wrestling / News

Bret Hart Calls Hogan A Liar, Discusses What Caused Montreal Screwjob, Says Freebirds Were ‘Drunk All The Time’

May 26, 2019 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Bret Hart WWE Image Credit: WWE

– 411 was at the Bret Hart In His Own Words panel at Starrcast in Las Vegas earlier today. Full report below.

WWE legend Sean Mooney is moderating the panel.

Mooney asks Bret Hart right off the bat about coming back to Caesar’s Palace where he was part of WrestleMania IX. Bret Hart said he was honored to be in the main event at the time, but he did say he had no warning about losing the belt in that fashion. Bret, of course, famously lost the title to Yokozuna after Mr. Fuji threw salt in his eyes, only to have Hulk Hogan come out to check on Hart. Fuji challenged Hogan on Yokuzuna’s behalf, and Hogan won the match and title in 22 seconds.

Hart says Vince McMahon first told him he’d hold the title long term similar to Bruno Sammartino. It was the “first lie” Vince told him. He talks about Hulk Hogan leveraging Vince McMahon for his contract, which led to him getting another title run. Bret felt misled by the situation. Bret talks about the business changing at the time and the fans looking for something different when Hulk Hogan was drying up. He expected to win the belt again at some point.

Hart reveals that Hulk Hogan told him after winning the belt against Yokozuna, “I’m happy to return the favor anytime.” That gets a good laugh from the crowd. Bret (paraphrasing) calls Hulk Hogan the biggest liar of all time.

Bret talks about how hard it is dealing with loss of Owen Hart, but how grateful he is for the people that remember Owen. Bret seems to be in good spirits today. He shares his favorite Owen Hart story about how he pranked their father Stu Hart. His imitation of his late father was especially hilarious.

Bret appears to be trashing the Montreal Screwjob episode of Dark Side of the Ring, and says “They did a real s***ty job.” He claims that what started the whole thing was Shawn Michaels insulting him after he tried to come forward to him and say that he would never take liberties with him the in ring and that he’d lose the belt if he had to. Shawn threw it back in his face and said he wouldn’t return the favor. That insulted Bret and Vince McMahon never properly dealt with it. Part of this was recounted in the episode. According to Bret, this was what really started the rift that led to the Montreal Screwjob. It definitely sounded like he was trashing the Dark Side of the Ring episode.

Bret calls out Superstars who thank Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in their Hall of Fame speeches. He says it’s “such bulls***” that Superstars don’t thank the wrestlers who made them. Uncensored Bret Hart is fun Bret Hart.

He says the Freebirds were given a free pass into the WWE Hall of Fame “for being drunk all the time” when Demolition was THE tag team in WWE but can’t get recognized due to the concussion lawsuit and politics.

Hart jokes that after what happened with his WWE Hall of Fame attack, he’s waiting for it to happen again. He says he was determined to finish his speech and jokes that he felt bad for what happened to his attacker.

He says one of his major regrets is getting kicked so hard by Bill Goldberg. “I lost $16 million in one second,” he says.

Bret compares wrestling to figure skating and not being about hurting each other. Gets into a story about hating Ric Flair’s chops. He says Flair wanted to chop him and it was his thing. Bret Hart warned Flair that he will let him get a big chop in and then Bret will punch him straight after that. Apparently Flair stopped chopping him after that. It was funnier than it sounded.

Tom Magee joins the panel to talk about his legendary match with Bret. Magee says he was into sports and gymnastics and that wrestling captured his imagination. Bret mentions that Magee and Owen Hart had their first WWE tryouts on the same day.

Hart notes that he wasn’t enthusiastic about being part of the tag team champions at the time and having to job to a new guy named Tom Magee, but that Vince McMahon was smitten with Magee and it was Vince who convinced him to do the job and noted that the match would never be seen by anyone. He said Vince presented it to him as a good challenge.

Magee says nothing can prepare you for WWE with the larger than life characters, saying it was like sensory overload.

Bret says he worked with Tom Magee around three big moves and wanted to keep the match simple. He says Magee trusted and listened to him.

Bret and Magee are watching their 1986 match live now. Magee says he was stoked to work with Bret at the time and wanted to get a flow for the match. Bret added that the first five minutes of the match can be the hardest.

Bret says that he likes that you can never see him talking throughout the match and notes that you always hear workers talking throughout their matches now.

Bret puts over the referee Joey Morella for helping him communicate with Tom Magee. Calls Morella one of the best referees of all time.

Bret says he was told Vince McMahon went crazy watching the Tom Magee bout and looked like he wanted to orgasm over the match. Bret felt bad that Owen Hart had a bad tryout that didn’t too well.

Bret gives the impression that Vince still believed Magee would be a future champion after the match. Magee says he never heard any of that feedback from Vince after the match.

Magee talks about his WWE career and never becoming a top guy. He calls the career path to the top very dicey and narrow. Credit to Magee, he doesn’t sound bitter or angry about how his career went at all. He says he enjoyed the career he had.

Panel concludes after the match viewing ends. Bret talks about his reputation that he built over his career of being a technical wrestling genius and being able to deliver the best matches for many Superstars’ careers and attempting to help give Magee an opportunity.