Bret Hart: ‘I hate wrestlers that hurt each other on purpose’
Bret Hart doesn’t like chops.
After Clash at the Castle in 2022, Hart made headlines when he was critical of the chops used in Gunther and Sheamus’ match on the show. He recently appeared on a live episode of The Ringer’s Wrestling podcast at the Gramercy Theater in New York City and clarified his opinions on the matter, explaining that chops hurt and recalling his father Stu’s advice that “nobody wins with a chop.”
“I don’t want to sound like I’m tooting my own horn all the time, but the best wrestling has to pretend to be real,” Hart said. “I mean, that’s what I did. I tried to make it as real as I could. Contrary to that Gunther guy, who seemed like a nice enough guy when I met him. But I mean, I hate wrestlers that hurt each other on purpose. I hate it when you’re out there getting beat up and hurt by a guy for real, and everybody thinks it’s…. Like, chops. Whoever won a fight with a chop? What a waste of time.”
“But I remember my dad used to tell wrestlers in Stampede Wrestling, he said, nobody ever beat anybody with a chop. And it’s true, they hurt. They look like shit, they make a big slap sound, but they hurt.“
Hart then explained he’d wake up sore after wrestling Ric Flair and being chopped repeatedly throughout the match.
“When you get chopped by someone like Ric Flair in a 30 minute match, and he chops you 15 times in the match, your whole chest the next day is just bruises and it hurts to even put a shirt on. I used to wrestle Ric Flair and I used to wake up and go, why am I hurting so much? And then it’s like, doesn’t Ric Flair know that it’s a show?”
“It’s not supposed to be real. I’m not supposed to really wake up with a really sore chest the next day. So I have no respect for guys that hurt each other all the time.”
“And it’s just to me, lazy s–t wrestling when guys like that Gunther, and I’ve told him this to his face, it’s bulls–t. Like, when you’re hurting somebody for real, you’re unprofessional. I wrestled guys, never hurt anybody. When I used to come back to the dressing room, my kicks, my stomps, all the stuff I did, the beauty of what I did is that it looks like it really hurts a lot but I never hurt anybody ever.”
Earlier in the conversation, Hart spoke about wrestlers who frequently pay homage to his moves or moments from his career. He says he takes it as a “huge compliment” every time he sees something like that in modern wrestling.
“I notice that Cody Rhodes throws a punch a lot like I did. And I remember telling him back 15 years ago, I said, you throw a really good punch, I love your punches, you’re one of the only guys that throws a good punch. Roman Reigns is a guy that, when I watch him, I think he emulates a lot my style even though you might not notice it.”
Hart then mentioned wrestlers such as CM Punk and Dax Harwood who frequently pay homage to him in their matches.
“I take it as a compliment and whenever I watch wrestling and I see something that’s obviously a salute or a sort of like, hey, that was the Bret Hart 1988 or something like that, I take that as a huge compliment, especially from the wrestlers today. I think they’d all be a lot better off if they copied me more.”
Hart’s full conversation with The Ringer is available below:
