Bret Hart Talks WWE Lying To Him Regarding His First Title Reign

WWE Hall Of Famer, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, recently spoke with Sean Mooney during the Prime Time With Sean Mooney podcast. Bret took some time during the discussion to reflect on the unpredictable night that was WrestleMania IX, where he lost the WWE Championship to Yokozuna who then lost it to a returning Hulk Hogan right after.

"I actually have really good memories of being here for WrestleMania IX. I was a little disappointed with the plans they had for me in the future," Bret admitted. "Other than that, it was great. I remember I got off the plane, and there was my face and pictures of me with the belt were everywhere at the airport. In a lot of ways, it was some of my greatest memories. It was the first time I was the main event at a WrestleMania, I was really honored. I will say that I had absolutely no expectation for what happened."

At the time, WrestleMania IX was to be centered around two storylines – WWE Champion Bret Hart defending his title against the Royal Rumble winner, Yokozuna, and Hulk Hogan making his return to WWE. Yokozuna would emerge victorious from his match with Bret, however, Hogan later faced Yokozuna for the title in an impromptu 22-second match. Bret revealed to listeners that Vince McMahon himself had explicitly told him that his title reign would be many years long and Hulk Hogan would have no influence on it.

"It was my understanding, as Vince had said to me from the day I won the title, he said, 'You don't have to worry about anything. We're looking at you as a long-term champion. You're going to be champion here for a long time. We're thinking 6, maybe 7 years.' Kind of going back to what Bruno did, where the champion holds the belt for a really long time, and that Hulk Hogan would have no bearing on anything that I was doing," Hart said. "Those were the first lies that they told me. In the end, it was like, they lied to me. They gave me no warning for that at all.

"I know people have a hard time understanding how it works; I'm not even sure how it works being champion, but I know that, basically, when you're the champion, when you have the belt in your bag, and you're the guy. You're the highest paid guy on the card, and that was a big honor for me. I was making big plans for all the big main event money I was going to be making, and instead I got demoted, basically, and Hulk Hogan took my spot again."