Seth Rollins Confirms Conversation With Bret Hart After Hart Called Him an “Unsafe” Worker

Seth Rollins confirmed in a new interview with The Daily Mail that he and Bret Hart were able to clear the air after “The Hitman” made some disparaging remarks about “The Visionary.” Hart made a number of critical comments directed toward Rollins in the mid-2010s for being an “unsafe” worker, particularly after Rollins injured both John Cena and Sting in separate matches in 2015 and his SummerSlam 2016 Universal Championship match with Finn Balor resulted in Balor suffering a torn labrum. Rollins is scheduled to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Balor at Money in the Bank on July 1 in London.

“I take no great pleasure in saying ‘I told you so,’ but if you’re a professional wrestler and you keep hurting opponents and or yourself, clearly you’re doing it wrong,” Hart told Nick Hausman via a statement back in 2016. “I wrestled a very realistic and physical style and not once in 23 yrs did I ever hurt one opponent ever. Seth Rollins needs to improve his technique and become the safest wrestler in the business. I have great respect for Seth. I believe he’ll improve and hopefully stop hurting the talent before someone gets killed.”

Rollins confirmed that he eventually approached Hart at a WWE Hall of Fame ceremony about his comments. He confirmed that Hart’s criticisms haven’t affected his appreciation for “The Hitman.”

“I love Bret Hart, I’ll preface this. Bret didn’t really critique me, he called me ‘unsafe’. Bret’s going to spit the truth, he’ll tell you from what he saw he thought I was an unsafe worker, and I would say anybody I’ve ever been in the ring with would tell you the exact opposite, including the guys who have got injured during matches with me – that’s a fact I think,” Rollins said. “To finish it up nicely, I did approach Bret at a Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Bret was backstage and we ended up in the catering line together and I said, ‘Hey man’ and he said, ‘Hey’ and I just said, ‘I wanted to tell you as somebody who looked up to you lot and still does – it really kind of hurt my feelings.”

“I felt bad and I don’t say that often,” he continued. “Bret was a hero of mine when I was growing up and so to have someone like that criticize you and your work and your work ethic and your empathy towards other people, that really is painful. So, I expressed that to him and I don’t think he knew that I had that feeling towards him, I don’t think he knew I cared about him that way and it hit him in a spot and he apologized and we have been friends since then and we’ve had good conversations. I’m happy we did do that as Bret is still someone I look up to to this day.”