Bret Hart Watched Fake Sammy Hagar Snort Cocaine At Madison Square Garden
A fake rockstar, Bret Hart, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Adrian Adonis, Madison Square Garden, and a pile of cocaine. What more could you ask for?
It’s become a staple among fans on social media, but every so often a video does the rounds of rock star Sammy Hagar being introduced at a WWF event by Howard Finkle.
Except, there’s one big problem. Unbeknownst to all involved, the man in the ring wasn’t Sammy Hagar at all. And incredibly, to this day, his identity remains a mystery. But fans now know how the imposter got to Madison Square Garden, and what he was up to backstage.
Bret Hart Recalls Run-In With Fake Sammy Hager
Bret Hart recently appeared on Dark Side of the Ring: Unheard, the accompanying podcast for the show of the same name. During the conversation, Hart looked back on breaking into the industry and several of his crazier stories from life on the road in the 1980s, including his encounter with the man claiming to be Sammy Hagar.
The WWE legend began by recalling his first meeting with the man who had not long become the lead singer of Van Halen. Or at least, that’s what everyone thought.
“I remember Adrian [Adonis] was in front of me, right in front of my seat. And I was talking to some guy, he’s sitting right beside me. He had on kind of like a rock ’n’ roll jacket, almost like one Jimmy Hart would’ve worn,” Hart explained. “He’s all excited, he goes, ‘You guys are wrestlers, aren’t ya? WWE wrestlers.’
I go, ‘Yeah, we’re wrestlers and start talking to him about wrestling. I asked [what he did] and he goes, ‘I’m a rock ’n’ roll singer. I’m Sammy Hagar.’”
Hart explained that while he’d heard Hagar’s music, he didn’t actually know what he looked like. This caused some confusion during a limo ride to Madison Square Garden where Jim Neidhart, Hart, and the ‘Fake Hagar’ somehow wound up in the same car.
“I’m sitting beside Jim, and Jim kept going, ‘That’s not Sammy Hagar.’ I go, ‘What do you mean it’s not Sammy Hagar? It looks like… it could be Sammy Hagar. Why wouldn’t it be Sammy Hagar?’ ‘It’s not Sammy Hagar.’
I said, ‘Have you ever seen Sammy Hagar?’ And then Jim goes, ‘Well, look at his watch.’ He’s got a Timex watch. He goes, ‘Sammy Hagar wouldn’t wear a Timex, he’d be wearing a Rolex. It’s not him.’”
The Hitman remained adamant they were talking to the real Sammy Hagar as Neidhart got more and more annoyed. But once at the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena,’ things took a whole new insane twist.
“Adrian passes a dollar bill to Sammy Hagar, who snorts a big line of cocaine in the dressing room,” Hart said. “There’s people trying to get in the room, we’re like, ‘Go, go, go!’ and he’s snorting this big line of cocaine.
And I remember as soon as he snorted it, he looked at me and Jim and this little trickle of blood came down his nostril [motions it dripping down his lip]. And I remember Jim looked at me and he goes, ‘It IS Sammy Hagar!’”
As noted by Bill Pritchard, the show in question would have taken place on May 19, 1986.
Season six of Dark Side of the Ring premiered on March 25. Topics featured in the news series include Hell In A Cell, Vader, and The Original Sheik.
H/t to Wrestle Zone