WWE Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart is the most recent guest on Talk is Jericho with part-time WWE Superstar and Fozzy front man Chris Jericho. You can check out part one of the interview on PodcastOne.com!
The two talked about the hard schedule wrestlers have had to work over the years, and how harsh the road is on their bodies. However, Bret was extremely defensive of the wrestling business, measuring it up against more injury-prone companies like NFL and the UFC.
"I find that wrestlers are all pretty sound mentally. We don't really hit each other in the head, compared to what we pretend in wrestling. In football I see them running at each other full blast like those rams on the mountainside; that's got to be brain damage. You watch UFC and you see these guys roundhouse kick somebody in the side of the head; you know that's got to be brain damage … Especially after movies like 'The Wrestler' came out, wrestling takes a bad knock for a lot of things. Today's wrestling with Vince and the WWE – the training schools and the way they are learning – I think the wrestling professional has a lot to offer. I would encourage just about anybody to get into it."
That discussion naturally led to a short mention of Chris Benoit, and comparing it to Bret's own career-ending kick to the head.
"Chris, his brian was like mush. He was like a severe Alzheimer patient. You think about climbing up on the top rope, doing that headbutt he did – aside from everything else he did – he would just do that headbutt every night, rain or shine. Sometimes the person would move and he'd hit the mat. He took a lot of head shots over the year. I got kicked in the head by Goldberg … The kick that Bill Goldberg gave me ended my career and cost me millions of dollars. Other than that, I never in my whole career took a real serious concussive head blow from any other match. I never took chair shots. Maybe in Stampede territory, but even then I never let them hit me in the head."
In part two, set to air next Wednesday on Talk is Jericho, Bret will give his thoughts on Vince McMahon, his time in WCW, Eric Bischoff and more.
