Bret'The Hitman' Hart (Picture: Rich Freeda)

Bret ‘the hitman’ Hart, 56, is a former professional wrestler and five-time WWE world champion. He features in the WWE 2K14 video game.

The new game features a ‘30 years of WrestleMania’ mode. What are your greatest memories of the ones in which you fought? WrestleMania was a very special event for me, a bit like an American footballer playing in the Superbowl. I was there from the second one in 1986 to WrestleMania XIII in 1997. Facing The Nasty Boys at WrestleMania VII was one of my best tag-team matches and solidified my solo career, which virtually commenced the next day. Then Rowdy Roddy Piper at WrestleMania VIII established that my style and storylines were always going to be a little different to Hulk Hogan or Sycho Sid [Sid Vicious].



Have you played the game as yourself when no one’s looking? I play with my two sons who are much more competitive than I am and I try not to be myself because I get beat pretty bad. What I love is that you can plot out a strategy for winning a match and that you have to pick the correct moves at the right times a wrestler would use in real life. You can have pretty incredible matches that emulate some of the bouts I had with, say, Shawn Michaels or Davey Boy Smith.

Are you pleased it’s keeping your name alive? Yeah, I meet a lot of youngsters who know who I am and tell me about my matches but it’s not from watching me – it’s from playing the video games. They play as me and even my sons tell me my character is pretty flawless. The guys who made the game must be big fans, so I appreciate that.


Surely you’d beat them up otherwise? You still don’t expect stuff like that. I was always really proud of my abilities in the ring and for my character to be placed in an elite group as one of the toughest opponents in the game is a great compliment.

So many wrestlers with whom you shared a ring died young in controversial circumstances. Who do miss the most? I miss my brother Owen more than anybody but I shake my head in anger that so many of them are not around when they should be. Ravishing Rick Rude was a good friend and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t still be alive. Mr Perfect is another I wish I could call up. You could name one after another who have gone and I’ve missed them all.

You partnered, fought against, and at one point were brother-in-law to both the British Bulldogs. What are your best memories? I had so many good memories of both the Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith, but Dynamite especially. I learned a lot from him and when The Hart Foundation and the Bulldogs first got together in WWE, it was Dynamite and Davey who put the word out that I was a good wrestler. There were a lot of wrestlers trying hard to minimise what I could do in the ring but the Bulldogs were the first ones to really allow me to start doing great matches and I’m grateful for all of that.



Who was your greatest rival? There was a happy rivalry with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin in that he was a lot of fun to wrestle with, and I think I helped launch his career. But on the not so happy, the brilliant work I did with Shawn Michaels. You can never underestimate what we did at WrestleMania XII, even though it was the last match we had and part of the infamous Montreal Screwjob, it was still a fine match. I could have wrestled the Undertaker a few more hundred times as well.

The Montreal Screwjo’ was extremely controversial because of the outcome. How do you look back on it? I’ve calmed down a lot. There were a lot of things I did to escalate that whole thing with [opponent] Shawn Michaels and [now WWE owner] Vince McMahon. I wouldn’t change anything I did in terms of my own conduct but I regret all of it. I wish I had never left the WWE but I’ve moved on. I went back and shook Shawn’s hand and it was good for everyone to bury the hatchet.

Will we ever see a British WWE world champion? Oh I think so, there are a lot of good wrestlers coming out of the UK. Also, Swiss wrestler Antonio Cesaro is one of the best wrestlers going, if you ask me.

You once finished 39th in a poll of greatest Canadians – surely it hurts to have finished below Shania Twain? Well, I beat Avril Lavigne, that’s the most important thing and Bryan Adams is kind of English – you guys took ownership of him, so he doesn’t count.


What’s your greatest achievment: wearing pink in the ring, appearing on The Simpsons, or that there’s a Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart Day in your home city of Calgary? In years to come, I’ll still be featuring in re-runs of The Simpsons so that will probably end up being the greatest thing I ever did.

Bret Hart features in WWE 2K14, out now on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3