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This week's WWE Network premiere was Bret Hart on Stone Cold Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, a show that dropped following Monday Night Raw and it was arguably the most interesting since Hart was finally able to tell his side of the story when it comes to the Montreal Screwjob.
Bret Hart and WWE are now on much better terms despite the fact that Hart was recently invited onto AEW TV, but there was a time when many fans believed that Bret Hart would never set foot in a WWE ring again and finally he was able to reveal how personal he believed the Screwjob was.
Hart was also able to make a number of other interesting facts about his career public knowledge, so here are six things that we learned when The Hitman sat down with Stone Cold Steve Austin.
#6. It was Bret Hart who convinced Vince McMahon to sign Steve Austin
Bret Hart was already part of WWE long before Stone Cold Steve Austin was ever created, but he was able to reveal alongside the former WWE Champion that it was actually him who got Vince McMahon to sign him to WWE.
Austin was down in ECW at the time and Hart had seen what he could do and thought that he would be a decent option for WWE. Hart revealed that he went on to have a conversation with the Chairman and the next thing he knew, Austin was a WWE superstar.
"I remember talking about you [Austin]. I think you just signed with ECW and I said, 'why don't you guys grab Steve Austin' he was free, he was available. I said 'you're looking for new guys all the time and he's one of the best guys down there and they just let him go with WCW' and I said 'I don't know why you didn't grab him' and I talked to Vince about it and I remember the next week you were sitting in the dressing room."
#5. Vince McMahon encouraged Bret Hart to join WCW
Bret Hart was one of the biggest stars in WWE at the time of the Montreal Screwjob, but he revealed to Steve Austin that Vince McMahon actually encouraged him to leave and head over to WCW. Hart said that he even rang McMahon before he signed and told him that he didn't want to go, but the writing was on the wall when he realized that he would be losing to Shawn Michaels in creative ways for the next year.
"I remember I called Vince even the night before I signed and I said I don't wanna go, I said I'm happy with the contract I got, I'm not asking for more money or anything else I just wanna know what you have in mind for me over the next year, like where am I going."
The future in the WWE looked bleak for Bret Hart, which is why he opted to join WCW, a move that was further fueled by the fact that WWE went on to screw him in his home country at Survivor Series.
#4. Bret offered to drop the Championship to anyone else or the following night on RAW
Bret Hart was screwed out of the WWE Championship because he refused to drop the title to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in 1997. Hart and Michaels had their issues at the time and Hart didn't want to have to drop the title on that night. Whilst speaking to Steve Austin he revealed that he offered to drop to anyone else instead and even offered to drop to Michaels the night after on RAW.
"I said, Vince, I told you I'm not putting Shawn over. I said you can give me Steve, I'll drop it to anybody in the company any way you want. I even offered to drop the belt to Shawn the next day on Monday Night RAW."
Of course this wasn't the plan that Vince McMahon had at that time, since Hart explained that if he had stayed in WWE the plan for him was to lose to Shawn Michaels over and over again in the weeks that followed, something that fuelled his desire to leave.
#3. Earl Hebner knew about the screwjob even though he told Bret he wouldn't let it happen
There have been conspiracies surrounding the Montreal Screwjob for a number of years, the biggest one is regarding who actually knew what was going to happen heading into the match. Shawn Michaels protested his innocence, even though it was obvious that he was involved and Earl Hebner apparently swore to Bret Hart the day before the show that he knew nothing about anything to do with it.
"He came up to me in the shower after and we were talking and I said Earl, you know they are going to ask you to tomorrow to screw me in the match, you know that, he got tears in his eyes and he said 'I swear to god on my kids, I would never let that happen."
"I knew in my head my mistake was letting anyone put any kind of a hold on me and trusting Earl, but they got Earl just before he walked out through the curtain and kinda got him and said 'you're gonna do this'...and I've never blamed Earl."
#2. Bret Hart broke his hand on Vince McMahon's face
One of the best stories to come out of the Montreal Screwjob was the rumor that Bret Hart was so annoyed with the WWE Chairman for screwing him out of his Championship in Canada in the way that he did, that he headed backstage and punched him in the face. It was a rumor that many fans have talked about for many years and now Bret Hart has finally been able to reveal that he didn't actually punch him, it was more of an uppercut to his chin.
Hart stated that he was showering when Vince McMahon came into the locker room flanked by a number of other stars including his son Shane and wanted to apologize to Hart. At the time Bret was naked so he thought of tackling his boss whilst naked, but stated that if he was still there when he had finished getting dressed then they would collide.
Vince didn't leave so the two men looked as though they were about to lock up and Hart just unleashed an uppercut, it was so hard that it knocked Vince out cold and broke Bret Hart's hand.
#1. Bret Hart still doesn't like Goldberg
Bret Hart, perhaps, didn't have many pleasant things to say about Goldberg, the man who ended The Hitman's career all those years ago. Whilst Hart has been able to find common ground with Vince McMahon since 1997, it appears that he hasn't given the same kind of forgiveness to the current Universal Champion. When prompted by Steve Austin, Hart has some shocking things to say about Goldberg.
"Goldberg to me was one of the most unprofessional wrestlers there was in the business. I mean for Bill Goldberg to be in the Hall Of Fame. He hurt everyone he ever worked with. You might as well wrestle a real gorilla. He was the most dangerous guy to work with. I remember Curt Hennig being in pain all the time from the matches they had. Even when I worked with Bill, the last thing I said to Bill before we went out to have that match that ended my career was, Bill you can do whatever you want out there, just don’t hurt me.”
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