Bret Hart once again gives his thoughts on modern wrestling.
Bret Hart has made it no secret as to how he feels about today's wrestling, and he often uses the opportunity to take a shot at Bill Goldberg when weighing in on the hard-hitting style and athletic display that fans regularly watch on television.
Speaking to Fox Sports Australia, Bret Hart gave a classic Bret Hart answer when talking about wrestling in 2024.
“You watch my wrestling and you go, jeez, he was the best. I think I made it look more real than anybody all the time. I made your stuff look good, I made my own stuff look good, nothing looked rehearsed. There’s so much I think in today’s wrestling that’s so badly rehearsed, over and over.
“I saw something just a few days ago in a wrestling match where all the girls were lying in the middle of the ring together and they were doing the big belly flops on all of them. And you think they would get away from that kind of phony rehearsed kind of wrestling? Who wants to watch that? I don’t want to watch that, I know my kids don’t want to watch that.
“The best pro wrestling has to always pretend to be real, and that way it’s fun - but when you basically say it’s not real, and it’s all just a performance, it loses some of that what I think was in my style. My punches, my kicks, my dropkicks - if I dropkicked somebody I hit him right in the face, but I didn’t hurt him, but both feet pushed his face hard enough to know jeez, I’m guessing that might’ve hurt. And the thing I take so much pride in is every wrestler I ever worked, every single one, came back and he shook my hand to say thanks for the match.”
He continued by saying, “I was a technical wrestler that made you, you know, when I put a headlock on, it look like a real headlock. Not like John Cena or somebody that’s got a headlock that looks like he has it on a tire. The headlock has to be tightened - real. You know, I that’s what I pride myself on. And I also pride myself on the fact that I never injured anybody, ever.
“I find a lot of the wrestlers today are like, when they land where they land, they realise 30 seconds later that they’re in the wrong spot, and they start wiggling all the way across the ring to get in the right position. That’s a fail. You get an F in my wrestling academy when you do stuff like that.
“And when these guys dive over the top rope onto the 20 wrestlers on the floor - they’ve gotta stop doing that. It’s just not real ... and with the chops, and everybody chopping themselves. What a bunch of baloney. Nobody ever won a match with a chop. All the wooing. It’s really taking away from the beauty and the art of great wrestling.
“There’s a lot of great wrestlers out there that can deliver great matches. But there’s so many wrestlers out there that are subpar in my opinion, that don’t know what they’re doing out there. And they allow themselves to rely on things like chops, which I think is sort of like cheap heat - you get a reaction, but what’s your reaction? You’re whipping a guy across the chest with your hand? Okay, so you’re hurting some guy for real, for some stupid reason. And the crowd sort of reacts to it.
“In my understanding of pro wrestling, anytime anyone does anything to you that hurts, for real - chopping, putting blisters on your chest when you go to your room or bed, anytime anyone does things to you for real, they’re in the wrong business. They’re doing it wrong. Because you’re not supposed to get hurt. You’re not supposed to come back to your dressing room that night, or to your hotel room and have a big lump on your head and a black eye and your teeth are knocked out. That’s Bill Goldberg wrestling. That’s not how it’s done.”
The day is February 5, 2024.
Bret Hart took a shot at Bill Goldberg.
