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Wrestlers face the risk of injuries every time they step into the ring, yet they can’t escape from them completely even if they’re very careful. Simple moves can seriously hurt a wrestler and lead to early retirement. Bret Hart knows this very well as his career was cut short due to a kick from Goldberg. There was another terrible injury that Hart suffered over a decade before the Goldberg one that a lot of people may not be aware of. It was one of the painful moments of The Hitman’s career.
RELATED: The Worst Injuries Bret Hart Ever Suffered
Bret Hart Broke His Sternum In 1989
In October 1989, Bret Hart wrestled Dino Bravo in Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. Thousands of fans cheered for The Hitman to win but during a spot where Bravo knocked Hart off the apron, he hit the metal barricade with his chest. Hart felt a sharp pain in his chest and didn’t know what was happening. He was struggling to breathe but no one knew about this and even the fans were yelling at him to get up and beat Dino. Sometime later, Dino got out of the ring to check on Bret, but since he couldn’t speak anything the former assumed The Hitman was okay and hit his back a few times before throwing him back into the ring and going for the cover.
Even though Hart was in no condition to continue the match, he still kicked out because. He got out of the ring again and had himself counted out. Later Hart was taken to a hospital where he found out that he had broken his ribs and his sternum.
Bret Hart Returned To WWE Much Sooner Than He Should Have
His return timeline was about seven weeks, but Hart returned to the ring just a few weeks after and worked Survivor Series 1989. He was still in pain but didn’t want to leave money on the table. During an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2015, Hart talked about this particular match. “The thing about that Survivor Series match that people don’t remember is that I had fractured my sternum three weeks before. That was the Dino Bravo injury. It was hard for me to move around in that match, and at the end of the match, Macho Man dropped a big elbow on me from the top. That was a pretty hard, painful elbow off the top. My ribs were killing me.” After this, he took time off from the ring for about two months and then worked at Royal Rumble 1990.
RELATED: Every Bret Hart Match At The Royal Rumble, Ranked Worst To Best
Bret Hart Worried More About Screwing Up Than Getting Hurt
In his documentary, Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows, Hart said he once prioritized not screwing up in front of the audience over his health but later changed his mindset and started worrying more about getting hurt. In 1999, when he got injured at the hands of Goldberg, however, Hart still finished his match and continued wrestling for a few weeks before hanging his boots for good. Many fans believe that if Hart had stopped wrestling after he got concussed at the hands of Goldberg, he could’ve recovered better and might even have had a much longer career.
The Hitman wasn’t the only wrestler who had this mindset though. A lot of old-school wrestlers cared more about finishing their match, even if it meant working through pain and damaging their bodies further. While times have changed now and wrestlers have started prioritizing their body over everything, some still continue to work through injuries in fear of losing their push and momentum, or the fans forgetting about them.
