Tag: bret hart

Bret Hart: Hulk Hogan was a ‘good guy once upon a time,’ became a ‘backstabbing’ piece of sh*t

Posted on by Rosanne Raphael

Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan’s narratives of their conflict at WrestleMania IX is documented in Hulk Hogan: Real American. 

The third episode of the docuseries titled Hollywood Hogan discusses Hogan’s involvement after the WrestleMania IX main event, where he ran out to assist Hart after he lost the WWF Championship to Yokozuna. During the match, Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna’s manager, threw ceremonial salt in Hart’s eyes which led to his title loss. 

The narration in the docuseries swings back and forth between both men’s perspectives as they recount their sentiments on what transpired. 

Hart: “I remember walking up to him, I was like, ‘Hey Terry.’ I stood up with my hand out to shake his hand for about 30 seconds but he wouldn’t even look at me. He just kept talking to (Brutus) Beefcake.”

Hogan: “I can’t imagine doing that intentionally. Maybe I had an off day. Maybe I was drunk, maybe I was high. I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you, but it wouldn’t have been intentional.”

Hart: “I knew right then and there. I was like ‘I’ve got the belt and I’ve got what he wants and I’m the enemy now.'”

Hogan: “I had that Hogan stroke back then. Me and Vince (McMahon) were just bonded at the hip and I could pull the plug on certain things and certain people.”

Hart: “That day I remember thinking what a step backwards. It was a whole different audience and they were liking me, not Hulk Hogan”

Hogan: “Bret got all up in my face and he got all riled up. I said, ‘What’s up with this guy? I thought he was a team player, man.’….Vince made the decision, it’s just one of those things.” 

Hart: “I said it’s going to backfire and it’s going to be really bad. ‘F*ck you’. Hulk came up with such a phoney, bullsh*t match. The kind of match that Hulk would dream up. Hogan came out like the hero. ‘Yeah, he’s my friend coming out to my rescue. Go get him Hulk. Go in there and win my belt. Win it for me’. It sucked. People would be going ‘Why did they do that to Bret Hart?’. He was a good guy once upon a time, but in the end he was a backstabbing, knife-wielding piece of sh*t.”

Earlier that night, Hogan teamed up with Brutus Beefcake to take on Ted Dibiase and Irwin R. Schyster for the WWF Tag Team Titles. 

After the main event, Hogan defeated Yokozuna in an impromptu match to become the new WWF Champion. His reign ended 70 days later by Yokozuna at King of the Ring in 1993. 

Hogan passed away on July 24, 2025 at the age of 71. His match against Andre The Giant at WrestleMania III was honored with the Immortal Moment Award at the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. 

Diana Hart responds to Bret Hart’s claims about British Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992

Posted on by Ian Carey

Diana Hart has posted a statement regarding comments her older brother Bret Hart has made about SummerSlam 1992.

Bret Hart’s match against Diana’s then-husband, the British Bulldog, in the main event of the show was named by WWE as the greatest SummerSlam match of all time last year.

While it’s unclear whether Bret has made any recent comments about the match, he has said in past interviews and in his 2007 autobiography that he had to carry Bulldog through it step-by-step, as Bulldog was in poor condition that day due to drugs and/or alcohol.

Diana Hart posted the following message on Tuesday:

“Bret does not present his statements as opinions; he states them as facts. That distinction matters, because many of his claims—specifically about Davey’s physical or mental state at SummerSlam’92 are simply not true. It is my opinion that Bret’s current misrepresentation of events at SS92 may be influenced by the stroke he suffered in the summer of 2002.

What cannot be ignored is the timing, that Davey died prior to that, in May 2002. There was a full decade (1992-2002) when Bret could have raised his claims directly with Davey, if they were legitimate. He never did. Not once. The absurd and hurtful accusations began after Davey was no longer alive to respond.

Instead, Bret now frames, over and over, despite my appeals to him with facts, proof/records and critical reasoning to please restrain and refrain his slander, but he refuses. Bret now cites this incredible match as great solely because of his own alleged brilliance, assigning himself all credit while diminishing Davey’s invaluable role. Bret’s narrative is not supported by history, by documentation, or by what audiences can plainly see when they watch the match itself, without Bret’s overlapping slandering words.

Davey’s performance shows no evidence of impairment. On the contrary, it reflects Davey’s professionalism, strength and focus-despite the FACT that he was recovering from necrotizing fasciitis, a serious and life-threatening flesh-eating infection (we have proof). Davey did not complain, seek sympathy,or disclose his condition to the public. He simply did the work. It is difficult to reconcile these FACTS with Bret’s retroactive claims, except to note a long-standing pattern of self-aggrandizement.

IMO, and I’m very clear that this is opinion, Bret’s tendency toward ego, bullying & exaggeration predates both his stroke and the match in question. I base that on my lived experience growing up with him as my older brother and on decades of observed behaviour towards family members and colleagues. What I will not accept is history being rewritten after the fact, especially when the person, (Davey)being totally discredited is no longer alive to defend himself. Davey was so good and loyal to Bret.”

Diana Hart played a significant role in the story leading up to Bulldog vs. Bret at SummerSlam 92. After Bulldog won the Intercontinental Championship, Diana entered the ring and embraced both her brother and her husband, seemingly to show the family was united once again.

In 2001, Diana co-wrote “Under the Mat: Inside Wrestling’s Greatest Family” with Kirstie McLellan about her life as a member of the Hart family. In the book, Diana accused several Hart family members of criminal activity. The book was eventually pulled from the shelves due to a lawsuit filed by the widow of Owen Hart, and Diana’s sister-in-law, Martha Hart.

Diana officially sold the rights to The British Bulldog’s legacy to her son Harry Smith in 2015.

Bret Hart gives thoughts on Bad News Brown WWE Hall of Fame induction

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Bret Hart was happy to learn that former Stampede Wrestling star Bad News Brown has joined the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2026.

It was announced last week that Bad News Brown (real name Allen Coage) is posthumously being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 42 weekend. During an interview with Studio 1 Sports, Hart found out the news and gave his reaction.

“You know, I didn’t know that he got inducted. So that’s news to me,” Hart said. “I’m always happy for him. You know, to me, he’ll always be a Stampede wrestler — one of my dad’s guys. Bad News was maybe not my closest friend, but I always had a respect for him. He was a pretty intense guy. Like, he was not a stupid man. He was a pretty well-educated, disciplined guy and was really, I think an honorable guy. He was the kind of guy I would say never told a lie in his life, you know, that kind of thing. He always spoke his truth.”

Brown represented the USA in the 1976 Olympics and won a bronze medal in judo. After that, he broke into pro wrestling in Japan and later had runs in Canada with Stampede Wrestling and the United States with WWF. Hart noted that, because Brown learned wrestling in Japan, he never developed the kind of psychology that Hart was familiar with. Hart described him as a “meat chopper” — someone who just wanted to beat the hell out of their opponent and get their hand raised.

“He was very limited. Like, you couldn’t hit him in the head,” Hart said. “He was very touchy about what you did to him. And he was not the kind of guy you could mess with. He was a very tough man — arguably maybe one of the toughest men that ever put on a pair of boots in pro wrestling. A legitimate badass, tough guy that was more than capable of fighting anybody.”

Hart described Brown as “fearless” and said he was not afraid of anyone, anywhere. Though he personally had difficulties working with Brown because of his Japanese-style psychology and refusal to sell in their matches, Hart gave Brown a positive recommendation when Vince McMahon wanted to bring him into WWF. Hart urged McMahon not to put them in a program together because of their in-ring differences, but McMahon did not end up listening, having them as the final two in the WrestleMania IV battle royal that Brown won.

In the industry, Hart believes some people saw Brown as “a bit of a racist” because of how outspoken he was about his Blackness. If they weren’t in the same business, Hart believes he would have been a big fan of Brown because of how honest he was. Summing up his final thoughts, Hart called Brown a “great guy” who he just couldn’t do business with in the ring.

Brown passed away at 63 years old in 2007 due to a heart attack. He is part of this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class alongside Stephanie McMahon, AJ Styles, Demolition, Dennis Rodman, and Sid Vicious.

Last year, Hart was honored with his WrestleMania 13 match against Steve Austin being inducted into the Hall of Fame. It was the first match ever inducted. Hart is already in the HOF individually and as a member of The Hart Foundation with his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart.

B&V: Smack ‘Em Whack ‘Em part 2 with Bret beating Flair for the WWF Title, plus Granny!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

The Bryan & Vinny Show is back with tons to talk about including our weekly chat with Granny, memories of your first live wrestling show, an attempt at trivia which ended up being an EPIC FAIL~!, and more. Then the boys review SMACK ‘EM WHACK ‘EM part II with Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair for the WWF World Championship in Saskatoon. A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Bret Hart talks Dungeon Wrestling, recreating the ‘Stampede Wrestling live experience’

Posted on by Ian Carey

Bret Hart spoke about Dungeon Wrestling during a recent interview with The Takedown on SI.com.

Dungeon Wrestling is a promotion operated by Bret’s son, Dallas Hart. They often run shows out of the Victoria Pavilion in Calgary, a venue frequently used by Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling territory.

Hart told SI.com that he’s always encouraged his son to emulate what Stu Hart did with Stampede Wrestling.

Hart said:

“I’ve always encouraged Dallas and Dungeon Wrestling to try to emulate the Stampede Wrestling live experience as much as possible. It’s hard because you don’t have access to the talent you had back in those days. You get wrestlers coming in, and you don’t know how good they are until they get here. There are situations where the wrestlers don’t have the experience of working every day like those days.”

Bret said that some Dungeon Wrestling shows he feels were better than some WWE PLEs.

“I’ve seen some outstanding shows that, to a certain degree, I would say they were better than some of the WWE pay-per-views in how a wrestling show is put together,” Bret continued.

“It would be really nice to see a territorial-like wrestling company get back in business and have a TV show,” he said. “Those things might be in the future for Dungeon Wrestling, but at the same time, you don’t have Stu Hart, you don’t have Ed Whalen, you don’t have that selection of talent like you used to have where you could bring in the world champion, or a guy from Puerto Rico, or a guy from Japan.”

Dungeon Wrestling’s next show is set for Friday, April 3 from the Victoria Pavilion. The main title in the promotion is the Stu Hart Heritage Championship, currently held by Raj Dhesi, the former Jinder Mahal in WWE. The Dungeon Wrestling Tag Team titles are currently held by the Billington Bulldogs, nephews of the Dynamite Kid, Mark Billington and Thomas Billington.

The full interview with Bret Hart from The Takedown on SI.com is available here.

V&C&S: A peculiar Granny segment, plus WWF WrestleFest ’92

Posted on by Vincent Verhei

The boys are back (well, most of them) with an unusual Tuesday night show.

Granny is here, but her Facebook is not, so Vinny and Craig and Shawn pepper her with any questions they can find. Then it’s time to review WWF WrestleFest ’92, which featured some good wrestling, some boring wrestling, and a heaping helping of nostalgia.

It’s the start of Shawn Michaels’ singles run and Bret Hart’s championship ascension, so there’s a lot to talk about.

A fun show as always so check it out!

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Undertaker feels he had better chemistry with Shawn Michaels than Bret Hart

Posted on by Joseph Currier

It’s difficult to choose between the two, but The Undertaker feels like he probably had better in-ring chemistry with Shawn Michaels than Bret Hart.

Undertaker, Michaels, and Hart were three of WWE’s defining stars of the 1990s. On a new episode of “What Do You Wanna Talk About?,” Cody Rhodes asked Undertaker which of the two he liked facing more. Undertaker called it basically a tossup and spoke highly of both. He thinks his very best matches were with Michaels, but Undertaker will always be grateful for how Hart helped him become a better wrestler.

“They were both great. They were both so good in the ring. I probably had the very best chemistry with Shawn,” Undertaker said. “But I tell you what, I’ve said this a few times about Bret, because talking about living this and believing everything, Bret did. And I respect that. When Bret was the champion, he was the champion. And he conducted himself as a champion, from top to bottom. When I started working with Bret, like I was real, real heavy, even in my ring work with the character, right? I was still trying to establish all of that. And there was only so far Bret was going to go with, as he called it, the Frankenstein gimmick, right? There was only so far he was going to go to put me over with that. Obviously, he was a more tenured guy. He was higher up than me, so not a lot I could do about it. And I wanted to have great matches, and I wanted to work with guys like Bret.

“So being able to work against Bret forced me to learn how to work within the gimmick and have not just a gimmick match, but to have really, really good matches. Bret forced me to get out of the comfort zone of the Jason Voorhees, the Michael Myers stuff, and actually put on a wrestling match. So for that, I’ll always be grateful to Bret because he pushed me and made me become better.”

The last match between Undertaker and Hart took place in 1997. Undertaker and Michaels’ rivalry continued past the 1990s and into the 2000s/2010s, including two well-regarded WrestleMania matches.

“Shawn may be the only guy I’ve ever known that could have a five-star match with a broomstick,” Undertaker said. “I mean, he’s just that talented.”

Both Undertaker and Michaels work behind the scenes in WWE now, with Undertaker helping out with Lucha Libre AAA and Michaels leading NXT.

Steve Austin on his chemistry with Bret Hart, Vince McMahon

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Bret Hart was one opponent that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin always loved working with.

Last year, Austin vs. Hart from WrestleMania 13 became the first match to receive a WWE Hall of Fame induction. The two had multiple classic bouts against each other and always showed great chemistry. When asked why that was, Austin pointed to just how good Hart is in the ring.

“Because Bret Hart is the best there is, the best there was, there ever will be,” Austin said on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet.

“Bret, I loved working with that guy. We just had instant chemistry. He was a student of the game and a student of other promotions. And he had seen what I was doing in WCW as Stunning Steve Austin. He knew his style and my style would work well together — and it did. Just the trash-talking heel that I was, and he was that steady workaholic working babyface, blue collar if you will, [from] Canada, wearing the pink. Just two styles that would work really, really well together — and it did. I’m very thankful to that guy, because he meant a lot to my career.”

Though Hart, The Rock, and Mick Foley were some of his best-ever opponents, Austin named Vince McMahon as the greatest rival he ever had.

“Vince, great chemistry,” Austin said. “That was a feud that transcended the wrestling business. Even if you weren’t like a wrestling fan per se, you were interested in being entertained, so you put it on to see what this m*therfucker from South Texas is terrorizing his boss from New York City — of course, Vince is from North Carolina — but you know what I’m saying. He’s the guy with all the money. And here’s this guy that he’s trying to give a hard time to and make everything hard for him. And he’s outsmarting him and he’s kicking his ass. At some point in anybody’s life, they’d like to punch their boss in the mouth.”

Kevin Nash denies Bret Hart’s claims of a Vince McMahon-Shawn Michaels romance

Posted on by Vincent Verhei

Despite Bret Hart’s claims, there is no truth to the idea that Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels were secret lovers.

That’s according to Kevin Nash, who worked closely with McMahon and Michaels during a year-long reign as World Wrestling Federation champion in the 1990s.

“I spent the better part of three years of my life with Shawn Michaels,” Nash said on his Kliq This podcast. “And I never remember having a double knockout with Vince during any of our travel.”

“There’s just no way that it would be that he never told anybody,” Nash continued. “He couldn’t tell anybody. See, that’s one of those things where you tell a story like that and you say ‘I’m sure.’ But no, you’re not. No, this is all speculation. He saw nothing. He didn’t walk in on, you know, Pat Patterson or anything like that.”

Nash says there’s “no way” that McMahon and Michaels could have kept a romantic relationship secret for nearly 30 years.

Hart made his claims on the Johnny Pro Show while discussing the anniversary of the Montreal Screwjob. “I think Shawn and Vince were sleeping with each other,” he said.

“When I look back, I got caught between two lovers. I got shafted and screwed over and Shawn was so envious and jealous of my position that he finally had to sleep with Vince to get it.”

Nash suggested the timing of Hart’s comments was not coincidental. “I think it’s in poor taste,” he said. “I know they’re talking about the screwjob … somebody, please, get the [censored] over that.”

Fight Game: WWF Survivor Series 1992 review

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

John LaRocca and Garrett Gonzales return with a holiday edition of The Fight Game Podcast.

This isn’t a show about current wrestling, rather it’s a review of the 1992 Survivor Series, but done in a slightly different way.

We go through the history of the time in WWF post-SummerSlam. Randy Savage is the WWF World Champion but soon enough, Ric Flair and then Bret Hart would take the title. The Ultimate Warrior is fired only a couple of weeks before Survivor Series and they have to scramble with a late turn of Mr. Perfect to save the main event.

Here are some of the other things we talk about:

  • A list of Dave Meltzer’s best singles and tag matches of the early 1990s
  • What was happening in 1992 in pop culture during this time
  • What has aged well and not-so-well from the show
  • Guessing Dave Meltzer’s star ratings from the event

Because of the holiday week, we’ve put this show for free on our Spotify and Apple Podcast feeds, as well as on YouTube, which you can see below.

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

WWE Hall of Famer comments on Bret Hart’s ‘bitterness’

Posted on by Ian Carey

Booker T doesn’t understand why Bret Hart often sounds “bitter” in interviews.

Hart recently took part in a live interview in Montreal that was later published on YouTube by The Johnny Pro Show. As often occurs after Hart gives an interview, his comments that are critical of others, specifically regarding Goldberg, trended online.

Booker T responded to Hart’s most recent comments on his Hall of Fame podcast.

“Bret Hart has been all over the place lately. And I really don’t even know what it is,” Booker said on the show. “I like Bret Hart. Bret Hart has done so much for this business and now at this stage of the game seems like I don’t know. It’s like everything’s nuclear. Everything’s just like burn, let everything burn. And I just say, why?”

Booker then spoke about Hart having “deep-rooted” issues with Goldberg stemming from the kick to Hart’s head at Starrcade 99 that eventually led to the end of Hart’s in-ring career.

“I know Bret Hart had his issues with Goldberg and those issues are deep-rooted for what happened inside the ring. But one thing I must say, stuff that happens in the ring, it happens. I don’t think none of us go out in the middle of the ring and try to hurt somebody on purpose or anything like that.”

Booker was the subject of one of Hart’s criticism this summer, when he complained about Booker’s axe kick being dangerous during a virtual signing.

Booker continued:

“I just think Bret Hart is a much better person than the person that’s been doing these podcasts and making a lot of these claims that he’s been making as of late.”

“Some of this stuff you can’t walk back,” Booker continued.

During Hart’s interview in Montreal, some of his comments that drew the most attention were his criticism of Goldberg, specifically comparing him to Brock Lesnar, who Hart says he has always heard is a professional in the ring. Hart also mentioned finding modern wrestling too “fake” to enjoy.

Booker’s comments are available in the video below:

Bret Hart says he has a hard time watching today’s wrestling: ‘It’s too fake for me’

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Bret Hart isn’t a fan of today’s professional wrestling.

While appearing on the Johnny I Pro Show, Hart said he has a hard time watching today’s wrestling, preferring to watch wrestling from the 1990s instead. He feels today’s wrestling is too ‘fake,’ comparing wrestlers to actors.

“It’s too fake for me,” he said. “But I love watching the old 90s wrestling, I really do. When I watch my matches back, just in almost any match, even obscure Stampede Wrestling matches, there’s something about the realism, the punches and the kicks, and even just the way the presentation is. It just seems to me to be more onus put on the workmanship of learning the craft of being wrestlers. I think that today’s wrestlers are actors, most of them are actors pretending to be wrestlers, and you know, they don’t actually know how to wrestle and they don’t even know what a headlock is.”

“Everything is a high spot,” he continued. “Everything is high spots, like, I want to get my move in. It’s like, I don’t know, I always thought wrestling needed to actually pretend to be wrestling. I miss the wrestling aspect and the psychology of the 60s and 70s wrestling, like the presentation of trying to, you know, pretending that it’s a real sport.”

Later, Hart singled out one current wrestler’s punches in particular: Sheamus.

“Whenever I see him I’m like why don’t you take ten minutes and go down and have someone teach you how to throw a punch instead of throwing that embarrassment of a punch?”

At this year’s WWE Hall of Fame, Hart was inducted for a third time, with his match against Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13 being named the first-ever ‘Immortal Moment.’

Kevin Nash responds to Bret Hart’s comments about not having a seat at WWE SummerSlam

Posted on by Ian Carey

Kevin Nash has responded to Bret Hart’s comments about not getting a seat to watch WWE SummerSlam.

Hart made headlines last week when he mentioned that he felt unappreciated by WWE after being invited to attend SummerSlam, only to be told at the show that they did not have a seat for him. Hart said he noticed that Nash had a seat at SummerSlam, something Nash refuted on the latest episode of his Kliq This podcast.

“I saw where he was pissed because he went to SummerSlam and was told that they would have a seat for him and there wasn’t, but I got a seat” Nash said, before revealing he didnt’ attend the show.

“Well, number one, I didn’t go to the show because I knew I didn’t have a seat,” Nash continued.

Asked why Hart would comment on him having a seat at SummerSlam when he wasn’t at the show, Nash continued:

“I guess my name got brought up because it would be like, ‘Oh, Triple H’s buddy f—ing got a seat,” he said.

Nash says he called Hart to clear the air about the issue and told him that he stopped going to WWE events because of the same issues Hart dealt with at SummerSlam.

“I actually called Bret today. I said, ‘Bret, I stopped going after they put me in a f—ing box and the monitor in the box didn’t work, and the ring was so f—ing small and we were so far away that we had to look up and watch the f—ing tron with no f—ing announcing.'”

“It’s bad enough to have to watch f—ing wrestling without being able to fast forward through s–t,” he continued.

Nash also brought up that The Undertaker didn’t even have a seat to watch the show.

“From what I heard, Taker wasn’t real happy,” Nash continued. “Somebody saw Taker at the show and he was sitting in a TV room watching a monitor.”

Nash believes that since he and Hart at one point left WWE to go to WCW, neither of them will ever be treated as well as someone like The Undertaker.

“Bret has to realize that he f—king left and went to WCW,” Nash continued. “He put on the gray. I put on the gray, I understand that. I was part of the f—ing people that almost put that f—ing place out of business, so I’m never going to be treated the same as everybody else.”

The full episode of Kliq This with Sean Oliver and Kevin Nash is available below:

Bret Hart says he doesn’t feel appreciated by WWE following SummerSlam incident

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Bret Hart wasn’t given a seat.

In an interview that took place at the Vaughan Comic Con this weekend, The WWE Hall of Famer revealed that he was invited to the two-day event that took place earlier this month to sit in the crowd. But once he got there, he was told there wasn’t a seat for him.

“They invited me down…told me they wanted me to be in the crowd. And then they told me once I got there, they told me they didn’t have any seats. But I noticed Kevin Nash got a seat. Maybe I finally realized that I don’t feel they fully appreciate me, even after Hulk [Hogan’s] passing. There’s no certain appreciation for anything I did.”

Hart was a part of another interview during SummerSlam week where he felt that Hulk Hogan wasn’t that welcoming when he became WWE Champion in 1992 and went as far as to say Hogan held him back when they were in WCW back in the late 1990s.

Earlier this year, Hart’s match with Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13 was inducted in to WWE’s Hall of Fame, with both wrestlers accepting the Immortal Moment award.

Bret Hart: ‘I hate wrestlers that hurt each other on purpose’

Posted on by Ian Carey

Bret Hart doesn’t like chops.

After Clash at the Castle in 2022, Hart made headlines when he was critical of the chops used in Gunther and Sheamus’ match on the show. He recently appeared on a live episode of The Ringer’s Wrestling podcast at the Gramercy Theater in New York City and clarified his opinions on the matter, explaining that chops hurt and recalling his father Stu’s advice that “nobody wins with a chop.”

“I don’t want to sound like I’m tooting my own horn all the time, but the best wrestling has to pretend to be real,” Hart said. “I mean, that’s what I did. I tried to make it as real as I could. Contrary to that Gunther guy, who seemed like a nice enough guy when I met him. But I mean, I hate wrestlers that hurt each other on purpose. I hate it when you’re out there getting beat up and hurt by a guy for real, and everybody thinks it’s…. Like, chops. Whoever won a fight with a chop? What a waste of time.”

“But I remember my dad used to tell wrestlers in Stampede Wrestling, he said, nobody ever beat anybody with a chop. And it’s true, they hurt. They look like shit, they make a big slap sound, but they hurt.“

Hart then explained he’d wake up sore after wrestling Ric Flair and being chopped repeatedly throughout the match.

“When you get chopped by someone like Ric Flair in a 30 minute match, and he chops you 15 times in the match, your whole chest the next day is just bruises and it hurts to even put a shirt on. I used to wrestle Ric Flair and I used to wake up and go, why am I hurting so much? And then it’s like, doesn’t Ric Flair know that it’s a show?”

“It’s not supposed to be real. I’m not supposed to really wake up with a really sore chest the next day. So I have no respect for guys that hurt each other all the time.”

“And it’s just to me, lazy s–t wrestling when guys like that Gunther, and I’ve told him this to his face, it’s bulls–t. Like, when you’re hurting somebody for real, you’re unprofessional. I wrestled guys, never hurt anybody. When I used to come back to the dressing room, my kicks, my stomps, all the stuff I did, the beauty of what I did is that it looks like it really hurts a lot but I never hurt anybody ever.”

Earlier in the conversation, Hart spoke about wrestlers who frequently pay homage to his moves or moments from his career. He says he takes it as a “huge compliment” every time he sees something like that in modern wrestling.

“I notice that Cody Rhodes throws a punch a lot like I did. And I remember telling him back 15 years ago, I said, you throw a really good punch, I love your punches, you’re one of the only guys that throws a good punch. Roman Reigns is a guy that, when I watch him, I think he emulates a lot my style even though you might not notice it.”

Hart then mentioned wrestlers such as CM Punk and Dax Harwood who frequently pay homage to him in their matches.

“I take it as a compliment and whenever I watch wrestling and I see something that’s obviously a salute or a sort of like, hey, that was the Bret Hart 1988 or something like that, I take that as a huge compliment, especially from the wrestlers today. I think they’d all be a lot better off if they copied me more.”

Hart’s full conversation with The Ringer is available below: