Bret Hart Criticizes Today's 'Hokey' Pro Wrestling Product

Bret Hart is a WWE Hall of Famer and former world champion. What he isn't is a fan of today's pro wrestling product.

Hart spent over twenty years in the ring as a pro wrestler for WWE and his father's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary. He's a former world champion in both WWE and WCW, a former WWE Intercontinental Champion, a United States Champion in both WWE and WCW, and a former tag team champion in both companies.

Hart is a three-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee. He was inducted as a singles act in 2006, as part of the Hart Foundation tag team in 2019, and as one half of the first immortal moment in 2025: his match against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13.

Hart has done all there is to do as a pro wrestler, but he isn't a fan of the business these days. In a new interview with The Johnny Pro Show, he was candid about why he dislikes today's wrestling product.

Bret Hart criticizes today's pro wrestling product

"I know that I gave so much and tried so hard to make it appear real," Hart said. "I have a hard time today when it’s not. I don’t think those values are carried forward and they’re moving on in a different direction now, where wrestling is starting to become hokey. It doesn’t try to be real anymore.

"It tries to be unreal, like, too outrageously. The more explosions and pyro and stuff that you can do, it has nothing to do with wrestling. Like, in the end, I’m a wrestling fan deep in my heart. I like to watch a really good wrestling match that builds and tells a story and all that. I don’t get that fix anymore. I’m not getting that at all from today’s wrestling."

Bret Hart hasn't had a WWE match since he fought Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 26. Hart and McMahon had a massive falling out that culminated in what is now called the Montreal Screwjob.

At Survivor Series in 1997, Hart wrestled Shawn Michaels with the WWE Championship on the line in the main event. In the middle of the match, while Hart was in his own Sharpshooter submission, McMahon called for the bell to be rung and the match to be ended.

This formally made Michaels the champion. Hart and McMahon had disagreed before the match over how the finish should go, with Hart refusing to put Michaels over in Montreal and McMahon wanting the title change that day, as Hart was leaving the company for WCW.

Hart and McMahon did zero business together until Hart agreed to a DVD project with WWE in 2005. The first Hall of Fame induction came soon after that.

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