The long-running conflict between Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan over what happened at WrestleMania IX has been revisited in the third episode of the docuseries Hulk Hogan: Real American, and both men’s accounts of the same night reveal just how differently they experienced it.
The episode, titled Hollywood Hogan, documents the aftermath of the WrestleMania IX main event, where Hart lost the WWF Championship to Yokozuna after Yokozuna’s manager Mr. Fuji threw ceremonial salt in Hart’s eyes. Hogan then ran out to assist Hart before challenging Yokozuna himself and winning the title in an impromptu match.
The docuseries alternates between Hart and Hogan’s perspectives as each man recounts what he remembers. Hart’s account begins with a moment of deliberate and pointed silence.
“I remember walking up to him, I was like, ‘Hey Terry.’ I stood up with my hand out to shake his hand for about 30 seconds but he wouldn’t even look at me. He just kept talking to Beefcake,” Hart said.
Hogan acknowledged something may have been off without accepting full responsibility. “I can’t imagine doing that intentionally. Maybe I had an off day. Maybe I was drunk, maybe I was high. I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you, but it wouldn’t have been intentional.”
Hart said the moment told him everything he needed to know about where he stood with Hogan. “I knew right then and there. I was like, ‘I’ve got the belt and I’ve got what he wants and I’m the enemy now.’”
Hogan was candid about the leverage he carried with WWE leadership at the time. “I had that Hogan stroke back then. Me and Vince were just bonded at the hip and I could pull the plug on certain things and certain people.”
Hart was unsparing in how he describes the way the angle played out. “That day I remember thinking what a step backwards. It was a whole different audience and they were liking me, not Hulk Hogan. I said it’s going to backfire and it’s going to be really bad.” He described the result as exactly the kind of match Hogan would engineer to position himself as the hero at someone else’s expense. “He was a good guy once upon a time, but in the end he was a backstabbing, knife-wielding piece of sh*t.”
Hogan framed the whole situation as a creative decision from McMahon rather than his own doing. “Bret got all up in my face and he got all riled up. I said, ‘What’s up with this guy? I thought he was a team player, man.’ Vince made the decision, it’s just one of those things.”