Bret Hart's Attacker Tells Police Why He Tackled the WWE Hall of Famer

On Saturday night 26-year-old Zachary Madsen ran past security during the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019 induction ceremony and tackled Bret "The Hitman" Hart during his induction speech for The Hart Foundation. He was quickly apprehended and taken out of the arena and was later charged with assault and criminal trespassing. On Sunday prosecutors revealed in court what Madsen said to the police after his arrest.

"I just felt like it was the right moment," Madsen said according to the prosecutors via the New York Post.

The Post reported that Madsen was held on $1500 bond and an ordre of protection was placed against him for both Hart and one of WWE's security guards.

Madsen was previously arrested in September for allegedly stalking an MMA fighter. His Twitter account had a number of concerning tweets directed at Vince McMahon leading up to WrestleMania weekend.

WWE released a statement on the incident on Saturday night.

"An over-exuberant fan surpassed our security at ringside and made his way briefly into the ring," the statement read. "The individual has been turned over to the proper authorities."

Hart was healthy enough after being tackled to continue his speech, but reportedly visited a hospital after the ceremony due to hip discomfort.

While Hart hasn't commented on the incident on social media, Natalya (who was at the podium next to Hart to accept the induction for her late father Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) took to Twitter shortly after the event.

"I'm so proud of my uncle [Bret Hart] tonight during our HOF ceremony," she wrote. "Bret is a cancer survivor, a stroke survivor and one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He didn't deserve to be attacked or have his moment or my dad's diminished. We got it back on track. Thank you, guys."

Hart appeared at WrestleMania 35 on Sunday night, joining Natalya and Beth Phoenix onstage prior to their four-way match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. Billy Kay and Peyton Royce of The IIconics would go on to win the titles from Bayley and Sasha Banks.

With Saturday night's induction, Hart joined Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Booker T as the only four wrestlers to ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice.

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