Recap of Bret Hart on Between the Ropes

by Richard Trionfo

This week on Between the Ropes, Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci had a chance to talk to wrestling legend Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart about his wrestling career, what he has done since he retired from wrestling, and his upcoming appearance at the NWA Legends Fanfest, August 19^{th through August 21st in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Hilton University Place Hotel. You can find out more information about the NWA Legends Fanfest at http://www.nwalegends.com/.}

Bret talks about the NWA Legends Fanfest and says that any time that he can be around Dory Funk Junior, Terry Funk, or Harley Race, it is a special time for him and the fans. He knew them when he was fourteen and fifteen years old and has a close relationship with the Funks. He is close to them because they wrestled for his father’s promotion in the 1970s. When you are around those people with their histories, you need to remember that things would not be the same if not for them.

He misses certain aspects of the business. He wishes that he could wrestle people like Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero for the purpose of having matches with them. He does not miss being dropped on his head, the hotel rooms, and the car rentals. He did it for so long. The most fun he had was being in the ring. He had fun going out there to perform with the guy you were in there with and tell a story with the guy on the other side of the ring. He was at home in the ring and misses that. He would love to put a head lock on a person like Harley Race or Dory Funk Junior. You will never ‘not miss it’. You miss the camaraderie of your peers and performing.

Bret would love to be able to pass on what he knows. He has been treated by the younger wrestlers with respect. He gets calls from people like Edge and Chris Benoit when they come to town. He thinks they value his opinion. He does not want to overstep his bounds by telling young wrestlers what works and does not. He thinks that some of those wrestlers know things better than him. He would not mind giving advice and feedback about things. He has talked to Scott D’Amore and others about being able to give back. Maybe he will be able to have a wrestling school where he can teach people what he thinks are the important things to learn about wrestling. Maybe it would be the psychology. Wrestlers need to know when to do the moves with some logic or reason behind the moves. There needs to be a story behind working a hold. The older wrestlers were able to tell a story by working a body part.

Bret was asked if he would accept an on-air role. He would ‘never say never’. He admires the spunk of TNA and that they are trying to be a counter-product to the WWE. It is good to see that there is some competition and that is necessary for the business. He thinks the wrestlers are in a sorry state of affairs without competition. Talks with TNA have been left on hold for a while. He is waiting for the right opportunity. Going through what he has with the stroke, he wants to move away from the wrestling to get his priorities in line. He wants to deal with his children and his new wife. He does not want to worry about what he is going to say or having to deal with connecting flights.

He does not know why the tag team division has been ignored by the WWE. Maybe it has to do with the teams that are there. There were some that stood out from the others. If you looked at the Road Warriors, they were money in the bank because they were so impressive looking. The British Bulldogs were like that too. The Hart Foundation had a unique combination. Maybe because of the looks of the wrestlers and the moves they can pull out. He would rather see a Hart Foundation/Rockers match instead of some of the things going on today. It is a shame what has happened to the tag teams. He talks about the gold soldered belt, which is one of the ugliest belts is now the most important belt while the belt he wore is not important any more. The WWF belt was a symbol to all wrestlers because of the history of the people who held the belt. The NWA belt also has a history to it. He does not know why the WCW belt is more important in the WWE because of that history. The WWF always tried to outdo WCW during his time with the WWF.

Bret was asked if fences could be mended with the WWE. He would like to think that it could be rectified, but it does not look like it will be. He was proud of his work in the WWF because you could not sum up his career with the last few minutes in Montreal. He wrestled Ricky Steamboat, the British Bulldogs, Ted DiBiase, and Curt Hennig. He would love to see that history restored. He does not want it to be lost or displaced. He talked to Vince that he wanted to be credited for what he contributed. However, he does not know if they would own up to what they did and find a reasonable way for him to be a part of the Hall of Fame or a DVD to showcase his career. He has not seen anything to indicate that they will do something. It looks like they would rather exploit things by having both sides say what happened. His behavior during that time was very difficult for him and he has never made light of it. He took pride of his work at that time and never had any regrets. The WWE should be willing to come forward and say that they did not handle business well and that there was some clouded vision, he would be willing to be a part of the Hall of Fame.

Bret was asked about the rumored DVD about the Montreal incident. He does not want to make light of Montreal anymore. It is like a scab and he does not want to deal with it anymore. He does not beat himself over the head that he was not at Kemper Arena when Owen passed. People were affected by what happened, and people see it as a black eye for the WWF. They did their story where Shawn admitted to being involved. They say that it was just business, but Bret does not feel that it was just business. He wishes it did not happen. He always told himself that Vince was confident that Bret would be back, sooner or later. Bret wishes that he could go back, but he does not see a way he can go back without losing face. He is not greedy for money, he wants the respect. He hopes that there can be something that will allow Bret to be remembered for what he did in the WWF.

Bret says that he had zero input in his character in WCW. Whenever he gave any input, it was ignored. Everyone in charge of the booking in WCW could be given ideas, but they would be shot down or they would come back with an idea that made no sense. The only thing that he did was the ‘steel plate’ angle with Bill Goldberg. WCW tried to do everything possible to screw that angle up. They wanted to ruin the idea. The other thing was the match with Chris Benoit in Kansas City as a tribute to Owen. WCW never listened to anything else he said. Most of the thing that he did made no sense to him or probably to his fans. He does not know if there was any jealousy over what he was making, but maybe there were some people there who had it in for him. He says that some suggested to him that it was Hogan, Flair, Kevin Sullivan, or Kevin Nash, but he did not know. He had a good rapport with Eric Bischoff, but it seemed like he was dealing with people who wanted to keep him on the bench.

His life has been sidetracked by his brother Owen’s passing, his stroke, his parent’s passing, as well as the passing of Davey Boy Smith. He has a new lease on life and he has a different perspective on life. He thought he would not be able to do many things after his stroke, but he has had a great recovery and has been able to do a lot of things that he was unable to do before. He has been able to sit back and appreciate what he has accomplished.

His autobiography is still in the works and he has worked on his early career. As he worked on it, the closer he got to writing about Owen or Montreal; it got more difficult to put the words down. When it comes out, it should satisfy everyone’s appetite to know what it was like to be a wrestler during his time in the business. His current priorities are his new wife and kids. The book will come out in due time.

He does not watch the current product, and would rather put in a tape and watch some old matches. He talks about the Stampede Wrestling product. He talks about his match against Undertaker at SummerSlam 1997 and how wrestling had more credibility then because it was not as exposed and it does not look too rehearsed. He would rather see guys show some intensity in the ring. He thinks that over the last few years it is more about high spots and series of moves that they practiced instead of doing what wrestling is supposed to be. There are some great athletes now. He talked about watching a recent match between Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio and said that it was a great match. He wishes that they would move more towards reality instead of the soap opera style. You are always going to find fans that enjoyed it more during their era. He would love to see more characters like Stone Cold where there was a flair of legitimacy in their characters.

The NWA Legends Fanfest is being held in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 19th through August 21st at the Hilton University Place Hotel. You can find more information about the Fanfest and VIP tickets at http://www.nwalegends.com/.

Between the Ropes airs every Wednesday from 10:00 p.m. until Midnight on 740 The Team in Orlando, Florida with hosts Brian Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci. Check out www.betweentheropes.com to listen to the live stream of the show every week. Archives of past interviews with Paul Heyman, Mike Tenay, Terry Funk, A.J. Styles, Rob Van Dam, Tully Blanchard, Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Matt Hardy, Jerry Lawler, Bobby Heenan, Steve Corino, Shane Douglas, Elix Skipper, Harley Race, Bubba Ray Dudley, and many more people in the world of professional wrestling can also be found on www.betweentheropes.com.