In an interview with Ring Rust Radio (transcript credit wrestlinginc.com), Bret Hart spoke about his recent prostate cancer diagnosis, along with his thoughts on the Royal Rumble. Here are highlights:
On the Montreal Screwjob: “There were a lot of things suggested in the weeks leading up to that match. I was pretty much in an unflinching position. I wouldn’t go back on my position at all. I offered Vince that I would drop the title to any single other wrestler including Steve Lombardi (Brooklyn Brawler) in any way he wanted me to except for Shawn Michaels because of the way he disrespected me as badly as he did. I didn’t care if Shawn wanted to do anything with me unless it was going to be me winning, and that’s all there was to it. There wasn’t a whole lot put forward that day. We all showed up in Montréal, and I had a fixed position, but I was willing to hear him out on a possible way out of it. There is always a million ways out of it. People say there always has to be an outcome, but that’s not really true. There can always be a blurry outcome after a pay-per-view. There have been lots of times in pay-per-views before then and even since then where it has happened. There have been lots of times where wrestlers have refused to drop the title. Wrestlers like Hulk Hogan or Honky Tonk Man refused to drop the titles, and those kinds of things were never done to them. I was very open to outcomes, but my issue was with Shawn and how he had disrespected me. I made that clear to Vince months ahead of time. Vince said I could leave any way I wanted to. He had said I could forfeit the belt, which was his original idea, not mine. If there was ever a situation of me leaving the company, I had free run to do whatever way I wanted to. Other parties at the time had Vince’s ear, and he can be very twisted and pulled in other directions. I think Shawn and Triple H were really pushing him, and I think it was Triple H’s idea to do the screw job and Vince eventually went along with it. In hindsight, I don’t think anyone can look back on it today and say it was a good idea. It was a stupid idea and it worked out really poorly for everyone involved including them. There are a lot of better ways to do business than that. As far as an alternative ending, when I showed up that day Vince agreed with everything. He said we can do it my way and there can be a run in with all the other wrestlers involved and end it in a disqualification with me keeping the title and I was happy with that. I didn’t need to come up with another idea. If he had told me he wasn’t sure on what we should do about the ending, then I would have been very receptive to try to find a solution to give him what he wanted, and at the same time protected my integrity and respect I had for the business.”
On wrestlers he never got to work with: “I would love to have worked with Hulk Hogan as an example. I know we did a little bit of stuff here and there. That was a match we should have had. ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage is another guy that I really would have loved to have done a storyline or a long feud with. Either as a babyface or the bad guy or vice versa. There was lots of opportunities for us to do the dance, but we had a few matches in a few different places like in Japan or on a Saturday Night Main Event. We gave them glimpses of what we could have done, but we just didn’t get a chance to really show anybody what we could have done. I would have loved to wrestle Kurt Angle. I just missed him, as he became a star right after me. John Cena, take him today and Bret Hart circa 1997 U.S.-bashing bad guy. You throw John Cena with Bret Hart we would have been brilliant and we could of made a lot of money together. We would have had a lot of fun wrestling each other with great stories.”
