WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart recently reflected on his early rise as a singles star, giving immense credit to two specific wrestlers for helping him reach the top: “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Hart contrasted their selfless approach to building new talent with the actions of Hulk Hogan, who he claimed never did the same for anyone else in the company. Hart’s comments provide a fascinating and critical perspective on the politics and dynamics of the WWE locker room during the late 1980s and early 1990s, an era when the company was undergoing significant changes.
Speaking about his early push as a singles competitor after a successful tag team run, Hart explained how instrumental Hennig and Piper were in his development.
“Eventually when I was tagged up with Jim [Neidhart], we became tag champions the second time and had a nice run as champions. [Vince] came back to me and said, ‘We’re going to put you in singles again. We’re going to give you the big push again, the real one.’ And I’m kind of like — I’m skeptical that they would do all that for me again. Because there’s always a lot of politics and backstabbing. And anyway, so I got turned to a good guy again with Mr. Perfect. And that was the start of it. Everything for me started with the wrestlers that loved working with me, like Mr. Perfect and Roddy Piper. And certain guys wanted to help me and prove to the office and the promotion that I could be a big star. And so I owe a lot to Mr. Perfect. He was the first guy to really go in there and just show everybody how good I was. And Curt was — he one of my favorite guys to ever wrestled. He was the first guy to step up and make me. And then Roddy Piper was probably the second.”
He then offered a harsh critique of Hulk Hogan’s impact on the next generation of talent, arguing that Hogan’s long run at the top depleted the roster of viable main event opponents for future stars.
“When I look back on my career and I look back on wrestling, the industry. And I look back on what Roddy and Mr. Perfect did for me. And I can tell you that Hulk Hogan never did that for anybody. He never helped anybody else after his time of being the top guy. He would rather see the company sink than actually come back and help make the next star. Which in wrestling, that’s kind of how it always works. The next guy builds the next guy after. It’s like everybody helps each other kind of thing. Jake Roberts is another guy that never made anybody. All he did was — you know, they feed Hulk Hogan one wrestler after another for for 10 years. And when I became champion, I had nobody to wrestle against. I had Papa Shango and Bam Bam Bigalow, it was great. And there was no real fresh new stars. The company had the drug testing, and all the steroid guys like Hogan and Warrior, and Psycho Sid. Anybody that was kind of muscles coming out of their ears. Any of those guys, they’re all gone. I remember it was just guys like me and Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, and the small guys.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcription. Thanks for checking out this article. Make sure to follow Jeff Jarrett and all things GFE on Facebook.
