Natalya announced on Monday Night Raw earlier this week that she will have her legendary uncle Bret Hart by her side when she takes on Charlotte for the WWE Women's championship at Payback on May 1.
Having just bodyslammed prostate cancer last month, Hart is likely to receive an incredible ovation from the WWE Universe packing the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. that night, as well as from the thousands more watching at home in addition to the company's roster itself.
However, we can't help but wonder if there are those backstage — whether superstars, senior officials with the company or writers — who will feel a different way about Hart's return.
Since launching his The Sharpshooter Show with Bret the "Hitman" Hart podcast earlier this year, the "Hitman" has been highly critical of WWE's product, putting everything in his crosshairs, from the company's failure to get WWE World Heavyweight champion Roman Reigns over to the Rock's pay and absolutely destroying WrestleMania 32 in a scathing review.
The WWE Hall of Famer is just not easily impressed, driving that point all the way home on his podcast.
About the company shoving Reigns down fans' throats, Hart offered, as reported by WrestlingInc.com:
"I think they have done an awful job of trying to get Roman Reigns over for WrestleMania and quite honestly they made their biggest mistake at this year's Royal Rumble. They had the right idea by putting him in from the start and stacking the odds against him, but they should have had him overcome all the obstacles by fighting bravely against all comers to eventually be the last man standing. But this whole idea where a whole bunch of Triple H's goons come out, attack him and leave him for dead, having him stretchered out almost crippled only for him to limp out at the end to make a comeback, well we've been there, done that."
He added: "It seems to be this whole idea of force feeding the fans with him until they'll eventually enjoy the taste, but it's not working [and] they keep presenting him the wrong way and it's a shame because he is a better talent than that."
Ouch. But his unabashedly blatant comments about the Rock's purse for his few minutes of work at WrestleMania 32 only furthered his reputation for not holding back on his podcast.
"The truth of it is probably Rock picked up more money, got a bigger check than all the wrestlers in that battle royal, except for Shaq," Hart said, as reported by Fox Sports. "I don't know what he got but he definitely didn't get what Rock got. All the Cody Rhodes and all the girl wrestlers, all the rest of them you could stack their paychecks one on top of the other and they're not going to make anything close to what Shaq made, they're not going to make anything close to what the Rock made, and they're the ones that are on the road 300 days a year."
Overall, Bret thought the best matches at the "Show of Shows" were bouts that weren't even on the card.
"I thought that [Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn] was the best match of the whole WrestleMania," Hart said frankly on his podcast about the match that took place at NXT TakeOver: Dallas two nights before the company's biggest pay-per-view of the year. "And I think the other match with the two girls, Asuka and Bayley, that was a better match than any of the other matches, men included, at WrestleMania. I would have paid to see just those two matches. The WrestleMania card was all glitz, there was no real wrestling on it. All the real wrestling — the kind of wrestling that I like, that goes right to my heart — was in those two matches."
Wow, tell them how you really feel, Bret! Stone Cold Steve Austin, too, shares pointed opinions about WWE, calling the company's booking of the Wyatt Family a "travesty" back in late February.
However, not like Hart did with these series of jabs.
Think Vince McMahon or Triple H will want to pull him aside to talk backstage? They better think twice. They could be the next victims in the Hitman's crosshairs.
We love Bret speaking his mind like only he can and look forward to hearing more of his sharp thoughts on future podcast episodes.
