WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart on WrestleMania switch, nearly fighting Roddy Piper after their WrestleMania 8 match, feeling ripped off by the Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon ladder match

WWE: 30 Years Of WrestleMania Podcast Episode #4

Guest: Bret Hart

Host: Renee Young
Available at Podcastone.com

By Haydn Gleed

On the original plans for WrestleMania 2: "I was initially told quite excitedly, that I would be wrestling Ricky Steamboat, which was a dream for me, that would have been a big moment for me. Then they changed it about a month before WrestleMania, you are going to be in the battle royal with the football players, and I remember going, uch, that’s not going to be anywhere near the same thing. I would have a great match with Ricky Steamboat".

On his favourite WrestleMania match to watch: "I would probably say the Iron Man match, but it’s so long I don’t really have time to take an hour to watch it, it’s really a study that match. I would recommend that any young wrestler if they really want to watch a good match where they might learn something, it would probably be that Iron Man match. But just for time reasons, I always loved the match I had with Steve Austin, just because it delivers so much. It was a beautiful story"

On the aftermath of WrestleMania 8 with Roddy Piper: " Well, the truth is, when we finished the match, we almost got into it in the back. Because Roddy had kicked me in the face and busted me open, and there was a little tension from that when I came back. I remember that Chief Jay Strongbow had to kinda get between us, and we had to cool our heels for an hour before we could at least thank each other for the match"

Who he would have liked to work at WrestleMania that he wishes he had: "I’d have like to put Hulk Hogan in the sharpshooter if he had shown up".

On his feeling towards the Shawn Michaels & Razor Ramon’s ladder match at WrestleMania XI "I felt totally ripped off. I had told Vince the idea since the very first day that I got there that I’ve got this idea about a ladder match that we been doing up in Calgary. Everytime I sat down with Vince I would always say, I’ve got this idea for a match but you’ve got to promise me you won’t do it with anybody else. One day he did ask me to show him the watch so that he could have an idea, so I went and found Shawn, and it’s one of those matches that’s on a video but we kinda just went out there and did a dry run just to show Vince what the match was, it wasn’t the greatest ladder match, nor was it intended to be. But it was a match to show the bare bones of it to Vince. I remember when it was over I knocked on Vince’s door and said did you see it, and he said he missed it. Scott Hall, not Scott Hall but Razor Ramon saw the match, of course Shawn was in the match so he kinda got to think hey this is a great idea, and so they went to Vince without my permission and stole my idea took the match. They had a great match at WrestleMania X but it wasn’t the wrestlers that were great, it was the match that was great".

Gleed’s Verdict: This was a great interview by Bret. There was no holding back, no hiding behind political speak, if anything it sounded like a shoot tape. Not something you would expect from something produced by corporate aware WWE. Bret did come across like a mark for himself, but he is well known for doing that.

Bret also talked about never getting the chance to wrestle Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Bob Backlund saying the wrong thing in an I Quit match and much much more. Go out of your way to listen to this podcast.