Bret Hart and Greg Oliver: The Story Behind Their Longstanding Wrestling Journalism Dispute
In accepting his well-deserved 2026 Lou Thesz Award today at the Cauliflower Alley Club, Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart slid in a little personal dig that many newer fans might not have picked up on.
“I’m very honored to have been chosen to receive the prestigious Lou Thesz Award. This will always mean so much to me. To me, this is one of the true highlights of my career. I’ve had many honors bestowed on me, how I was voted one time the 39th greatest Canadian of all time. I was voted sexiest man in Canada twice,” he said taking a shot at Slam Wrestling co-founder and former editor, contributor, Greg Oliver.
Back in 2003, Oliver and Steve Johnson wrote the book The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Canadians. At the time, Hart didn’t appreciate being…well…underappreciated at number 14 and he made his opinion known, publicly.
At the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame induction banquet in Waterloo, Iowa, which Hart was inducting his father and Oliver and Steve Johnson were receiving the Jim Melby Memorial Award for wrestling journalism, Hart’s speech took a right-turn shocking many in attendance.
“I know this isn’t my place to gripe about stuff, but I have a serious issue with people who write books about wrestling who don’t honor the truth and you, sir, you do not honor the truth of wrestling. Greg Oliver writes these books on wrestling and it’s all made up. It’s not the truth…They don’t know anything about wrestling. I’ve never seen them in the back. I’ve never seen them in the dressing room. I’ve never seen them at anything to do with wrestling. They don’t know anything at all about my business. They don’t know anything about me. They don’t have any respect for what I do or for anyone else. So I’m going to step aside now, and I just want to say that it’s not right for me to be in the same room as people who don’t do honor and justice to my profession,” he said.
Then, he issued an ultimatum.
“You either have a choice of leaving, or I will…It makes me laugh that Greg Oliver here rated me behind Sky Low Low, as, I think the 13th-greatest Canadian wrestler. I have news for him — he’s wrong. Sky Low Low was a much better wrestler than me but he was only half the man that I was. But anyway, my point is, you know, I take a lot of pride in what I do. It means a lot to me that people would come here and be part of this, because wrestling was important to me, and I hope it was important for you. But it’s important that people tell the truth. If you want to come here and be a charlatan, well, you’re in the wrong place because this is a room filled with legends, and people that paid their dues in wrestling. We want the truth to be told about wrestling. Take your sorry-ass lies about wrestling and how you make it up, and save your books, because they’re not the truth. This is a room filled with truth. I’m talking to you, Greg Oliver. Either you go or I go. Greg Oliver’s going to stay. I’m going to go to my room,” Hart said leaving to applause as Oliver waved goodbye in his seat.
There are conflicting reports about whether some fans and wrestlers left with Hart as well.
Bret Hart’s personal assistant, Marcy Engelstein, addressed the situation in a statement later on. In it, she stated the Hart felt slighted when Oliver gave her a signed copy.
“For Bret to have been upset about how Oliver ranked him would have been petty, as some here have posted, but that is not, in fact, the case. Bret feels that Greg Oliver’s books often present the writer’s own opinion — (not just about Hart) as fact and that blurs the line of responsible journalism. Bret told me that recognizing Greg Oliver with an award provides him with a “credential” upon which other credentials can be built; a few years from now Greg would appear to have a ‘wall of credentials’ and would be called upon ( more often than he already is) as a wrestling expert by the mainstream press, like Dave Meltzer is now. And so, then someone who presents his own opinion as fact would have too much power to further distort an accurate account of the history of pro wrestling. Bret is passionate about a truthful account of pro wrestling being preserved for generations to come, no matter how he is portrayed, as long as it is factually accurate.”
“I was busy handling an autograph session where Bret and Roddy were signing, Greg Oliver gave me a copy of his latest book to give to Bret (The Heels), but then he said, ‘Oh wait, let me sign that for him before I give it to him … ‘ and he did. So, basically, Greg autographed his book for Bret. Bret feels there is some degree of audacity in that, as Greg is supposed to be the reporter, not the participant. Dave Meltzer, whose landmark publication is even named The Observer, defines himself as such, without the attached ego. He was a journalism major and has, over the years, displayed objectivity and detachment from outcome, which is lacking on Oliver’s reporting, and he, “… at least attempts to get it right…”, according to Bret,” she continued.
“He felt that Greg Oliver doesn’t fit that bill in that he hasn’t paid his dues and doesn’t report or write with objectivity…I was standing just outside the door to the banquet room and one notable after another came out and expressed support to me for what Bret had said. As what they said to me was not in a public forum, I won’t betray their confidences by revealing their exact words and identities at this time. No doubt, some will call that a convenient excuse or whatever, but frankly I don’t care about that because the reason I’ve been around as long as I have is because I respect the honor of being trusted by these men; and I work hard and have paid my dues,” she wrote.
She explained that Hart’s rant was also targeted at the quality of wrestling journalism in that day.
“One wrestler passionately expressed to me that there are no shortcuts in this business and that respect and honor have to be earned — and that Greg Oliver hadn’t done so, in his opinion. That sentiment was echoed over and over to me by iconic men throughout the rest of the evening — and not so much that it was directed at Greg specifically, but at the so-called ‘wrestling reporters’, especially internet-based ones, whose egos have diluted whatever objectivity they might have started out with because they seem to enjoy the pseudo-celebrity that comes with the internet a little too much,” she wrote expressing what some attending the event had thought about wrestling journalism as a whole back then,” she said.
On Contrary To Popular Wrestling podcast in 2020, Oliver said about the situation: “It was so bizarre. What are you going to do? The guy has had strokes. He has had all kinds of issues. I am a forgiving person. I never had a problem with Bret Hart.”
“You have to respect the history. You have to respect how things happened. Would I rank them the same today? Maybe. Maybe not. That really isn’t the point of all this. The point is it was not the time nor the place to do it. That’s my biggest problem with it,” continued Oliver.
Oliver explained how he and Johnson ranked the wrestlers.
“Well, for one, our rule was, and it always has been with these, is that if you were an active wrestler you wouldn’t get ranked in our top 20. So, in a book on Canadians, does Edge make a top 20? Probably. I remember thinking Chris Benoit would probably be in there, but now, of course, Chris Benoit is not going to be any top 20. You know, Jericho deserves mention but he’s not even done wrestling. So, yeah, it has to be a different book today than it would be back then and that’s just the nature of the business, right? It keeps evolving, it keeps changing. You know, Brett was good in his time. If you tried to put Brett from 1994 in the ring today with these guys he’d look strangely out of place,” he said.
Oliver was asked by the host why he put Roddy Piper seven slots above Hart.
“Would I do it the same like today? I don’t know. But the fact is that Roddy Piper certainly had more of a name within the general population than Bret Hart ever did despite what Bret Hart may ever think, he does think he’s the greatest thing. You know, his whole idea, Survivor Series, I can’t lose in Canada and stuff. I’m not sure you could have could’ve walk down the streets of Montreal that anybody would have cared other than those 20,000 people that were in the stands,” he said.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong? It might be a case of both things being true at the same time, as the kids like to say these days. It is all a matter of perspective after all. Oliver’s logic and reasoning and Hart’s offence at perhaps being disrespected are two views of how wrestling history should be recorded and the importance of separating fact and fiction, evidence and opinion.
