Bret Hart Unloads on Gunther for Hurting Wrestlers for Real with Chops

Bret Hart isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to his thoughts on modern wrestling — and he’s once again going after one of today’s top WWE Superstars, Gunther.

Speaking on The Masked Man Show, the WWE Hall of Famer unloaded on the use of chops in wrestling, calling them not only unnecessary, but outright disrespectful to the art of making wrestling look real without actually hurting your opponent.

“The best wrestling has to pretend to be real. That’s what I did, I tried to make it as real as I could. Contrary to that Gunther guy, who seems like a nice enough guy when I met him, but I hate wrestlers that hurt each other on purpose.”

Hart made it clear he’s not just criticizing from afar. According to Bret, he’s addressed Gunther directly.

“I’ve told him this to his face, it’s bullshit. When you’re hurting somebody for real, you’re unprofessional. I wrestled guys and never hurt anybody.”

Hart also blamed Ric Flair for normalizing chops and emphasized that, in his opinion, they serve no purpose in a believable fight.

“Who ever won a fight with a chop? What a waste of time. Ric Flair is famous for bringing the chops the way they are now. My dad used to tell wrestlers at Stampede, ‘Nobody ever beat anybody with a chop.’ It’s true. They hurt, they look like shit. They make a big slap sound, but they hurt.”

He reflected on his own painful experiences in the ring with Flair:

“When you get chopped by somebody like Ric Flair for a 30 minute match and he chops you 15 times, your whole chest the next day is bruises. It hurts to put a shirt on. I used to wrestle Ric Flair and wake up going, ‘Why am I hurting so much? Doesn’t Ric Flair know it’s a show?’ It’s not supposed to be real. I’m not supposed to wake up with a really sore chest.”

Bret didn’t mince words when summing up his view on the practice:

“I have no respect for guys that hurt each other all the time. It’s just to me, lazy, shit wrestling when guys like Gunther…”

Interestingly, Bret and Gunther had an in-ring interaction on the September 9, 2024 episode of WWE Raw, where Gunther named Goldberg — one of Hart’s most infamous rivals — as his favorite wrestler.

Bret Hart’s message is loud and clear: real professionals don’t inflict real pain. Whether today’s generation listens or not is another story.