Slayer_X
06-21-2015, 12:57 AM
Brock Lesnar just returned to Raw this past week, and Hart sees wrestling starting to move in a different direction with the “Beast Incarnate” leading the way.
“You won’t see a smaller guy – under 200 pounds – be a main event in WWE for a long time,” Hart explained. “I think you’re looking at guys like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk phased out. After Hulk Hogan, the business took a different direction. Wrestling became the forefront of the business from me to Shawn and all the way to Punk and Bryan. It was all about the matches and the work rate.
“But this year at WrestleMania was a changing of the guard. They established Brock Lesnar as this super heavyweight monster and you’re going to see bigger wrestlers in the main event. John Cena will be U.S. champion for a long time, and he’ll establish that belt, and the intercontinental belt will be the belt again for the wrestling guys. It’s taken a shift. Guys like Lesnar will sew up the main event spots and work when he wants, and the smaller guys will carry the shows all around the country and entertain people, but they’ll never get the big money spot at WrestleMania. It’s a cycle. In the 80’s, guys like myself and Shawn Michaels never thought we would be the star of the show. We always were working hard, but Hogan and Warrior were the guys in the main event making the big pay day.”
Another topic of concern for Hart – a former two-time tag team champion – is the state of tag team wrestling.
“For so long, I don’t know why WWE killed everyone off that started to get built as a team. It was the same thing when Cesaro and Tyson Kidd [as tag team champions] lost in that handicap match to Randy Orton on Raw. Vince has soured on tag team wrestling. He says it’s the same old thing over and over.
“But the only reason for that is because somebody in the back isn’t smart enough to tell the wrestlers how to change it up and make it different. There should always be at least one tag match on every card, and you should have a tag team division that means something. If you did, you’d see the tag team division revive itself and become as important as the rest of the card. The fans are smart – they know it’s not always about the body or the storyline, sometimes it’s all about the wrestling.”
Hart remains close with Tyson Kidd, who injured his neck during a frightening moment in a non-televised match with new WWE talent Samoa Joe.
“I only know that he’s hurt pretty bad and they’re crossing their fingers,” said Hart. “I’m not sure if he’s going to need surgery, but it seems to me there was a lot of poor planning involved in that injury. I don’t know whose fault it is or why an injury like that happened, but someone is accountable. The WWE has done a lot in the last few years to improve conditions for wrestlers. They have doctors there and they give wrestlers adequate time to prepare, but in looking at what happened with Tyson Kidd, clearly there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
Kidd was injured when Joe performed his “Muscle Buster” maneuver.
“It’s extremely dangerous,” said Hart. “The move that Samoa Joe did was reckless, and the way they rushed that match beforehand in the back without giving Tyson time to prepare was mistake. Tyson is, pound for pound, one of the best wrestlers in the world. And that includes his mind. If you went behind the scenes at WWE, Tyson is an intricate piece of so many other matches. It’s a shame that a guy who is that talented and given so much to the company is hurt, but I just hope it’s not so serious that his career is over.”
In terms of accountability, Hart recalled the incident between Steve Austin and Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1997.
“When Owen dropped Steve Austin on his head, Owen was totally negligent,” said Hart. “He was wrong to do that move to Steve the way he did and he was wrong to not believe Steve that he was hurt. Owen was skeptical about Steve’s injury, and I told Owen that Steve was in a pretty dangerous spot. I know that wrestling is a tough job, and I know Samoa Joe is a good guy and was probably just trying too hard that day, but you never want to injure one wrestler or stop someone from feeding their family.”
Hart also provided some perspective as to why Sting lost in his WWE debut at WrestleMania.
“It was so obvious that Sting was going to win that too many people took it for granted,” he said. “So that was the swerve. Then Rock and Triple H planted a few seeds for WrestleMania 32 in that long promo in the ring, and that’s why Triple H needed to go over. Also, Sting isn’t done yet. I’ve heard he has a light contract of a few more pay per view dates.”
The opportunity for Paul Levesque to learn from Vince McMahon, Hart explained, will keep the WWE running in the right direction for a long time.
“Paul is a smart, intelligent guy, and Vince is a good teacher,” Hart said. “Vince is as well-schooled on wrestling as anybody I’ve ever met. He’s an unmatched genius when it comes to putting matches together and his psychology. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Vince and there is nobody who can fill his shoes, but Paul has shadowed Vince a lot. He has been educated and schooled in what’s right – including how to build a guy up and how to tear a guy down – and Paul has enough of that cut-throat business sense to run a wrestling business.”
When it came to Owen Hart’s notorious pranks and hijinks, Hart thinks one of the finest came against none other than Vince McMahon.
“Henry Godwin had a match with Triple H at an In Your House pay per view in the 90’s, and it was a pigpen-type match with a bunch of animals,” he said. “Some guy pulled up earlier in the day in a livestock truck with pigs and sheep and goats. He pulled in and asked, ‘Where do I put them?’ Owen was right nearby and said to follow him, like he was helping the guy out and knew exactly where to go.
“So Owen directed him and the animals right into Vince’s office. Vince was off in catering, and all I can remember are those goats and pigs knocking over everything in Vince’s office. Vince laughed pretty hard when he walked in and saw goats eating his papers and everything else. I don’t know how many guys who had the balls to do that, but stuff like that it was you loved about Owen. The same reasons people like Daniel Bryan are the same reasons people liked Owen. He was a guy you could cheer on because he had so much heart.”
Hart knows exactly what he needs to be changed to make WWE’s wrestling an even better product.
“It’s the details,” Hart said. “There is too much attention on rehearsed high spots. It’s a lot of action, but I don’t see any storytelling. And the babyfaces don’t sell any more. I can remember crawling and begging, or getting thrown into the turnbuckle frontwards and everyone in the building wondered if you’d get up again. People understand that.
“Wrestlers today – look at Roman Reigns, for example – he does a lot of the same moves I did, but then just gest right back up. It defies logic. Especially after these really incredible, breathtaking moves, and then guys just kick out. A lot of it is wasted and used in the middle of a match.”
The lack of emphasis on finishing holds also grinds Hart’s wrestling sensibilities.
“Wrestlers always have to go higher,” he explained. “John Cena was using the stunner as a spot, and [Steve] Austin got mad about that. I would have, too. Why would you use his finishing move as just a spot? If you keep having all these complex moves and high spots, then you need to top it and keep going higher and higher. And then you’ve got to come up with something that’s really dangerous, like a spike piledriver off the top turnbuckle.
“But if you do things smart, then you don’t have to kill yourself every night. Wrestling can be pretty simple. It’s an art, and the simpler the better. It needs to be simple, easy to follow, and logical. The match should always build up. Unfortunately, a lot of the wrestlers today have a great first 30 seconds in their match, but then it all goes downhill from there because they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Hart, who has spent his entire life in wrestling, was broken up over the loss of longtime friend Dusty Rhodes.
“I smile when I think of Dusty because I have such nice, happy memories,” said Hart. “But I’ll miss him a lot. He wasn’t a WWE guy. He was a wrestler that was famous around the world for being a wrestler. It’s impossible to measure the impact that Dusty Rhodes had on fans and wrestlers alike, but he was really one of a kind.”
The friendship between Hart and Rhodes dated back over 30 years.
“I was down in Florida in the late 70’s, and I didn’t work for Dusty’s company, but I was sort of there as an extra,” he said. “Even in those days, Dusty was a real general in the dressing room. He was a great detail guy in wrestling and could always pinpoint some little thing you could do to improve your match. He had a real eye for the business and how to do it right. I’ll really miss him.”
Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan were both stars in the 1980’s, and Hart was asked which direction the business would have headed had Vince McMahon chose to put his marketing machine between Rhodes in 1984 instead of Hogan.
“Dusty could have the torch-bearer for the company, but he was sort of the opposite of Hogan,” Hart explained. “Hogan’s draw, more specifically back in the 80’s, was that he was much more in touch with kids. Dusty was more in touch with the old fans – anyone who grew up watching wrestling. He had a pretty storied history, even by then. Looking at the way Vince went, he was aiming for the young kids and Hogan was a better option.”
Hart takes a lot of pride when his fans call him, “The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.” But he’s just as proud to say wrestling fans are the most dedicated in the world.
“I had someone thank me last week,” said Hart. “He said I stopped and shook every hand on the way back from my match, and this happened more than twenty years ago. He said he never forgot it. The fans have long memories, but I never forget them either.
“I was once one of those kids who was reaching out to the wrestlers. There is a relationship between me and my fans, and it’s nice they don’t forget.”
“You won’t see a smaller guy – under 200 pounds – be a main event in WWE for a long time,” Hart explained. “I think you’re looking at guys like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk phased out. After Hulk Hogan, the business took a different direction. Wrestling became the forefront of the business from me to Shawn and all the way to Punk and Bryan. It was all about the matches and the work rate.
“But this year at WrestleMania was a changing of the guard. They established Brock Lesnar as this super heavyweight monster and you’re going to see bigger wrestlers in the main event. John Cena will be U.S. champion for a long time, and he’ll establish that belt, and the intercontinental belt will be the belt again for the wrestling guys. It’s taken a shift. Guys like Lesnar will sew up the main event spots and work when he wants, and the smaller guys will carry the shows all around the country and entertain people, but they’ll never get the big money spot at WrestleMania. It’s a cycle. In the 80’s, guys like myself and Shawn Michaels never thought we would be the star of the show. We always were working hard, but Hogan and Warrior were the guys in the main event making the big pay day.”
Another topic of concern for Hart – a former two-time tag team champion – is the state of tag team wrestling.
“For so long, I don’t know why WWE killed everyone off that started to get built as a team. It was the same thing when Cesaro and Tyson Kidd [as tag team champions] lost in that handicap match to Randy Orton on Raw. Vince has soured on tag team wrestling. He says it’s the same old thing over and over.
“But the only reason for that is because somebody in the back isn’t smart enough to tell the wrestlers how to change it up and make it different. There should always be at least one tag match on every card, and you should have a tag team division that means something. If you did, you’d see the tag team division revive itself and become as important as the rest of the card. The fans are smart – they know it’s not always about the body or the storyline, sometimes it’s all about the wrestling.”
Hart remains close with Tyson Kidd, who injured his neck during a frightening moment in a non-televised match with new WWE talent Samoa Joe.
“I only know that he’s hurt pretty bad and they’re crossing their fingers,” said Hart. “I’m not sure if he’s going to need surgery, but it seems to me there was a lot of poor planning involved in that injury. I don’t know whose fault it is or why an injury like that happened, but someone is accountable. The WWE has done a lot in the last few years to improve conditions for wrestlers. They have doctors there and they give wrestlers adequate time to prepare, but in looking at what happened with Tyson Kidd, clearly there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
Kidd was injured when Joe performed his “Muscle Buster” maneuver.
“It’s extremely dangerous,” said Hart. “The move that Samoa Joe did was reckless, and the way they rushed that match beforehand in the back without giving Tyson time to prepare was mistake. Tyson is, pound for pound, one of the best wrestlers in the world. And that includes his mind. If you went behind the scenes at WWE, Tyson is an intricate piece of so many other matches. It’s a shame that a guy who is that talented and given so much to the company is hurt, but I just hope it’s not so serious that his career is over.”
In terms of accountability, Hart recalled the incident between Steve Austin and Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1997.
“When Owen dropped Steve Austin on his head, Owen was totally negligent,” said Hart. “He was wrong to do that move to Steve the way he did and he was wrong to not believe Steve that he was hurt. Owen was skeptical about Steve’s injury, and I told Owen that Steve was in a pretty dangerous spot. I know that wrestling is a tough job, and I know Samoa Joe is a good guy and was probably just trying too hard that day, but you never want to injure one wrestler or stop someone from feeding their family.”
Hart also provided some perspective as to why Sting lost in his WWE debut at WrestleMania.
“It was so obvious that Sting was going to win that too many people took it for granted,” he said. “So that was the swerve. Then Rock and Triple H planted a few seeds for WrestleMania 32 in that long promo in the ring, and that’s why Triple H needed to go over. Also, Sting isn’t done yet. I’ve heard he has a light contract of a few more pay per view dates.”
The opportunity for Paul Levesque to learn from Vince McMahon, Hart explained, will keep the WWE running in the right direction for a long time.
“Paul is a smart, intelligent guy, and Vince is a good teacher,” Hart said. “Vince is as well-schooled on wrestling as anybody I’ve ever met. He’s an unmatched genius when it comes to putting matches together and his psychology. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Vince and there is nobody who can fill his shoes, but Paul has shadowed Vince a lot. He has been educated and schooled in what’s right – including how to build a guy up and how to tear a guy down – and Paul has enough of that cut-throat business sense to run a wrestling business.”
When it came to Owen Hart’s notorious pranks and hijinks, Hart thinks one of the finest came against none other than Vince McMahon.
“Henry Godwin had a match with Triple H at an In Your House pay per view in the 90’s, and it was a pigpen-type match with a bunch of animals,” he said. “Some guy pulled up earlier in the day in a livestock truck with pigs and sheep and goats. He pulled in and asked, ‘Where do I put them?’ Owen was right nearby and said to follow him, like he was helping the guy out and knew exactly where to go.
“So Owen directed him and the animals right into Vince’s office. Vince was off in catering, and all I can remember are those goats and pigs knocking over everything in Vince’s office. Vince laughed pretty hard when he walked in and saw goats eating his papers and everything else. I don’t know how many guys who had the balls to do that, but stuff like that it was you loved about Owen. The same reasons people like Daniel Bryan are the same reasons people liked Owen. He was a guy you could cheer on because he had so much heart.”
Hart knows exactly what he needs to be changed to make WWE’s wrestling an even better product.
“It’s the details,” Hart said. “There is too much attention on rehearsed high spots. It’s a lot of action, but I don’t see any storytelling. And the babyfaces don’t sell any more. I can remember crawling and begging, or getting thrown into the turnbuckle frontwards and everyone in the building wondered if you’d get up again. People understand that.
“Wrestlers today – look at Roman Reigns, for example – he does a lot of the same moves I did, but then just gest right back up. It defies logic. Especially after these really incredible, breathtaking moves, and then guys just kick out. A lot of it is wasted and used in the middle of a match.”
The lack of emphasis on finishing holds also grinds Hart’s wrestling sensibilities.
“Wrestlers always have to go higher,” he explained. “John Cena was using the stunner as a spot, and [Steve] Austin got mad about that. I would have, too. Why would you use his finishing move as just a spot? If you keep having all these complex moves and high spots, then you need to top it and keep going higher and higher. And then you’ve got to come up with something that’s really dangerous, like a spike piledriver off the top turnbuckle.
“But if you do things smart, then you don’t have to kill yourself every night. Wrestling can be pretty simple. It’s an art, and the simpler the better. It needs to be simple, easy to follow, and logical. The match should always build up. Unfortunately, a lot of the wrestlers today have a great first 30 seconds in their match, but then it all goes downhill from there because they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Hart, who has spent his entire life in wrestling, was broken up over the loss of longtime friend Dusty Rhodes.
“I smile when I think of Dusty because I have such nice, happy memories,” said Hart. “But I’ll miss him a lot. He wasn’t a WWE guy. He was a wrestler that was famous around the world for being a wrestler. It’s impossible to measure the impact that Dusty Rhodes had on fans and wrestlers alike, but he was really one of a kind.”
The friendship between Hart and Rhodes dated back over 30 years.
“I was down in Florida in the late 70’s, and I didn’t work for Dusty’s company, but I was sort of there as an extra,” he said. “Even in those days, Dusty was a real general in the dressing room. He was a great detail guy in wrestling and could always pinpoint some little thing you could do to improve your match. He had a real eye for the business and how to do it right. I’ll really miss him.”
Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan were both stars in the 1980’s, and Hart was asked which direction the business would have headed had Vince McMahon chose to put his marketing machine between Rhodes in 1984 instead of Hogan.
“Dusty could have the torch-bearer for the company, but he was sort of the opposite of Hogan,” Hart explained. “Hogan’s draw, more specifically back in the 80’s, was that he was much more in touch with kids. Dusty was more in touch with the old fans – anyone who grew up watching wrestling. He had a pretty storied history, even by then. Looking at the way Vince went, he was aiming for the young kids and Hogan was a better option.”
Hart takes a lot of pride when his fans call him, “The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.” But he’s just as proud to say wrestling fans are the most dedicated in the world.
“I had someone thank me last week,” said Hart. “He said I stopped and shook every hand on the way back from my match, and this happened more than twenty years ago. He said he never forgot it. The fans have long memories, but I never forget them either.
“I was once one of those kids who was reaching out to the wrestlers. There is a relationship between me and my fans, and it’s nice they don’t forget.”