AEW Turned Down Bret Hart For Role In The Company

WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart might be more qualified than most to help the wrestlers of today become stars on his level but it seems AEW turned down The Hitman’s advances to work for them.

AEW is not without its veteran talents with a locker room boasting experience that could be described in centuries rather than decades. Sting, Arn Anderson, Chris Jericho, Dustin Rhodes, and Billy Gunn are among those whose careers began before some members of the company’s roster were even born.

Following the news of Orange Cassidy being given a new role in AEW, wrestling writer Brian R. Solomon asked why much older stars weren’t being given those jobs and revealed that the company turned down Bret Hart’s offer to agent for them as the company only wanted him as an on-screen talent:

“I’m actually a big fan of Orange Cassidy and his work. But in a company that has Arn Anderson, Jake Roberts, Tazz, Billy Gunn, Christian Cage, Chris Jericho, Dustin Rhodes and Sting in the locker room, shouldn’t they be the ones being tapped to be road agents?

“When I recently interviewed Bret Hart for my book, he told me that he offered to agent for them, but they only wanted to bring him in as a manager like Tully, Arn, Jake, etc. Imagine having the ability to have Bret Hart coach your talent and saying, no just be a TV character.”

Bret Hart appeared on the first-ever AEW pay-per-view – Double Or Nothing in 2019 – where he unveiled the original AEW World Championship belt. The Hitman has not been a part of the company since although Tony Khan’s company did launch the Owen Hart Foundation Tournaments in 2022 to honor Hart’s late brother.