Bret “The Hitman” Hart has been candid and consistent on his criticism of wrestlers that are not safe in the ring. Hart has previously called out Rollins for being reckless in matches against John Cena and Sting. Both men were injured in matches with Rollins and Sting’s career ended after taking the turnbuckle powerbomb from Rollins.
Hart released the following statement to WrestleZone Radio’s Nick Hausman:
I take no great pleasure in saying “I told you so,” but if you’re a professional wrestler and you keep hurting opponents and or yourself, clearly you’re doing it wrong. I wrestled a very realistic and physical style and not once in 23 yrs did I ever hurt one opponent ever. Seth Rollins needs to improve his technique and become the safest wrestler in the business. I have great respect for Seth. I believe he’ll improve and hopefully stop hurting the talent before someone gets killed. Wrestlers have to trust one another. If a wrestler holds the life of another wrestler in his hands for the sake of his family, wife or children you plain and simply cannot drop it!
Hart continued:
I saw this coming, if anything WWE producers are negligent for not speaking up about it to him already, instead they’re probably gushing with joy, slapping him on the back telling him “great job!” Bill Goldberg was similar. When I think of Samoa Joe nearly killing Tyson Kidd, then see him continuing to use that deadly finish of his, I just shake my head. It’s not real, it’s only supposed to look real, wrestlers are not crash test dummies!
Bret made it clear on an episode of The Sharpshooter podcast that he is a big fan of Rollins and that he thinks that Rollins is one of the best workers in the world. He said that it’s not a personal attack on him. Several weeks ago, on an episode of Chris Jericho’s podcast, Rollins said that Hart’s comments hurt his feelings. Hart said on his podcast that wrestlers cannot afford to get hurt and you are supposed to do everything to protect yourself and the person that you are working with. It’s hard not to argue with The Hitman here. Finn Balor is expected to be out of action with a torn labrum for 4-6 months.
