Well, another one-time legend of professional wrestling now has his positive moment in the history books over: Bret Hart was given his pink slip from WCW on Friday.

It's another example of how callous they are there: here, after not at all using him in any way that would make him useful to the promotion, after an injury was incurred due to their own fault (a concussion caused by Bill Goldberg - an injury that may well have ended his in-ring career)... he gets fired.

The Bret of today doesn't earn any pity from me; after Survivor Series 97 here in Montreal (which I was at), all we've seen is a bitter man near the end of his career, known more for complaining and whining than for his ring work. This is the man who, rather than make the A&E Biography to his brother Owen a loving tribute, instead used it as a vehicle to snarl more at Vince McMahon... but this is also a man who does have a big cache among wrestling fans, a man who we knew could actually make better matches and storylines in WCW than he was allowed to. Now, it looks like he won't get the chance.

If Vince McMahon does end up the new owner of WCW, then he wouldn't be likely to hire Bret back - nor would Bret want to. He wouldn't go to ECW; they style they promote is one he's been vocal about his dislike for.

Maybe with his brother Bruce having relaunched the Calgary Stampede promotion, there's a place for him still... but I think North American exposure is done for him.