Bret Hart Q&A Report: His Defining Moment, Steve Austin, Problems With Bulldog And Jerry Lawler

Thanks to WrestlingINC.com reader Gavin Horne for sending in this report from this weekend's "An Evening with Bret Hart" Q&A at Leicester City Football Club. Part one of the report is below, we will post part two on Tuesday:

The event had been put on by MDA, and also featured a comedian, with two live wrestling matches put together by LCW (Leicester Championship Wrestling). There was also a big screen at one end of the room that showed a collection of Hart matches on a loop. The matches were not really the focal point of the evening for me and so I am afraid I can not really give much of a write up other than the first bout was won by a wrestler named Barricade and the second bout was atag match won by Marc Massa and his partner (I forget his name). LCW have their own website here.

After Bret Hart had his photo taken with everyone and people had him sign their memorabilia (Platinum guests had one free signature, everyone else paid £10 per autograph, there was a 3 course meal served with both Bret Hart and his son Blade on the head table and the seats either side of Bret were auctioned off in the room to the highest bidders, who I believe bought them at £240 ($380) each. These fans would then eat alongside Bret and could talk to him as he signed the freshly printed photographs that had been taken earlier in the event.

Before the Q&A session there was another auction for various parts of memorabilia such as a WCW world heavyweight title signed by both Bret Hart and Chris Jericho, a WWF "Winged Eagle" Heavyweight championship and an Intercontinental Championship both signed by Bret, various photographs signed by the Hitman including one of him holding Shawn Michaels in the Sharpshooter, a pair of ring worn and autographed Hitman pink trunks, a Black (with Pink Trim) autographed singlet and a Daniel Bryan signed piece of this year's Wrestlemania canvas complete with photographs. There was also some non wrestling related items such as a signed and framed pair of Mike Tysons Black Trunks.

The Q&A session was open but had pre-set guidelines where the compere would give Bret a starting point and he would go from there. They started with Bret's beginnings in wrestling and Bret discussed his father's dream for him to be an Olympian and recounted a time when he had annoyed Stu because Stu asked him, "don't you want to be the guy who is walking down the street 10 years from now with a gold medal around his neck waving to everyone?" and Bret answered, "I would rather be the guy driving by in a new Cadillac honking my horn at the guy with the gold medal." He said that Stu was not amused, but that was a good window in to why he didn't pursue an amateur career and ended up professional. He discussed his early matches with Dynamite Kid and said that Dynamite is one of the greatest wrestlers ever, but that he had an odd personality. He also commented that Dynamite invented the Tombstone piledriver and that he rarely is given the credit he deserves.

They moved on to discussing Bret's match at Summerslam 1992 with the British Bulldog and Bret labelled it as his "defining moment". He also said that as far as story telling goes, he felt that the match had everything and that it was one of his favourites. He did discuss that Davey Boy had dropped the ball in the run up to the match as he had sat at home "pretending to be injured" and that he had developed a drug problem. Bret said that he had been trying to contact the Bulldog all through the summer to discuss the match and that Davey had not been returning the calls. He did say that about a week before the show Davey Boy called Bret and broke down in tears saying that he had f**ked up and Bret told him that everything would be ok. He went on to say that earlier in the year, when Vince had ok'ed the Summerslam Card and that they would be the main event, Vince booked Bulldog and Bret in a house show match and that they absolutely stunk the place out. This had led to some concern that they were not up to the main event status but that Bret had assured Vince that it would get better. He said that when the match arrived, Davey was not in a good physical condition and was blown up very early on, and Bret joked that Davey had said to him about 5 minutes in that he was (in Bret's best Leeds Accent) "f**ked" and that was proud that they were able to put on a captivating match despite the initial problems. He said that he could feel the electricity in the crowd because he had as many fans in Wembly as the Bulldog did and so no one really knew who was going to win which made it easier for them to put on a captivating match.

They then discussed Bret's feud with Jerry Lawler in 1993, and Bret said that he always liked Lawler but there were a few things about the feud that bothered him. He said that when Lawler attacked him in the King of the Ring coronation ceremony, Lawler was not aware that the prop throne and septre were made of a heavy wood and when he hit hart with them he did so with such force that Bret had some troubles breathing for several months. He went on to say that he felt that Lawler was sloppy with his use of props and mentioned another night where he had used something on Owen at a house show which had led to a completely accidental but legitimate wound on Owens head which left him busted wide open. Hart said that as time went on he began to keep receipts of all of these things and would cash them in at their match. He also mentioned that Owen had been upset at how personal Lawler was getting about Stu & Helen Hart and that he had spoken to Bret and got him to agree to talk to Lawler and tell him to ease off, until they went home for a family meal and both Stu & Helen were saying about how much they enjoyed Lawler's heel personality and his remarks about them. At that point, they agreed to let Lawler say what he wanted. Bret then said that when he did face Lawler, he cashed in every receipt and that Jerry didnt know what was going on. Bret said that every punch he threw was a full fisted punch in the face and he went on to say that Lawler had asked Hart earlier in the day to take it easy when he applied the sharpshooter, and Bret had told him that he would but when he applied it he said that by the end of the move he was pulling back full force and that Lawler was in a lot of pain. He also laughed and said that the WWE officials who entered the ring who were trying to "break up" the move, were actually pushing Hart down harder to hurt Lawler more. Bret went on to say that he never had an issue with the King personally and said that he has always been a fan of Lawler's heel persona and said that he is great at what he does, but has made a few enemies along the way. He then told the story of Lawler's debut in the Royal Rumble and that someone had stolen the King's crown and it had been put into a shower cubicle where at least eight wrestlers had pooped in it. He said that when Lawler found it he was both angry and mortified. Bret also said that he has no idea who actually did soil the crown.

They then talked about Steve Austin, and Bret commented that he is a huge fan of Austin's. He said that when they found out that they would be working Wrestlemania together it was kind of a shock to both of them as Bret had been expecting to work with Shawn. He said that they had no problem working with each other, but they were unsure as to what they could do to top what they had done previously at the Survivor Series. At this point, completely accidentally, the match started to play on the big screen. Bret said that he knew all along that this would be the match that solidified the Stone Cold character and that they aimed to make Austin appear unbeatable. The compere noticed that the match was playing and pointed it out to Bret who went on to talk the crowd through a few spots. He also mentioned that he told Austin that what the match really needed was blood to hit home what they were trying to get across. He explained that at that time blood was a big no no, and that they could have gotten fired for blading. Austin told Bret that he had never bladed before, but somehow he would pull it off. Bret told Austin that Wrestlemania is not a place to practice these things and so told Austin that he could trust him to do it. Bret said he has a lot of respect for the fact that Austin let him do that, as it really does show the level of trust he had for him. Bret went on to say that he always kept his blades in his upped lip, between his lip and his teeth, and told Austin that if he didnt want to do it that he had until the time Hart spat the blade out to change his mind. Bret then said that during the match Austin said "lets do it", so Bret coughed the blade into his hand and Austin then said "on second thoughts, maybe we shouldn't" to which Bret responded "too late!". Obviously Hart did cut Austin, and he said that the cut was no longer than the width of your little finger and that you can see during the match that when Austin wipes the blood away there is a "little cat scratch" and nothing more. He said that Austin sold the cut so well that even after the match he left the arena with a huge bandage on his head, despite the cut being so small. Bret also pointed out on the video that when he hits Austin in the head with the ring bell, Austin actually threw him out of the ring at the wrong point and so he had to get into position properly to swing the bell. He said that even though it looks like he hit Austin full force with the bell, there was actually no contact at all and at the time he thought he had messed it up and missed him completely and so is proud at how that spot actually turned out. He also pointed out that Austin was the first person to ever power out of the Sharpshooter, and that he had put that spot in the match after watching "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest" where Jack Nicholson tries to pick up a huge sink but cannot because it is too heavy and says, "at least I tried.: He said that he wanted to give Austin that never say die sort of look in the match. This is the scene here:

Overall Hart said that he was very proud of the match and said that Austin still calls him up whenever he watches the match, and has told him that it is the only match of himself Austin will watch.

We will have more from the Q&A on Tuesday, including Bret's thoughts on Montreal, reconciling with Shawn Michaels, the current WWE product and more.