The SmarK Rant for RF Video’s Bret Hart Shoot Interview – Volume 2.
– This is the continuation of Feinstein’s 2001 interview with Bret Hart, as the first one was cut off during the WCW portion by technical difficulties. It covered the WWF era and the whole Shawn Michaels war, and left off around 1999 with the aborted Goldberg feud. The guy who sent me this was nice enough to include a press kit for the “Ring N Ears†rock n roll freakshow and wrestling show, but it was for May 10 and I wasn’t able to get a chance to do any reviews before then. It also included a CD full of the kind of angry white people indy rock that I can’t get into these days, but I appreciate the gesture and I would have plugged it had I gotten a chance.
So with that in mind, here we go again
– Before he came into WCW, Bischoff told him that he’d make him a bigger star than he’d ever been. He was worried about the politics and the rings.
– He was worried about badmouthing Flair & Hogan in the past, but they were actually quite cool about it.
– He was confused about the initial storyline he was used in and didn’t understand the way he was used from Day One to the day he left.
– Never got the feeling that Hall & Nash thought of him as a threat, but he did perceive the other “cliques†jockeying for position all the time.
– Differences in atmosphere? The WWF was a lot more polished and the guys tried harder in the ring. Boy, how times change.
– Feelings on the midget skit? It bothered him, but it bothered him more that Vince promised him previously that he would never be subject to that sort of treatment when he left.
– He tried to bring Owen with him to WCW, but he was locked into his contract for another year and a half. Owen didn’t complain about it because he knew it would just cost him money in the long run. Bischoff said he would hire Owen at the same rate as his WWF contract, at which point the WWF gave him a raise just to mess with WCW. Bret got a call from Russo filled with apologies on McMahon’s behalf, and Bret told him off. McMahon called him right after that, having been listening in on the conversation without Bret’s knowledge, and threatened to sue Bret if he tampered with Owen’s contract, and they argued about that. Owen interpreted the whole thing as Bret being mad at him for complicating his life, but they cleared it up soon after.
– Onto the Flair program in 1998: They had no clue where they were going and didn’t know good ideas from bad ones. There was no malice intended on WCW’s part in dropping things, they just didn’t know better.
– Bret never really saw Hogan sabotaging his career, or at least never saw him doing it up front.
– Plans on reforming the Hart Foundation? He suggested it, but it got tossed in the heap with the rest of the ideas that went nowhere. This leads to the story about the steel plate under the hockey jersey, which he credits to Kevin Nash. He took the idea to Goldberg, who loved it, and then went to Bischoff, who also loved it. So they decided to build up Bret for Goldberg in Toronto, and that started with a loss to Booker T. But Bret liked Booker, so he was fine with it. Then the next week, it was tag matches or skits with no mention of Goldberg. Finally they got to Toronto, and Bischoff wants to change the angle to Bret turning on the Canadian fans, which leaves Bret dumbfounded. So next he pitches an idea about Hogan turning on Bret after the spear and beating him down. This wasn’t going to lead anywhere, but Eric just thought it would be neat to fool everyone. So Bret took his case to Hulk, who agreed that it was stupid and apparently didn’t even know Bischoff had pitched the idea. Even then, they cut off his interview a minute early because they didn’t trust him to get Goldberg over.
– Company dropped the ball with his Sting program (but then they did that with everything), and he sums up by noting that everything outside of the Owen tribute match and the Goldberg deal was completely f*cked up.
– He lost confidence in Bischoff in Toronto and really saw what he had gotten into. He cites an example about Bischoff calling him to show up for a PPV two days after surgery because no one told him that Bret had even had it!
– Talks about being coerced into returning after Owen’s death when he was pissed at the business in general, and how he was going to be built up for Hogan when he returned, and getting pulled out of a Molson Indy appearance in Vancouver to wrestle Hogan at a house show unadvertised, and then when he returned to TV they had nothing for him. Eric was always on him about showing up late and he never knew what he was doing until 5 seconds before showtime anyway. So they stuck him out there in his big re-debut literally handing him the points of his interview 30 seconds before he opens the show, and then get pissed at him afterwards for not hitting the points about Hogan properly.
– Onto an angle with Sting as they were supposed to brawl until dropping dead and getting carried off by twin ambulances, but WCW forgot to book the ambulances, and Eric blamed him for showing up late.
– He was on a plane bound for LA when he heard about Owen’s death. He thinks Vince absolutely should have stopped the show and can’t understand how anyone could think differently.
– He didn’t like the RAW is Owen show, as he knew the feelings were heartfelt but it wasn’t the right time or the right tribute. It just reeked of pro wrestling.
– The meeting in the park was arranged by Carl DeMarco in an attempt to mediate the bad feelings between Vince & Bret, as Carl was one of the only people from the WWF at that point who could walk into Bret’s house and not get shot. They never tried to get Bret back. He resents that people (including certain family members) think that his vendetta against Vince on the Owen matter was somehow predicated on the Montreal vendetta, when in fact they’re two separate issues. He resents Jerry McDevitt throwing money around and splitting up his family, and wishes that a jury would have had a chance to decide whether it was “just one of those thingsâ€Â. Back to the meeting, as Vince left him a series of teary-voiced messages asking to talk. The family told him not to talk about the case no matter what. Bret pictured Vince meeting in a sleazy hotel room, so he decided to call the meeting for an open park in the fresh air. Vince immediately vetoed that idea because he was scared Bret was going to kill him. So Bret told them to go f*ck themselves, and the WWF called back and agreed to the park at that point. So they met there and Vince hugged him and poured on the sincerity, at which point the lawsuit came up. They argued about stopping the show and Bret asked why Vince screwed him, which resulted in verbal tapdancing on Vince’s part until he finally admitted that he was sorry for doing it and wanted Bret to come back. Bret thinks it was just a grandstand ploy to use him for the good PR after Owen’s death and exploit the Bret v. Vince feud. Bret asked for access to his and Owen’s footage, no conditions on Vince’s part attached. Vince immediately agreed. Three days later, Vince’s lawyers had no recollection of that part of the conversation, but Bret later found out from police who Vince had BUGGING the conversation that in fact the WWF taped the entire thing without Bret’s knowledge and presumably “lost†the tape.
– Bret doesn’t really care about how much the settlement was for – he just wanted to know what really happened. He’s disheartened that in the end Owen’s life was worth $18 million to Vince. He disagrees with Martha’s feelings of victory, but he thinks she was undermined by her own family anyway. Bret thinks that Vince’s insurance paid about $10M of the settlement and the proceeds from Over the Edge covered another $5M, so in the end it cost Vince $3 million.
– Onto Vince Russo – Bret thought they needed a change, but not him. On the other hand, Russo at least put the belt on him and gave him the first serious push of his WCW tenure.
– He doesn’t think he’s a hypocrite for working with Russo because he never had any say about the sexual aspect in either company. Bret just decided to stop harping on it because he realized he was beating his head against the wall.
– Memories of the Benoit match in Kansas: Really powerful and emotional match. He wanted to go an hour, in fact, and insisted on putting Benoit over. WCW pushed for him to win, however. He considers it the last great wrestling match and the tombstone for wrestling. He talks about drawing the crowd in with the wrestling rather than the highspots.
– Bret didn’t know that Goldberg doesn’t take responsibility for kicking him in the head and ending his career. He talks about the spot and how he specifically told Bill not to hurt him before the match. He compares wrestling Bill to getting hit in the head with a pillowcase wrapped around a brick. Bill screwed up the ringpost figure-four spot and Bret was worried about even finishing the match at that point, but he hung in there and was rewarded by a shoot kick to the head that literally tore a hole in his neck muscle and basically knocked him out cold. No one in the back helped him out or had any idea what to do to help, and he passed out in his hotel that night. He doesn’t remember anything from December until his retirement in January. He does recall being booked in matches with Nash and Sid every night where he’d get powerbombed on a regular basis. He called Bill after his mishap with the limousine window and offered his condolences, and he’s shocked that Bill would say anything against him. It’s a shame that he doesn’t know how to work.
– He doesn’t really know about Russo and his concussion.
– He doesn’t remember helping with the Lance Storm angle in 2000 but he just went along with whatever they asked most of the time. He would have worked if doctors hadn’t constantly told him how screwed up his head was.
– He read about his release in a letter. He wasn’t surprised and isn’t bitter towards them for it. He knew what the deal was with WCW and knew the ship was sinking.
– Would he have stayed with the WWF if he had been around for the sale? Tough question. He wouldn’t have sold out his principles and would have just stepped down, but he still thinks he’s entitled to money owed him by Vince. He’s not physically able to ever wrestle again.
– He didn’t like Dynamite Kid’s book and thinks his own book will do more justice to Tom than Tom did to himself. DK got a lot of his facts wrong and Bret has no idea what he’s talking about with a lot of the stuff (Bret never wrestled Abdullah, for instance). He still loves and respects Billington but thinks the business destroyed him. Bret dropped all association with DK after what was said about Stu in the book.
– Bret’s thoughts on the WCW sale – he doesn’t think it’ll be the death of wrestling, but thinks it’s the death of wrestlers having any power or union.
– They have a dated conversation about the now-dead Matrats endeavor. Bret didn’t see anything wrong with it and enjoyed all the acrobatic stuff. Wasn’t his thing, though. Stu’s only comment: “Good way to break your neck.†Bret would rather watch the UFC these days. Thinks pro wrestling is ballet these days.
– He talks about the famous 700-volume book that’s been in the works forever. Thinks all the wrestlers’ books suck except for Foley’s. He talks about being around for the old days whereas guys like Rock and Austin weren’t. It’s not a “dark†book, it’s a tribute to wrestling.
– Thoughts on wrestlers who can’t escape the business: “Whatever makes you happy.†They’re wrestlers and that’s all they’ll ever be and can be. With him, it was a job. He doesn’t even watch it anymore. His only regret was that he couldn’t save Owen’s life by getting him out in 1997 and now he’ll never get a chance to look back on his career and reminisce with his brother.
– He still talks to some of the boys in the WWF, but won’t say because it’ll result in them doing jobs on TV. He doesn’t have any bad feelings outside of Shawn and HHH.
– They wrap things up and we move onto the match portion of the tape
– Bret Hart v. Terry Funk. This would be Terry Funk’s “retirement†match from Texas, as featured on Beyond the Mat. It’s almost as famous for wackjob prelim wrestler Dennis Stamp acting as referee, again made famous by Beyond the Mat. To put it in perspective, this was 1997 and Funk would wrestle for both the WWF and WCW long after this. Ironically, one of the matches he wrestled in WCW was a hardcore match against Bret in late 1999, which ended up as Bret’s real retirement match. Bret was the WWF champion at this point. They fight over a lockup in the corner and Bret gives him a clean break. Funk grabs a headlock and they work off that for a while. It occurs to me that if the people at Universal had any clue about the audience they were marketing to with the Beyond the Mat DVD, they would have licensed the rights to this match and a bunch of the ECW stuff and included it as extras on the DVD. Bret turns the headlock into a facelock and Funk reverses him to the spinning toehold, but Bret makes the ropes and bails. Back in, Bret teases another clean break and then cheapshots him and works on the knee. Terry runs away and Bret brings him back in for some choking. Bret uses some thumb to the throat action and sends Terry to the floor. Bret hammers him off the apron and rakes the eyes, and they head back in for a Bret suplex. He goes back to the leg and works it over in the corner. Funk fights back on one leg, but Bret simply kicks him in the leg and sends him tumbling to the floor again. Bret uses a chair to inflict more damage, and he and Bruce trade off on distracting the ref while the other beats on Funk. Back in, Bret keeps pounding him, but Funk won’t go down. Finally Bret goes back to the knee to drop him, and hooks a figure-four. He uses the ropes behind the ref’s back, but it’s no-DQ anyway. Keith and Stu lay the badmouth on Terry while he’s in the hold, and then Bruce nails him with a chair as he makes the ropes. Bret keeps hammering Terry, but he’s too stubborn to stay down and finally unloads with a punch that puts Bret down. He slugs away to set up a neckbreaker, which gets two. DDT gets two. Piledriver gets two. Bret gets tossed and they brawl on the floor, but he comes back with the ringpost figure-four. Back in, Bret stays on the leg while Bruce yells encouragement over the house mic, and he gets the backbreaker and grabs a chair. He destroys the knee with it and Pillmanizes him, but Funk fights back by attacking Bret’s leg. He finally manages to take Bret down and legdrops the knee, then calls for his own chair and returns the favor. Bret gets tossed again and Terry sets him up on a table, but misses a pump splash and goes through it. Bret brings him back in and sets up for the Sharpshooter, but Funk reverses for two. Funk goes for the leg and Bret slugs away to dissuade him, but Funk takes him down and gets the spinning toehold. Bret reverses that for two. He clotheslines Funk and they collide, leaving Funk on top for two. That looked pretty bad. Bret grabs another headlock and they do the cliché backdrop suplex “one guy gets his shoulder up for the pin†at 24:50, giving Bret the win. I hate that finish. This was solid, but not a classic or anything because Funk is just too limited in what he can do outside of garbage matches. ***1/4
– Bret Hart v. Leo Burke. We’re JIP about 30:00 in. Bret turns a backbreaker into something vaguely resembling a Sharpshooter, but Burke powers out. Bret gets a backdrop suplex and works on the arm, but Burke atomic drops him. Bret’s rollup is reversed for two. Burke hammers him down and gets an airplane spin, but both guys are dizzy and when Bret dumps Burke the match is stopped due to Burke being unable to continue. 3:03 aired. Nothing here. *
– The Stomper & JR Foley v. Bret & Stu Hart. Bret was getting beaten down by Stomper, and the old man made a surprise save from the audience to set this up. Stomper’s promo to actually set up the match is great. We’re JIP about 10:00 in as Stomper lives up to his name. Stu gives him a shot from the apron and tags in, pounding away with weak forearms. Stu just looks horrible here, at about 70 years old, overweight, wrinkled and broken down. For a moment I have to check my eyes to make sure it’s not Hulk Hogan in there. Stomper goes low to turn the tide, and Foley drops an elbow for two. Stu keeps taking him down, but gets caught in the corner and Stomper pounds the shit out of him. Stu doesn’t really sell, though, and tags Bret in. He cleans house, and the ref is bumped and thus misses Bret going over the top. Stu goes after both heels, but gets double-teamed and the whole thing is a wash at 5:01. Total trainwreck. ¼*
– Keith, Bruce & Bret Hart v. Dynamite Kid, Duke Myers & Hubert Gallant. Keith & Gallant start out, and Keith armdrags everything in sight. Suddenly it’s breaking loose in Tulsa, until Bret & Dynamite go. Kid takes an insane bump off a backdrop and Bret gets two. Bret forearms him and Keith comes in for some hairtosses. Dropkick and Kid bails to the corner, so Duke Myers can go. Keith pounds on him and they work him over in the Hart corner. Bret drops an elbow and we’re clipped to a big brawl, as it’s BONZO GONZO ALONZO. The heels collide and the ref is squished in the process, so a second ref comes in to count Keith’s pin on Dynamite at 4:20. Too bad that they cut the meat of the match out. *
– Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith & Phil LaFleur v. Hubert Gallant, Danny Davis & The Cobra. We’re JIP at about 10:00. LaFleur is better known as Phil LaFon or Dan Kroffat. The faces work Gallant over in their corner, and Davis comes in for some running away. Cobra goes with Davey Boy and gets a backbreaker for two. Gallant works the arm, but Smith ignores him and press slams everyone. LaFleur works a headlock on Davis, some timely cheating turns the tide and Gallant gets a backbreaker for two. Cobra slingshots in with a splash for nothing, because he’s not legal. Gallant whips him around, into an abdominal stretch (called an “anatomical twist†by the retarded announcer) and Davis gets a slam for two. Cobra comes in with a high kick and Gallant falls victim to a sunset flip, allowing the hot tag to Davey Boy. It’s BONZO GONZO and all the heels collide as the announcer declares it one of the most exciting events ever in a monotone. Triple backdrop and Davey Boy rolls up Gallant for the pin. Not even sure why this was on there, as Bret’s involvement lasted about 30 seconds. *1/4
– Bret Hart, Keith Hart & Davey Boy Smith v. Hubert Gallant, Danny Davis & Cuban Assassin. We’re JIP as usual, as the heels work Keith over in the corner with nerve pinches. Keith gets a sunset flip for two, but the heels keep him in the corner and pound on him. Gallant gets a neckbreaker for two. Cuban gets a suplex for two. Davis cuts off a tag and charges, but misses, prompting Gallant to cut off another tag himself. Atomic drop gets two. Keith fights back on Cuban and gets another sunset flip for two. Gallant kicks his head in and gets a backbreaker for two. Keith reverses an atomic drop, but Davis cuts off another tag. This prompts more heel shenanigans, including a double atomic drop that gets two for Gallant. He gets the abdominal stretch, but Davey Boy breaks it up. Finally Keith makes the hot tag to Davey Boy, who unleashes the press slams and brings in Bret and it’s another three-way brawl. Davey Boy chases Cuban Assassin out of the ring and gets counted out at 6:59 aired. Lame. *1/2
– Bret Hart v. Duke Myers. We’re JIP as Duke pounds on Bret with his “wrist protectorâ€Â. He gets the dreaded clawhold (that’s another move begging to be revived by a heel these days – it inflicts zero real-life damage and depends entirely on the selling of the babyface) and sends Bret into the corner, and hammers him down again. Back to the clawhold, but Bret fights back with a forearm that sends Duke to the outside. They brawl out there and Bret uses a chair to further his goals, and back in Bret continues beating on him until Duke rolls out again and it’s a countout at 5:55 aired. Really boring stuff. It’s generally an exception when someone becomes 1000% of a better worker after joining the WWF, but Bret is that case. ½*
– Duke Myers v. Bret Hart. This is a rematch with coal miner’s glove rules. JIP with blood everywhere and they slug it out until both drop. Myers chokes him out with rope and plays “hide the object†with the referee while choking Bret out. That goes on for a while. Bret finally fights back and gets a pair of legdrops, but Myers prevents him from climbing to reach the glove. They whip each other into the corner and Bret suplexes him, as they lay around and sell for a while. The Evil Japanese Manager comes in to interfere, but Bret fights him off and grabs the loaded glove off the pole. The ref stops the match at 5:03 aired, I guess because of the interference. Real bad. ¼*
– Bret Hart v. Butch “The Jackal†Moffat. This is notable less for storyline reasons than for Moffat’s eventual gimmick change. Bret hammers away on him to start, and Moffat bails and catches Bret coming back in. Moffat bears a striking resemblance to Justin Credible at this point. He whips Bret around and stomps away in the corner, and then chokes him out on the ropes. Legdrop and he sends Bret into another turnbuckle to set up an elbowdrop, but Bret fight finally fights back and stomps away. He gets his own legdrop and hammers away, into a butterfly suplex and a piledriver that finishes at 5:16. FYI, Moffat was transformed into the all-time great Stampede monster heel with a simple hockey mask, as Jason the Terrible. *
The Bottom Line:
Definitely not as fascinating a shoot interview as volume one was, with the WCW stuff basically coming down to “everyone involved was a moron who didn’t know how to run a promotionâ€Â, but it’s an interesting glimpse into Bret’s thought process at the time. I’ve seen all the Stampede stuff before and the VQ isn’t great on this transfer. So your mileage may vary.
Mildly recommended, and you can of course pick it up at www.rfvideo.com. Coming soon, my reviews of the Steve Williams and Ricky Steamboat shoot interviews!
