Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart is thrilled that Stampede Wrestling mainstay – Bad News Brown – is being inducted into this year’s WWE Hall of Fame.
Speaking to Studio 1 Sports. Hart said he always respected Brown, even though they weren’t best pals.
“I’m always happy for him. To me, he’ll always be a Stampede wrestler. One of my dad’s guys. Bad News was not maybe my closest friend but I always had a respect for him. He was a pretty intense guy. He was not a stupid man. He was a pretty well-educated, disciplined guy and was I think an honorable guy. He was the kind of guy I would say never told a lie in his life, that kind of thing. He always spoke his truth,” he said.
Hart also explained that in and out of the ring Bad News wasn’t a person you wanted to get on the wrong side of.
“You couldn’t hit him in the head. He was very touchy about what you did to him and he was not the kind of guy you could mess with. He was a very tough man. Arguably one of the toughest men ever that put on a pair of boots in pro wrestling. He was a legitimate badass, tough guy that was more than capable of fighting anybody,” he said.
Hart claimed that he was the one who got Bad News hired by the WWE but didn’t want to get in the ring with him.
“I didn’t want to wrestle him. I think I told Vince (McMaho), I said, ‘Whatever you do don’t put him with me,’ and lo and behold, after a couple of weeks he’d been there, they came out and said they’re going to put him with me,” laughed Hart.
Hart’s feud with Bad News would implode at WrestleMania IV in the battle royal. Bad News and Hart worked together during the match and at the end, they shook each other’s hands, raised each other’s hands and looked like they would declared themselves co-winners but Bad News attacked Hart tossing him over the top rope winning the match. Hart would attack Bad News from behind and destroy the trophy awarded to News.
Hart recognized that behind the scenes, News could be a polarizing figure.
“I think a lot of people saw him as a bit of a racist. He was very touchy about his “blackness”. You have to know Bad News. He was an educated, intelligent guy that was a serious, dedicated and disciplined athlete. He was just a different kind of guy that grew up with a different take on wrestling and things like that. He was always honest, almost to a fault. He would tell you the truth. He’d tell you what was on his mind. He never minced words. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. On a lot of levels, if we weren’t in the same business together I would be a big fan of Bad News,” he said.
This year’s Hall of Fame ceremony takes place on Friday, April 17, 2026, the night before WrestleMania.
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