Bret Hart Blames Vince McMahon For His Least Greatest WWE Match
Bret Hart thinks that one of his worst WWE matches was Vince McMahon’s fault.
The first match that will be honored as an Immortal Moment at WWE’s Hall of Fame is the WrestleMania 13 classic between Bret Hart and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. The Hitman made a bloody Stone Cold pass out in the Sharpshooter to end one of the best and most brutal matches of all time.
This is the first year that WWE is honoring a match by putting it in their Hall of Fame. Considering how incredible his career was, it’s possible that other matches featuring Hart could be inducted in the future as well.
While Bret is often asked about his amazing matches, he spoke to The Ringer’s Masked Man Show about a match he didn’t like – the WrestleMania 11 match against Bob Backlund. It was an “I Quit Submission Match” that lasted about 10 minutes, with Bret winning with Backlund’s own Chickenwing submission move. The match is not remembered as a classic.
In Bret’s opinion, the WrestleMania 11 match with Backlund was bad because of the former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, who came up with the match concept.
“I love Bob Backlund, he’s one of my favorite guys, but the match I had with Bob Backlund, the “I Quit” match I had with him at WrestleMania 11, I knew it was going to be a disaster and I always thought that was my least greatest match.
I don’t blame Bob, I don’t blame myself, I blame Vince, the guy who came up with the concept for the match. It was a dud before we walked out. I feel bad we didn’t have a great match.”
Bret Hart Enjoyed Another Match With Bob Backlund
As he continued talking about his history with Bob Backlund, Bret Hart spoke about the Survivor Series 1994 match with Backlund that ended in controversy when Owen Hart convinced his and Bret’s mother, Helen Hart, to throw in the towel. By doing that, Bret lost the WWE Title to Backlund.
That was a 35-minute match, so it was a lot different than their more disappointing WrestleMania 11 match.
“In fact, I love the match I had with Bob Backlund at Survivor Series. If people question my greatness, I’d like to have seen Hulk Hogan wrestle Bob Backlund. I’d like to have seen Shawn Michaels wrestle Bob Backlund or Triple H wrestle Bob Backlund the way that I did. Throw anybody you want in there, put them in there with Bob Backlund, and see what they can do.
That’s not a knock on Bob. Bob was just a very old-school, a champion wrestler and great wrestler, but try to find the right balance of how to wrestle Bob Backlund. I don’t think very many guys could pull off the match I did with Bob Backlund. It was a beautiful match.
I love Bob and the fact that I gave him that moment. It’s just one that I think you can name all kinds of wrestlers, throw them in against Bob Backlund, and see what they can do. Bob was a challenge to figure out the right ingredients and measures to tell a story and have a great match. I think we did that, and I’m very proud of that match.”
During the same interview, Bret Hart spoke about how he was betrayed by Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan after the chaotic ending at WrestleMania 9 that did not lead to a Hart-Hogan match like Bret expected.