Hart: “it’s my understanding that McMahon got sick of tag team wrestling”

Dec 14, 2020 - by Steve Gerweck

Bret Hart shared his memories of working with the British Bulldogs and other tag teams of the era, plus why Vince McMahon let tag team wrestling die off, on the latest Conversations Of the Hitman show. You can check out some highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On working with the British Bulldogs: “I would always tell you that I think Dynamite Kid was better as a singles guy, but they were a great tag team. The Bulldogs were a very special team. And I think it was the matches that The Hart Foundation had with The Bulldogs that launched me and Jim [Neidhart], for starters. But The Bulldogs have their own iconic sort of place in tag team wrestling, and it was just because of the way they worked and they changed the pace of wrestling. I think not just in tag team wrestling, but in the whole card. The Bulldogs really, sort of raised the bar. And I think The Hart Foundation, when we worked with The Bulldogs, we raised that bar even higher.”

On WWE’s tag team scene at the time: “It was also a great time for tag team wrestling. When I look at those days and those teams, all of them, The Hart Foundation, and The Bulldogs, even Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake as an example, were a good combination. Beefcake was never the wrestler that Greg was; Greg was a very solid and credible wrestler. He carried the weight, and Brutus was enough of a character that he could carry his end, and he was a big enough guy, and had enough of a physique. It was an interesting combination. If you look at even Mike Rotunda and [Barry] Windham, they really were a good, polished, skilled wrestling team that could go out there and have a great match with anybody. And then you look at the Rougeau Brothers – they came out of Montreal [Canada] with their dad and wrestling in Montreal, which was a very formidable wrestling territory in its time. Montreal, nothing but great wrestlers came out of Montreal. The Rougeau Brothers were used to each other, teamed up together for years. Again, a very unique style. They had their own storyline with who they were. Whether it was The Hart Foundation, or whether it was Valentine/Beefcake or whoever they were working with, The Rougeau Brothers, you’re still going to get a five-star match. It’s going to be a really good match.”

On the current state of tag team wrestling: “There were so many great teams. It’s sad if you look at tag team wrestling today, where it [has] gone because they let it die out a little. But it always had its own history and its own style. A tag team wrestling match is so much different than any match on the card. It’s a completely different kind of strategy to the match and building it up. And the matchups – there are four guys in the ring and you team up Andre [The Giant] and Haku, as an example, against me and Jim ‘The Anvil’. It’s like, people go, ‘what’s going to happen in this?’ Me and Jim working over Andre can happen. Two guys on one. It was just fun to play up the psychology of how would The Hart Foundation fare against that team or The Rougeaus? They tag in and out all the time and they have a certain style.”

On Vince McMahon not being a fan of tag teams: “I think it’s my understanding that Vince McMahon got sick of tag team wrestling and is no longer a fan of it. And that’s so sad that he kind of singlehandedly killed a part of the wrestling business that was so important.”

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