Bret Hart Talks About Changing Wrestling, Hitman Appreciation Night, and More

WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart recently sat down with Rudy Blair of Toronto’s 680News.com. In the interview, Hart discusses being a part of “Bret Hart Appreciation Night,” the WWE now, if he misses the business, and more. Here are some of the more notable quotes from the twelve minute long conversation.

On Bret Hart Appreciation Night: “That was really special. Actually much more special than people might realize; I really didn’t know any of that was going to happen … I knew I was going to go out, and I thought I was going to say a couple words, but I didn’t think it was really any kind of a big deal … the fact that Shawn Michaels came out for it special, just to do that and Vince, I thought that what Vince said to me – it was really nice to finally hear him give me some credit on a real level. It was face to face in front of the fans, and some of the things he said I’ll probably carry with me forever. I thought it was really nice”

Does the Hitman miss the wrestling business? “Sometimes. I miss being useful in the business. I feel like with certain wrestlers I can give them a lot of advice and tell them things that can help them. There’s a lot of the wrestlers that are out there today, and I don’t think they got their wrestling skills from say Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior. You watch these young wrestlers today, and the way they’re wrestling you know these guys are from the Bret Hart, Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels era. There really was a change…I think I was part of this intricate change in wrestling that took wrestling from the cartoon storylines that Hulk Hogan was presenting, and I made it more about the wrestling. It’s not about the characters. It’s not about how big your arms are…it’s about the wrestling.

When I watch the wrestlers today, like Daniel Bryan, and Punk – there’s actually quite a few of them that are just really good; they come up with really great stuff. I remember…when I was at the end of my career, I used to come up with a new move or some kind of a new idea – like Goldberg with the steel plate in Toronto – something that’d never been done before. Might be something small, that might not even work, like The Figure Four around the ring post was another one. You come up with new stuff that nobody has ever done before. I was the first wrestler to take out those stairs; I don’t know if anyone cares, but I know nobody ever touched those stairs until Bret Hart got thrown into them and knocked them over like boxes … When I watch the wrestlers today, there’s so many good innovators. I love the innovators and the guys who come up with new stuff.”

You can listen to or download the entire twelve minute interview here.

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