wrestling / News

Bret Hart Says Stone Cold Steve Austin Was His Favorite Wrestling Heel

September 20, 2014 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

TSN recently interviewed WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, who discussed a number of topics, including his favorite wrestling heel, his appearance on The Simpsons, and more. Below are some highlights:

Hart on why he would always come out to matches with soaking wet hair: “The truth is for me I always wet my hair because it was a way of waking up. You get tired, flying in and driving up and then it’s like your finally ready to go out and you gotta deliver in your big match. So, I always used to take a big cold glass of water and pour it over my head and kind of wake myself up before I went out. And then everyone after that is just trying to look like Bret Hart (laughs).”

Hart on where he got his famous leather jackets: “It varied different places. A lot of the time, because we were in the states most of the time, I bought them in different cities. L.A. Was a place I bought a lot of them.”

Hart on his favorite heel and bad guy: “Favorite heel? Ya, I got lots of them that’s a good one. Steve Austin was my favorite. When he was jumping me at every turn back in the 90s, back before he became a good guy. Before our match at Wrestlemania 13, the months leading up to that he was just the baddest bad guy. He was a really good character.”

Hart on the rumors that he demanded his character on The Simpsons have his trademark pink gear: “Well what it was was that my original character was called the Mad Viking. That’s why people say, ‘that doesn’t even sound like you, that’s not Bret Hart’s voice.’ But it is my voice and what it was was me doing a voice for the Mad Viking. And then after the whole recording was done, I was signing autographs, standing outside of Fox Studios, this was back in ’97 right after I lost the belt to Shawn (Michaels). But ya, I was signing autographs waiting for my ride to come back and get me. So, I signed autographs for maybe a couple hundred people who were inside of Fox Studios who all had T-Shirts and memorabilia from Anaheim and Wrestlemania. And then one of the producers came up to me and said, ‘I can’t believe how big of a star you are, we had no idea that you were this big. So, if it’s not too late we’re going to try and draw you in as yourself.’ Which is what I’d been asking them to do for months, so it was like oh great (laughs), now I have a voice that doesn’t match the real Bret Hart character.”