japanese wrestlers. Tiger’s son Gurjit or Tiger Ali Singh as he was famously known as during his brief stint in WWE which came to a halt after sustaining a injury. During his brief stay in WWE he had a number of feuds with Val Venis and Steve Blackman. His role was that of a rich Indian dressed in a custom made suits and a Punjabi turban. He gave money to any American sitting in the audience who would do exactly as Ali said.

Nowadays, Tiger Sr. is well settled in Toronto where he owns a ranch. Living with his whole family Tiger still follows a strict regimen to keep himself fit and running. Tiger has a dream of bringing Indian wrestlers to the fore front so that they can make a name for themselves and their country and is trying to start up his own Indian based promotion World Wrestling Mania.

 Tiger now spends most of his time doing charitable works in both Canada and India and sometimes wrestling also just to keep the fire burning.

Pehalwans under their ustads undertake strict diet and physical training. Once a young pehalwan accepts a Guru or ustad he instantly becomes the part of the wrestling family or the Akhada (Ring where amateur wrestlers practiced their skills.

To keep them fit and strong Pehalwans undergo strict physical exercise with the help of all desi props like-the nal, the gar nal (neck weight), dands and bethaks, the gada.

Pehalwani is losing all its sheen and glamour which was once associated with it. People have forgotten their heroes of the past (like- Gama, Bholu, Imam Baksh, Kamboj, Goga etc.) and truly so many have died a silent death. Those who remember them still carry a hope in their heart that once the true champion sport of India will be revived sooner or later. But i wonder by whom and how? World over wrestling is worth billions of dollars but here in India we are satisfied with some mat wrestlers participating is Olympic tournaments and fading away in the growling dust. And selected few who reach at the highest level of wrestling are mincing money like anything and have forgotten their past and their beloved country. Sad but true, they are not doing enough to promote this sport in India.

The Legend goes around that some British wrestlers who came to India on a visit met Gama and though they were considered to be best in their country were unable to move the exercise equipments that Gama used in his daily regimen. Till date a doughnut shaped disc that Gama used for squats weighing 95 kg is present in National Institute of Sports (NIS) Museum at Patiala.

Though he led a great life almost like a king people say his end was very bad due to scarcity of food and money. He died in 1953 in Lahore to a reason nobody knows apart from prolonged illness.

Not only Gama inspired many wrestlers after and before him but there is a full fledged video game character named and designed on him (Fighter FX Video game series).