Roddy Piper on Being Related to Bret Hart and Facing Him at Wrestlemania 8

The director of Roddy Piper: In His Own Words documentary, David Sinnott, recently sent an exclusive clip to WrestleInc revealing Piper’s personal relationship with Bret Hart and their match at Wrestlemania VIII.

In the clip, Piper revealed Bret Hart was his cousin but he did not actually find out about this until he was in mid-to-late 20s. He also mentioned at not wanting to wrestle against Hart until Wrestlemania VIII when he knew it was the right time to give Hart the rub needed for him to reach the next level of stardom.

“Bret Hart is my cousin, I’m told. Didn’t know that until I was, I don’t know, 28, 25. His father Stu Hart lived 500 miles from where I was born, and his father knew names that nobody could possibly know. I really did not want to wrestle Bret, but I went 17 and a half years, I never took a dive for anybody, nobody pinned me… When it came to Bret, Bret needed a launch. He was right there, ready to go and not only that, he put in the time. He was obviously second-generation, but he had put in the time that it takes for someone to be very proud of him and know that he could carry the banner high and not be taken down. But he’s gonna have to earn it.”

Piper mentioned their match at Wrestlemania VIII was one of his favorites from his career and something he really enjoyed because of the match’s psychology in the ring and with the crowd.

“I don’t know that anybody’s ever heard this from a crowd, it was shouting to me with such love, ‘No! Please don’t do it!’ The tone that came brought a reality to the situation that I, myself, have never had in any other wrestling match,” he said. “They were sincere, one, they wanted to like me and two, they really liked Bret. And the match was a hard-fought, very technical match. No illegal tactics, very hard-hitting, so it was like, ‘Don’t ruin a beautiful match like this!’ I might be reading a little bit too much into it, but that’s the tone I got from it. It really grabbed me… When I threw it away, the place went nuts. I’ve never seen or heard of a match that that’s happened before.”

Piper also discussed a possible referee error lead to Hart winning their match while being put in a sleeper hold and praised Hart for having a very successful wrestling career.

For those interested in watching the full documentary, it is currently available at website ninlegendfilms.com for $7.99 and a portion of all sales will go towards Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.