Bret Hart has experienced just about everything professional wrestling has to offer, but there’s one day he would gladly live all over again. The WWE Hall of Famer revealed that winning his first WWF Championship remains the most important moment of his career, although he was so convinced Vince McMahon might change his mind that he was afraid to tell anyone what was happening.
While speaking to the Johnny I Pro Show, Hart was asked which day of his life he would choose to experience again, without changing anything about it. Despite his legendary matches, championship reigns, and unforgettable moments in WWE, Hart didn’t hesitate to bring up the day he first became WWF Champion.
Hart defeated Ric Flair on October 12, 1992, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to capture his first world championship. The victory was a career-changing moment for The Hitman, but according to Hart, he genuinely didn’t see it coming.
“I think it would be as odd as it is, I think it would be um the first time I won the title. Um just the the happiness that cuz I didn’t see it coming. Didn’t expect it. And it was just it was it was for sure going to change my life and it was for sure going to um was going to finally give me that that credit that I maybe never got from anywhere else, right? I was kind of I was always like Like you hear Bret Hart’s a great wrestler, like is he really? Like I don’t know. You know, it’s like I think you know, I I just always wanted someone to verify that I was actually any good.”
Hart explained that he had spent years trying to prove himself to the rest of the wrestling business. Even when fellow wrestlers praised his matches and asked him for advice, he still felt like someone who hadn’t received the recognition he deserved.
“You know, it’s one thing in the dressing room. I remember you when I first started WWF, come back to the dressing room. And wrestlers would come up and tell me what a great match I had and how you know, and ask me about certain things I did, like can you show me how to do that or But I I was always a kind of a dark horse where they didn’t really think I was any good at first, but then they’d go and watch me, it’s like oh, he’s actually pretty good. He’s got a lot of experience.”
Becoming WWF Champion changed that. Hart went from being a respected wrestler to becoming the face of the company, something he had dreamed about since childhood. However, the road to that championship wasn’t exactly filled with confidence.
Later in the interview, while discussing his legacy, Hart returned to the subject of his first championship victory. He recalled how unlikely the entire situation seemed before he traveled to Saskatoon, revealing that becoming world champion wasn’t something he genuinely believed was going to happen.
“I I always tried to help other wrestlers. If I saw something that I could give my pointer on something or tell them how to do something better or you know, I was always always um tried to bring the most out of everybody and I I was when I was made champion, I I was a big honor for me and I thought it was my job to carry the torch kind of thing and um you know, I I don’t know that it like when I became champion, I think if you’d asked me the morning before I flew to Saskatoon then if I really thought I was going to be the world champion, I would have been like, that’s never going to happen, but and it’s just funny how a few hours later it’s like every your whole life changes.”
Even after Vince McMahon informed him that he would be winning the championship, Hart still wasn’t convinced the plan would actually happen. He spent the day worrying that McMahon would suddenly reconsider and decide to put the title on someone else.
“And even then I didn’t believe it was ever going to happen. You know, I believed all day like somehow Vince McMahon would change his mind before the show aired and come back and say, ‘You know what? I don’t I don’t know what I was thinking. We’re going to go with this instead. We’re going to do this this you know.'”
Hart was so nervous about potentially jinxing the opportunity that he refused to call home or tell his family what was happening. He didn’t want to celebrate something that he feared could disappear before he ever stepped into the ring.
“I was so sure that like I didn’t even want to call anyone or call home and say, ‘Hey, I’m winning the world title tonight on TV. Make sure you watch.’ Like I just I didn’t want to spook anything.”
Of course, McMahon never reversed the decision, and Hart walked out of Saskatoon with the WWF Championship. For Hart, the victory meant much more than simply winning another title. It represented everything he had spent his life working toward, going all the way back to his childhood as the son of Stu Hart.
“I just and when I won I can actually say that I I dreamed about that since from the time I was from the my earliest memories of being a little boy that I was someday that I’d be the champion of the world in wrestling. And I when I when I won that day it really was this sort of reckoning of going back and looking back on my whole life and realizing this is you know, all the school fights, all the pressure, even the arm wrestling, being city and provincial champion. Son of Stu Hart, living in Calgary, it was I had a lot of weight on my back all the time.”
The significance of that night clearly hasn’t faded for Hart. In fact, Ric Flair previously revealed that Hart sent him a heartfelt message on the anniversary of their 1992 championship match, telling him how much the victory meant to his career.
Hart went on to become one of WWE’s most recognizable champions, but all those accomplishments started with a decision he wasn’t even sure Vince McMahon would follow through on. More than three decades later, The Hitman still considers that first championship victory the moment he’d choose to experience all over again.
If you could relive one moment from Bret Hart’s legendary WWE career, which one would you choose? Do you think his first WWF Championship victory was his greatest moment, or was there another match or accomplishment that meant even more? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
