Let's talk wrestlers.
Hulk Hogan had some nice things to say about Bret and some other stuff. They played a clip of Hogan on OTR saying that he loves Bret and his family. Hogan talked about a crazy letter from Bret's office saying "Why would he trash Bret at a time like this."
Bret responds. "Well he's wrong." Bret said that he did trash Hogan a lot years ago. He said that he doesn't want to open up a big thing again. He said that Hogan didn't pass the torch to him. Bret said that Hogan was suppose to drop the belt to him at Summerlam, they even took pictures with the belt (Tug of War) for the poster. It was obviously a WWF title match. Vince told Bret that Hogan didn't want to wrestle him because he didn't want to drop the belt to him. He confronted Hogan and they had a big blow off about it. They went to confront Vince and Vince said it's a non-title match. Bret is like since when? After he got over that and Hogan dropped it to Yokozuna. He said he knocked him for years, about being a bad actor, he doesn't know if anything he said wasn't true. *Landsberg laughed*.
Landsberg asked if he and Hogan were able to work in WCW? Bret said yea, he shook his hand and they buried the hatchet and never said a bad thing.
What were the politics like in WCW?
Bret thinks of Bischoff who he likes as a person. Bischoff never had an idea what they were doing. Any time Bret had an idea they turned away. He said it was screwed up. You look at what Vince did after Bret knocked him in Montreal, he took that into a storyline and made a lot money. What disappointed him was how poorly WCW used him. They couldn't have done a worse job. The scary thing was they paid him great until they hurt him.
Vince told Bret that WCW will never know what to do with Bret Hart. Bret told Vince in Florida that he was right on that quote. Bret said that people probably stabbed him in the back behind closed doors, without him knowing. Landsberg asks who? Bret said he doesn't know. People tell him Hogan, but Bret doesn't necessarily know.
COMMERCIALS
Who were his friends, good workers..etc?
Bret said Chris Benoit, Curt Hennig, even guys that aren't necessarily good workers, but with good attitude or good heart. Bret never had a problem jobbing, as long as he knew that the guy he was wrestling would do the same thing for him. Because there were a lot of guys who worked for themselves.
Landsberg says "Triple H." When you left the WWF, HHH was a minor player. Now, not only is he big in the ring but a big influence backstage.
Is that a good thing?
Bret said he doesn't know. He always thought of Hunter as a real ass kiss. He had his nose up Vince's ass. He doesn't have much regards for Hunter. Hunter was never one of the guys, he wasn't straight. He had his own agenda in a sneaky way. When Bret looks back at his career, he is respected and people appreciate that he was a team player, unlike HHH. He doesn't think that people think of HHH as a team player.
Shawn Michaels.
Hart said that Shawn was a two-faced lying chicken shit. And now? "I don't think..hmm.. that's a snake that never changes its stripes" said Hart. Shawn is the guy that would make peace with you and 20 minutes later he'll stab you in the back. Shawn brought a new meaning for the word prima donna. He had such a huge ego. He said everyone does have an ego..believing in yourself. Shawn was very insecure, and weak as a person.
Discusses Steve Austin
He has nothing but the highest regards for Austin. He worked for everything he got. He would have loved wrestling him again. He never heard of him after Owen passed away. Bret talked a little about Owen and Austin saying that they had their problems when they wrestled each other. Owen would turn off wrestling and go home, and then he would turn it back on later and come back. He told Steve that Owen should have been a little more considerate and call Steve while he was injured.
Talks about the Rock
First thing he said about Rock when he saw him was, that guy is the franchise and that's the guy that will take my spot. He doesn't know what he's like so much today.
Landsberg asks if Bret was to advise him right now, what would he say?
Bret says to tell Rock to do whatever makes him happy. He's in the position to do what makes him happy. He said that Rock deserves it and deserves the success he has.
Landsberg brings up the topic about wrestling fans believing what they want to believe. When are you going to wrestle again? Bret said that he was asked that in his wheel chair. He doesn't mind it, but finds it kind of odd. If Bret wanted to set a goal, could he do it? Bret said yea. He probably could if he wanted to set that goal for himself. If he had to do it, to target as a goal, yea. But he has no desire or interest and wouldn't wrestle.
If he had one last match, a wrestler he can trust, who would it be?
Bret would have said Curt Hennig, until now.
Top of his head, he said Benoit. He would have loved to wrestle Kurt Angle.
In terms of impact and PPV buys strictly for the box office, who would Bret wrestle?
Bret said Vince McMahon and laughs. That's the match he wants. "Loser goes to hell" match. They both laugh.
COMMERCIALS
Discusses his book.
He keeps reading these different wrestling books and waiting for someone to write it the way he's writing it, and so far, no one. He's done his first book, but hasn't been printed or released.
Landsbergs asks him to give him an idea about what he talks about in his book.
Bret says "Very truthful," it puts you in his shoes from the time he was very small. He grew up with legendary names like Gene kiniski, Lou Thesz, Even Gorgeous George, who he doesn't remember.
Mankind and Hogan don't understand the history. Well Mankind might. Bret said that they came in at a completely different time. Bret talks about his family. It was an odd life, with twelve kids. He doesn't take shots at a lot of people in his book, just a couple.
What has Bret learned in relation to his life and his screw-ups?
His home life with his wife...those were his only regrets. Life on the road, it's easy to criticize, but you can't. He looks at his life on the road, he wrestled for 23 years and most of it 300 days a year. On the road, his #1 rule was survival. Unfortunately, so many of his peers are dead today. Schedule causes wrestlers to get hooked on pain killers and stuff. He can say that he stepped around all that, he got into other kind of trouble. Thanks God that he's still alive.
COMMERCIALS
Landsberg thanks Bret over and over. Bret said he was glad to be there, and a great opportunity for him to address a lot of things.
If Bret had the time to turn back the clock during his 23-year career, where would it be?
Bret said that he would have swallowed his pride a little bit. He always believe that Owen's accident, if he was there, it wouldn't have happened. It's funny when the documentary came out. Owen was really upset about it, Owen was upset about a quote saying "the wrestling business isn't worth dying for." It bothered Owen about how much it bothered Bret in what they did to him.
Is Bret happy now?
He's getting there. He is happy, but it's hard with the stroke. He's getting back. He was happy the day riding his bike before the stroke.
Credit: Paul Nemer of Wrestleview.com
*** To read Part 1 of the interview Click Here ***
