What would Bret Hart's wrestling career have looked like if he never left WWE for WCW? While this question has been asked dozens if not hundreds of times, as “The Hitman” was one of the greatest wrestlers to ever lace up a set of boots during his time working for Vince McMahon, only to watch his career fall off a cliff when he landed in Atlanta, partially due to his booking, partially due to the unsafe in-ring work of Bill Goldberg – Bret Hart's words, not mine – and partially due to the post-concussion syndrome concussions syndrome that forced him to retire far too young at 43 in 2000.

Taking part in the new Vice documentary series Who Killed WCW? Hart was asked about the show's titular questions and went off in a segment so firey it has since gone viral online for its ferocity.

“I was a very good witness to the madness that was WCW. What a bunch of imbeciles, idiots, stupid as it gets. Stupid, clueless idiots. A bunch of clueless nuts,” Bret Hart declared in the social media video. “Is there anybody here that's got any brains? Stupid, stupid, stupid, every day, every night. So stupid. Just really stupid. The biggest cutthroat bunch of conniving, backstabbing idiots you've ever seen in your life. Thanks for nothing. Go f**k yourselves!”

Goodness, Hart usually reserves that kind of language for Goldberg, not the promotion that once employed them and had the latter spear the former in the chest despite having a steel plate under his shirt. If anyone thought Who Killed WCW? was going to be a beautiful love letter to one of the great American wrestling federations, you are unfortunately mistaken, as they wouldn't have brought in Hart if they didn't want the bold, hard-hitting truth the way “The Hitman” recalls it.

Booker T comments on Who Killed WCW? and the NWO.

Speaking of Vice's new show Who Killed WCW?, Booker T commented on Vice's new miniseries and why he decided to take part in the show. Though he may have gone on to become a fan favorite in WWE and TNA and now appears weekly on WCW as the show's color commentator, many of the biggest moments of his wrestling career came in WCW, making him a natural addition to the show's investigative nature.

“Oh, I got paid. [laughs] No man, I was approached to be a part of it. I think I was a big part of WCW, both at the beginning and the very end of it. I got a chance to see it up close and personal,” Booker T explained on his Hall of Fame podcast via 411 Mania. “I saw the cracks, you know, in the foundation. And then I started seeing the craters, and then the implosion of WCW. So I will be a big part of that thing. And to be able to talk about it from my position, as far as who I thought perhaps killed WCW or why, you know, WCW is no longer around right now. I don't know if I'm right or not, but you know, I could be. I mean, it's always gonna be a question.”

Booker T then touched base on the NWO, WCW's hottest faction and a group that ultimately bloated up to include about a third of the roster, give or take. Asked if he felt that the NWO's incredible popularity took away from the rest of the roster, the two-time Hall of Famer said yes, noting that it wasn't too fun being a babyface in the promotion during that period of the promotion's history.

“It definitely did. In certain arenas around certain parts of the country, having to wrestle against the NWO? It wasn't fun. It wasn't fun for the babyface. Because that's when the name of the game started changing for me. That's what I thought things were — you know, a lot of people looked at NWO like it was the greatest thing in the world. And I did as well in the beginning. But as we went along, I thought, ‘Man, this thing could really be the worst thing for wrestling that we've ever seen come along, ever.”

What would have happened if WCW didn't go under? What if Eric Bischoff or another party was able to purchase the promotion instead of being sold off to WWE for pennies on the dollar, and it continued to operate as a challenge brand, much like the company that eventually took its number two spot under former WCW Champion Jeff Jarrett? Unfortunately, fans will never knock, which is a shame, considering its cultural impact.