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WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart talked in-depth about several big subjects in an interview with Michael Lansdberg on TSN's "Off the Record" in Canada today, including his generation of wrestlers dying off, plus thoughts on four big personalities of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Ric Flair, and Hulk Hogan. (Read Part 1 with Hart in-depth on Vince McMahon.)
Hart recapped the January 4 meeting with Shawn Michaels and why he approached Michaels when they first met backstage to go over their promo that opened the historic episode of Raw.
"Shawn is a Christian now and for years, I never ever thought of myself ever forgiving Shawn for what happened to me. I still will never forget what happened. I don't necessarily forgive it all the way; I forgive it to a certain degree," Hart said. "When I saw Shawn and we talked briefly that afternoon before we went in the ring (on January 4), I could tell he was quite taken back by my (being) open with him and quite sincere about trying to put this behind."
Landsberg asked why Michaels didn't approach him since Hart was the injured party from Survivor Series 1997.
"I think I took the first step and I think that meant something to him. I honestly think they had so much shame and guilt that they didn't want to take that step," Hart said. "I think when I met Shawn that day and when I basically forgave him in the ring in front of everybody, it was far more real than people think it was. I know everything in wrestling seems like it's all rehearsed or put on, but with Shawn that day, it was very sincere in the way we were talking to each other. The truth is that once I took all that weight off Shawn's back, he's been a better person to me, anyways, and we've kind of picked up where we left off and we're like old friends, which is kind of strange."
-- On Triple H, who was part of the Clique with Shawn Michaels during Hart's last WWE run: "I've only seen him a couple times (since returning) and we've only talked very briefly. We were never close friends."
-- Hart also talked about the difficulties of not having any of his generation of wrestlers around to share stories with or grow old together since those wrestlers have died or become broken-down.
"I've found one of the hardest parts of my retirement has been that everybody I know died. There's hardly any of them around anymore. Most of the ones that are still around are trainwrecks," Hart said. "Unfortunately, the wrestlers of yesterday - The Sheiks and that type - never saved their money; no one ever taught them how to save their money and invest."
-- Hart blasted Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, who will be forever linked to Hart starting on January 4, 2010 with Hart returning to WWE for the first time in 12 years and Hogan and Flair making their TNA debuts, for choosing the wrestling business over their families and ending up returning to the wrestling business on a full-time basis again.
"Ric Flair, I feel sorry for him. You were talking about wrestlers saying, 'When is enough, enough? When do they ever give up and go home to their families and their real lives?' Ric is one of those guys who's a little ahead of me, but I remember a time knowing that I had to get out of wrestling and go home to my kids before they were grown up and gone or and that I had no family live. I think wrestlers make this decision - and I'm sure Hogan is the same and different guys - where they decide they have to go home to their families or stay in the wrestling business and that becomes their family. Flair stayed in the wrestling business, forgot about his family, his family moved on and left him; the only thing Ric Flair knows is the dressing room, the airports, the bar after, and drinking."
Caldwell's Analysis: Simply put, it's a must-listen-to interview. Michael Landsberg built a reputation on asking the right questions getting deeper into a subject, and this was no exception. Hart's OTR interview and post-OTR interview are available on the OTR Podcast webpage.
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