The Ex-WWE Superstar Who Remembers Wrestling Bret Hart Twice In The Same Night
Known for his technical prowess and in-ring storytelling, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart achieved widespread acclaim as a multiple-time world champion. But before his much-acclaimed singles run, Bret Hart was known as a member of The Hart Foundation in the WWE.
Consisting of Bret Hart and his real-life brother-in-law, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, they were a formidable and iconic tag team in the WWE. With unique charisma and close ties to the legendary Hart wrestling family, they left an indelible mark on the tag team division during the 1980s and early 1990s.
The Hart Foundation were known as a reliable act and many of the teams at the time looked forward to being booked against them as a great match was practically a guarantee. However, one former WWE tag team wrestler recalls having to unexpectedly face the famous duo twice in one night under less-than-desirable circumstances.
“Vince (McMahon) was watching from the monitor or curtain or whatever. He didn’t like the finish. But they beat us. They used their finish. Boom. They beat us! But there was something about it Vince didn’t like. Now this was, I think this was live TV. I’m not sure. It was definitely being taped. But I don’t know if it was going out live.
But anyway, Paul and I walked out back through the curtain… Vince goes to me and Paul, “guys, go back out there and do it again.” I said, “Vince, it’s a live audience out there. It’s being taped.” He goes, “just go out there and do the f**king thing over again!” He said, “I just didn’t like this finish.” I go, “well, what finish do you what?” He goes, “do the same finish but do it slightly different.””
Whilst it wasn’t entirely unusual in the taped era for McMahon to request a match to be “re-done” in front of a live audience, Powers expressed his frustration with such a proposal and asked how was he supposed to explain to the fans what was happening.
“He said “go out, grab the f**king mike and call them out there!” Simple as that. And now, here you are. You’re handed a mike. You just got beat. You gotta call the Hart Foundation back out and they kick your a** again! In front of, I don’t how many people. Maybe fifteen plus thousand people. Maybe more!”
Despite not winning any major championships during their tenure, the Young Stallions left a lasting impression on many WWE followers of the day as an exciting young tag team. Following their split in the late 80’s, both Powers and Roma would be known as both singles and tag team wrestlers with different partners. Powers’ final WWE television appearances were in 1994.
The Erasing Of Vince McMahon By The WWE
Following serious allegations, WWE no longer mentions their former CEO. Long-time journalists such as Dave Meltzer expect McMahon’s name never to be mentioned again on WWE programming.
H/t to itrwrestling.com