WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart was the latest guest on the Virtual Gimmick Table Show to discuss a number of different topics, including CM Punk and Darby Allin’s nod to his old Raw match against the 1-2-3 Kid, and how wrestlers have treated women over the years. Highlights are below.
On CM Punk and Darby Allin’s reference at AEW ALL OUT:
I do [keep up with AEW]. I know there was a salute to it [Hart vs. 123 Kid]. I really liked it [CM Punk & Darby Allin’s tribute at All Out] and I got a text from The Kid, Sean Waltman and he loved it and it was a nice little salute. I really did appreciate that.
How wrestlers have treated women over the years:
Well, you gotta keep your pants on, for the most part. Both [literally and metaphorically]. But I think you do the crime, you do the time. In a lot of ways, sometimes you do stuff, crazy stuff when you’re younger you did a long time ago, but if you did it, it can come back many years later and bite you in the ass and I say that, knowing that I’ve done a lot of crazy, stupid things in my lifetime but whatever the craziest and stupidest things I ever did, I don’t think will come back and bite me in that kind of way where I think I’m pretty safe, you know? I lived, I spent six years with Jim The Anvil Neidhart and you know, I have some kind of a guilty conscience, but at the same time, you always have this idea in your head that there could be a camera on or a picture. Back in those days in WWE, you get fired for the smallest thing. Takes the smallest, little thing to get fired and those days, I had so much at stake. I had a mortgage on a house that I was mortgaged to the hilt on and everything could come crumbling down really fast with one mistake somewhere and I was lucky and I’m not saying I didn’t make mistakes in my career but I made them and luckily for me, I never made any that were huge, big, embarrassing mistakes that really can come back on you and I know that some of the wrestlers I know that I love and respect have made mistakes and I feel real bad about those things and there’s a lot of that sort of, ‘That was in the days of the boys’ and, ‘The wrestlers having fun’ and stuff like that and you can make excuses but, then again, if that was your daughter that was in the room and somebody did that to her or something, you gotta look at both sides of it and sometimes the optics don’t look good years later to say, ‘Okay, that’s what you did’ and I understand that and it’s kind of a different time right now. But I think the truth is-is that your wrestling character is one thing. For a lot of people in wrestling, they have their wrestling character and then they take that off and they go home. But for me, and maybe this has been what’s my problem is I was always Bret Hart. I’ve always loved being who I am and I’m proud of who I am and I always tell people if your kids were watching me when I was wrestling, it was time well spent. I was a good hero to watch. I wasn’t the kind of guy — I never have been a guy to suddenly get an impaired driving ticket I hope, or get caught shoplifting or [being too] drunk on a plane and punching a stewardess or it’s like, you won’t hear — there’s no headlines about me doing stupid stuff because I don’t do stupid stuff because that’s not something I would do and I say that knowing that I could walk out of here today and something really bad, misfortunate could come back and really bite [me] on the ass. ‘Hear about Bret Hart? He hijacked a plane to Cuba’ or something. But you know, it’s all about being able to look yourself in the mirror and I’m proud of who I am, I’m proud of what I represent and people are fans of mine and come up and tell me how much of an impact I’ve had on their life, all that stuff, it means something to me and I don’t take it for granted and go out and do something stupid minutes later. I take pride in who I am.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)