Bret Hart has elaborated on the night he landed a punch on Vince McMahon.
As has been recounted in wrestling history countless times, Hart lost the WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels in Montreal after McMahon ordered the referee to ring the bell and have Hart lose the match.
Although fans have seen what happened in the ring itself, the events that followed backstage have varying degrees of accuracy depending on who was asked. While everyone is in agreement that McMahon met Hart in the locker room and physicality ensued, the specifics have varied.
Appearing in the recent Netflix docuseries Mr. McMahon, The Hitman stated that McMahon never allowed him to get a shot in and landed an uppercut.
In a follow-up interview with The Wrestling Classic, Hart first recounted Jim Neidhart claiming The Hitman punched McMahon repeatedly. Hart denied this and told his side:
“I’ll tell you the truth: it was one punch, and it was a good punch. You had to kind of be in my shoes. I know this is hard to explain in a short couple of seconds, but I was actually being set up by Vince McMahon. He was kind of calling my bluff. He was trying to instigate a tussle or something. Cause he thought that’s how it looked best for him.
I could feel it happening. It’s like ‘This guy’s trying to start a fight with me in the dressing room and wants to sort of stand up to me in front of all the wrestlers and prove that he’s some kind of tough guy’—or I don’t know what it was. But I remember that I got madder and madder. I remember we kind of confronted each other. It wasn’t like Vince walked up to me, and I just drilled him in the head—you know, it was like that never happened.”
“I Wouldn’t Change Any Of It”: Bret Hart
Continuing, Hart added that he was determined to knock McMahon out and knew that he only had one opportunity:
“He came at me, and we really tied up like a pro wrestling match. If you were in the room, there was about 30 people—they were all gonna jump on us and pull us apart, just the way Vince wanted. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t have that happen.’ I’ve got to knock him out.
I remember if I had gone with a right-hand punch, they would have hooked my arm and that would be the end of it. We’d never hear anything good about that day. I decided to go for an uppercut. I came right between our arms, and I literally, honest to God, I’m not exaggerating—I lifted him about a foot off the ground, knocked him completely out cold, like a starfish.
His legs and his arms and everything were out like that. He was out cold for about 5 minutes. We all just stood around looking at him. I remember I broke my hand, but it was the sweetest thing I ever did, and I wouldn’t change any of it.”
Also in the interview, Bret Hart named the Hall of Famer he always wanted to face.
Additionally, Bret Hart looked back on his recent WWE Raw return and Gunther’s Goldberg jab.
H/t to SEScoops.