• Bret Hart Reveals What Goldberg Said To Him After Injuring Him
On the episode titled “Nature Of The Business” on Confessions Of The Hitman, 2-time WWE Hall Of Famer Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart talked about Goldberg hurting him in the ring and the kick that resulted in the end of his career.
Bret noted that Goldberg’s kick resulted in him losing $15 million:
“The kick was the work of a total – like, somebody who had absolutely no skill at all. He literally threw me into the ropes and tried to kick my head off my shoulders. Like, there was no working aspect to it. There’s no way you can do it without hurting somebody, and the thing with Bill was that all the ‘I’m sorries’ in the world don’t mean anything when you hurt somebody for real.
It ended my career, and one of the things that always bothered me about Bill was about a year after he hurt me – which he never called me and he never talked to me about it. He never called to see how I was doing or anything like that, but he did say when I saw him about a year after I got hurt, in fact a few weeks before [WCW] terminated my contract, I remember he said to me, ‘it’s the nature of the business – we all know what can happen out there. It’s the nature of the business.’
I’m like, ‘naw, it’s not the nature of the business. The nature of the business is to not hurt the guy you’re working with. That’s your first priority.’
If I hadn’t got hurt when I did – they ended my [contract]. I hung on ’til it wasn’t quite a year; I hung on for 10 months and then they sacked me. But [WWE] bought out WCW and the guys that both got paid out where Goldberg and [Hulk] Hogan. They both got paid out in full in their contract what was owed to them by Ted Turner as part of the deal.
I would have been part of that deal. I would have been paid out in full. I wouldn’t have to go back and work for WWE. I wouldn’t have to have had to work for anybody. I would have cashed in and made $15 million. But because Goldberg’s kick ended my career, they terminated me 10 months after I got hurt and I never got anything. My contract was null and void.
If I couldn’t wrestle within six weeks, you’re done. And it’s one of those loopholes in my contract, but my contract was always with Ted Turner – not with WCW, and that was the key. That’s what Hogan had and that’s what Goldberg had. They had their contracts with Ted Turner.
So that little clumsy kick by Bill Goldberg cost me $15 million in like, 10 seconds. And not only that, I mean, I was in a really serious concussed state for almost two years. And a little over two years later, or in that two year span, I suffered a stroke while riding my bicycle and I took an innocent tumble off my bike on the grass. But it was all tied in. I’m sure it was all tied in to the kick in the head. I never had any problems with my head.
I had to sue Lloyd’s Of London for my settlement, which they did everything humanly possible to not pay me. I don’t think that’s something common to all insurance companies, but they just flat out refused to pay me and said I had a history of concussions that I had kept secret from them, which was actually never the case.
I was never diagnosed with a concussion, nor do I remember ever having any.
In [pro] wrestling, you’re not allowed to kick somebody in the head as hard as you can; nobody’s going to last. There wouldn’t be any wrestlers. If everyone wrestled the way Bill Goldberg did, there wouldn’t be enough people for the show the next week.”
WATCH: Trish Stratus Exposed On RAW:
• On This Day In Pro Wrestling History (October 18, 2018) – Old School Wrestling Veteran Passed Away
On this day in 2018, we lost Old School NWA/WWF/WCW Legend “Dirty” Dick Slater (Real name: Richard Van Slater) at the age of 67.
Dick Slater wrestled for several territories in the 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s, until he had to retire following a back injury in 1996.
Most famously he worked for the World Wrestling Federation in 1986 & 1987 and for Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling from 1991 till the end of his career in 1996.
† REST IN PEACE DICK SLATER
May 19, 1951 – October 18, 2018
