Why WWE Network Removed So Many Bret Hart Specials This Week

Bret Hart had a ton of documentaries pulled from the WWE Network this week. A lot of fans called attention to this and wondered what was going on. It was all a matter of who owned the rights.

WWE produced a project called “The Best There Is, The Best There was, the Best There Ever Will Be.” This DVD put Bret Hart over and he allowed the company to use Stampede Wrestling footage including him.

WWE outbid The Fight Network for Stampede Wrestling footage, but they didn’t buy Bret Hart’s footage. He had already purchased all footage that included himself.

It was reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there was a dispute about who owned Bret Hart’s Stampede Wrestling footage when the Hart Dynasty DVD was released. Hart didn’t want to cause an issue because Natalya and Harry Smith were with WWE at the time and the family benefited from the project.

Then WWE used Hart’s footage in another DVD and Bret Hart called Mark Carrano about it.

Hart called Mark Carrano and told him they needed to take his footage off it because he owns it. Carrano told Bret that they owned the footage and to take it up with legal. Hart texted Vince, who said he would look into it and when Vince realized that Hart owned it, he took everything down at that point right away and apologized about it.

In the last week a Bret Hart vs Dynamite Kid match was seen on the WWE Network. When Bret Hart found out he texted Vince McMahon and Triple H about it. They told him that they would take it down. This is when all of the documentaries were taken down, even the one from 2005 where WWE had permission to use the footage.