Bret Hart Discusses His Father, His Matches With HBK & Owen At WrestleMania, More

Recently, Bret 'Hitman' Hart was interviewed by The Score's Arda Ocal and discussed a variety of topics. Topics included; his match with Owen Hart at WrestleMania X, the Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels, his match with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 26 and more. Here are some of the highlights:

On his match with his brother, Owen Hart, at WrestleMania X: "The beauty of the match with Owen was that Owen was such a great high-flyer. We were just walking through how he was going to switch and become a heel character now. Over the last few weeks, we sort of strategized and put together a pretty nice match for me and Owen at WrestleMania.

"But I realized on the day before we left for WrestleMania that the match was too polished and too nice. They would have begun cheering Owen and he would have become a babyface. It wasn't advancing his villain role at all. So, I remember talking to Owen and telling him. The day before we left, I called him up and said to meet me at my dad's dungeon.

"We met down there and we just sat and stared at each other, sitting there. I think Owen was wondering why I called him up. I said, 'Owen, we got to change the whole match. You've got too many nice moves. You've got all these aerial moves. After a while, they're going to start cheering you. Then being a villain is not going to work out for you. We have to come up with more ways to make you more vicious and more dislikable.'

"So, we just altered the match. We took the whole match that we originally had and scrapped it and came up with a different match that paved the way for Owen to become the villain that he was over the next nine months. 'Cause that was critical, for Owen have them accept him as the bad guy. So, being the older, bigger brother, it was easy for me to lose my momentum and let Owen get stuck being the good guy and they're cheering for him over me. But that wasn't what the story line called for so we had to kind of tweak it a little bit and make sure that our characters were what they needed to be at the end of the match."

On the 1-0 final at WrestleMania XII and if there were ever any other plans for his match with Shawn Michaels: "That was what was presented to me. I always liked the idea of two or three falls. I had a different idea. In the end, the one fall had it's appeal, too. That's what they wanted, so that's what they got.

"I have no problem with it now. Looking back on it, I can see it. I can see why it was one fall. It stands out now for that reason, maybe. But, if it had been three or four falls, it might have been a more exciting match. We would have had more rest spots in there, anyway. [Laughs.] That was for sure the hardest match I ever had."

On how he felt about putting to rest the Mr. McMahon character at WrestleMania 26: "Yeah. It was kind of like putting a nice, little bow on something. It was wrapped up nice and pretty at the end. I still find it hilarious when I think of all my brothers and sisters being the lumberjacks. My sister Allison, she's a librarian for her job. She's like a quite little librarian in a college up in Calgary. She comes down to WrestleMania to induct my dad into the Hall of Fame. She comes back home and she's a lumberjack, shaking her fist at me.

"I know a lot of people don't look back on that match and think of it as any kind of classic match. But it was a nice ending to a sort of long, drawn out — finally, there was an ending to it. I don't really consider it with my career, necessarily but, for me, personally, it was great having my family there as much of a headache all that was. They were all there for me and we got through that day. I thought it was good. I'm happy with it. I was always happy that I got to tell that part of the story."

On comparing his speech for his induction into the Hall of Fame to that of his father's induction: "(It was) almost the opposite. I had less time. My dad's such a big topic and such an important part of the industry. Maybe more so to the wrestlers themselves. This is one that the wrestlers really care about.

"There's so much to say about my father and what he contributed to and all those who loved him and what he meant to the industry that in the time that they gave me, it was impossible to do justice to him. So, I almost didn't even care. 'OK. I got 30 seconds to say something about my father. I'll do it and get it over with.' I'd like to have expanded it and do it a little longer. Not like I did at the Hall of Fame for myself. Just to where I could talk and leisurely about my father and some of the things he did. I wish I could have done that a little longer.

"Whereas, for my Hall of Fame, I didn't know if I was ever going to come back. So, I went on and on and on and on for so long."

On Tyson Kidd being off TV and Natalya dealing with the "flatulent" gimmick: "Sometimes, things aren't always in your control. Sometimes, they do things as a test to see if you're good enough to do something else. You can only imagine sometimes what it takes for someone to throw you a bone in wrestling."

To check out the entire segment, watch it below.