Bret Hart has blamed Goldberg for ending his career plenty of times, but this time The Hitman had some smoke for WCW too. In Hart’s eyes, Goldberg never should’ve been put in that position without someone first teaching him how to actually protect the guy standing across from him.
Speaking on the Johnny I Pro Show, Hart brought up Goldberg while talking about the one thing he takes more pride in than championships — getting his opponents through matches safely. That’s where he drew a pretty savage comparison between himself and the man whose kick changed his career.
“It’s not like Goldberg. Goldberg just hurt me because he didn’t know how to do anything different. No one taught him, no one showed him, and no one explained to him, ‘Bill, it’s not really real. You can’t actually kick somebody in the head as hard as you can. You just can’t.’”
But Hart didn’t dump all of the blame on Goldberg. He went straight after WCW for putting someone that inexperienced in the ring and actually said the company should have been sued over it.
“No one took the time to tell him that in WCW. They should be sued for unprofessional wrestling, for putting him in the ring with a guy who didn’t know anything about wrestling.”
That’s about as Bret Hart as it gets. He’s still pissed about what happened with Goldberg, but his bigger argument here is that WCW should’ve known better than to throw someone into that position without making damn sure he knew how to keep his opponents safe. Hart then explained why the subject still matters so much to him. Forget the world titles and legendary matches — he considers his safety record one of the biggest reasons he can call himself one of the best ever.
“I think my safety record is my highest accomplishment in my career. The fact that so many wrestlers put their lives in my hands, even trusted me. Even Steve Austin trusted me at WrestleMania 13 to get the juice on him in the match. Those are all really serious.”
He even brought Shawn Michaels into it. Hart said that no matter how ugly things got between them personally, whatever beef they had belonged in the dressing room. Once they stepped through the curtain, both men had a responsibility to be professionals.
“Even with Shawn Michaels, I was always professional with him. If we were going to fight, if there was going to be any fighting, let’s do it right here in the dressing room, right now. But when we go out there and we go into the ring, I’m a professional, you’re a professional. We have a show to put on and a match that needs to be professional.”
Hart ultimately tied all of this back to his famous “best there is, best there was, best there ever will be” claim. To him, being the best wasn’t just about having great matches — it was about making sure the other guy could walk away afterwards.
“Every wrestler that I ever went in the ring with came out pretty much in the same state that he came in. And I think that is my biggest, when I make the boast about being the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be, that’s what my boast is: that I never hurt anybody.”
And if somebody says Hart did hurt them? The Hitman thinks they might want to check the tape before pointing the finger.
“And if somebody did get hurt working with me, I think they need to go back and watch it over again and see if it was their fault.”
So Hart’s position hasn’t softened much with time. Goldberg threw the kick, but Bret believes WCW deserves plenty of heat for putting him in the ring without properly teaching him how to protect another wrestler — and more than two decades later, The Hitman still thinks that failure was serious enough to deserve a lawsuit.
Do you think Bret Hart has a point about WCW being responsible for Goldberg’s lack of training, or does the blame ultimately fall on Goldberg himself? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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.
