WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart has no regrets when he was asked how he handled things after the 1997 Montreal Screwjob. During an interview with the Attitude Era podcast, Bret discussed that infamous night and other moments from his wrestling career.
Bret Hart on his Iron Man Match against Shawn Michaels:
“Well, WrestleMania 13 was my favorite match. It was just so special, but the Iron man match is right close to it. Those are the two greatest matches I ever had, and despite the outcome of WrestleMania 12 and not not keeping the title, that’s irrelevant. The match itself is beautiful. It’s the hardest match I ever had. It was the one where I had to work the hardest. Of all the matches in my career, those two matches stand above. I want to see somebody else have a better Iron Man match.”
On his matches with Owen Hart:
“I said, ‘If we do this thing, we do it old school. We don’t talk to each other. We wouldn’t ride together anymore. I remember, like, even at my mom’s house for Sunday dinners, he’d sit at one end of the table, I’d sit at the other end. There’d be different people there that were guests of the family having dinner and stuff and they’d be like, ‘They really are mad. They don’t talk to each other.’ We’d walk right past each other, but never say anything to each other. We didn’t want to insult anyone’s intelligence. I was a guy that always wanted to make people believe.”
On the Montreal Screwjob:
“I think Undertaker said they had to do what they were going to do because there were no other options. Bullsh*t I had another six weeks left from my contract. There’s a million things that could have been done, and it was a case of liars and cheaters and backstabbers and guys that made that moment all happen, Shawn, Triple H, Vince McMahon, and I wish I’d knocked them all out. I have no regrets. It was the single greatest thing I ever did. I’ll put it this way. All I’m going to say is this. Jimmy Snuka came up to me about three years after the Montreal screw job. He came up to me and he shook my hand. He goes, ‘I want to shake the hand of the man that knocked out Vince McMahon.’ I remember he shook my hand. He said, ‘Everybody talks about doing it. He lied and screwed over so many guys. Everybody talks about it, but the only guy that ever did it was you.’ That’s why he shook my hand.”
On punching Vince McMahon after the Montreal Screwjob:
“Vince was calling my bluff. He was going to confront me and he wanted me to back down and take the high road. It was a gamble that he made, and then he thought he was going to try to get into a little altercation with me, and he wanted it to be like a pull apart, and everybody pulls us apart, and then he can sort of act like he stood his ground against me. In those fleeting seconds of having to think about this, like, I can’t believe Vince McMahon’s actually gonna confront me. I didn’t charge him or anything. We actually walked up to each other and locked up like a wrestling match, and then I knocked him out with one punch, and it was the greatest punch I ever threw, absolutely beautiful uppercut between his arms, and I lifted him about a foot off the ground, broke my hand, but it was the sweetest punch I ever threw, and I wouldn’t change anything about it.”
Bret was asked who should join him on the Mount Rushmore of great wrestlers:
“Well, Mr. Perfect, for sure. I think off the top of my head right now, Roddy Piper would be up there. Roddy was such a great performer and showman and a great promo. Curt was a great worker. I think Curt Hennig was one of the greatest wrestlers ever and I would say Shawn Michaels. Say what you want about Shawn Michaels, but Shawn Michaels was a great wrestler.”
Bret talking about Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff:
“I remember he (Bischoff) couldn’t do anything, and he told me I had to get everything approved through Hulk Hogan. So that tells me that Hulk Hogan was the boss over Eric Bischoff and that Bischoff was just a front man for Hogan, but between the two of them, they killed. WCW, They can put it right on Hogan, or you can put it right on Eric Bischoff. They’re both both accountable.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Attitude Era podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
