In an interview with Asif Zulfiqar Ali on The 81 Podcast, Bret Hart talked about his behind the scenes rivalry with Shawn Michaels and Triple H in 1997:
“I know that Triple H and maybe even Shawn (Michaels) back then were pretty ruthless. If someone was tied to me or connected to me, they would try to ruin them. Even Rock, Dwayne Johnson. They really tried to crack him, really bust his chops all the time, all while I was there. I remember telling Dwayne all the time, I remember going ‘don’t listen to these guys. Don’t let these guys, like you’re a really good talent. You don’t need these guys.’”
“In fact I wrestled, if you remember, when I did that big interview where I talked about America and how they could kiss my ass and all that. That same night, I think maybe on next week’s taping but it was filmed that night, I wrestled The Rock in a match. Wrestled Dwayne Johnson. They wanted me to beat him in the ring. Triple H wanted me to beat Dwayne Johnson and win the Intercontinental Title. And I remember I refused. I said ‘what do I need the Intercontinental Title for?’ We ended up doing the Figure Four on the post and Steve Austin came out, Owen and Davey came out for a run in and a bunch of interference. And I remember Triple H was sick about it. He wanted me to beat, he had a thing for Dwayne Johnson, he wanted to ruin Dwayne Johnson. He just hated him. And I remember saying ‘I like Dwayne Johnson. And I think, he just got the Intercontinental Title. He doesn’t need me to take it from him.’ I didn’t want to be Intercontinental Champion. It was all politics. I think Triple H was trying to steer me into the Intercontinental belt instead of the world belt.”
Bret commented further on Triple H:
“I never thought Triple H had an original idea for anything. I always thought he was overrated. The only reason people even know him or remember him today is because his daddy in law put him in charge.”
