Gabriel Ricard: First of all, I've gotta say congratulations are definitely in order regarding your new autobiography. The book has been a phenomenal bestseller, and I understand the book tour has been incredibly successful as well. Have you been at all surprised by the reception both the tour and the book itself have received? Pleased as well, maybe?
Bret Hart: Well, I really put so much into the book. I thought that I was able to put people in my shoes, tell a story that was better told than all the other books about wrestling. I think Mick Foley wrote a really good book on wrestling, but it was really his specific kind of career. His is much different from mine. I think my book really broke new ground, really let people understand what goes on behind the scenes in wrestling and what the whole thing is all about.
GR: Definitely. I make mention of that in my review, that it's probably the best one since Mick's first autobiography.
BH: It did really well in Canada. It did well everywhere it's been in North America, and we've got a UK release coming up. To me, more than the success, it was just a major accomplishment to complete it, do it the way I did it, follow my own and not be rushed into making a buck like some guys do with their books. I wanted to do mine right, take my time. I knew it was gonna take years to do it, and it was gonna be a real project.
GR: I heard it took seven years to write. Was there any particular reason why that was the case?
BH: My stroke didn't help. After my brother Owen's death I really made it my priority. But I was still wrestling then, and then I got hurt, then I got a concussion injury that really made it hard for me to write well at that time, and then I had my stroke. It seemed like I had a lot of obstacles which I think comes through at the last chapter. I write about it pretty fast, much more condensed, but at the same time, it's a pretty intense last part. It's everything I was going through with the family dynamics, the stroke, how I rose up through all that. It was a humbling thing that comes out in the writing.
GR: I did notice that. One of the things I noticed was that you didn't seem at all bitter about everything that's happened to you anymore.
BH: I hope not. If it comes across like for some people, I guess that's just the way it is. I wrote from the heart pretty much all the way through it. Looking at it today, I don't think I'm too bitter. I wouldn't do a whole lot different. I've always been the kind of guy who thinks out what he does, and then I do it regardless of the consequences sometimes, like punching Vince McMahon. There's a stubbornness that I get that I think comes from the Hart genes, the Hart blood. It comes from both my mom and dad. I think it's a good thing, but I also have a lot of different sides to me that I think comes out in the book. I'd like for people to think that I was fair. I kind of resent it when people describe my book as a tell-all. It's not a tell-all, for one thing. Most of what I said, there's a reason for saying it. I'm not just on a tirade, or a guy that's got all kinds of bones to pick with different people. I've seen some books where they're just trying to get even with people. I didn't want to do that. If I was going to say anything about someone, I wanted it to be said in a fair way with both sides. I was honest in the book with my own shortcomings, like my extra marital affairs. It was a tough call to make, but I thought that if I'm going to be as honest as I'm going to be about Vince, Shawn [Michaels], [Hulk] Hogan or someday, I'm gonna need to be pretty honest about myself. Otherwise, you leave yourself open to all kinds of shots, people shooting on you after you've written your book, and you can't say anything about it. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed of anything I did. I'm quite grateful that whatever it took for me to survive has kept me alive. Getting back to your original point though, I'm not bitter. I'll always be grateful for everything wrestling gave me. The whole ride of being Bret Hart was so much fun and such a great experience. I'll always cherish the good memories I have with my brother Owen, rather than the horrible ending he suffered.
GR: I actually wanted to say something about Owen to you. You might be faintly amused by this, or not, but I have three brothers and a sister, and one my brothers is named Owen. The way that came about is when my mother was pregnant with him, I was in the car with her and my stepfather. They were kicking names around, and I just happened to be reading a wrestling magazine with a story about Owen Hart. And I had always kind of liked that name, so I just threw "What about Owen?" out there. And my mother was like "Yeah, sure." But then he was born, and sure enough, we wound up sticking with Owen for a name.
BH: [Laughs] That's a good story.
GR: Well, it's just a good name, you know? But anyway, getting back to things, do you really plan to walk away from the wrestling business after you've finished with this book tour?
BH: I think so. Nothing comes to mind of anything that's worthwhile or that I'd want to do. I don't see myself working for any wrestling company. Sometimes, people suggest to me that I could open up a wrestling school. And I think that could be kind of fun, and I could probably teach guys to make a living doing that. I don't know. I'm tired of falling, tired of being thrown around. I don't necessarily want to make that kind of routine. I think I'm done with wrestling. I think my fans are moving on to other things, and they're happy with the way I rode into the sunset. After everything I've been through, I think most people look at me as someone that's doing okay. I don't know that anyone would want to see me on a wrestling show, like Ric Flair, Hogan, some of these guys. I think I did my bet and that everyone accepts that.
GR: I agree with you completely, though I know I certainly wouldn't object to you popping up on Raw [WWE's flagship television program] once in a while, like you did on that Vince McMahon Appreciation Night [in the summer of 2007, Bret Hart appeared in a pre-taped segment regarding a storyline in which various wrestlers from different eras gave their in-character thoughts on WWE CEO and occasional performer Vince McMahon]. I thought that was hysterical.
BH: I did that as a sort of thanks. I appreciated that they [WWE] let me use the pictures for my book. At that time, they hadn't given me permission yet, and I thought that I should show some kind of good faith on my part. I was really grateful for the fact that we got that DVD done as well as we did. To me, that was a big sore point that they were just going to bury my career and no one would ever hardly hear about me or see anything I did. I was always really proud of everything I did in wrestling, all my contributions. I look at all my matches as little movies, little action thrillers like Die Hard I, Die Hard 2. I loved some of the matches I had. I watch them over and over. I love to watch Wembley [in the summer of 1992, Bret Hart and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith wrestled in England's Wembley Stadium before a crowd of over eighty thousand fans]. I loved the backdrop of the fans. Whenever I watch the match I think "Look at the fans, look at the kids, look at the old people." Eighty thousand fans, and they're watching wrestling, and they're so caught up in the wrestling. It's as important and real to them as any real sport. It was as good as pro wrestling could ever get.
GR: Well, whenever I'm trying to show a non-fan why I've devoted so much of my time to pro wrestling, one of the matches I always show them is your match with ["Stone Cold" Steve] Austin at Wrestlemania XIII.
BH: That's another one. Or even Shawn [Michaels] at Wrestlemania XII. To me, they're quite dramatic movies. Like the one with Shawn where he finally gives me that big kick at the end after I actually won or should have been able to leave with the title. I think there's a certain heartbreak in watching that, even with the fans that were all for Shawn. I think it sinks in a little bit after the match is over, and Shawn is celebrating and all that. The fans are thinking "Jesus, what about Bret Hart? I kind of feel bad." You can read that in the reactions. The same with Wembley. Oddly enough, most of the matches that I lost were always some of my greatest matches, told the most beautiful stories. But Austin was another one of those masterpieces. It'll never change over time how good that match is. It's just so perfect, and we were so made for each other at the time. It was a great example of professionalism on both parts because we had a lot of respect for each other. And it's like I say about all my matches: No animals were harmed in the making of my movies. We had that great match that had all the realism and intensity of the UFC. And yet, it was all pretend. The whole match was pretend. When I write about that match, the way we worked together, the trust and respect we had for each other, it comes out before we had the match. I love that part of it, and I think that's what I didn't get from The Wrestler. I didn't get that artistry, I didn't get that athleticism. I love the movie for its art, but I don't know if I love it for what it did for the wrestling business. I think it took us back thirty years. Sometimes, you finally think you'll get a little respect for everything that you did in wrestling and finally get for being a great entertainer and a great athlete. That movie kind of took that away again and made us all look like losers and bums. I didn't get any hope from anything it. I hope people will read my book and see that are a lot more levels to a wrestler than that movie might make you think.
GR: I loved the movie, but I definitely had that same feeling and kind of felt bad for some of the guys, some of the old-timers who are still on that circuit. A lot of them are doing it not necessarily because they're broke, but because they're still having a good time. Guys like Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, Jimmy Snuka...
BH: Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. It's good for them to pass down to the younger ones on the card, but none of those guys are letting someone staple their head. First of all, I was a good athlete, a dedicated athlete. I worked hard at that, and I think a lot of wrestlers do. We're not all just guys that are not athletes, that are just rock stars that go out there and do coke all night, party all night and then show up and wrestle the next day. There are some guys who do that. I'm sure there are football players who do that. I always grew up with the mentality that you could never get hurt doing wrestling, and that's where it [The Wrestler] really was bullshit. It's not real. You can't hurt anyone for real. If you hurt someone, you really have done a bad thing. Nobody can afford it, my dad, as a promoter couldn't afford to invest in another wrestler that would have somebody break his neck or hurt him in a way that he couldn't work or feed his family. It was always critical to protect one another. Wrestling was all about coming across like we were really killing each other with real hatred and the idea that this is gonna be war, that this is gonna be a bloodbath. But the truth of it is that when it's done right it's a beautiful, controlled, athletic ballet that's orchestrated, planned out and critical to both sides that nobody gets seriously hurt. There's a lot of physical impact, there's a lot of mistakes and people do get hurt, but I never injured one wrestler in my whole twenty-three-year career. When I throw around that I'm the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be, I don't think there's any wrestler who can talk the same talk. They think they can, but nobody has the schedule that I did, nobody took it more seriously than I did. I had such a background in it, and I think I try to get that across in my book as well. I didn't stumble into the wrestling business. I was watching it and was probably an expert on it by the time I was about twelve or thirteen years old. I picked it up so fast. In four or five months I think I was as good as some guys that had been wrestling for four or five years. I was so much better than Hulk Hogan at the start of my career than he was at the end of his.
GR: Well, yeah...
BH: I remember teaching guys like Hogan, getting them through their matches. I was there before Hulk, helping him with his career. As my career went on, and he was in a position to help me, he balked and wouldn't do it.
GR: Wasn't the guy who purposely broke his leg while training him the same guy who trained you?
BH: No, that was [Hiro] Matsuda. And I'm sure Hogan was taught as well as you could teach a 6'6" steroid freak. He did a lot of strong man spots [moves], he could do a bear hug, he could put his hand behind his ear and get the crowd going. Hulk was a great entertainer. He had a great look, and he was a great promo, but he was not a great wrestler.
GR: No.
BH: I think even he would tell you that himself, or he must have at least realized it by now.
