Bret Hart On Goldberg’s In-Ring Skills: ‘His Workrate Was 0/10’

Bret Hart recently opened up about the career-ending kick he received from Goldberg at Starrcade 1999. Hart spoke about the incident during a recent episode of his Confessions of the Hitman series, noting how, although he liked Goldberg as a person, his “workrate was 0/10.”

Hart explained how Goldberg “was a guy that nobody seemed to have taught how wrestling really works.” He argued how Goldberg’s approach revolved around picking up an opponent and slamming them down as hard as possible.

“His wrestling, his workrate was 0/10. Like, everything he did hurt – everything! He could tie up with you and hurt you. He’d tie up with himself and hurt himself!”

Turning his attention to the kick that would, unfortunately, end his career, Hart stressed how it was the work of “somebody who had absolutely no skill at all.”

Reflecting on the incident, Hart recalled how Goldberg simply threw him into the ropes and then “tried to kick my head off my shoulders.” As far as he’s concerned, there was no “working aspect” to the strike.

“There’s no way you can do it without hurting somebody, and the thing with Bill was that all the ‘I’m sorries’ in the world don’t mean anything when you hurt somebody for real.”

Bret Hart then shared how he never received a call from Goldberg following the career-ending kick. He explained how Goldberg never reached out to ask how he’s doing or discuss the incident.

“[…] but he did say when I saw him about a year after I got hurt, in fact a few weeks before [WCW] terminated my contract, I remember he said to me, ‘it’s the nature of the business – we all know what can happen out there. It’s the nature of the business.'”

Hart took issue with Goldberg’s flippant approach, arguing how their incident wasn’t reflective of the business at all. He stressed how the nature of the business is to not hurt the guy you’re working with.