Jim Neidhart On Bret Hart Punching Out Vince McMahon, Getting Paid In WCW For Nothing, Wearing Pink
On episode 298 of Talk Is Jericho, Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart talked about what it was like teaming with Bret 'Hitman' Hart to form the legendary Hart Foundation and how the tag team decided to wear pink. Also, Neidhart shared his firsthand account of the infamous 'Montreal Screwjob' and he discussed being paid to do nothing in WCW.
According to Neidhart, he never had any arguments with Hart in all their time together over the years and they never disagreed about anything.
"Bret was a really, really great partner." Neidhart added, "I got along really [well] with Bret. In fact, we still are proud of this little thing, where no matter what happened out there, we never got in an argument and we never disagreed about anything."
During the podcast, Neidhart divulged that the Hart Foundation's trademark pink and black wardrobe was inspired by Adrian Adonis, another client of their manager, 'The Mouth Of The South' Jimmy Hart.
"We were trying to figure out a color because Vince likes color. And so, we ran the light blue and black. And then, when that didn't work, we had a maroon and black. And here I saw, on the first day, Adrian Adonis, had Jimmy Hart as a manager too, and he came out with all pink. I was like, 'wow'. And nobody's wearing pink. And so, here Bret and I, we said, 'oh, lets go all pink. Adrian had Jimmy Hart as a manager, and so Adrian, Jimmy Hart, us, lets all wear the pink!' And the first time Vince ever saw it, he loved the color. He loved it and it helped our career, I think, going with all pink."
On the subject of the 'Montreal Screwjob', Neidhart admitted that he did not understand the finish when it happened, but went out to the ring to watch Hart's back.
"I was like everybody else. I was going, 'what the hell's going on here?' So I basically just came out [to the ring] and watched Bret's back a little bit and that was about it." Neidhart recalled, "I remember being in the ring watching Bret break everything."
Neidhart claimed he was right by "The Hitman's" side when he decked Vince McMahon backstage after the 1997 Survivor Series went off the air. 'The Anvil' stated there was a huge dog pile in the locker room.
"I was right next to him. It was like Bret was sitting over on one side of the locker room. Here comes Vince and they got right into it, right into a big fight there, so everybody piled on top. It was a huge dog pile. Yeah, in the dressing room."
Neidhart would find his way to WCW in 1998 shortly after Hart's debut. When asked whether Hart hooked him up with a deal, Neidhart responded in the affirmative. The former Oakland Raider professed that he never had been paid so much to do nothing.
"Something like that. Oh yeah, I really liked [WCW]. I've never made so much money to do absolutely nothing. To go to these things and get paid a really decent salary, and then, not wrestle, it's like, 'wow, do these guys know what they're doing? I don't think so.' Something tells me. I get paid a lot of money just to stand here in the locker room and drink beer at night."
Click here to listen to the show. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Talk Is Jericho