There are some things in pro wrestling that never change. Fans will always chant “what” during promos, wrestlers will jump back and forth between wrestling companies, and Bret Hart will never be afraid to take shots at Hulk Hogan. The legendary wrestler found another opportunity to do so recently when talking about his own personal accolades and used the Hulkster as a prime example of why his run was so impressive.
Bret Hart will soon have a place on Canada’s Walk of Fame and did interviews in acknowledgment of his legacy and contribution to his fellow countrymen. Hart spoke with the Calgary Sun about his accomplishments in the WWE, how he’s influenced current Canadian-born superstars, and how Hulk Hogan wasn’t actually a great wrestler from a technical perspective.
And all the Canadian wrestlers like Natalya or Edge were influenced by me. I think if you look back at wrestling when it was the Hulk Hogan show. He was six-foot-eight and a one-out-of-three wrestler. He didn’t know a headlock from a headlamp. He didn’t know very much. He knew how to do a clothesline and maybe a body slam. He was very limited. (WWE owner) Vince McMahon took a chance with me and made me that champion. It meant so much to me that I think I tried to live up to be that champion. It was about being the best wrestler. I gave so much as that wrestler. I was a good role model in the dressing room. All that means a lot.
Bret Hart could’ve just said he wasn’t generally the type of wrestling talent that Vince McMahon and the WWE looked for at the time, but he took things a little bit further. Hart decided to personally call out Hulk Hogan, and the fact that he largely survived in the WWE because of his athletic build and not so much his wrestling ability.
This isn’t the first time Bret Hart publicly disparaged Hulk Hogan. Just last year, Hart made headlines for confirming he still doesn’t like Hogan and went further to call him a “phony piece of shit.” Truthfully, that comment, as well as the latest, is one of the more tame comments that Hart has made about Hogan over the years, as this feud has seemingly only worsened over time.
Bret Hart has offered a lot of reasons to dislike Hulk Hogan, though the birth of the feud seems to stem from their time together in the WWE. Hart famously lost to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX, only for Hulk Hogan to stroll out and get a title shot and win the belt in a 22-second match. Hart maintained WWE’s plan was to award him the belt from beating Hogan months later, but Hogan allegedly shot down the idea once he had the title again. Moments like that, as well as many others, have led the two to have a very bad relationship over the past couple of decades. It’s a situation that doesn’t appear as though it’ll smooth anytime soon, but who knows? Stranger things have happened!
Bret Hart’s official induction to Canada’s Walk of Fame takes place on Friday, December 17, and Canadian pro wrestler Chris Jericho has the honor of inducting him. We’ll see if Hart has anything to say about Hulk Hogan during his speech or if he’ll manage to make it through the proceedings without mentioning the WWE Legend.
