On the latest episode of his “Hall of Fame” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T addressed Bret Hart’s recent wave of explosive interview comments, noting that the Hitman seems to be taking a “scorched earth” approach toward the wrestling industry and several of his peers, including Bill Goldberg. Booker expressed confusion, disappointment, and concern over the direction Hart’s public remarks have taken.
“Bret Hart has been all over the place lately,” Booker T said. “It’s like, everything nuclear, everything’s just… burn, let everything burn. Why? I mean, I know Bret Hart had his issues with Goldberg, and those, those issues are deep rooted for what happened inside the ring. But one thing I must say, stuff that happens in the ring, it happens. I don’t think none of us go out in the middle of the ring and try to hurt somebody on purpose or anything like that.”
Booker warned that some comments can permanently damage relationships in the business.
“Some of this stuff you just can’t walk back,” he said. “You’re going to see, we got to see each other at some point in time. And to not be able to relive some of the greatest moments in the history of this business, because of bitterness… It’s got to be a lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, dark day at the end of this ride. And I just say, I just think Bret Hart’s a much, much better person than the person that we’ve been seeing as of late. I know he is.”
The discussion shifted to Bret Hart’s unending criticism of Goldberg for the career-ending concussion he suffered in 1999. Booker T defended Goldberg based on firsthand experience working with him during his WCW tenure.
“I wrestled Goldberg,” Booker said. “I was always aware of what good happened working with Goldberg, just because I knew the guy was green, I knew he wasn’t the most experienced professional wrestler in the world, so I was always thinking about protecting myself when I was in there with Goldberg. And that’s just the truth. But I think it was smart at the same time.”
Despite acknowledging Goldberg’s limitations, Booker rejected the idea that Goldberg would ever intentionally injure anyone.
“Even if something would have happened, which it could have, I wouldn’t have thought that he did it on purpose or anything like that,” he said. “Because, just because I know Goldberg, I’ve been around Goldberg for many, many years, and Goldberg is someone that I could consider a friend.”
To reinforce his point that even experienced workers cause accidental injuries, Booker shared a story involving former WWE star René Duprée.
“I was listening to Renee Dupree talk about I broke his nose,” Booker recalled. “And I actually saw the footage just yesterday… I caught it with that back elbow. Was deadly… right on the point, right on the position point. He was all busted up and bloodied up.”
Booker also mentioned Paul London suffering a similar shot, stressing again that there was never malicious intent.
“I’ve got a guy, Paul London… I caught it with that, that back elbow, but trust me, it wasn’t out of malice or anything like that. And trust me, I was not trying to hurt those guys.”
He then referenced Stevie Richards as another example of wrestlers misreading his in-ring intensity.
“I heard Stevie Richards is talking about me, and he said we had a match on Velocity,” Booker said. “When I started working it, he thought I was real. He thought I was shooting. He thought I was really being serious. And then after a minute, he realized that’s just the way I work.”
Booker used the interview to draw a hard line: he refuses to take part in shoot interviews designed to stir controversy or reopen old grievances.
“I just refuse to give these podcasters shoot interviews about what went on with me and my peers in stories that happened inside that locker room,” Booker said. “People have tried and tried and tried to get me to talk about Batista… and I’m like, Man, I’m not going to say anything negative about Batista.”
Booker criticized the growing appetite for negative content online, suggesting that Hart is being pulled into that ecosystem.
“It’s not that big of a story to what we got to keep rehashing it over and over and over for someone’s… for someone else’s entertainment. And I think that’s what Bret is doing right now.”
Co-host Brad Gilmore then offered an analogy, sharing a story about his grandmother giving up driving after a minor accident.
“She walked in the house and handed my dad her keys and said, I’m done,” Gilmore said, applying the lesson to Hart. “Bret, like you don’t need to drive the car anymore… let your body of work speak for itself.”
Booker closed the segment by reiterating that despite everything, he still believes Bret Hart is a better man than the one appearing in headlines.
“In a lot of ways, he’s being used,” Booker said. “The person I know, I know Bret a much better person than that, at least I would… at least I would like to think that way.”
