Goldberg's former trainer blames Bret Hart for career-ending injury

DeWayne Bruce recently reiterated that Bret Hart should have done more to stop Bill Goldberg from kicking him in the head at WCW Starrcade 1999.

Goldberg struck Hart with a mule kick during their WCW World Heavyweight Championship match, giving his opponent a concussion. Three weeks later, The Hitman was forced to stop wrestling due to the severity of the injury.

Bruce, also known as Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker, heavily criticized Hart last year. Speaking in a new interview with Monte & The Pharaoh, he claimed once again that the legendary superstar should have been prepared for Goldberg’s kick:

“Even Bret Hart blamed me for him getting concussion syndrome from Bill Goldberg, getting kicked in the ring. I’m like, ‘You’re from the [Hart family] dungeon, man.’” Bruce continued, “You’ve got a 289-pound guy getting the biggest push anybody ever got, even on top of Hulk Hogan, and you don’t know to get your hand up? S***, that’s your fault.” [0:38-1:00]

Please credit Monte & The Pharaoh and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use the above quote.

According to Bruce, Hart previously criticized his training methods at the WCW Power Plant. The two-time WWE Hall of Famer allegedly accused Bruce of failing to teach young wrestlers about the importance of protecting their opponents.

Bret Hart thought Goldberg needed more training

#OnThisDay in 1999: WCW Starrcade PPV: Bret Hart defeated Goldberg in a no disqualification match to retain the WCW Worlds Heavyweight Title.

This was the kick that gave Bret Hart a concussion that would lead to the end of his career a few months later. https://t.co/MJtIlutkS1

While Bret Hart has always praised Goldberg as a human being, the wrestling legend rarely holds back when he discusses his former rival’s in-ring work.

In 2020, Hart said on his Confessions of a Hitman web series that Goldberg did not care much for the safety of his opponents:

“[Goldberg] was a gorilla. [Goldberg] was a guy that nobody seemed to have taught how wrestling really works. He seemed to think he could just pick a guy up and just slam him through the mat as hard as you could and that was good wrestling.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

Hart added that he rates Goldberg 0/10 from a work-rate perspective. He also claimed that the two-time Universal Champion’s opponents would sometimes have tears in their eyes due to the pain they endured wrestling him.