“I’m always grateful for any kind of moment that keeps my memories alive and gives me a little taste of the excitement I used to get all the time.”
― Bret Hart
“I don’t know about England so much, but in Germany and some of these other countries, the pink was something that they liked. For those kids, the pink and black and the whole look with the sunglasses and the leather jacket was the right kind of hero they could get behind, and I think that really set me apart from everyone else.”
― Bret Hart
“Every year, I think you earn the right to eat cake on your birthday.”
― Bret Hart
“If you’ve got the confidence and the work ethic, you can make any dream come true.”
― Bret Hart
“I do remember meeting ‘The Donald.’ He seemed to really enjoy the WrestleMania 4 battle royal. He watched me take a very hard front turnbuckle bump, and it seemed to stun him that I wasn’t seriously hurt. Backstage, Trump gave me a big smile and a handshake.”
― Bret Hart
“I think it’s hard to differentiate between your wrestling character and your real character – you kind of end up being both. I’ve always been my wrestling character in and out of the ring and in and out of the dressing room, and I was always really respected in the dressing room by the other wrestlers.”
― Bret Hart
“Something happened in 1997 that changed the whole industry, at least for the next five, six, or seven years. It wasn’t about the 24-inch arms and the cartoon characters anymore. It was about the wrestling and what we were doing in the ring physically.”
― Bret Hart
“After being signed by WWE, Edge, Christian, Mark Henry, Giant Silva, Test and Ken Shamrock all trained at my house. I had a pool room with an indoor pool and a garden behind it. I took out the garden and put in a wrestling ring.”
― Bret Hart
“I think WCW will kill any kind of joy in your life. I think I started hating money. The money they paid me was insane, but I would be off and fly first-class airplane, luxury cars and hotels, and then arrive at the arena and have Eric Bischoff tell you 5-10 minutes after 6 P.M. that you are off tonight.”
― Bret Hart
“My relationship with fans is based off the love of my work and my work ethic.”
― Bret Hart
“I think I had a really hard-working and authentic wrestling style, so people liked the way I was – that I was a ‘no-quit’ kind of wrestler – and I was very realistic and credible in my style.”
― Bret Hart
“I think, without a doubt, whatever anyone says or anyone thinks, Natalya Neidhart is the premier, best woman wrestler.”
― Bret Hart
“I always tell people you can’t make peace half way: to make peace with somebody, you have to make peace and bury the hatchet, or you just keep fighting forever.”
― Bret Hart
“The importance of hard work was a message I learned from my parents, and that is something I worked to pass on to my kids and grandchildren. Winning is important, and you should want to win, but the main priority is to strive to be the best.”
― Bret Hart
“It’s hard to explain, but it’s a beautiful thing to watch in wrestling when someone loses in the exact perfect way.”
― Bret Hart
“I always had a much softer approach to my interviews and promos. I was not so much that wrestler that was yelling at the screen; I was always the one that was talking to my fans.”
― Bret Hart
“I worked hard, and I was always frustrated when wrestlers didn’t want to work as hard.”
― Bret Hart
“’Superstar’ Billy Graham was someone that my dad taught from A to Z, from tying up to submission wrestling. Billy was more of a showman than a wrestler. My dad used to love tying Billy in knots, and Iron Sheik would be watching.”
― Bret Hart
“I was a high school wrestler. I was city champion.”
― Bret Hart
“I never trained in pro wrestling with The Sheik, but I did amateur wrestling with pro wrestlers in my dad’s basement.”
― Bret Hart
“Employees who work for WWF, they have better benefits than the wrestlers do. The ones they should take care of is the wrestlers.”
― Bret Hart
“I think in 1997, I was in my absolute prime. I was never bitter; I was uninjured. I was ready to go and ready to make some serious changes to make a difference to have my all-time favorite matches that I would have loved to have.”
― Bret Hart
“I love when I think about the SummerSlam match against The Undertaker. What a great match, wonderful story. Two wrestlers that had such great respect for one another.”
― Bret Hart
“I don’t have a good thing to say about Eric Bischoff or anything he ever did. Talk about the Midas touch, he was the opposite.”
― Bret Hart
“Bret ‘the Hitman’ Hart from circa, say, 1997, the U.S.-bashing Bret Hart, would have to lay a beat down on John Cena, I think.”
― Bret Hart
“I love tag team wrestling, and it’s different than all the other matches.”
― Bret Hart
“Seth Rollins is one of the hardest-working wrestlers I’ve ever seen.”
― Bret Hart
“There is an art to wrestling, and there is a need to do it right. Cody Rhodes exemplifies all the right things.”
― Bret Hart
“I know Seth Rollins is a CrossFit guy. I just think back to my days, and I don’t know how I could have done CrossFit training and then wrestled that night.”
― Bret Hart
“If you watch punches, kicks, and moves where there is contact, Cody Rhodes is one of the best.”
― Bret Hart
“Flair was a tricky guy to work with when I worked with Ric. When he was champion, we had much better matches, and the moment the title got switched, we seemed to screw up my match every night.”
― Bret Hart
“Ric Flair, as great was and a hard worker as he was, he just tends to get lost in the ring.”
― Bret Hart
“I could only be frustrated right from the day I started in WCW and realized that it was a company run by a bunch of idiots that didn’t have a clue what they were doing.”
― Bret Hart
“I think Daniel Bryan reminds me a lot of my brother, Owen.”
― Bret Hart
“I have nothing but respect for John Cena and his work rate. He’s one of the hardest-working wrestlers there ever was. He’s been a great champion, an inspiring role model. It’s not easy being John Cena and carrying all the weight of the company on your back all the time.”
― Bret Hart
“Toronto deserves Rob Ford; they put him in office. Toronto deserves everything it gets.”
― Bret Hart
“John Cena is like the 2010 version of Bret Hart. Fans see him as a real decent, upstanding human being.”
― Bret Hart
“Vince Russo knows about as much about wrestling as Eric Bischoff does.”
― Bret Hart
“I don’t have any personal grudge against Vince Russo, but I just know watching the shows that all his shows look the same.”
― Bret Hart
“I think the best wrestling always needs to pretend to be real, and Vince Russo’s wrestling is so pathetically far-fetched and phony that I think he does a disservice to his wrestlers and the business.”
― Bret Hart
“I jumped at the chance to be a part of Stroke Recovery Canada. I want to help March of Dimes Canada in its efforts to support stroke recovery and improve the quality of life of all Canadian stroke survivors.”
― Bret Hart
“I tip my hat to the long list of girls that have really taken wrestling up a notch.”
― Bret Hart
“Triple H is a former bodybuilder. He’s all about bodies. He thought that Hulk Hogan was the greatest wrestler in the world. They think Ultimate Warrior was the greatest wrestler in the world because that’s what they’re attracted to, but he’s not really a wrestling fan like I grew up. I was a wrestling fan.”
― Bret Hart
“I had wrestling in my blood.”
― Bret Hart
“The only thing Hulk Hogan ever knew was how to make Hulk Hogan. He couldn’t tell you how to make AJ Styles or Samoa Joe. What’s Hulk Hogan going to tell Samoa Joe? He doesn’t know anything to even tell him; he’s got zero to offer.”
― Bret Hart
“There’s a lot of talent out there that miss their opportunities, and I just hope that AJ Styles doesn’t waste his life in TNA.”
― Bret Hart
“I know that Cena has a lot of detractors, but I’m very proud of him. He’s a good hero.”
― Bret Hart
“People always think I left, and I was living in the States for a long time… But home has always been Calgary.”
― Bret Hart
“If you watch wrestling like I do, you watch for the wrestling. There’s so much talking. There’s some ‘twit’ back there with a pencil behind his ear writing down all these things for wrestlers to say.”
― Bret Hart
“Someone like Bruno Sammartino should never be a jobber on a video game, so and so forth. I think you have to pay respect.”
― Bret Hart
“When I think of a video game, I think about how I’d love to have Buddy Rogers vs. Ric Flair, something like that, where you can wrestle these Legends against each other from different periods and stuff.”
― Bret Hart
“If you’re going to have a Hall of Fame, you’ve got to have Owen Hart in the Hall of Fame.”
― Bret Hart
“Since retiring, there’s only been one time I actually dreamed about wrestling. In my dream, I was wrestling against Kurt Angle. I had him clamped in a headlock. I was breathing hard, and I remember telling myself, ‘This is only a dream. It’s not real.’ But the longer I held Kurt in a headlock, I started to believe it was real.”
― Bret Hart
“Whenever I discuss my family, I inevitably think of my brother Owen.”
― Bret Hart
“I’ve taken up sculpting. I thought it might help the nerves in my hands.”
― Bret Hart
“I often run into wrestlers at comic conventions or wrestling events, and it could be Tito Santana or Demolition, and I’m just flooded with memories. It’s always nice to see one of your old mates, especially the ones who I knew from further back.”
― Bret Hart
“When you’re a kid, you always think about your parents, and I still do. I try to lead with the same example that they set.”
― Bret Hart
“My father was a man’s man and was always respected for being a straight shooter. My dad always had an amazing sense of calm about him.”
― Bret Hart
“Bill Goldberg kicked me in the head and ended my career because he didn’t know what he was doing.”
― Bret Hart
“The best wrestlers don’t hurt anyone for real.”
― Bret Hart
“I wrestled 23 straight years all over the world.”
― Bret Hart
“The safety of my opponent was critical to me.”
― Bret Hart
“You can take your Jake Roberts and your Hulk Hogans and your Ultimate Warriors and a lot of these guys that were big names back then, but they never did anything for me. They never helped me, they never thought of helping me, and when they had a chance to help me, they never did.”
― Bret Hart
“I owe a lot to Roddy Piper.”
― Bret Hart
“Ric Flair is an old nemesis of mine.”
― Bret Hart
“If I could go back in time, I would have loved to have done more with Triple H. He blossomed into a bigger star after I left. I regret, looking back now, that we didn’t have more matches or better matches or at least one pay-per-view match where we could have really showed our best stuff – or, at least, I did.”
― Bret Hart
“Triple H is a bodybuilder nut. He goes after the bodies. He doesn’t care how good – and he can look in the mirror – guys work; he cares how guys look.”
― Bret Hart
“I was champion, off and on, for quite a few years, and I never missed one title match from an injury. I got hurt lots of times, but the reality is you’ve got so much pinned on you and so much tied onto you, the company and your peers can’t afford for you to get hurt.”
― Bret Hart
“I always took a lot of pride in being a safe wrestle. I never injured anyone.”
― Bret Hart
“All the times they put tag titles on me, Intercontinental titles on me, or the world title on me, the only time I couldn’t defend the title was when I had to forfeit the belt when I quit WCW and retired from wrestling forever.”
― Bret Hart
“I suffered a stroke in 2002 that made everything else in my life that happened to that point pale in comparison.”
― Bret Hart
“A lot of people don’t realize how severe a concussion injury is. You have to listen to the doctors. You have to be really careful about them.”
― Bret Hart
“Cesaro is a guy who does a lot of unique stuff and is a great talent. He does a lot of strong-man stuff that is just impressive to watch.”
― Bret Hart
“I hope Seth Rollins becomes the safest, best wrestler in the world. And I wish him all the luck in the world.”
― Bret Hart
“You can’t just think up a move in your head and go, ‘Okay, I’ll just pick somebody up, and I’m just going to throw them backwards into the post.’ You have to think, ‘Would you want someone to do the same thing to you?’”
― Bret Hart
“I got into wrestling to make some money, see the world, and meet girls.”
― Bret Hart
“When I look back on everything, I’m really amazed by my career.”
― Bret Hart
“I had so many wonderful guys that I worked with and great matches – that’s what was most important to me – and the fans.”
― Bret Hart
“I’ve always taken a lot of pride that people believed in me as a hero. I tried not to fail them in my life.”
― Bret Hart
“I’m living every day that it could be my last, and I’m grateful for every day.”
― Bret Hart
“I love going back to cities where I had a strong fan base – like San Antonio, Minneapolis – those were really good fan bases, like Iowa and Chicago.”
― Bret Hart
“My dad was always genuine with the fans and said, ‘You must appreciate every single one of them,’ and I always did. I always tried to make time for every autograph or every picture. What’s an autograph? It’s the simplest thing in the world.”
― Bret Hart
“I take being a hero really seriously.”
― Bret Hart
“Growing up in wrestling – and I have been involved in wrestling, really, my entire life – I learned right from the get-go that you never forget your fans. They are the ones that put your food on the table and pay your bills.”
― Bret Hart
“Eric Bischoff is a total, complete idiot, maybe the single stupidest idiot that ever got into wrestling.”
― Bret Hart
“If you look at wrestling when I started to get my big break back in 1992, I changed wrestling from the cartoons of Hulk Hogan and Iron Sheik and the matches with the leg drop and the hand behind the ear and the playing to the crowd. They were just cartoon characters if you ask me.”
― Bret Hart
“Hogan had the same match every night for years, and so did Warrior. They didn’t tell great stories, to be honest.”
― Bret Hart
“When you see Bret Hart versus Steve Austin, it just seemed so much more real than Hulk Hogan versus Sgt. Slaughter.”
― Bret Hart
“I can say I know Linda McMahon quite well, yet they’ve only been brief encounters going all the way back to 1985 when I first worked for WWF/WWE. I started in 1984, but I don’t recall meeting her until 1985. I can say this much: Linda McMahon has never changed. I think of few women in my lifetime that I respect more than her.”
― Bret Hart
“Undertaker was always a leader in the dressing room, always a man’s man. No one ever doubted what he said because his word was good. He was a guy that set the dressing room standard. If you had an issue or personal problem, you could go to Undertaker and he would help you.”
― Bret Hart
“The Undertaker stood up for what was right. He earned everything he got.”
― Bret Hart
“My heart was always dedicated to giving fans around the world the best match possible, and the fans grew with me.”
― Bret Hart
“If I could wrestle somebody at a WrestleMania, I would have really loved to wrestle with John Cena. It would have been nice to have a great WrestleMania match with The Rock and Edge, but my history would have lined up perfectly with John.”
― Bret Hart
“If I was going to build a logical defense for myself in a match against Hulk Hogan, I think I would try to work on his legs. Take out any mobility.”
― Bret Hart
“Wrestling fans dictate policy; they really do. What direction each wrestler takes usually revolves around what the fans think of them.”
― Bret Hart
“Curt Hennig was one of best guys I ever wrestled. If I could’ve come back and wrestled one last match, I wish I could’ve wrestled Curt. He was my favorite guy to wrestle.”
― Bret Hart
“I always had trouble being proud of how they were using me in WCW. It was hard for me to be interested in what they were doing, and what they were doing with me was pretty pathetic.”
― Bret Hart
“I would have loved to have worked with Kurt Angle. He would have been a lot of fun to be in the ring with.”
― Bret Hart
“The feud with Jerry Lawler was one of the best feuds I ever had. He was the perfect heel and kept his heat. People hated him.”
― Bret Hart
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