The Combustible History between Goldberg and Bret Hart

Sportskeeda Wrestling

Backstage Pass is your one-stop subscription to everything pro wrestling. Breaking news from the most reliable insiders, interviews with legends, live Q&As with industry veterans, we have it all. SUBSCRIBE NOW - https://bit.ly/3zbHEH8  Bret 'The Hitman' Hart is known for his incredible in-ring skill and technical prowess, but when it comes to Bill Goldberg, there's no love lost. In this video, we explore the deep-rooted animosity Bret Hart holds towards Goldberg, stemming from a career-altering injury in 1999.  You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe  #brethart #goldberg #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling

Transcript

00:00At Starrcade 1999, the legendary Bret the Hitman Hart defended the WCW World Championship

00:09against the ferocious Goldberg. He managed to retain the title, but something happened

00:14during the match that changed everything for the Hitman, and not for the better.

00:21Goldberg hit him with what is called a thrust kick, giving him a very bad concussion that

00:27would force the Hitman to retire. This is Sportskeeda Wrestling, I'm Kevin Kellum,

00:33let's get into why Bret the Hitman Hart has such an issue with Goldberg. Initially,

00:39some felt that Bret the Hitman Hart held no ill will towards Bill Goldberg, but as time went on,

00:46he grew increasingly resentful of the former Universal Champion, maybe for contributing to

00:52what people felt was the end of Hitman Hart's in-ring career. Bill Goldberg made his WCW debut

01:00in September of 1997, and it was easily the biggest debut in WCW history. You think you

01:07know all the wrestling stories? There's more you haven't heard yet. Join us on Backstage Pass.

01:14He went on a monumental undefeated streak, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

01:20in front of a massive audience in Atlanta, Georgia, by defeating Hollywood Hulk Hogan.

01:26In just a few short years, after joining WCW, Goldberg became one of the hottest names in

01:32professional wrestling, and easily one of the biggest names they've ever created within the

01:37company. 1997 was a busy year for Bret Hart as well. Of course, he had to endure the WWE infamous

01:44Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series, exiting the company while being filmed for a documentary,

01:51and jumping to their rival. It was a wild and tumultuous year for Bret Hart, but here he was

01:57in a new, big-time wrestling promotion, and he was already a huge name in the industry,

02:02up there with the likes of Hogan and Flair himself. He was yet another major name from

02:07WWE that made the leap to WCW. As Bret Hart settled into the confusing and stressful

02:13political world of WCW's backstage culture, tragedy would strike in May of 1999, when his

02:20brother, and still WWE superstar, Owen Hart, would pass away in a sad accident during an entrance

02:28at WWE's Over the Edge pay-per-view event. 1998 would see Bret Hart fight, win, lose, and regain

02:35the WCW United States Championship, but an odd fellow relationship with Bill Goldberg would

02:42develop. A match between Hart and Goldberg was inevitable. They would eventually face

02:47on a Nitro Tournament match to ascend to the world title, in October, which Hart won,

02:53but there was interference from Sid Vicious and the Outsiders, with Bret Hart laid out on the

02:58outside of the ring, not necessarily being ethically involved, but benefiting from it.

03:03However, there was their next encounter that became the real talking point. Before they would

03:09get to that match though, Hart won the WCW Championship and defended it against Goldberg

03:15at Starrcade, with a path building to the title match in December, seeing them win the WCW World

03:21Tag Team titles, only to lose them to the Outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, who cheated to do so.

03:28Time came though for them not to be friendly anymore. No more interference. It was Goldberg,

03:34Hart, it was the WCW World Title Main Event for Starrcade. The hitman vs the master of the

03:42jackhammer, finally clashing for the big gold belt at the MCI Center in Washington DC. This

03:48was a fairly unique scenario to have two big babyface fan favorites tangling for the world

03:54title prize, but despite the generally confusing storylines that would follow in the year 2000,

04:01WCW was dialed in here with a simple presentation. They both wanted to be world champion.

04:08Bret Hart claimed he wanted to prove in WCW that he was the best there is, the best there was,

04:13the best there ever will be, and the excellence of execution wanted to do that against the

04:18powerhouse of Goldberg, and to ensure that interference that had been a part of the road

04:23to get to this match would not be a determining factor, the match would be no DQ. Now,

04:29outside of the ring, there were some issues. Goldberg had developed a slightly negative

04:35reputation within the working circles of wrestling as maybe being reckless or hurting his opponents

04:41with stiff movement. Yes, things that were supposed to make it look real, felt real.

04:46The fast and powerful former NFL pro was known for his aggression with fans,

04:51but apparently also known with wrestlers who were just trying to entertain and put on a show

04:56safely, as safe as pro wrestling can be. Yeah, we know that's a loose term. Knowing this,

05:02Hart cautioned Goldberg reportedly before the match, asking him to be careful and avoid hurting

05:08him. The two combatants would shake hands before the bells sounded at the beginning of the match,

05:13a main event to close out Starrcade and the millennium for WCW, with Bobby Heenan declaring

05:20in commentary, that's business. But the business that would follow would have life-altering

05:26consequences for one of them. Goldberg and Hart would brawl around the ring, actually inadvertently

05:32knocking down a referee. Another referee would have to come into the match, Charles Robinson,

05:37only for him to be replaced by a legendary special guest referee, Rowdy Rowdy Piper.

05:44However, Hart took a thrust kick to the head by Goldberg, leading to a serious concussion,

05:51but he didn't realize the full extent of the injury at the time. Yes, he wasn't clearly knocked

05:56out, but the blow was landed. He carried on with the match, locking Goldberg's massive legs in a

06:04figure four leg lock around the steel ring post. In Bret Hart's autobiography, Hitman, My Real Life

06:12in the Cartoon World of Pro Wrestling, he detailed the inner workings of the match with Goldberg.

06:18I fired Goldberg into the ropes. He reversed me. I heard him call, watch the kick. I had no idea

06:25what kind of kick he meant, and there wasn't much room coming off the ropes. Goldberg's right foot

06:32flew just under my right hand. Wham. And the match itself was a wild one, featuring four referees.

06:40Yes, three of them getting knocked down, only for Rowdy Piper to come out at the end and call for

06:46the bell to be rung. Yeah, they did the screwjob finish when Bret Hart put the sharpshooter on

06:52Goldberg. Hart continued to wrestle after the match. This was a time when we certainly didn't

06:58know how severe concussions were. By January of 2000, his injuries had taken their toll. This is

07:05someone who had already been wrestling since the late 1970s, and these injuries, the most recent

07:11ones, were forcing him to relinquish the WCW championship, and by October of that year,

07:17he announced his retirement. Ironically, his final WCW television appearance was in September of 2000,

07:24an episode of Thunder, in an interview where he would confront Goldberg about the injury he

07:30sustained months earlier. WCW would terminate Hart's high-paying contract via a FedEx letter

07:37in October of 2000 due to his ongoing incapabilities in the ring due to those serious

07:43injuries he suffered in the ring. Less than a week after this, he would officially announce

07:47his retirement. What happened to Bret Hart was really unfortunate. It would be the end of his

07:52real active in-ring wrestling career. He had already made a name for himself, was considered

07:57one of the best to ever do it, and arguably the best technical wrestler in big-time television

08:04pro-wrestling. But still, he had to give the business too much of his body. Pro-wrestling,

08:08as we all know, is a dangerous form of entertainment. Every pro-wrestler, when they

08:13step through the ropes, takes an inherent risk with their bodies. And sometimes, this is what

08:19happens. Bret Hart has gone on the record talking about how Goldberg hurt him, ending his career in

08:25his autobiography book saying that Goldberg hugged him and apologized for his actions,

08:30even said that Bill is a good man. Goldberg also seemed very sorry for what happened.

08:36In an interview with Live Audio Wrestling in Canada, he talked about the incident, saying that

08:42that will forever go down in history as the biggest mistake that I ever made in my entire

08:46life. For those who haven't heard me say it, I apologize profusely. God knows I put Bret Hart

08:52up on a pedestal where very few sit. The last thing I ever wished upon him was harm, especially

08:58by my own hand. Now, you would think that things were good between those two, maybe they had buried

09:04the hatchet, but that simply didn't happen. As time went on, Bret Hart started talking about

09:09Goldberg in a much harsher tone, straight out blaming him for ending his legendary career.

09:16In an interview with Inside the Robes, Bret Hart claimed that Goldberg only apologized to him

09:238 months after the injury, saying I got hurt by Goldberg and he called me 8 months after it

09:30happened and told me he was sorry, which you know, really was irrelevant at that point.

09:36He never once called me after it happened. I don't think he ever understood, or I don't know,

09:42that he even does now, or even cares that he cost me, honestly cost me, 16 million dollars

09:51in like 2 seconds and ended my career. While speaking on Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast,

09:57Bret Hart continued harshly criticizing Goldberg even more, labeling him as one of the most

10:03unprofessional wrestlers in the industry. He started that he always took great care of his

10:08opponents, even at the cost of injuring himself, and wished others, especially Goldberg, had done

10:14the same. According to Hart, Goldberg hurt nearly every wrestler he worked with, and went on to

10:21express disbelief that someone so dangerous and so reckless in his eyes was inducted in the WWE

10:29Hall of Fame, mentioning that even Mr. Perfect Kurt Henning constantly suffered from his matches

10:36with Big Bill Goldberg. Hart also blamed WCW head honcho at the time, Eric Bischoff,

10:43for Goldberg's reckless behavior. Once again, we have to bring up that word reckless.

10:48In multiple interviews, Bret Hart criticized Bischoff and other WCW officials for failing

10:54to push Goldberg to improve in his lack of execution. Despite the repeated use of risky

11:02moves and matches, no one, including Bischoff, ever reportedly intervened at the safety of

11:08Goldberg's opponents. Hart feels that Goldberg, because of Bischoff's mismanagement in the eyes

11:18of Bret Hart, was never forced to make any changes to his in-ring performance. Goldberg

11:24has apologized to Bret numerous times, but after seeing that Hart continued to criticize him,

11:30he said that he's done apologizing. In an interview with Talk Is Jericho,

11:34the former WWE Universal Champion was asked if Hart's resentment affects him. Goldberg admitted

11:41that he can somewhat understand Bret's anger and resentment, but after years of trying to

11:46make things right, he's decided he's done with it. Goldberg explained he's no longer going to

11:51keep beating himself up over it, and if Bret Hart can't accept the apology, then that's just how

11:58things are. He further emphasized that he has moved on and doesn't plan on revisiting the issue

12:05any time in the future. The WCW legend admitted that the situation deeply bothers him and is

12:12something he will carry with him for the rest of his life, and also acknowledges that Bret Hart

12:17will likely never forgive him, despite his repeated apologies and insistence that the incident was

12:23unintentional. The issue between the two resurfaced after Goldberg made his WWE return in

12:292016, and it was quite the return. This run made Goldberg a lot of money, and he even beat younger

12:37superstars like Kevin Owens and Bray Wyatt to win the Universal Championship. Looking at this,

12:43Bret Hart became increasingly resentful towards him. Speaking in a new interview with Lucha Libre

12:49Online, Hart admitted that it touches a nerve when he sees Goldberg being able to travel overseas

12:56to compete, making large sums of money as a result. Hart said,

13:20And what he did to me.

13:21Bret Hart's relationship with a certain wrestler being bad is nothing new. Bret Hart is a

13:27purposeful man, a proud man, and he will say when he has a problem with somebody.

13:31Of course, that was all played out with the WWE Montreal Screwjob, that unfortunate incident,

13:37and Hart was extremely bitter towards Shawn Michaels, the infrastructure that Vince McMahon

13:42had built within WWE, but after he made his return to WWE in 2010, finally, things he eventually

13:50put to rest on that side of the issue. Can he do the same with Bill Goldberg? Only time will tell.

13:57What's your favorite match from Bret Hart? What's your favorite match from Bill Goldberg?

14:02Let us know in the comments below. What do you think Bret Hart's career would've been like

14:07if he kept wrestling past that incident in 1999?

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