Bret Hart recently spoke to Sports Illustrated about Roman Reigns, CM Punk, bad booking and more. You can check out the interview here and read some highlights below.
On missing CM Punk and Daniel Bryan:
“I miss Daniel Bryan and CM Punk since they both exited the scene, and I find myself watching wrestling less and less since those guys left,” said Hart. “I don’t know if they’ve filled their shoes. Dean Ambrose has done a lot to fill their space, and I really enjoy watching him, but it’s going to be a tough job for whoever wins the championship–that person will have a lot of weight on his back to carry the team.”
Taking CM Punk’s side:
“I’d have to take Punk’s side on it,” explained Hart. “Triple H is a bodybuilder nut. He goes after the bodies. He doesn’t care how good–and he can look in the mirror–guys work, he cares how guys look. Punk and Bryan are guys concerned with how they work. It’s a different philosophy. I admire Punk for taking his stand. He was the guy doing all the work, every week, going injured, and here’s a guy sitting at home–working three or four times a year–and you’re going to give him the main event at WrestleMania? I’m not buying it.”
WWE pushing Roman Reigns too soon:
“Reigns is just like Kevin Nash,” said Hart. “If you look back at Reigns, his character was getting over really good on his own. Then they rushed him into a babyface turn and crammed him down everybody’s thoughts, and people rejected him. It wasn’t his fault. It was kind of like with Kevin Nash. He was slowly getting over, and I wrestled him at [the 1994] King of the Ring and we had a really good match. All of a sudden, by August, they were ready to make him the new champion. And I’m going, ‘He’s not ready yet. Give him a little time and let him get even more over.’ Why is there a rush? Reigns got dealt a bad set of cards. It has nothing to do with his work rate–he’s a really good worker and his style is really good. He just needs to be himself.
HHH cared about looks… that’s why KO is the IC champ on the main roster less than two years of sigining with the company…