Bret Hart Feels Like He Has More Respect From WWE Since Vince McMahon’s Exit

Bret Hart recently reflected on how his relationship with WWE has changed since Vince McMahon left the company. Hart spoke with Rosenberg Wrestling for an interview and during the conversation he was asked how his relationship with WWE is since McMahon was forced to leave the company in January of last year over the lawsuit filed by Janel Grant alleging sexual abuse, assault and sex trafficking.

“I’ll be honest, I feel like I have a little more respect now,” Hart said (per Fightful). “I think people are kind of going, ‘Maybe Bret Hart was right all along.’ I’ve always been kind of banished and a little bit punished for all [that happened.] ‘What do you expect? He punched out the boss.’ I knocked him out cold in the dressing room. So it’s always been kind of a black spot, and maybe still is, too. You can’t really get away with, you know, I can’t see Wayne Gretzky doing that.”

He continued, “I just kind of always felt that I was less appreciated and maybe untrusted, like where I wasn’t utilized as much as I maybe could have been or should have been. In my own heart of hearts, I would never change anything that I did. I did the right thing that day, and I feel like there’s been a bit of an upswing, or a certain sort of an appreciation, more for my work rate and how hard I worked, and what I contributed to the business.”

Hart’s match with Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13 will be inducted as the first “Immortal Moment” into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend, making Hart a three-time inductee.