WWE Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart recently reflected on his ascent to the top of the company, crediting two fellow legends for helping make his career while simultaneously offering sharp criticism for top stars like Hulk Hogan and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who he says never did anything to help the next generation of talent.
During a Q&A session, Hart detailed the backstage politics and perceptions he faced early in his singles career and explained how the selflessness of "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was instrumental in proving his main event potential to the office.Hart recalled his first singles push in the late 1980s, which he felt was unsuccessful due to a lack of commitment from management and a perception that he lacked charisma.
“They were kind of like, ‘It didn’t pan out for you.’ I remember hearing stories with guys saying I had no personality or charisma. I remember thinking, ‘How do you have charisma wrestling Bad News Brown?’ He did’t do anything with me or give me a chance," Hart said. "They kind of labeled me as a guy who wasn’t capable of being a big star. ‘I didn’t make it.’ I didn’t make it because it was my fault, I didn’t make it because it was your fault.”
“Vince came back to me and said, ‘We’re going to put you as a single again and give you a big push, a real one.’ I was skeptical that they would do all that for me. There is always a lot of politics and backstabbing," Hart remembered. He credits his classic matches with Mr. Perfect and Roddy Piper for changing the perception of him backstage. "I got put with Mr. Perfect and that was the start of it. Everything started with the wrestlers who loved working with me like Mr. Perfect, Roddy Piper, and certain guys who wanted to help me prove to the office that I could be a big star. I owe a lot to Mr. Perfect. He was the first guy to go in there and show everybody how good I was. Curt was one of my favorite guys to wrestle. He was the first guy to step up and make me. Roddy Piper was the second."
Hart then contrasted the help he received from Hennig and Piper with the attitude of Hulk Hogan, who was the face of the company for the previous decade. "When I look back on my career and the wrestling industry, I look back at what Roddy and Mr. Perfect did for me. I can tell you that Hulk Hogan never did that for anybody. He never helped anybody else after his time as the top guy. He’d rather see the company sink than actually come back and make the next star, which in wrestling that’s how it is. The next guy helps the next guy," Hart stated.
He also included Jake Roberts in that criticism. "Jake Roberts is another guy who never made anybody. They fed Hulk Hogan one wrestler after another for ten years.” Hart noted that because of this, when he finally reached the top of the company, he was left to work with talent like Papa Shango and Bam Bam Bigelow because the previous generation had not adequately built up new main event stars.
