Page 4 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Hart, Continued from page 3 you can find it anymore, but the best
part about the show is that I beat
team called The Hart Foundation him up outside his dressing room,
with WWE. And my manager said to but then I pretended like I didn’t do
me, “We need to come up with a it and that I was helping him. I don’t
name for you. You’ve got to be Bret- think I hit him in the face. But at the
something-Hart. And we had to have very end of the show, he got a nose-
the name by the next TV taping—and bleed—but I think it was from his
I was trying to recreate myself as a nervousness. It was tiny, one little
bad guy. I was at Detroit Airport, and trickle of blood—it was easily wiped
I was reading in the newspaper how away with a Kleenex. We always had
“The Hitman” Hearns had just lost a a good laugh about it. And Debra Wil-
decision in a boxing match, and the son was playing it so dramatically, as
newspaper story was that he was re- if I’d really roughed him up. The
tiring. And I thought, “Hitman”? FOX network got besieged with
That’s a cool name. He’s retiring. phone calls from irate fans that I
Why don’t I just call myself “The Hit- beat up Will Sasso, but it was all just
man.” So, that’s where the name a storyline. It was great. It was so
came from. And I did meet him Bret "The Hitman" Hart funny. But I was really hurt at the
many years later and told him that gave my whole life to. It’s very special then I’d be done. My theory was that time. I had a muscle tear in my groin,
story. I remember he said, “Well, to me. I’d travel around the world, meet a and I could barely walk. I had done
you’ve done good with it.” I think he CC: You are REALLY accom- lot of girls, and make some money— it the night before at a wrestling
took it as a compliment that I had plished in the arena of wrestling. not a lot, but enough to at least figure match, and I had to do MADtv the
the name. And that meant a lot to You’ve held championships in five out where I was going to go from next day, so I had to fly to L.A. to do
me. decades from the 1970s to the there. And once I really got into the show in front of a live studio au-
CC: Tell me about the moment 2010s and have acquired a total of wrestling, I think I knew right away. dience. But you’d never know by
you were inducted into the WWE 32 throughout your career. And let’s All my life I dreamed about it. I watching it.
Hall of Fame. forget that you were the first World thought about wrestling matches CC: You’ve always had an affinity
BH: When I had my stroke in Championship Wrestling (WCW) and what would be a good match, for Detroit. Tell me about the connec-
2002, I got a very upbeat, encourag- World Heavyweight Champion born and how to do this, and how to do tion you have to the city.
ing phone call from [WWE founder] outside the United States. Did you that. I studied wrestling without even BH: I don’t get very many oppor-
Vince McMahon. He gave me a very ever visualize that this would be knowing I was studying wrestling. tunities to get back to Michigan, and
positive pep talk while I was in the you? But I think it was destiny. I think I I think Detroit has such a rich his-
hospital bed. He said something BH: When I was a kid, wrestling was destined from the day I was tory in professional wrestling, one
about being inducted into the [WWE] was very popular, and then it went born to be the wrestling superstar that a lot of people don’t understand.
Hall of Fame someday. And I said, through a phase—during the ‘60s that I became. But I understand perfectly. When I
“Well, I earned it, and I would love to and ‘70s—when it waned a little bit. CC: Apart from wrestling, you’ve was a kid, wrestling programs from
do it.” I think he thought I would say And as I got older, I didn’t really want appeared in film and television proj- Detroit used to arrive in the mail for
no. But I told him if he inducted me, to do it. I just didn’t like the idea of ects—The Simpsons and a live the- my dad, and he would hand them to
I’d go. And that opened a little win- being away from home, traveling, atre production of Aladdin in me. So, I always knew what was hap-
dow for him and me to have a dia- and being gone all the time like my Toronto being among them. What pening in wrestling in Detroit. And I
logue, which slowly expanded until dad was. But I really felt as though I was your favorite media project out- was a big fan of all the wrestlers that
we eventually buried the hatchet a had failed at everything I did until I side of the ring? wrestled in Detroit. Detroit has a re-
bit. The Hall of Fame was very impor- ended up doing this. I thought, All BH: The Simpsons is always ally rich history in wrestling—as did
tant to me. I worked so hard in my I’ve got left is to be a wrestler. I was going to be one of my favorite things Calgary, where I grew up. Detroit is
wrestling career. It was earned—and just a young guy at 19 years old, so I that I did. I also did an episode of a place where I have a lot of good
it was delivered. And it was impor- just figured I’d try wrestling and fig- MADtv with Will Sasso that was hi- memories. And I always felt a con-
tant to the fans, and it was important ure out my life from there. I remem- larious and one of the funniest nection there. I look forward to going
for my love of the profession that I ber saying that I’ll do it for five years, things I ever did. I don’t know where back.

4 · October 2023 · The Wayne Dispatch