Various: Bret Hart on Hulk Hogan Was a “Roadblock” in His Career, Carlos Silva on TNA’s Working Relationship With 4th Rope Wrestling, Indie Promotion RISE Denies Jimmy Havoc Returning to Their Company

Aug 5, 2025

Bret Hart Comments on Hulk Hogan Was a “Roadblock” in His Career

A recent episode of The Ringer Wrestling Show podcast featured WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Hart’s thoughts about Hulk Hogan following his passing and how his friendship with Hogan deteriorated in WWE.

“You can never deny what Hulk Hogan did. His footprint in the wrestling business will always be huge, maybe as big as it is ever going to get. When Hulk Hogan left WWF in 1992 and wasn’t at SummerSlam 92, it was WrestleMania 8 when I fought Roddy Piper, Piper was one of the few guys that reached down and pulled me up to his level. ‘I want to wrestle Bret Hart because I want to make him.’ Roddy Piper made me and contributed to the next generation. There were a lot of wrestlers who didn’t do that. Hulk Hogan never did that for anybody, never pulled anyone else up. Jake Roberts never did anything for anybody else, he only did for Jake Roberts. I look at Jake Roberts and Hulk Hogan, that’s just two guys.
Hulk Hogan, when I got to WWF in 1984, there was a smorgasbord of bad guys like Piper, (Paul) Orndorff, Bob Orton, Kamala, Killer Khan, (King Kong) Bundy. It was like a candy box. He had such a lineup of guys to work with, the best villains in wrestling that all made Hulk Hogan. Same with Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat and Macho Man. They never lost, they got their hands raised. 1992 comes along and they’re going to give me this big push. There is nobody there and nobody left. I didn’t have anybody to work with when I won the belt, really. Not any monsters, anyway. That’s what I always think. 1992, the elevator was falling to the bottom. Everything was sinking so fast. They were in trouble. Hogan was off and the steroid scandal, though he said he never took them. All of that hurt the business. Hulk’s shtick was getting tiring at that point. I don’t know how I got picked. I never had any say. When I found out I was going to be world champion, I was the first one to find out and it was a shock. I didn’t expect it, but I was grateful for it. I always felt like things were falling so bad and Vince had to figure out something. ‘Stick it on him.’
I was a safe bet. I wasn’t a guy who was going to get busted for having a couple ounces of coke in my bag like Jake Roberts’ might’ve. I wasn’t a guy who was going to fail my drug test. I was a safe bet. That’s why Vince picked me to be the champion. ‘I need somebody who is not going to drop the ball and have any scandals. I can’t take any more scandals. Stick it on Bret Hart.’ So, they stuck it on me. I wasn’t expecting it, but I stepped up to the plate. I always thought that the day that I won the belt, Hulk Hogan would come up and pat me on the back and tell me how glad he was that I was the guy they picked to pull the sword out of the stone for him. Unfortunately, that’s not how it was. The second I won the belt, I was the enemy. I had what he wanted, and we were never really friends ever again. That had nothing to do with me. I was always honest. Hulk, it was like a little kid in elementary school. Some kids are bullshitters who tell bullshit. Classic bullshitters. Sometimes, you have to kick kids like that. I think Hulk Hogan was a bullshitter.”

Hart also gave his thoughts about how Hogan became a “roadblock” in his wrestling career.

“I will always shake my head and wonder why he was such a roadblock for me. He wouldn’t do anything for me. And he made sure, and I know this as a fact, he made sure that when I was in WCW he made sure that they didn’t do anything with…’Don’t do anything with him. Just leave him. Have him sit on the bench in the dressing room.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com, F4WOnline.com

Carlos Silva on TNA’s Working Relationship With 4th Rope Wrestling

MuscleManMalcolm held a recent interview with TNA President Carlos Silva. One of the topics discussed included Silva’s thoughts about TNA Wrestling’s current working relationship with indie promotion 4th Rope Wrestling.

“Yeah, absolutely. It’s been great so far. They’re great to work with. It was great having them at Slammiversary. It was great to have Westside Gunn, Smoke DZA, were all there. We had a lot of fun. They were in the front row, cheering and having a great old time. I think we’re going to continue to do it. We’ve got a Westside Gunn Day happening in Buffalo on August 28, which is going to be exciting. We’re going to support them, and many of our TNA wrestlers will be there too.
So we’re, we’re going to keep doing what we think is great, which is working with partners that are not only fun to work with, but also elevate each other’s brands the same sort of in the same way that we’ve done with with WWE and NXT, but now we’re doing it with with a newer promotion in 4th Rope.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Indie Promotion RISE Denies Jimmy Havoc Returning to Their Company

Former AEW and indies wrestler Jimmy Havoc has not wrestled since 2020 following him being named during the #SpeakingOut movement that had targeted those within the wrestling industry who committed sexual abuse and other inappropriate behavior towards others. Havoc was accused of committing rape, abusive behavior, and assault.

This past Saturday’s SummerSesh event for RISE Underground Pro Wrestling in Leeds, England featured indies wrestler Brett Semtex calling out Havoc for a match at an event for RISE this October.

*Trigger Warning*

Just had confirmation that Jimmy Havoc, named during Speaking Out, was called out by Brett Semtex at tonight’s RISE show. https://t.co/LJwOiUkf1M
— Mark Roffey (@TheR0ff) August 2, 2025

This led to online backlash against the company resulting in RISE issuing an official statement on Instagram stating that despite Semtex’s recent comments, they have not booked Havoc for their upcoming event nor will he be working for the company.

“After the match on Saturday, Brett Semtex made a comment that has caused some confusion online.
We’d like to clarify that the person mentioned by Brett is not booked by RISE, was not booked, and won’t be working with us.
Thank you to everyone who came to SummerSesh for another amazing night at the Brudenell! Your continued support means everything to us.
All of the fallout from the show is coming this week.”

RISE STATEMENT

My question; why the fuck would Semtex name Havoc as an opponent he wants unless something had been discussed?

Something is very off here pic.twitter.com/AhY0uu1zmy
— GrappleTheory (@GrappleTheory) August 4, 2025