wrestling / News
Brian Pillman Jr. Talks Forming the New Era Hart Foundation, Teddy Hart Being a Mentor to Him
– Speaking with Jeffrey Harris for the 411 Interview Podcast, MLW star Brian Pillman Jr. talked about being part of the New Era Hart Foundation along with Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr., as well as Hart’s influence on him. The three formed the group in June of 2018 and have been quite successful in MLW so far, with Hart holding the MLW World Middleweight Championship and the group having held the MLW World Tag Team Championships for over 150 days. Highlights from the discussion are below:
On forming the New Era Hart Foundation with Hart and Smith: “Oh, it’s an absolute privilege, it’s an absolute honor. It’s absolutely organic in every way, it’s part of who I am in discovering myself and my story, and the people that were family members of my fathers. So it’s all one big family in wrestling, and you’ve gotta find out who your family members are. And I’ve always stayed loyal to the Hart family.”
On viewing Teddy Hart as a mentor figure: “In many ways yeah. In many ways, he’s shown me a lot of lessons and taught me a lot of things in this business that you’re not gonna learn at any school, and you’re not gonna learn practicing on any canvas. It’s like, life lessons and the tales and the lessons in this business on what to do and what not to do, and how to get ahead and things like that.”
On being inspired by Teddy overcoming his personal issues: “Yeah, I mean he’s definitely someone who wrestles for the honor, and for the spirit of the sport. He’s not out there wrestling for any dollar sign or any type of push or anything, you know. He really just loves the fans.”
In the full interview, Pillman talks about being part of the new era Hart Foundation, their war with Dynasty, his relationship with Teddy Hart, his future with MLW, AEW’s success and how that benefits MLW and himself, Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman heading up WWE’s creative, the pressure of trying to live up to his father’s legacy and more.
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Introduction (0:00)
On the upcoming MLW: Fusion TV tapings and who he’s gunning for (0:37)
On the status of his MLW contract and whether it’s exclusive to the company (3:40)
On forming the new era Hart Foundation with Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr. (4:56)
On Teddy Hart being a mentor figure for him his relationship with Teddy (5:40)
On when he knew he wanted to be a wrestler (7:06)
On if he feels pressure to live up to his father’s legacy (7:48)
On learning from his father’s matches (8:50)
On if he had the WrestleMania dream when he first got into the business and whether he feels any rush to get to any specific promotion (9:11)
On what other wrestling promotions he likes to watch (10:20)
On MLW’s progress and success as a company and Court Bauer’s work with the promotion (11:12)
On starting his training with Rip Rogers and learning under Lance Storm (13:07)
On his “Alpha Cats” promo with Teddy Hart (15:30)
On AEW’s early success and how AEW and MLW are benefiting each other (17:50)
On his own stock rising in the current wrestling landscape (19:20)
On own goals in the industry (20:11)
On Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman being made Executive Directors of Raw (21:19)
On whether he has aspirations to work in Japan or Mexico (22:17)
On meeting Jushin Liger and Liger’s rivalry with his father (22:46)
On the Hart Foundation’s war with Dynasty and whether it’s coming to a head (23:28)
On what fans can expect from the MLW: Fusion taping in New York City (24:55)
Where to find him (25:16)
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