WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart joined us on the TJRWrestling Radio show on Tuesday August 19 to talk about his career and the Bret Hart Invitational Tournament at X-Fest 2014 in Calgary on August 30 & 31. Here are some highlights of the interview.
On Jerry Lawler:
“The feud with Jerry Lawler was one of the best feuds I ever had. He was the perfect heel and kept his heat. People hated him. I remember we had the Kiss My Foot match and it was the best match on the Pay-Per-View for sure.”
On feuding with his brother Owen Hart at WrestleMania 10:
“We had one match put together before we got to The Garden. I remember it was the Thursday or Friday before we left for WrestleMania I called him up and we went through the match at my dad’s house. The match we were going to present was going to be a classic match with Owen as a bit of a babyface. The more I thought about it the more I realized the consequence of the mistake of being wrong. There was a strong possibility that Owen was going to become the babyface in the match and we changed it so I told Owen he had to be the heel for sure. I told him: ‘You need to do everything you can to be the villain and you cannot mess this up for yourself. If you turn babyface that’s not what they want they want to do with you. You’ve got to get over as a heel.’
At the end of the night when I’m in the ring being paraded around by the faces and Owen was staring at me you could see his look on his face and if you really read closer into his eyes you could see how happy he was. He was so over as a heel and so proud of his life. It was the biggest night of his life at that time. It was a big thing for me to see that he succeeded that night.”
On working with Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13:
“I remember we got to the building and started talking about what we were going to do. The submission match kind of limits you with no pinfalls. It changes a lot of the dynamics of the pace of the match. You have to use submission holds for the highlights of the match. We just went in there not knowing what they wanted. I thought the way we started it was perfect like gun fighters staring each other down. Steve was great with how he tackled me right off the bat. There are so many things I love in the match that stand out today. There’s no comedy or laughing, it’s dead serious. It’s like a school fight with two guys fighting in the back of the school. It was a hell of a fight. The psychology of the match was just perfect.”
On three opponents he would have liked to wrestle:
“I would have loved to have worked with Kurt Angle. He would have been a lot of fun to be in the ring with. I would love to wrestle John Cena, especially the Bret Hart of 1997 that was a heel against John Cena the All American good guy. For the third guy I would have to say CM Punk. Punk would have been a perfect guy for me to work with. He might have to carry me through the match with him as the heel. I miss him on the shows. I hope he makes some kind of comeback one day.”
On the Bret Hart Invitational Tournament and The Stu Hart Championship at X-Fest 2014 in Calgary in August 30 & 31:
“It’s important for me that young wrestlers get a chance to work in front of a good sized crowd. It’s a great opportunity to bring something to Calgary like that. I think Davey Boy Smith Jr. is a great talent and some of the other guys are good young wrestlers.
It’s going to be a classic looking belt. They put a lot of love and attention into it. The Stu Hart belt is going to be a prestigious thing. We’re going to make this a big event. Hopefully the Stu Hart belt will mean more and more every year. We want to make this a prestigious thing.”
For more info on X-Fest 2014 on August 30 & 31 visit XFestCalgary.com. To listen to the full interview head over to TJRWrestling.com or download it on iTunes right now.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
