Road Dogg Has Regret Over Comments About WWE Hall Of Famer
Immodesty and good manners are not prerequisites for a job in professional wrestling, but "Road Dogg" Brian James acknowledged –- to a certain degree –- that he may have gone a bit over the proverbial line with his recent comments about Bret Hart.
Last month, James used his "Oh...You Didn't Know" podcast to reflect on Hart's performance abilities, opining, "He was a great worker, and I thought about saying good, but he was a great worker. Worked better than me ten-fold ... I don't think Bret was a great wrestler. He was a wrestler. I think I was a better sports entertainer than Bret was, and I think that's where the money is."
James, who is now current Senior Vice President of Live Events for WWE, fielded a great deal of negative response for his comments, and initially sought to backpedal by stating, "I didn't mean to stir it up. These are my legitimate feelings that I thought I put out there as honestly as I could. ... It's just my opinion. Bret and I get along to this day."
But in his latest "Oh...You Didn't Know" episode, James insisted that "I'm a better sports entertainer to them –- and I should probably take out the word 'sports.'"
James acknowledged that there were "a lot of people upset about my comments about Bret Hart," but he insisted the problem was his verbiage and not his observation.
"Yeah, look, maybe in retrospect, I could have changed some of the language," he said. "But the message would still stay the same, you know what I mean? And so that's what I was talking about when I removed the word 'sports.'"
'Just Having Fun With This'
James then mischievously poured some more fuel on the fire of his creation.
"If me and Bret had to go out tomorrow night in whatever building we were in, and we had 10 minutes to do something to entertain them, Bret would have to wrestle for those. You know what I mean? If I had it, I could do a couple more things, is all I'm saying."
After letting out a laugh, James admitted he was "still taking the piss a little bit and just having fun with this," but then confessed he only riffed on Hart to generate a ratings reaction.
"I leaned into the Bret thing ... a little more than normal to get a bite, to get a nibble," he said. "Holy crap, I got my boat so full of fish. I had to go to shore ... I leaned into it stronger than I should have, by design. And it made me uncomfortable, to be quite honest with you. It made me uncomfortable for two or three weeks."
James concluded by saying that his actions were "disingenuous" and he deserved the repercussions that occurred.