Bret Hart reveals his thoughts about The Rock when he first came to WWE
Early in the 90s, Bret Hart was a veteran in the WWE locker room. Given his natural technical skill and straight-laced persona, Bret Hart was already naturally over with the WWE fans and was one of the faces of WWE at that point. During his time in the locker room, Bret Hart saw a number of stars come and leave WWE, however, one that he took particular note of, was 'The Great One' The Rock.
While now, The Rock is seen as a veritable legend for his work in WWE, when he came to WWE for the first time, other than his heritage as a wrestler, he was an unknown factor. However, talking about when he first met The Rock for the first time, Bret Hart revealed (h/t Wrestling Inc) how he thought that he knew that The Rock would be a big name in WWE.
Bret Hart on meeting The Rock for the first time in WWE
Bret Hart revealed his experience on meeting The Rock for the first time and said that Owen Hart was one of the first people to suggest pro wrestling as an alternative career to football for him.
“When I first met [The Rock], I met him in the dressing room. He had played with the [CFL’s Calgary] Stampeders and got cut. And I think Owen was one of the first guys to talk to him about [pro] wrestling being an alternative, like, maybe being an answer. Like, ‘why don’t you do wrestling?'”
Talking about what he thought about The Rock the first time he saw him, Bret Hart revealed that he knew he would be big in WWE.
“And all I know is when he started for WWE at the time, I had been off when he started. I had a hiatus at the time. I came back and I remember walking out, and this was in England, in London, and I remember watching Rock wrestle. And he was doing dropkicks. I remember watching him and he was doing everything. He was like a natural born athlete, he knew all the wrestling stuff, all the basic stuff. He had lots of charisma in his comeback. I remember telling somebody, ‘five years from now, he will be the biggest star in wrestling.'”