WWE legend recalls knocking Vince McMahon 'completely out cold' in backstage altercation

Speaking on the latest episode of WWE Network show Broken Skull Sessions, Bret Hart told Steve Austin the story about the time he knocked out Vince McMahon in the locker room.

Hart was involved in one of WWE’s most controversial incidents, known as the Montreal Screwjob, when he was forced to lose the WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1997.

Going into the match, Hart was told that there would be a disqualification finish, resulting in him retaining his title in his home country. However, McMahon ordered referee Earl Hebner to end the match when Michaels locked in the sharpshooter, meaning WCW-bound Hart lost his title.

The two-time WWE Hall of Famer, who refused to lose against Michaels in Montreal due to a derogatory comment that his opponent made towards him weeks before the show, recalled to Austin that he knocked McMahon “completely out cold” with an uppercut after coming face-to-face with him backstage.

“Then I remember sitting there in the dressing room. Everyone’s just sitting there. We’re all looking and it’s like stunned, including me, I’m going, ‘I can’t believe I just knocked out Vince McMahon. I would’ve done anything for this guy.’”

The animosity between Hart and McMahon continued for several years – so much so that Natalya recently claimed that their strained relationship “made things a little tricky” when she joined WWE.

Needless to say, Hart is on much better terms with the company in 2020, and he is now among an elite group of legends with two WWE Hall of Fame inductions (2006 as an individual and 2019 as part of The Hart Foundation).