Bret Hart on Having “Zero Respect” for Vince McMahon Over Recent Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Allegations

Slate.com held a recent interview with WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart. One of the topics discussed included Hart’s thoughts about him having zero respect for Vince McMahon following the recent sex trafficking lawsuit allegations against McMahon.

“I’m going to speak my truth.  I’m not worried about Vince’s feelings. He’s never cared about mine.  I don’t have any problem with everybody kicking his head around the parking lot.  I’m OK with the truth coming out.”

Hart also stated that he had been told by some wrestling insiders a few months ago that McMahon “was in big trouble that he wasn’t going to be able to sweep under the rug.”

Hart also gave his thoughts about the allegations that were listed in the lawsuit against McMahon.

“When you get that vision in your head, you go, ‘That’s messed up.’ It’s too sick and disgusting to really imagine.

They sound like Vince.

I don’t think this is the only incident of this kind of predatory behavior. I think you’ll find that it’s everywhere in [WWE].”

Hart also gave his thoughts about why he never spoke up about the things McMahon was doing in the company.

“It’s kind of like The Godfather: You never know when a guy like Vince will be your enemy again over something you say or do.

He’s the Teflon guy. You just can’t seem to get anything on him. He’s just too powerful, got too much money.”

But more important was the love and respect Hart still held for so long. Without McMahon, he had told me, “I wouldn’t be the same man I am today.” McMahon made many of the best things in his adult life possible. It was an exploitative power McMahon held over everyone he built up in the world he built …

“It’s like Jeffrey Dahmer, Harvey Weinstein, or Jeffrey Epstein: Vince will be a joke. He’ll be used for humor, and you’ll shake your head at the shock value of some joke about, ‘What did Vince McMahon do?’ He’ll always be associated with this story, especially as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.”

Hart also stated that he has already tried to make amends for his past beliefs about McMahon going as far as to apologize to former WWE referee Rita Chatterton, who had accused McMahon of raping her during her time in the company.

Throughout his time at the WWF and for decades later, he’d heard the rumors and accusations of sexual impropriety against McMahon, and he generally dismissed them. For example, when the WWF’s first female referee, Rita Chatterton, came forward in 1992 to accuse McMahon of raping her, Hart looked for holes in her story and wrote it off, even going so far as to discredit her accusations in interviews.

“I just didn’t believe it,” Hart told me. “I figured Vince had too much at stake to ever do something like that.”

Even after the 2022 revelations of alleged hush money payments from McMahon to former employees became public and he briefly resigned, Hart had kept his mouth shut. Same when McMahon forced his way back into the boardroom in 2023, despite the unresolved accusations.

But a few months ago, after hearing the advance rumblings of these latest accusations, Hart ran into Chatterton at a convention.

“I apologized from the bottom of my heart,” Hart recalled, “and I said, ‘I believe that what happened to you, happened to you. And I apologize. I was wrong.’”

Hart concluded stating:

“I think, despite all of the issues I ever had with Vince, I know, deep down, I always respected him; but now, knowing what kind of a weirdo he became, I have absolutely zero respect for him. I do not think I could ever shake his hand if he extended it. Too creepy.”