Bret Hart has opened up on the backstage reaction, or lack thereof, to his SummerSlam 1992 main event match against the British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith.
The main event of SummerSlam 1992, held at a packed-out Wembley Stadium, saw Bret Hart have one of the greatest matches of his career despite losing the WWE Intercontinental Championship to the British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith.
Although the match was praised by fans and critics alike, there was no such reaction from Hart’s peers in the locker room, mainly because they missed the match.
Speaking to Inside The Ropes’ very own Kenny McIntosh at Starrcast V looking back at SummerSlam 1992, Bret Hart revealed that, when he got backstage after the match, everyone had already left.
“I come back to the dressing room and nobody’s there. Everybody’s got a bus back to the hotel, there’s like three guys in the dressing room and they didn’t even watch my match. Nobody watched it. Nobody knew.
One man who was there to greet The Hitman was Vince McMahon, who said the match was “the greatest in wrestling history.”
“I had Vince McMahon come up and tell me it was the greatest match in the history of wrestling and that he thanked me so much, and told me I was the greatest athlete that he’d ever seen wrestle, which was a nice compliment.
However, none of his friends on the roster were there to celebrate the success of the bout.
“I never got any praise, in fact, I was hoping for some feedback from Curt [Hennig] or, I have a lot of buddies back there who would say ‘Oh that was a great match.’ But nobody was there.
“I went back hotel and finally went down to the bar and I felt like someone had thrown me out of an aeroplane, I was so beat up. My body was so sore, everything hurt. It felt like I’d been caned. I remember asking guys ‘did you see my match?’ and they were like ‘no I missed it, we had to go, the bus was leaving,’ nobody saw it.
Bret Hart went on to say that even his family missed the bout, which left him feeling “bummed out”.
“I called home, my wife told me she took all of the kids and went over to her friend’s house and they missed my match. I remember being kind of bummed out, nobody saw it. I remember talking to guys in the bar, and nothing, they didn’t even care.”
During the same interview, Bret Hart also claimed that Shawn Michaels stole one of his ideas to create an iconic WrestleMania moment.
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