During an interview with Ariel Helwani, WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart didn’t hold back when discussing the state of modern professional wrestling, expressing a clear preference for the style and substance of previous eras, particularly the 1990s. He criticized what he sees as a trend towards performance over authentic wrestling, labeling many current talents as “actors.”
“I do [watch],” Hart confirmed, “I watch certain guys, and I try to watch the pay per views.” However, his viewing often comes with critique. “I find that the wrestlers are more actors pretending to be wrestlers today than actual wrestlers,” he stated bluntly. “I miss the ruggedness of the characters like Curt Hennig and myself, or Dynamite Kid… We were still from the Harley Race, Terry Funk kind of generation… I still think the 90s was the best era of wrestling.”
Hart perceives a shift in focus away from in-ring work. “I find that today’s wrestling, it’s a little bit more about promos and your character on TV, and not so much your work rate,” he observed. He did, however, single out one current top star for praise: “I like guys that throw back a little bit more to the work rate, like Roman Reigns is a guy for example that I think tries really hard to earn the respect of my generation and be more realistic and more credible, more believable, and not so much an actor.”
His criticism extended notably towards AEW. “I find that, especially AEW, that I find that they’re mostly actors trying to pretend to be wrestlers,” Hart asserted, concluding with a direct challenge: “…ought to get on with real wrestling and just quit acting so much.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Ariel Helwani Show with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
