If there is one thing you can say about Bret Hart it is that he is consistent. Bret has been an outspoken critic of Ric Flair for the last 20 years and recent comments by the Hitman indicate that he isn’t going to change.
[adinserter block=”2″]While most of Ric Flair’s peers have crowned Flair the greatest wrestler of his era, Bret feels different. Bret has publicly criticized Ric inside the ring for close to twenty-years. Bret talks from experience and has consistently said how bad he felt his matches with Flair were during the time period. Was it because Ric was so bad or were there other forces at play? Bret feels it may have been a little bit of both.
“Flair was a tricky guy to work with, when I worked with Ric. When he was champion we had much better matches and the moment the title got switched we seemed to screw up my match every night… I always felt it was sabotage. I actually went to Vince, cause (Flair) was leaving the company, I thought he was purposely screwing up to ruin my run.”
“We finally got the agents and Flair in a room to try give a little better effort in the matches and at least follow the story line… He confessed his mind wasn’t into the matches and he was having some problems at home. We would go out after the big talk and have the same screwed up match as we had the night before.”
“I think over a period of time over the next few weeks I can remember Vince coming up to me saying he didn’t think Ric Flair was doing it on purpose – that he just didn’t know what he was doing. I kind of agreed after a while. Ric Flair, as great was and a hard worker as he was, he just tends to get lost in the ring.”
I don’t think there is anything wrong what Bret said here. It is his opinion and far be it from me or Flair fans to disagree with a guy that actually wrestled Flair. This is quite different from Flair’s attacks on Bret which have been deeply personal and have even involved mentioning Bret’s family. While I know that many will call Bret’s comments about Flair bitter, they are nothing compared to the unprofessional personal attacks Flair has leveled at Bret over the years.
Hulk Hogan is also another one of Bret’s favorite subjects. Bret offered some interesting insight and perspective into how he felt losing the WWE championship at WrestleMania IX to set up Hogan’s title reign. “I wasn’t prepared for it. I felt so betrayed by everything the had said to me. When you lose you feel a little bit bitter. Back in that era there were no contracts. When you were the world champion you were the highest paid guy in the company. When they pass the torch to somebody else you do feel a bit slighted.”
[adinserter block=”1″]Once again you can kind of see where Bret is coming from here. I think the money issue was a huge factor in Bret’s frustrations with Hogan and the time period. There is also the little problem of Hogan refusing to Bret over in a proposed match as well. Like Flair, Bret’s comments on Hogan have rarely been positive and I can’t imagine that changing any time soon.
Like him or not one thing you can say about Bret is that a man who has been consistent in almost everything he has said about his peers over the last few decades.
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Generally speaking, it sounds like most of the wrestling business has the same things to say about both Flair and Hogan, Hogan especially. There aren't too many people outside of Eric Bischoff who talk positively about Hogan anymore.
It is impossible to take Ric Flair seriously after the way he sh*t all over WWE after everything they did for him and then proceeded to do the same to TNA.