Bret Hart says Vince McMahon screwed his Father $750k for Stampede Wrestling purchase

[Jkm94]

– During the ninth episode of his subscription show Confessions of a Hitman (h/t WrestlingInc.com), WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart discussed Vince McMahon agreeing to buy Stampede Wrestling from his father Stu Hart in 1984 for $750,000. However, WWE apparently never paid for that amount. Bret Hart implied that his parents never got paid or asked for the money out of fear it could impact Bret’s career in WWE. Below are some highlights from the show.

Hart on Vince McMahon’s deal to buy Stampede: “They worked out a deal. Vince McMahon bought my dad’s wrestling company for, I believe it was 1984, bought it for $750,000. He never paid it. My dad gave up his show. Vince McMahon took over his time slot and took over, basically all the contacts for all the buildings and venues my dad was partnered with, and kind of took over. And he forgot to pay my dad. He forgot. It’s one of those things that Vince McMahon tended to do, but he never paid my father.”

On how he thought his father was paid until Owen Hart’s death: “I didn’t know. I never knew that that was the case. I always assumed my dad got paid and I didn’t find out till Owen’s death that that was not true. [Vince] never paid us a nickel.”

Why Bret Hart’s parents never asked Vince McMahon to pay off the debt: “I guess what it was is that my mom and dad never got paid, but my [WWE] career started to take off and they didn’t push it with Vince. It was either that or sue them and I think they would have won, but I would’ve been fired in the process. So I think my dad bit his tongue, and never said anything, and it was just this oversight that he never got paid. And why he never got paid is a mystery to me. My dad did basically everything he was supposed to do as far as their agreement.”

On bringing his dad to New York in the 1980s to get paid by Vince: “I remember my dad flew to New York to talk to Vince about having not been paid, and I brought my dad to New York. I remember I brought him to New York because I thought it was going to be the only chance for him to ever watch me in Madison Square Garden. ‘I might not be here six months from now.’ I was on pretty thin ice then. I was still with Jim ‘The Anvil’ [Neidhart] and we were doing pretty well, but I was the type of guy whose name could get crossed out at any time and nobody would notice, like, ‘Oh, whatever happened to Bret Hart?’ But it would have been a life altering thing for me because I didn’t have much to fall back on other than wrestling.” Bret added, “I think it was like, he was going to confront Vince McMahon, and I believe he did, about not being paid, and I’m not sure what happened. But I just know that I think they were like, we can’t interfere now and if we do anything, it’s going to cut my career short right when I really started to show everybody how good I was.”

Hart on how his career took off after that time: “I remember we had a really good match with The Killer Bees. And I went out there and I had one of my better nights. I was in great form, and we had kind of good chemistry with The Killer Bees, and Jim was in good form. And we just had this great match. But that night in Madison Square Garden – I don’t know what year it was – I think it was ’86. It was almost like a year-and-a-half [after my failed “audition”] and we blew the roof off Madison Square Garden. We were like the second match or the first match of the night and we just blew the roof off the building. I remember when I came back through the curtain, everyone was clapping and patting me on the back. I remember Vince McMahon shook my hand with a whole different kind of [fervor], ‘Good match! Thank you so much!’ and all that. I remember [thinking], ‘Finally, he saw me and I had a good match.’ I believe my career turned around after that.”

[anonymous]

bret is a straight shooter. he's never ever in his life been accused of making chit up or of talking chit.

[EidFnatic]

Fukk the Kennedy.

[Dave22reborn]

Does that guy ever stop bitching?

[BrickEX]

Bret is a fuk boy. Arguably the biggest whining betch in the history of wrestling.

HBK > Bret

[EidFnatic]

Does that guy ever stop bitching?

Fukk you. He aint bitching here.

[EidFnatic]

Bret is a fuk boy. Arguably the biggest whining betch in the history of wrestling.

HBK > Bret

Dropped plenty of red in this thrad.

[SerpentHearted]

always remember that era from my childhood with Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees, British Bulldogs etc...
I'll have to go back and revisit those classic matches one day.

Got to see Bret once not in action but as special guest of a WWA tour (shortlived promotion mostly featuring former WCW and future TNA stars) god knows how many years ago and that was pretty cool.

[project3]

vince gave you a career that's your pops payment

[BrickEX]

Dropped plenty of red in this thrad.

Lol at this pathetic loser. Hopefully you get Covid.

[marinevet63031]

What Bret was doing was answering a question based on the information he knows. He wasn't complaining. Dude is a textbook of wrestling history knowledge.

[EidFnatic]

Lol at this pathetic loser. Hopefully you get Covid.

LOL at you thinking covid can give ME any real issues. Fukken mark, go read another newspaper.

[wings_unhinged]

Very surprised he's never mentioned this before. Even on Austin's podcast he just went on about the same old stories verbatim. Anyway, I see it happening. Vince is carnie as phuck. I'm sure he just misplaced his wallet that day.

[SmAshmoto]

Bret is beginning to rival Superstar Billy Graham as the biggest retroactive whiner in wrestling. Never said chit when any of these alleged massive calamaties went on at the time, but suddenly 30/40/50 years later they keep dragging old gripes to air in order to stay publicly relevant because they can't handle the spotlight being off of them.

[davik]

bret screwed bret

[Bra29ine]

Something doesn't add up because there was that big scandal in the Hart family with Bruce starting a "new" Stampede wrestling and they were worried Vince would stop paying them

I assume the truth is somewhere in the middle. Vince must have paid something up front or else how dumb is Stu Hart. But I have no doubt Vince would have screwed him out of some of the money

[66wow99]

Fukk you. He aint bitching here.

Exactly. How is Brett bitching here? HIS.FAMILY.DID.NOT.GET.PAID.
I'm pretty sure that family could've used that money to alleviate any finacial stresses
they had.

i

[66wow99]

bret screwed bret

What do you mean by that? Care to expand?

[I3igAl]

Seems believable, but it's weird he never mentioned that before especially when he was on non-speaking terms with WWE beetween 98 and 2008 or so.

I find it pretty disrespectful how you guys are calling Bret a whiner. You are talking about a man, who took wrestling more serious than anyone else and it ended up killing his brother and crippling him. Give the guy some slack, he has a lot of reasons to be a whiner. I wouldn't wnat to walk in his shoes.

What do you mean by that? Care to expand?

It's a famous McMahon interview from back than.