Bret Hart says he regrets not working with a wrestling legend he trained

Bret Hart has said he regrets not getting to work with Ken Shamrock during his wrestling career.

In a recent appearance on The 81 Podcast, The Hitman recalled how he helped train Shamrock at his house in Canada, before the MMA fighter eventually debuted with WWE. Bret Hart said he was the man who helped bring Shamrock into WWE, saying he advised the UFC Hall of Famer to consider joining the wrestling business while he was dealing with a broken hand he sustained in a fight.

"Right from the start I wanted to wrestle Ken." said Hart. "I would have loved to have worked with him. I got Ken in and trained him. I got Vader, Vader and Ken trained at my house, I had a gym set up at my house. You might remember it from Wrestling with Shadows? But I trained Ken there, I was the guy that brought him in and tried to get him to do the wrestling."

Bret Hart continued:

"He told me he broke his hand in the UFC, and he goes, “I can’t fight for a while.” So I said, “Why don’t you wrestle? Make some money doing wrestling? You’d be a big star if you did the wrestling.” And Ken used to be a wrestler before he did the UFC. It wasn’t that hard for him to go back to the pro wrestling stuff. I said “Rest your hand, mend up, heal and we’ll do wrestling stuff!” I would have loved to have worked with Ken, it just never happened."

Ken Shamrock continued to move back and forth between MMA and pro wrestling in his career. In 2019, Shamrock claimed on social media he was done with MMA for good.

Ken Shamrock was the referee in a famous Bret Hart match

Ken Shamrock as a referee in WWE (Credit: WWE)

While he would go on to become a famous wrestler in his own right, Ken Shamrock is remembered by many WWE fans for his role in the classic bout between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13.

Shamrock is also recognized for popularizing the Ankle Lock submission hold, most famously used by WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle.