Canadian legend Bret “The Hitman” Hart has been reminiscing on his career, speaking about some of the “dream matches” he wishes he could have had before his retirement.
Bret Hart wrestled in a number of dream matches in his career. Matches against top stars like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and many more wowed fans and it seemed there was nobody he could have a bad match with (well, except Goldberg).
He is one of the greatest technical wrestlers to every live. His canon of work speaks for itself, and you only have to log onto the WWE Network and watch some of his matches to see just how good he was.
He wrestled with an intensity and believability that few could match, and he simply made wrestling feel like it was a real fight.
He is constantly ranked as many wrestlers “best of all time”. CM Punk and FTR are two known huge fans of The Hitman and have paid tribute to him multiple times on AEW TV. Wrestling him would have been their dream matches, but concussion issues lead to Hart’s retirement in the early 2000s much to everyone’s dismay.
After Bret Hart was kicked in the head by Goldberg at Starrcade 1999, he wrestled eight more matches with a brutal concussion that ultimately led to his retirement.
A stroke in 2002 put a firm end to his career, although he would have a few matches in 2010, most notably against Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 25, although he would not take any bumps and they did not feature any classic Bret Hart action.
Over the years, many wrestling legends have suffered injuries and come out of retirement for one last run. Edge risked paralysis by coming back in 2020, while Daniel Bryan made an incredible recovery from his own concussion issues for his emotional comeback in 2017.
Even Ric Flair refuses to stay retired, as he wrestled his last match (he claims this time) at the age of 72. This makes him even younger than Vince McMahon, who at Wrestlemania 38 wrestled Pat McAfee at the ripe old age of 77.
However, Bret Hart’s health issues meant he could never properly come out of retirement. His Lloyds of London wrestler’s insurance policy meant he could never properly wrestle again, and his health also meant it could kill him.
Hart’s stroke, mixed with his history of cancer, make the 65 year old a huge risk to step into a ring, let alone to wrestle a full match.
However, that has not stopped him wondering about what could have been. Hart revealed during a K&S WrestleFest signing that he would have loved to face a number of top stars of the 2010s if he had been allowed to wrestle, listing some of the top WWE stars of the day as dream matches of his.
“If I had no issues with my concussion and stuff. If I never had a stroke, maybe. Let’s just say I was healthy, at my age, I’d go back. I would have taken it pretty seriously. I would have wrestled a lot more over the last ten years if I hadn’t been hurt. All of the dream matches that everyone talks about, I would have loved to done all of them. Daniel Bryan [Bryan Danielson], CM Punk, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Randy Orton,”
He also made comments that imply that, if he were healthy, he would have chosen to wrestle on the card of the WWE Saudi Arabia shows, earning millions of dollars in the process. The Canadian hero recently spoke to Lucha Libre Online about he has a “sore spot” about Goldberg, who effectively ended his career, wrestling on the events making millions while costing him $10 million on his WCW contract.
“I think, for me, it’s always been a bit of a sore spot; it always makes me kind of mad that some guy is flying all the way over to Saudi Arabia and making 3 million dollars in a match and the same guy is the guy that kicked me in the head and never thought about me or what he cost me and my family and what he did to me,”
CM Punk, the former AEW Champion who has been ousted by the company due to fighting backstage, is a huge fan of Hart and thinks that he deserves to be making millions in Saudi Arabia. He also says he’d give up his second chance in wrestling if it meant Hart could wrestle again, showing just how much he loves The Excellence of Execution
“I love Bret Hart. His career was cut short and it’s a god damn tragedy because there are people who go over to Saudi Arabia and get paid millions of dollars…that should have been Bret. I just feel super fortunate and grateful that I got a second chance. I’d give it up in a heartbeat to give it to Bret. I just love that motherf**ker so much. He’s the greatest of all time.”
Sadly, Bret Hart will never wrestle again, but it is good that he still has his health and can live happily for the rest of his days.
Bret Hart Added To His List Of Dream Matches
In a recent interview on the Johnny I Pro Show, Bret Hart revealed some other wrestlers who he would love to have had a dream match with.
Not just focusing on the current generation of stars, he also looked at some legends of the past, including one man who he called “my hero”.
He also mentioned some current day stars, like John Cena and Brock Lesnar, as well as how he regretted never getting to face Rey Mysterio during their days together in WCW.
“There’s so many. I would love to wrestle Sweet Daddy Siki because he’s my hero. That or Abdullah [The Butcher]. … I would love to wrestle Brock Lesnar. I would love to wrestle Roman Reigns.
I would love to put John Cena in the Sharpshooter. I just know that when I was the American-bashing Canadian, John Cena would’ve been the perfect American. We could’ve danced for a long time.
CM Punk, Daniel Bryan are also two of my favorites. And also one of the greatest – maybe the greatest wrestler of all time that people often forget about … is Rey Mysterio. …
I wish I could’ve had one match with Rey Mysterio. He’s one of my favorites and always a class act. Very few wrestlers have the respect I have for Rey Mysterio.”
What is your Bret Hart dream match? Let us know in the comments or click below to read about Bret Hart’s Last Match
