Bret Hart carved his name in professional wrestling claiming to be the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
When it comes to his in-ring acumen, he certainly has a right to that claim, and his WWE Hall of Fame-worthy career included multiple championship runs as both Intercontinental and WWE Champion as well as boasting success as a tag team with Jim Neidhart.
Speaking on a recent episode of Story Time with Dutch Mantell, fellow Canadian Jacques Rougeau (who competed in WWE as The Mountie) was full of praise for Hart’s in-ring accomplishments and spoke about their friendship, calling him a “great friend.” However, he also notes that Hart could be difficult to work with from a business perspective as he didn’t like to lose his matches.
“Very, very good. In the ring, outside the ring, he was a great, great, great friend of mine. The only thing about Bret, he was hard to do business with. Bret was a guy that was (…) he didn’t like to do jobs [lose]. For one reason or another, we were always taught do what the boss wants and then you’ll get somewhere. He had the philosophy of, ‘Don’t do any jobs and you’ll get somewhere.'”
“I Love Him To Death” – Jacques Rougeau on Bret Hart
Continuing, Rougeau fondly recalled his relationship with Hart, saying the two of them were never at odds with one another.
“We never had a conflict, never have. He was on my podcast two years ago, did my podcast during COVID and stuff. I meet him, I was with him in England, we laughed, we joked, and I started with his dad. I love him to death.”
Bret Hart famously had an acrimonious parting with WWE following the events of Survivor Series 1997. Despite his contract expiring, he did not want to lose the WWF Championship to Shawn Michaels in his home country of Canada. Vince McMahon took things into his own hands, instructing referee Earl Hebner to call for the bell while Michaels had Hart in his own signature Sharpshooter. Now called the Montreal Screwjob, the incident is one of the most famous in the history of the sports entertainment giant.
Hart would be at odds with the company for many years, and his ill will understandable intensified following the accidental death of his brother Owen Hart at Over the Edge in 1999. However, fences were eventually mended, and Hart was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2006.