Bret Hart allegedly refused to lose against WWE legend, causing impromptu two-day title reign
Jacques Rougeau believes he only won the Intercontinental Championship in WWE because Bret Hart did not want to lose the title to Roddy Piper.
Rougeau, also known as The Mountie, defeated Hart at a live event in Springfield, Massachusetts, two days before the 1992 Royal Rumble. Piper was originally supposed to challenge The Hitman for the Intercontinental Championship at the pay-per-view, but he ended up winning the title from Rougeau instead.
In a recent interview on Prime Time Conversations, Rougeau said he thinks Hart changed his Royal Rumble booking at short notice:
“At the last minute he didn’t want to drop the belt to Piper. That’s what I think, I don’t have any proof, but I’m just going by the time I was with him, to see how he acts and the way he does business, so that’s why they switched the title to me in Springfield, Massachusetts, two days before the match with Piper.” [47:55-48:13]
Three months after the Royal Rumble, Hart recaptured the Intercontinental Championship from Piper at WrestleMania VIII.
The two men later went one-on-one on the February 8, 1999, episode of WCW Nitro. On that occasion, Piper defeated his former WWE rival to win the United States Championship.
Jacques Rougeau understands why Bret Hart was protective of his character
After their classic WWF Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania VIII,Rowdy Roddy Piper and Bret "Hitman" Hart show their great respect for one another https://t.co/MmdZUj1RhE
While Bret Hart is widely viewed as one of the greatest in-ring performers in WWE history, he also had no issues raising concerns about his booking.
Jacques Rougeau used to resent Hart for occasionally refusing to lose against certain opponents. On reflection, the three-time tag team champion thinks the WWE icon was simply smarter than many of his fellow superstars:
“At the time I hated his philosophy, I hated him for it, and now I’m looking back, he went so far in the business and he got so much out of the business, I’m asking myself, ‘Who was right and who was wrong?’” Rougeau continued, “Maybe he had the right way to market himself. Maybe he was smarter than all of us and he did the right thing.” [48:50-49:15]
Rougeau’s reign as Intercontinental Champion lasted just two days. It made him the third shortest-reigning champion in the title’s history, as only Dean Douglas (less than a day) and Zack Ryder (one day) held the gold for a shorter combined number of days.
Please credit Prime Time Conversations and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.