On April 6, 2019, Hart became a two-time WWE Hall of Famer when he was inducted as a member of The Hart Foundation alongside Jim Neidhart.

As we got closer to Halloween, it also hit us that we were going to an outside party and we were probably going to freeze our asses off. In September 1997, Hart faced Terry Funk at Terry Funk's WrestleFest in what was billed as Funk's retirement match. The sum total of those injuries left Hart with post-concussion syndrome and ultimately forced his retirement from professional wrestling. Hart won the WWF Championship from Ric Flair at a Superstars taping at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on October 12 of that year, in a match not originally broadcast on WWF television [67] – the match was instead made available on a series of Coliseum/WWE Home Video releases. Hart shifted his focus back to the WWF Championship, defeating Diesel in a no disqualification match at Survivor Series to commence his third reign.The Hart Foundation had several variations in their color combination those days, but we agreed on the black top/pink bottom look. Bret "The Hitman" Hart is pretty much the epitome of cool, at least when it comes to the WWE, and in most people's eyes, he's one of the all time greats of the ring too. The night ended with an irate Hart spitting in McMahon's face, destroying television equipment, and punching McMahon backstage in front of Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, and McMahon's son Shane. Hart has spoken of how helpful his amateur background was in his professional wrestling career, and also of what a positive effect amateur wrestling has on junior high school and high school-aged boys in terms of building self-confidence.

They met once again in a street fight on the April 21 episode of Raw Is War, in which Austin injured Hart's ankle with a steel chair. You'll probably want to get into costume as your favorite wrestler of all time, and our team of costumers knows just a thing or two about that. After already painting the stripes, I realized that the white cracked fairly easily once it went on, so I vowed to paint everything on thick and then not be tempted to try anything on until the minute it needed to be worn. On the October 4 Nitro, Hart defeated Chris Benoit in a special "Owen Hart Tribute Match" at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, where Owen had died that previous May. WWF Commissioner Rowdy Roddy Piper ruled that Hart would face Shawn Michaels, who had earned a WWF Championship match at WrestleMania XII by winning the Royal Rumble, [103] in a 60-minute Iron Man match at the event.Hart vacated the title in late January 2000 when he was forced to withdraw from the main event of WCW's Souled Out due to his injuries. The Hart Foundation's feud with Austin was named " Feud of the Year" by Wrestling Observer Newsletter and voted " Feud of the Year" by readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

At WrestleMania, with less than a minute left on the clock and the score still 0–0, Michaels jumped from the middle rope; his legs were caught by Hart, and Hart locked in his Sharpshooter. At Survivor Series, the Harts (Bret, Owen, Bruce, and Keith) took on Shawn Michaels (a substitution for Lawler, who was facing legal troubles) [80] and his knights.When Hart was winning the match, Shawn Michaels interfered on Diesel's behalf; Diesel appeared close to victory after he delivered a Jackknife Powerbomb yet before he could pin Hart, Neidhart interfered, therefore Diesel won by disqualification, but Hart retained his title.