Bret Hart Details His Stroke From 2002, How He Had to Struggle to Overcome It

– In the latest episode of Confessions of The Hitman, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart discussed dealing with the stroke he suffered back in 2002 Below are some highlights (via WrestlingInc.com).

Bret Hart on his stroke being the most challenging battle of his career: “Hands down, the most challenging battle I ever had; that’s for sure. I’ve talked a lot about my stroke over the years. As difficult as it was, I’ve always been really proud of how I recovered through it. I willed myself to not really give up, and I think it’s a little bit like, I wrote in my book that it was kind of time to be the hero I was pretending to be in [pro] wrestling. I did not give up. I kept pushing the envelope the whole time.”

On how he wanted to go down fighting: “So it’s like, ‘okay, I had a stroke. When do I get out of here? Like, what do I got to do? What’s the plan?’ And you find out pretty quick that there is no plan. You cross your fingers and pray that that day you have a good recovery. And I remember that day I really wanted to recover, I was going to go down fighting.”

Bret Hart on what the stroke felt like: “It’s like if somebody cut your whole body in half with a saw, and the left side is completely dead and the right side is alive. Like, I couldn’t lift my finger or hand, I couldn’t blink my eye. It was wide open. I could close it to sleep. And I’ve always had trouble smiling now, on my left side. … Certain muscles didn’t come back.”

On what the stroke was like compared to when he suffered a concussion when kicked by Goldberg: “I always felt they were [related]. Like, when Bill Goldberg kicked me in the head, I saw stars. I saw a million stars, and I know a lot of people who have seen stars like I did. You know exactly what I’m talking about when you really get rocked. You see stars, a million silver particles in your head flying around in both eyes. When Bill Goldberg kicked me, I could see stars. Then, when I had my stroke, lying on the grass 100 feet from The Pumphouse Theatre on the Bow River there, on the bike path, I remember lying on the grass and I could see just out of my left eye, not the right one. The right eye was fine, but the left eye, it was the same thing. It was a million stars in my left eye, and I remember going, ‘the concussion.'”

How his health feels now: “I’d say I’m about 90%. I think I’d say 90% pretty much. As you get older– like, I remember a few years ago, I did a 300-pound benchpress at the gym. I remember, I went from a guy who couldn’t lift anything; I couldn’t lift a pencil. I remember telling myself, ‘One day, 300 lbs. If I can do 300 lbs. again, that’s as high as I’d ever want to go.’ And I did that a long time ago, like three or four years after my stroke. Five years, I could benchpress. It wasn’t the prettiest benchpress you ever watched, but I’ve always pushed myself and tried to challenge myself to make that left side work, and earn it.”