03:21:00
Bret Hart
BS:
You do have a book coming out, "Bret the Hitman Hart",
tell us a little bit about that...
HART:
It's a nice, little-- what they call a "cofee table"
book. I don't think people should be led into believing
its the "War and Peace" book on Bret Hart. It's
just strictly a book that captures a lot of my great moments
in my career and what it was like growing up, a little tribute
in the back to my brother Owen. It's not a heavy reading
book, it's mostly filled with pictures. There's a nice introduction
by Roddy Piper.
It's
just a nice read-through book that you can leave on your
counter or table and it's got some pictures in there that
mean a lot to me. It just sort of rolls off one match after
another in my career and sort of puts it in perspective
for fans that havent' had a chance in the last year or two
or three to get a book like that or a cross-section of my
best matches. There's not a lot of books out on me.
BS:
It's really, like you said, a nice supplement. Obviously
wrestling fans have followed your career the last 15 or
16 years and "Wrestling with Shadows" documented--
gave us a real look at Bret Hart and the whole Hart family.
A lot of people wondering, you suffered the concussion,
it's been keeping you out of the ring. How are you feeling
these days?
HART:
Well, I go to the doctor in just a little bit here. Sort
of get my most recent update because I know there are a
lot of conflicting rumors and stories out there, but I don't
mind being very honest about it. People are saying 'I'm
retiring' or it's a 'wrestling storyline' that I'm not really
hurt. A lot of people think I'm just milking an injury but
people like that deserve concussions of their own.
Concussions
are a very serious thing: it's affected my speech, it's
affected my train of thought. With a lot of things I don't
speak the way I want to-- and I'm aware of it. If I stop,
if I lose my way while I'm talking, if I stop for a few
seconds I can kind of find my way again.
BS:
I think most of us, at least here in St.Louis, and maybe
it's because we've seen Geoff Courtnall and so many of the
hockey players with post-concussion syndrome maybe we're
more intune with it, but I think most fans believe it is
a legitimate injury--as you rarely missed any time in the
ring during the course of your career. But, I know a lot
of us, myself included, are curious as to whether or not
it was WCW's call or Bret Hart's call or who's call it was
because we read that you made a couple appearances in Germany
and Europe. Raises the question that, 'Gosh, couldn't we
just see Bret on tv to explain what's going on?'. To let
everyone know that you've got the concussion, but you're
going to come back?
HART:
Well, my feeling is like...Germany is not a place I get
to very often. And England is the other place I was at.
My wrestling career has taken place, overall, has always
taken place in America. So I really consider the American
wrestling audience most important one of them all. And with
addressing them, I almost saved the best for last.
My
condition is....sort of day-to-day. Like I could be okay--like
right now, I've not been cleared to wrestle until at least
July. But in saying that, I could be okay in July and ready
to go. I don't know, it's been a really slow process so
far. I still have all the headaches and problems from a
concussion. And it is a little unsettling for me that it's
taking so long and it's been so bad. I'm optimistic and
hopefully today I'll get a good feel for where I'm going.
I haven't
wanted to, when I went to Germany and I went to England,
I tried to sort of prepare for the worst in case I never
get back and never see those fans again. I waited three
years to go there after leaving the WWF. All of Engalnd
and Germany, in particular, were some of my strongest markets.
And, if I can brag, I think I was the biggest wrestling
persona ever in Germany or any of those places.
I had
such a loyal and just a great fan-base there that I wanted
to go back so bad. If I could've wrestled there with a bad
knee or any kind of injury that I could've worked around,
I would have done that just for those fans.
The
American wrestling fans, it's a little different because
I-- there's two things that cross my mind. One, I kind of
see myself going out for a Nitro as an example. Good news
or bad news when I finally come out and speak. And I certainly
don't blame most of the audience, there's a handful of the
audience that just really seems to make it awkward for me
to be really honest and say your mind. So, I wonder how
easy it is for me to speak, you know if I had to envision
in my mind saying goodbye and I can't wrestle again. I just
don't know that I'd be able to do that.
I will
address my American fans one way or another, hopefully it
will be the good news that I'm coming back and that kind
of thing. But I'm not sure how I want to do that and I'm
not sure the best way to do that. It's just something you
keep waiting for. And I'm going day-to-day on everything.
BS:
Bret Hart--the hitman, the character and Bret Hart, the
individual, the man has gone through so much the last three
or four years. Just to go back to "Wrestling with Shadows"
you talked about how you were "the" hero and for
so long when wrestling was having some problems, Bret Hart
was at the focal point of turning things back around. Then
you were forced into the "heel" role and back
into the hero persona, and then the nWo... you were kind
of in that shade of grey area. Do you feel that you're back
and accepted as a hero-- as Bret Hart, the type of person
he wants to be seen as by fans?
HART:
I don't know. I mean, it's hard to say because there's a
difference. I mean, in Canada, yeah, I'm a hero. In England,
yeah I'm a hero. In Germany, I'm still a hero. There just
seems to be no way around that and I'm...I don't know if
I can give you a great explanation why, but I just seem
to be so well-liked--maybe it's just simply for the way
I wrestle.
And
there's a lot of that in America too. I have really strong
American wrestling fans. But I think on television, and
at a Nitro, in certain parts of the country I'm more of
a heel. I almost think it's out of respect that they like
me better. It's like do we want him as heel or babyface,
okay we like him as heel-- I'm not quite sure. So, I have
to fight this overall view where everywhere else I'm a hero
and sometimes I find myself being pulled into a heel role
when I'm south of the border in the states.
Either
one, I've really rationalized, maybe I was wrong in doing
so--especially this last time. It was wrong, but I actually
felt that it was safer to be a heel physically. I'd rather
be the one throwing or giving out the punishment rather
than as the hero or babyface, I tended to take a pretty
good schlocking all the time and then I'd rally or comeback
against the unsurmountable odds.
But
I also think that got very tiring, so I don't blame wrestling
fans-- I got tired of watching that. It's kind of fun to
go out there and kind of be a jerk. That's kind of what
the Hitman character was back in 1985 when I tagged up with
Neidhart. I was this really cocky, kind of a jerk."
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