Bret Hart confirms he will not be at WrestleMania

[Enigma 0]

In an interview with the Calgary Sun, Bret Hart definitively states that he will not be at the Wrestlemania 22 event itself in Chicago.

 

"I'm not trying to be difficult. I just wouldn't want anyone to think I have finally got in bed with them enough that I can accept what they did to me. At this point, I'm set to fly out of Chicago early in the morning (on Sunday), before Wrestlemania."

 

He also makes a pretty big statement, saying that he will instantly walk out of the Hall of Fame ceremony if he sees Shawn Michaels anywhere.

 

"I've basically told them that if I see Shawn, I'll get back in a cab and go straight to the airport. They'll have to get him to do my induction speech. I just feel that there's too much anger for me. Too combustible."

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

It was brought up in the Comments That Don't Warrant a Thread

 

[Enigma 0]

Great, that must mean UseTheSledgehammerUh should be invading soon.

 

And he's got some work to do. That Kenzo thread is still up.

[razazteca 0]

UTSHU the guy that complained that his thread got merged into the

Comments That Don't Warrant a Thread

thread?

[LucharesuFan619 0]

UTSHU the guy that complained that his thread got merged into the

Comments That Don't Warrant a Thread

thread?

 

That sentence boggles my mind.

[Guest fanofcoils]

Out of "respect" for Bret they should have, surprise, HBK induct him instead of Austin. First of all, HBK is justified to do so as they had great matches together and a great wrestling feud. Second of all, it will only cause interest in Wrestlemania to go up.

[mfn 0]

Third of all, it won't happen.

[Guest fanofcoils]

It could because Vince in his own mind could think that he already paid "tribute" to Bret in the DVD, and now he wants to have an entertaining skit with Bret with HBK being a surprise as the one to induct Bret into the HOF. Greater chance of this happening because Bret is said to not want to do Wrestlemania. Something like this may or may not happen, we will see.

[Guest InuYasha]

Seriously, I know that Bret got screwed at SS 97, and every time they go near Calgary, the fans shit on them something awful. But, for fuck's sake, Bret; it's time to stop being such an emo-bitch and grow up.

 

I used to feel sorry for Bret every time this was brought up. But right now, I almost hope Vince screws him over again, even worse. If Bret wasn't such a pussy about all this, he would have probably been in, if not the first, then the second HoF Induction.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It could because Vince in his own mind could think that he already paid "tribute" to Bret in the DVD, and now he wants to have an entertaining skit with Bret with HBK being a surprise as the one to induct Bret into the HOF. Greater chance of this happening because Bret is said to not want to do Wrestlemania. Something like this may or may not happen, we will see.

It isn't going to happen.

 

Seriously, I know that Bret got screwed at SS 97, and every time they go near Calgary, the fans shit on them something awful. But, for fuck's sake, Bret; it's time to stop being such an emo-bitch and grow up.

 

I used to feel sorry for Bret every time this was brought up. But right now, I almost hope Vince screws him over again, even worse. If Bret wasn't such a pussy about all this, he would have probably been in, if not the first, then the second HoF Induction.

 

Bret has gotten over it as much as he can with Vince obsessively bringing it up on a regular basis and constantly wanting Bret to be part of a Montreal angle, which he knows Bret wants nothing to do with.

[Hawk 34 0]

Seriously, I know that Bret got screwed at SS 97, and every time they go near Calgary, the fans shit on them something awful. But, for fuck's sake, Bret; it's time to stop being such an emo-bitch and grow up.

 

I used to feel sorry for Bret every time this was brought up. But right now, I almost hope Vince screws him over again, even worse. If Bret wasn't such a pussy about all this, he would have probably been in, if not the first, then the second HoF Induction.

 

Bret was still wrestling for WWE during the first and second HOF induction ceremonies.

 

Where is Bret being an emo-bitch? He doesn't want Shawn's presence to be there for what he intends to be his goodbye and thank you for all his fans.

 

Give up your pipe dreams that Bret will do something for Mania because he won't. Nor should he, the only person who wins with that is Vince. Regardless of what Bret does, appear at Mania (which he won't) or if does show up...Vince will still exploit Montreal because it's what he thinks he has to do. Bret has nothing to gain from playing into McMahon's games. He wants to do the speech and not place himself into a situation where Vince takes advantage of Montreal for his own gain.

 

Why would you even want to see Vince further sink to lows for another cheap moment by doing something to Bret? We have seen that crap for the last 9 years as Vince desperately attempts to recapture that night or to outright mock it, despite being the one who is still hung up on it as much as Bret (who has that right to be hung up on it). Bret went a new direction in his life, a new wife and family. A new career. Vince is still stuck in a moment he can't get out of.

 

Saturday night, should be the final chapter. It won't be, Vince McMahon can't close the book.

[Guest InuYasha]

Seriously, I know that Bret got screwed at SS 97, and every time they go near Calgary, the fans shit on them something awful. But, for fuck's sake, Bret; it's time to stop being such an emo-bitch and grow up.

 

I used to feel sorry for Bret every time this was brought up. But right now, I almost hope Vince screws him over again, even worse. If Bret wasn't such a pussy about all this, he would have probably been in, if not the first, then the second HoF Induction.

 

Bret has gotten over it as much as he can with Vince obsessively bringing it up on a regular basis and constantly wanting Bret to be part of a Montreal angle, which he knows Bret wants nothing to do with.

Bret should have known far before now that Vince is a mentally unstable ego-manical sociopath. Hell, I work for one; but that doesn't mean I go and piss myself silly every time he does something stupid just because he's a rich, obnoxious jerk, which is almost every day.

[theintensifier 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Seriously, I know that Bret got screwed at SS 97, and every time they go near Calgary, the fans shit on them something awful. But, for fuck's sake, Bret; it's time to stop being such an emo-bitch and grow up.

 

I used to feel sorry for Bret every time this was brought up. But right now, I almost hope Vince screws him over again, even worse. If Bret wasn't such a pussy about all this, he would have probably been in, if not the first, then the second HoF Induction.

 

Bret has gotten over it as much as he can with Vince obsessively bringing it up on a regular basis and constantly wanting Bret to be part of a Montreal angle, which he knows Bret wants nothing to do with.

Bret should have known far before now that Vince is a mentally unstable ego-manical sociopath. Hell, I work for one; but that doesn't mean I go and piss myself silly every time he does something stupid just because he's a rich, obnoxious jerk, which is almost every day.

Bret doesn't "piss himself silly" over Vince rehashing Montreal. He, like everyone else, is tired of Vince bringing it back up on a regular basis.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

[2GOLD 0]

Seriously, I know that Bret got screwed at SS 97, and every time they go near Calgary, the fans shit on them something awful. But, for fuck's sake, Bret; it's time to stop being such an emo-bitch and grow up.

 

I used to feel sorry for Bret every time this was brought up. But right now, I almost hope Vince screws him over again, even worse. If Bret wasn't such a pussy about all this, he would have probably been in, if not the first, then the second HoF Induction.

 

Bret has gotten over it as much as he can with Vince obsessively bringing it up on a regular basis and constantly wanting Bret to be part of a Montreal angle, which he knows Bret wants nothing to do with.

Bret should have known far before now that Vince is a mentally unstable ego-manical sociopath. Hell, I work for one; but that doesn't mean I go and piss myself silly every time he does something stupid just because he's a rich, obnoxious jerk, which is almost every day.

 

Bret has the right to say "thanks but no thanks". He isn't trying to be difficult, it serves no purpose for him to show up at Mania. None. He gets to do his speech and say his goodbye at the Hall of Fame and that is all he ever wanted to do. He doesn't like Shawn, he doesn't want to be civil with a man who still doesn't want to take any blame for what he did and I like how he's approaching it. He doesn't trust himself around Shawn and the best way for him to avoid doing something he might regret is just to keep away from him.

[theintensifier 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

Again, there was ZERO chance of that happening. Doing so would have opened up Bret, Eric Bischoff and WCW to a lawsuit which they would have lost. The idea of Bret taking the WWF title to WCW is a complete myth.

[slimm44 0]

It's all a seed in the plan for Bret to do a run-in during the match.

 

But seriously, if he leaves the HoF ceremony, they can just have Hogan come out and pose.

[2GOLD 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

 

Bret actually cared about the belt and wasn't about to disgrace it. He never had any intention, they offered him alot to do it and he turned them down. He didn't like it when Medusa did it and he wasn't about to do it to the belt he actually gave a damn about.

 

And that little lawsuit thing. Stupid enter key, I hate you.

[Guest fanofcoils]

Didn't Alundra Blayze take the women's title to WCW?

[theintensifier 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

Again, there was ZERO chance of that happening. Doing so would have opened up Bret, Eric Bischoff and WCW to a lawsuit which they would have lost. The idea of Bret taking the WWF title to WCW is a complete myth.

 

I retract my statement then. I do remember hearing about it however.

 

But regardless, Bret should have just let it go a few years ago. Shit happens. The Marine Corps has fucked me over, and it's happening right now, and I'm not even bitter, not in the least.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

 

Bret actually cared about the belt and wasn't about to disgrace it. He never had any intention, they offered him alot to do it and he turned them down. He didn't like it when Medusa did it and he wasn't about to do it to the belt he actually gave a damn about.

 

And that little lawsuit thing. Stupid enter key, I hate you.

They didn't offer him anything to do it because they'd open themselves up to a lawsuit they would have lost.

[theintensifier 0]

Didn't Alundra Blayze take the women's title to WCW?

 

Yes. And threw it in the trash, where it belongs.

[2GOLD 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

 

Bret actually cared about the belt and wasn't about to disgrace it. He never had any intention, they offered him alot to do it and he turned them down. He didn't like it when Medusa did it and he wasn't about to do it to the belt he actually gave a damn about.

 

And that little lawsuit thing. Stupid enter key, I hate you.

They didn't offer him anything to do it because they'd open themselves up to a lawsuit they would have lost.

 

Am I getting him and Madusa mixed up?

[Hawk 34 0]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

 

Every shred of evidence points that Bret never had that intention and even Eric Bischoff supports against that idea was suggested. It would have been a massive legal lawsuit that Turner wasn't going to back. It was a hoax, created by McMahon-supporters to paint Vince in a positive light and make it look like Vince had no choice in the matter.

 

The difference between Medusa and Bret? Medusa, wasn't under contract...and because of that incident certain actions against WCW were taken.

[The Decemberists 0]

I was under the impression it legally impossible due to the court fall out over the Womans title being thrown in the trash can and the subsquent ruling about how the WWF logo could not be showed on WCW television or something like that.

[Hektik 0]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

The idea of Bret going to WCW with the belt is a made up story that Vince concocted because he had no other answer for the locker room in the wake of what happened. And it made a great story, because it allowed a lot of people to justify his actions without looking into what the real story was.

 

The best thing for Vince possible was for Bret to show up on WCW wearing his belt. Because of the 1991 lawsuit regarding who owns the belt and appearing on rival television, Vince would have made an incredible amount of money in a lawsuit against Turner if they would have put the WWF belt on their TV show (don't bring up Madusa, totally different legal situation because they fired her, and by firing her without losing the belt, it killed their case that there was any significant value to that belt). Bischoff knew full well he'd be toast if he put the company at risk like that on a point that it was WCW that established in winning a court case against WWF. No chance of it happening and everyone knew it. But the wrestlers didn't, so Vince was able to use that line to quell an uprising.

[theintensifier 0]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

The idea of Bret going to WCW with the belt is a made up story that Vince concocted because he had no other answer for the locker room in the wake of what happened. And it made a great story, because it allowed a lot of people to justify his actions without looking into what the real story was.

 

The best thing for Vince possible was for Bret to show up on WCW wearing his belt. Because of the 1991 lawsuit regarding who owns the belt and appearing on rival television, Vince would have made an incredible amount of money in a lawsuit against Turner if they would have put the WWF belt on their TV show (don't bring up Madusa, totally different legal situation because they fired her, and by firing her without losing the belt, it killed their case that there was any significant value to that belt). Bischoff knew full well he'd be toast if he put the company at risk like that on a point that it was WCW that established in winning a court case against WWF. No chance of it happening and everyone knew it. But the wrestlers didn't, so Vince was able to use that line to quell an uprising.

 

Point taken.

[Guest treecelightning]

Jesus christ. It's porfessional wrestling for christ sakes, what does Bret expect ? He was going to take the WWF title to WCW, I'm almost certain of it. Vince, while he did screw Bret, was protecting his own ass. And, Shawn is an employee of Vince, so what boss wants, boss gets. Period.

There was ZERO chance of that happening.

 

I've read, or heard somewhere, out of Bret's mouth, he was going to do it, because he was offered a lot of money to do so, and was already angry with Vince and company.

 

Every shred of evidence points that Bret never had that intention and even Eric Bischoff supports against that idea was suggested. It would have been a massive legal lawsuit that Turner wasn't going to back. It was a hoax, created by McMahon-supporters to paint Vince in a positive light and make it look like Vince had no choice in the matter.

 

The difference between Medusa and Bret? Medusa, wasn't under contract...and because of that incident certain actions against WCW were taken.

 

To be fair, just because it was very unlikely to happen, doesn't mean Vince didn't think it was going to happen. Also, whether the WWF could have sued over it happening, it would still be a huge event for WCW, and they might have seen it as worth any potential financial/legal backlash.

 

I don't believe Bret Hart would have done what Medusa did or had any intention of doing so. I don't believe that Bischoff didn't want him to (as Bischoff claims). I do believe Vince may have been paranoid enough to think it would happen anyways, based on past precedent (Alundra Blaze/Medusa), and his own shenanigans concerning Bret's leaving (driving up the bidding against WCW despite no intention of signing Bret). When you're in the process of something shady, it's easy to expect shady/underhanded actions from others. None of this excuses Vince's actions, but it does show exactly why both sides may have felt "justified" in their actions.

 

The difference between Hart's current relationship with Vince and his current relationship with Shawn is two fold:

 

1)Vince has apologized to Bret. He hasn't said he wouldn't have done it again, but he has said he's sorry that's the way their business relationship ended. To my knowledge, Shawn has never apologized at all.

 

2)Bret didn't like Shawn Michaels to begin with.