Bret Hart - Eric Bischoff is a Maggot, Montreal Timing, HHH, HBK, etc - Sam Roberts

You know, for the first time we've talked once before, but it was years ago and it was for about 10 minutes at a Comic Con, but Bret the Hitman Hart, the legendary Bret the Hitman Hart, is here. How's it going? Man, things are good. well have a good summer yeah I think we talked once before for like 10 minutes at a Comic Con and it was when your action figure was coming out and I think it was like the new thing from Mattel and I think it was the first time it was good , if I remember correctly, the introduction to you kind of starting to come back into the WWE world, I probably mean, I guess it was kind of an image.

I've done a lot of interviews so it's hard to remember which ones, yes absolutely. I remember being around here when around the time the DVD was made, they did some kind of piece to create a DVD that opened a lot of doors for me and that's pretty much what it did, because that's what I was wondering. I've been a guy who even years ago, I mean, while you were still fighting, talked about how important your legacy was to you and how important it was for you to know that this career that you were building had something to show for it when it was finished.

Yeah, I never wanted to look back on my career like it was a waste of time, right, none of that mattered or that I was irrelevant. I get offended by something like that. I mean, I didn't really always think about what I did. the work how I did the matches, whether it was SummerSlam or WrestleManias or whatever or even raw like when I had my match, especially knowing that it was going to be filmed and it's a marker for life now like you, no one erases there Anyway, You shouldn't like your matches to last forever, so you weren't like a day to day guy, you were a guy who especially liked a PPV or even a TV, in your mind it was like that.

There is a fight for tonight, this is a fight that will live forever and I want people. I want to raise the bar when I have the best fight of all time tonight, like every night, like it's especially for a big one, yeah, like a miniature Iron Man. Wembley or it's like even Summerside raises the bar. I don't want to do it so well that when someone else is in the same shoes in 10, 20 years, or 100 years from now they won't be able to top it. What I did today, yes, you and I endorse my matches? How do you feel about your legacy and how does it hold up now that you can see your career as a package?

Is it what you wanted it to be? I think so. I think you know you always know how to evaluate that kind of thing, but for me I mean you know I stopped fighting since my last fight was 99, so it's been quite a while mm-hmm, most people who do it do. You know, some analysts or wrestling experts will keep mentioning my name, so among the top five wrestlers came, yeah, you know, I think the fact that I took so much pride in my work was right, it was good what I did. and it pays off in the future and I think you know I know a lot of people today, especially now with the network, the network has been like a big blessing to people who lost or can go back and watch any match or any payout. by sight, yeah, because I mean you talk like you know everyone's talking about SummerSlam, so Wrestlemania it is, but the match is like matching the 1-2-3 guy on an episode of Raw or stuff now.

I also have this chance to last forever. You can find the episode and see it in the context of the episode, yeah, so I think in that sense I think I get all the credit and I was always waiting, I think a lot. Many people still remember my work in my time, my time, yes, as a very good time for wrestling, I think it was. I think I changed, I changed the industry a lot and that's what wrestling is today, if you look at where wrestling has gone, let's say, compared to where it was in 1988, yeah, it wasn't everything it is today.

I mean, 1988 was all about gluteal muscles and how big your arms were and will be. We were guys, a warlord, yes, Hulk Hogan and a warrior. and the Bulldogs and it was all about how lifted you could look in the ring and how ridiculously obscenely ripped with muscles you could be, yeah, and if you really remember those days as a warrior and Hogan and all that, wrestling wasn't that good . as you can slowly watch, look at Hulk Hogan's five best matches and they are all the same. Your job is the same. Their performance levels are very limited.

The promotions are the same. It was all because I was like that with a lot of guys. we were doing the same old things every night and now I changed that, I think it feels like that when you look back at that era and you can even go back to the early '90s because even when you win your first WR you have a championship in '92 That was a shock to the fans because a wrestler like you was not really in the WWF title picture, that was long before any conversation, it was a big possibility, yes, yes, you know what an athletic man was not if months, yes They would have told me like in June, hey, we'll put the belt on you at SummerSlam, whoever you are, they would have stabbed me in the back and that idea would have been rejected by so many other wrestlers and so many others. people say he could never do that, don't put Bret Hart, he's the one they would have killed that idea.

The only reason I think I got the belt was because Vince took a big risk, he did it like we were just talking about what Vince does sometimes. rash decisions and he goes in a different direction and that's what he did that day to someone the day before just a couple of days before, but I never got any warning when I showed up in Saskatoon the day I won the world title for the first time. I had no idea that was what it was going to be or how I was going to win. How does someone like you work in those circumstances?

Because you're a guy who obviously cares about the long term and everything is equal. Even if you're having these matches and you know you're in your 20s and 30s and most people at that age are thinking about what's happening right now, you're already thinking about legacy and career and life and have that. I have to work in these conditions where things just change on a whim, there's not always this long-term vision that you, the artist, have, well no, there were never any guarantees about anything. The only thing I did was survive, yeah, like I just always want to hold on to my job and survive, but in doing that and surviving I just do what they tell you to do to the best of your ability, which is what I did all the time when same time you see your colleagues. and some of the people that are with you or that started with you that are starting to get pushed and become guys like you see, guys like Rick Rude or Curt Hennig or they're all like my time right when everyone's getting their chances are right , so you have to be patient and okay, well, they'll check me out real soon.

I'm working hard and I'm starting to give back to fans like me. I could feel it and I hope they start to feel it too and in my case, um, I think there was a reality, they were very slow to get behind the Bret Hart train mm-hmm, it took a long time, but when Vince finally got behind the train , the fans for all those years have wanted them to do something with me and give it, one should do something with Bret Hart, yeah, I remember a lot of guys remember the old boss Jay Strongbow who always came back every night. wow, I don't know why they don't do anything with you you're the sexiest, no he had always praised me and that was in his early days like 85 87 and Wow, like that and it's like that, I kept going I stayed there but I didn't get my chances, but when I had them, I made the most of them.

You did not know. I think another big part of it is due to my success or the fact that I was chosen or selected. Come on, come on, let's go with this guy. I was really reliable. I mean, I never missed a shot. I never ever got hurt. I never hurt anyone. I was really sure. I was always a total professional and had many things like what I wanted. Like I came up with a lot of ideas from a lot, I had my own opinion, a lot of my matches no one came back and told me how to have a great match.

He went out and gave them to them. a great match when they didn't expect it, yes, over and over again, I worked very hard and grew up in the rest of the business, so I had a lot of experience, I had a lot of education in wrestling, I mean, when I worked for my father. I mean he could run the whole show. I could give the first game, the second game, the ten, the lot. I give everyone their results. I made sure everyone's matches were within a certain time. And I mean, he was a well-organized guy in the business that he knew.

Obviously, the last few years you thought about the business backwards, because you weren't doing anything with them for a long time, except sliding into a role as an agent or a producer or something like that in WWE because that's what it seems like. a valuable skill that I doubted for a long time, it was about four years ago. I went with them and I threw the ball across the field, I did that and I would like to be a part of, you know, giving them ideas and helping them with writing the show or creating the matches and how the stories could develop and those things because I think it would have been very good for them, yeah, you know, they kind of made the offer and the way.

It came to mind that I remember thinking, "Well, what's up with the schedule?" "I think I'll just go back." Televisions for the day before, right? You know, they split their brains when they came in on a Monday or Tuesday. I made the offer and they said they thanked me because it was Vincent Triple H and it's like I went home. You could do it? moving to Orlando and trying to do something in that entertainment center, are you more interested in the television part? You could imagine it could be solved if I mean it's not impossible, I mean sometimes I can go anywhere.

It's like a change of scenery might be fun, but I'm also very happy where I am. I have a beautiful house in a home and a life that I really don't know, if you make an example, we say. Hey I'll just work Monday night on Raw and I'll be there for that yeah that sounds good to me but realistically it's like you know maybe they need more yeah I think they look at their agents whether it's Mike Rotundo or Arn Anderson or whoever these people are. There's seven days a week they're on the road all the time yeah, right, that's what they want that kind of commitment and that kind of consistency.

I don't really have that and I understand it, so maybe that's why I didn't get it. Collison I can't I want to be on top help her but I don't want to be a I don't want to give my life to do the right thing almost like a consulting guy but I know I can I will give it you are an example and eventually because it's something that has come up a few times but it's like remember showing up at Wrestlemania, I think it was in Phoenix mm-hmm like when Triple H wrestled oh yeah, yeah, that was uh, that could be New York, uh, he was Phoenix, okay, I guess I could be wrong.

I remember one time when Triple H fought Brock Brock Lesnar, though, I thought he had so many ideas about what things they could do in his match, yeah, and I can remember he could. I see them talking and solving his game and I remember that I should review them. Hey, I have a couple of ideas and I will refer and I talked to my said points in my place to do that, so I didn't do it, but then I saw the game and it was and I think it's famous now be my quote about being a four out of ten but it was a four, attending the game was nothing special, it was nothing that I didn't predict in my mind.

Before I thought Mike was what they were going to do it was about what they did and it was like nothing creative, nothing really stood out after the match and I remember thinking, you know, I could make that match really amazing, yeah, really. I could have given them a couple of little things that would take that match up a couple notches and make it different than any match either of them have ever had, so I know there's potential to give something good right there. a role for you could be yes and I regretted not doing it and I think a lot of my criticism of that match is misinterpreted, it's like me trying to take down Triple H or introduce old shots. about him and it wasn't that it wasn't that that wasn't what I was trying to say well what I was trying to say is I could have done that combination better.

I can really like it. I'll give you an example and it's a long, roundabout way of talking about it, but I remember when I had the iron match, Shawn Michaels was right and we had thought a lot about the fight as we were only excited on the day of the show and if If I could say something about that match like I was talking about it the other day, that's the only reason I mention it because that match was 12 years old when that match happened at WrestleMania 12 and when I was 12 years old I was thinking. to myself when they released it, I even said it like I didn't know anything about an hour long wrestling match like I'm not going to do it, this is going to be boring.

I'm 12 years old, you know, I have a short attention span and I said this the other day that that was the match that clicked in my brain like, "Oh, I like wrestling matches because I sat there for the whole hour and it was kind of that hadn't really been done in the WWF. at that moment thetelevision before and and thatHonestly, it made me look at it in a completely different way and appreciate things on a completely different level, well, you know, I like to take a look at Iron Man's combat in time and all the falls after so it's not just one, of course, yes.

A lot of thought had to be put into all that and this. I've wrestled a lot of our matches and our matches are hard because you can start crawling up, like once this is like that, I might run the 10 minute mark, people attack. Hopefully, these guys aren't going to say hour by hour, no one knows until it's about 45 minutes. I think it's okay, yes, they go at an hour, yes, and that's why it's very difficult to keep everyone's attention and I remember that. In that game, I remember when we had the whole game we found out what it was like, I was worried about losing the fans and losing their attention.

I remember I understood it all and said we needed something like A 15 minute mark to the 25 or 30 minutes that you have to keep, that's where you lose them, it's that close when you get to 30 minutes and if it depends on whether you used all your best stuff or you know you're saving your best for the other half of the match, there's a part where you can lose all the interest of the entire audience, where they just feel like it's an hour long match, yeah, yeah, I can already know the rest without even seeing it. that kind of thing, but Pat Patterson came up with that idea with Tony Chimel with the kick on the ground, rekka keeper and they carried him off on a stretcher, yeah, I always said that, for any guy, the only sign is what Triple H and Brock Lesnar needed they needed something a little different out of the ordinary that wasn't done every night or he wasn't doing that pedigree at a table for the billionth time, something that was out of the ordinary, like people were doing exactly what What does he want. he kicked the timekeeper and was knocked unconscious and they took him out on a stretcher, but that little distraction like that, that whole place took about three four minutes when they got him out of there and we got back in the ring. to history but I always thought that helped us get over it if you watch that game I'm sure that's where they outplayed us in that boring part where they lose interest yeah and we kept their interest and then we had them the rest weather. match but it's like it's a little little thing, but yeah, and you see that little thing and you're like, oh, this is different, but I remembered something like that, that's what Triple H and Brock Lesnar needed, something like that, it has to be the place exact, but something that's a little bit that no one expected, yeah, I know, if I sat down with the three of them, the three of us mm-hmm, we would come up with something like that pretty quickly that would have made that match a lot better and that's why What I say It was a four to ten because there is no imagination, nothing special, it's WrestleMania, right, if you can't go to Wrestlemania, any wrestler and do a move or an idea that's different or that you've never done before, or let's try this this evening.

Even if it fails, even if it doesn't work, you still know to give props to these guys who come up with new things or try new things. Look, I can remember when I fought Curt Hennig here in New York, right at the Intercontinental. title, we had a spot where we were going to try to get on the turnbuckle, we're going to fight on top of the turnbuckle and I really can't, but I think we're going to suplex him in the ring, I think so. a suplex in the back of the ring or something, but I remember when we did it it didn't work so well and we fell in the ring, you know, we never lost anyone's interest in trying to make the place, but with the fact that that we brought it to the program, I have an idea that maybe it works, maybe it helps in the end, it didn't help much, it didn't hurt the game, but it's not necessary.

I at least appreciate guys who are going to try new things, try something even if it fails, instead of knowing so many wrestlers who just do the same thing every night. I mean, I have a hard time with today's fighters, no one sells anything, no one. Tells a story, I prefer to watch wrestling where people sell and it's easier and the pace is like all the high level monkeys nowadays. I mean I haven't so you're not a big fan of things that are going on in like New Japan for example right now, well I can't say I'm new to this but that's where you see a lot of it. from that kind of fast paced high point, that whole person likes new things and I see a lot of things with some of the new Japan and some of the guys from there you see new things and you like them.

I appreciate that I always applaud guys who bring new things, but Japan is probably the same thing where no one sells and you know it's a lot easier. and it's a very funny story, but much funnier, to see these people actually sell. Do you think part of that and you were there while all this was going on is that now there are so many big games every day that every TV has the big ones? pay-per-view match and when you get to the pay-per-view I can't remember a pay-per-view match where you haven't seen the match before on Raw or Smackdown or something else like the style has completely changed, while you remember that it you know in the early '90s and before that it was this thing where you would just announce that this big game is happening and for a month it would just be a poster for a game that's coming, coming.

It's coming, it's coming and then you know it's different, yeah, I kind of liked it the way it was, I mean I know I like it, I really like the new kind of thinking and wrestling at most, it's really good, but I think I know the idea of ​​someone being on a PPV is that I'm going to fight. I say I'm going to fight Curt Hennig tomorrow at SummerSlam. You know that's when I, Curt Hennig, would fight, but we wouldn't fight. We'd be gone for six weeks or a couple more months or we'd be back like no one had seen us fight for a long time, so there's a freshness to this match and of course you knew you had a lot going on.

Aren't they fighting each other every night like some of these guys like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn? Every time I turn on the TV, they are fighting over and over again and they will fight again next week because they need a great match, but I think they tire out the product or it's like who can get tired of watching Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn fight. I mean, it happens that you get sick. A good wrestling, yes, it's like every night, every time I turn on the television. You're fighting again, that's the worst just when you get tired of a big match, yeah, exactly, so I mean I'll like the way it worked before, where they kept them away from each other until "I had the match." and, as I noticed sometimes, now they are doing it like on Monday Raw, they are there, they are fighting in the same match that they will have on the PPV, so I wonder why.

Are you there? Do you know the tickets for SummerSlam? We're not going to go as fast as they like. Who? Have people seen it yet? Who do you like right now when you watch? Which fighters do you really like? The Canadians. I love Kevin Owens and Sami. Zayn are two of my favorites. I like it. It's hard not to like Randy Orton just because he is, well, solid and stable. Even John Cena, I love John Cena. I think he is one of the best fighters of all time. I'm really a big fan of his work. I think his ability to work with younger guys and have good matches.

I saw him, I think on Monday Night Raw or nitro or non-nitro, but I'm sure he's on SmackDown, right, watching it last weekend. I thought he had a great match. I admire him for being a consistent professional and always being a guy that comes in and gives 100%. There are many types. You know, you don't have to be the best guy to be a great fighter. I mean, I think you know, I think it's all wrestling, it's all, it's a performance art, right? between us the next day will be a completely different fight, it will not be the same fight that I had with Yoko the night before, right, it's just knock.

I know that I don't do that to myself in every fight and in every artist, since it's an artist and you. I have to satisfy your needs. I would do everything I could to give Jim the anvil a better match or a better match and he ever had anyone else, Bundy or anyone outside to work with like it was for me, it was important. Giving back to them and bringing out the best that they have and I, one of the most important things that I appreciate most about my career or making me feel good, there are so many fighters that I know that have told me that for years. and years into my career, the best match they had was with me and then they'll tell me where it was, you know, on the PPV with this or it was from Scott Hall to Kevin Nash and Bundy.

Bam Bam Bigelow, oh you know Davey Boy and then there are guys I had so many great matches with, you know? But they had their best moments in the ring with me and there are many fighters who will tell you that they are better. The favorite match they had was against me and that makes me feel good because I was never a greedy guy, I wasn't a guy that ate my opponents or it was all about me in the ring, it was about us in the ring. story that we are going to tell, yes, I mean, obviously I read your book and I think it is the best wrestling book that has been published and many wrestling books have come out, but I mean just for the details and the full story that it's in that book it's incredible, but one of the things you talked about and have talked about since then is the David Voice method match and at Wembley at SummerSlam 92 and how do you know he blinked at everything and you guys, that was his match , you guys carried it through the match, that's going to give you when you know that like me, I did this match, this was me doing this, that's going to give you a tremendous boost of confidence when you realize that you.

I achieved a classic and it was one-sided and no one noticed. I always thought Wembley in particular that day when I got that match and we got it done but I know I did a lot of the work and I did a lot of thinking for that match, all the work and all the thinking in a lot of ways but I knew something was going to change afterwards of that match and I think it was about a month after he was world champion, yeah. and I was on top, people like I remember, Davey took the Intercontinental, he thought it was like stepping aside and he said to the man, now you meet your star and I was like just sweet, just be patient because this match made me no be you, yes, and it's true, and I think The Fight of Iron Man is another.

I wouldn't say he did it to me, but I defended myself against Shawn. Yes, that whole fight was about Shawn. I was supposed to do Shawn's build promos even the promos we did together in the ring. I remember he did some promos with Roddy Piper in the ring where I made some comparisons to the energizer rabbit or whatever, but I remember that interview was designed by Bashan to one-up me on everything I said. Shawn was going to have a nicer comment. or a funny comment or I get excited every time Shawn was getting the big push and it's like it didn't matter, he was just the guy holding the belt to give it to him, yeah, and I saw that and it bothered me.

That really bothered me I didn't want to be like that I didn't think it was right I think it was fair I think my drive and them my kind of position and the business was still very hot and I was really still carrying my part of things and then the male Iron Man, you know, was built around Shawn. I remember one was the way he worked and the way he walked back to the locker room. The Master was finished. I said these people haven't forgotten me. true, not only is that the case with gathering a new king, it's like the old king was still here and yes, and that became quite evident because it ended up taking you away for a while, but that brought you first to this probably the most success of your career. with the Austin stuff, which is just amazing and then getting into the late '90s Hart Foundation, which is, I mean, amazing stuff.

I think in '97 um, even '96, I was at my peak. I agree who the fan is. I was never better. unscathed, had a couple of injuries in my career, everything was ready to go, ready to make some serious changes, like no changes, but I would like to make a difference in the business and you really have my all-time classic matches. I wish I had done it. It's a shame that the shit job happened in so many ways, but I especially mean the fact that there weren't more coincidences. Shaun never worked with him again. I was never able to work with him again.

Steve Austin, I mean, he imagined the matches he could have had with Rock when he was when it finally ended, yeah, and so many other guys, you know, I wish even when I went to WCW I could have had some of those type of matches. . With Benoit and some of those type of guys, it's a shame things happened the way they did, but in '97, you know, I had so many great matches, it was such a strong year for me, I mean, I love it when I think about SummerSlam. It was Undertaker, yeah I just watched that match this week.

I hadn't seen it in four or five years, yeah, what a great match, what a wonderful story and you know, two fighters who had so much mutual respect and took a lot of pride in their work. I mean, I've always known that. I look back on 97 games. I have a Steve Austin. The match I had even with the Screwjob itself was a really good match. Because? Screwjob, yeah, and you know, it was all planned that way, thatplane home after my brother Owen died. I have a Lear jet and I flew it home and it paid me all summer and all winter.

Having a ridiculous salary, we did a lot of good things like that, but at the same time you know he lied to me and just ended my career. Yes, they signed this contract and join us and we will end your career. I mean, thank you. God, you were able to make a big deal out of him coming back to WWE doing the WrestleMania thing, doing the thing that just has some kind of closure. When I think about Shawn and I say this a few times, but you know, I liked it when I came back and did that story with Shawn.

It was something I remember is that I called my mom. I'll call a truce with Shawn. We will make peace. We could do well in the rain, I remember saying to Vince that's like really that's like I said, yeah, I'll be happy to shake his hand and talk to him and deal with him. I'll bury the hatchet and I think Vince was a little surprised by that. I think it was a big move on my part, yes, but you know, I always thought I said down when I came back and even before I met Shawn the day of that on Monday Night Raw in Dayton.

I remember thinking I'm probably going to watch. In three or four months I'm going to really regret doing any of this with him and he's not going to change, it's not going to mean anything to him and I'm just like, yeah, I just assumed that and you know. I was wrong and I'm glad I was cool because they came back and I think he always says this about how he really appreciated that gesture, it was like... I think he was under so much guilt and shame and now and what he did. It was something to be ashamed of and it was a shame, you know, wrestling is about trust and respect and he didn't have trust and respect for me in the first place back then, that's how that whole story happened throughout Screwjob.

It's based on a single conversation between Shawn and I maybe a month before the Screwjob where I stopped him and told him in San Jose, I told him we're going to fight each other at Survivor Series and in three weeks or four weeks or something like that and I said yeah, I just found out today and I said, I just want you to know that I have no problem doing whatever you want, I said, I know we've had our problems, I said, but if I have to let go of the belt, I have no problem with that. and I want you to know that if you are ever in the ring with me, you will always be safe.

I am a total professional. I would never accept it if I had any kind of problem since you all talk in different ways. the dressing room or something like that but I will never bring that stuff to the ring that's a moment where you have to be a professional and she told her that and I remember Shawn looked at me this is where it all came from as he was looking at me he looked at me and said: Okay , I appreciate it, but I just want you to know that I'm not willing to do the same for you and when he said that, it was like I promised this guy that I just said I'd leave Belty, you know? then you tell me you shoved it up my ass and it's like that's where the whole problem was, that's what the damn job was about, it wasn't about me being Canadian or not being there on the right day or at the right time correct.

Was this a wrestler I offered who also loses the title, so you would have lost the title to someone else that night in Montreal? Yeah, I mean, they told me he would lose the belt to Lombardi, yeah, yeah, I swore it. God, I said that. I'll even leave the belt for Lombardi in the garden. I'll leave it to anyone. I'll even leave it to Shawn after he loses to me to show me that he's going to lose guys. Yes, he would drop it. I will give it to him tomorrow, but he will have to lose to me today.

Show me what it is. I need that respect from him first and you know they always say, "Oh, well, you can't finish, you can't finish with a DQ or a loss, you know?" Where did I see it on TV just a couple of days ago? They lost the belt and I was watching. I think it was a taboo that supposedly Bernard one before stepping on the belt was like it was unheard of, but it's like you know anyway, but a man to finish I'll just say yes Shawn and I did a piece that was very real and I'm proud of that, I'm proud that I dug deep into my own soul and said: I want to make peace with this guy even though I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do and I can always tell people in life in their own lives What do you know if you have something that is really eating away at you and like destroying it, dig it up, open it up and get it out of the way, yes, make peace with it and say goodbye, no, don't carry around a lot of pain and that's what I learned from that whole thing with Shawn and that was a good lesson to learn, man.

I really appreciate you coming here and taking the time to chat and bring the family with you and bring everyone. I encourage everyone to go watch, you know, connect, search for House. of glory, find out when they are going to do a show near you, if possible, go see the show, they are very, I mean, there aren't many independent promotions left that are professional and then have their stuff together and everything and This is a group that makes it for everyone to review and Brett, is there anything? Is there anything you want to promote or anything beyond funding House of Glory Blade Shooter?

Yes, we have a small financing company from Calgary, Canada, doing very well. Well I work for a guy out of the states called First Down Funding and you know, check out the websites or Sharpshooter Funding Dot-com yes sir, cool, thank you all for stopping by, I really appreciate it.