PWTorch.com reader Omar Claros sent the following detailed account of Bret Hart's interview on TSN tonight...

Host:Michael Landsberg
TSN (Canada)

-The show started of with Michael Landsberg thanking Bret for the exclusive interview that was he was about to give. Landsberg gave everyone a recap of Bret's stroke and asked him how he was feeling, Bret told him that he was lucky to be on the show and lucky to be alive. He went on to elaborate on those first days and months after his stroke saying that he felt he was in a deep dark "hole" that he could not see himself climbing out of. Landsberg asked what was the first thing that Bret could remember when he finally woke up and found out that he had suffered a stroke. Bret let him know that all that he could feel in the left side of his body was some feeling on his toes and some feeling in the tips of his fingers. He didn't think that it was too serious since in his mind he thought that he was going to walk out of the hospital in a week. After about four days he thought that it was not going to be that easy after his doctor came in and told Bret that he was looking at at least six months just for recovery. Landsberg seemed amazed that he had been told that Bret had a noticable limp, yet when he showed up at the studio he barely had any signs of a limp. He pretty much summed up the fact that he was expecting to see someone who was in worse shape and that people who have had strokes don't make such remarkable recoveries as the one he had seen with Bret. Bret said that a lot of people usually don't make complete recoveries, that's why his doctors didn't make any promises to him regarding his recovery knowing that they could not guarantee the results. He elaborated more on his stay at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary and noticed that being in a stroke ward was a very sad place for everyone that was there since it seemed like everyone and their families were crying constantly. He went on to thank the physiotherapy staff at the hospital.

-Michael Landsberg changed the pace of the interview when he made the comment that Bret had been invited by Daniel Agali (Canadian amateur wrestling Olympic gold medalist) to have dinner with the leader of the United Nations the night that Bret had his stroke, Bret told Landsberg that he was on his bike going to go check out the scene in downtown Calgary when his stroke hit. It was like one moment he was on top of the world and the next, he couldn't even turn his hand over.

-When asked how the constant physical pain of pro wrestling compared to the pain of having a stroke and knowing that you could not do all the things that an everyday person could do, Bret answered that it was no comparison since he for a time could not get around and the smallest things needed to be done for him. Bret stated that the fact that he was carrying a lot of muscle mass on him did not help the recovery process as the added bulk made it harder for him to get control of his arms and legs. As soon as he started to lose some weight, the recovery process started to gain momentum since he no longer had to deal with the added muscle that he was used to carrying. He felt that his recovery came in stages which ranged anywhere from anger to excitement when he accomplish small things. He when on to tell a story about how he couldn't blink with his left eye for months and one day when he put the visor down on the passenger side of the car that took him home on the weekends he squinted with his left eye which was a big victory for him. Michael Landsberg when on to joke that winking is of upmost importance to men, Bret replied with a "yes, for those nurses."

-Bret was asked, "Who was there for you when you were going through this difficult time?" He explained that first and foremost his wife Julie and his kids were really great to him during his ordeal. He also mentioned that Walter Gretzky (Wayne Gretzky's father) Had called him and given him support (Walter Gretzky has also recovered from a stroke), Roddy Piper had also come too see him, a lot of the Canadian wrestlers had checked up on him; such names as Benoit, Edge, Jericho, and Test called him. Undertaker also gave him a call, and he was glad to hear from old friends since he had not heard from a lot of them since he had left WWE and also WCW. He said that a lot of people had not called him since Owen's death since they were afraid to stumble into that very subject.

-The next question had to do with the Hart family, Bret was asked that if the stroke had made his family come together since there were obvious divisions in the family after Owen's death and family members picking sides, Bret answered that no, there had not been any changes within the family since the division in the family came about out of loyalty to the memory of Owen. He also went on to say that when he had his stroke he scratched out the names of some family members from his visitors list. For example, his sisters Diana (former wife of Davey Boy) and Ellie (former wife of Jim Neidhart) who he thought were too busy lobbying for their husbands to get jobs in WWE than to honor the memory of Owen. He said the these two people no longer exist to him for those reasons.

-After the commercial break Bret was asked about after all that he had said about Vince McMahon and the kind of bad things that they had both said about each other, if he still hated Vince? Bret responded that he no longer hates Vince and that although he does not forget what happened in Montreal he feels that he has moved on even though they (WWE) tried to minimize what the Montreal incident was all about. He went on to describe how Vince had called him at the hospital right after his stroke and that he was surprised to hear him on the phone. He started recalling that he (Bret) had started a book about his career and that the author that he was working with asked him if he had any pictures that he could include in the book, Bret told him that he did not (this was about six days before his stroke) and that one of the first things he asked Vince was whether he could get some pictures for this upcoming book. Vince replied that the author should call him and he would make available anything that the author requested. Bret also went on to say that Vince had also promised him the rights to use pictures of his career at Owen's funeral, a promise which Vince later recanted. Bret thought that Vince letting him use some of the pictures was a good sign of a mending relationship. He also went on to say that he wanted to get this thing settled with Vince since a couple of his nephews Harry (Davey Boy's only son) and Ted Hart may one day want to go wrestle for Vince and they should never feel as though they could not go work for Vince on Bret's account.

-The last topic on they touched on on this first part of the interview was what happened when Bret met Vince in Florida a couple of weeks ago? Bret responded that he wanted to clear the misconception that people have that he was the driving force behind the lawsuit brought upon Owen's death, he said although he had stood by martha (Owen's widow) during the lawsuit, he was not the one pushing for it, he credits that misconception to two of his sisters and some members of the media. He also said that when he met Vince they both hugged and discussed a lot of things including doing a DVD of all of Bret's best matches. When asked If he would make a return to the WWE Bret let it be known that it was not going to happen and that if there was a way that he could make a goodbye tour for him he may consider it if there was the audience for it and if Vince thought that it was good from a business point of view. 

-Bret went on to share his thoughts about the death of Curt Hennig, Hennig was one of the five people in the wrestling business that he could actually call a friend, and that six months ago he was asked who his best match was against and who if he could, he would like to wrestle again one last time and he said that he was proud to say that six months ago he said that the answer to both questions was Curt Hennig.

The second part of the interview continues one week from tonight on Off the Record at 6:00pm eastern on TSN.  

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