Teddy Hart Details Fight With CM Punk And Why It Happened, Wanting To Fight Punk In The UFC, More
Teddy Hart is familiar with controversy. His name has met it's fair share of headlines over his decade-and-a-half run in pro wrestling. One of those headlines goes all the way back to his TNA run over ten years ago, where he had a fight with eventual WWE Champion CM Punk.
"He hasn't trained MMA as long as those other guys. Wrestler vs. wrestler is a way for him to redeem himself for a fight he lost a long time ago. If I lost a fight, I'd say I lost a fight. I've never heard him one time say 'Teddy Hart got the best of me. I slapped him in face first, he got me down.' I never heard it. I wanted us to make money on the fact that we had a fight," Hart said.
Hart said that for a long time, he didn't like CM Punk, but changed his opinion as his work improved during his WWE run. Hart went as far as to say Punk was "the man" in WWE. He noted that sometimes the truth changes, as has his opinion on Punk.
"I beat him up and knocked him down and talked s–t about him, but I thank him for all he's done in pro wrestling. If he can't get a fight in MMA, I hope somebody calls me. CM Punk vs. Teddy Hart in the UFC would make a lot of money for Dana White," Hart said.
Hart also detailed what led to the fight between himself and CM Punk, and says that he thinks Punk would probably beat him if they fought today.
"It was over doing too many moves in ROH, and he was ballsy enough to come up to me. He threw the first slap, and it led to us being friends down the road when I saw his true talents. I didn't know he was that talented until he moved into the WWE. You can ask the five people that were there — Jack Evans, Petey Williams, Johnny Devine, Sabu, Chris Sabin — I've not heard those guys say it was anything but a squash. I hope after a year of MMA training, CM Punk would kick my ass in a fight, but at least I would fight. I'd think I'm tough enough to go a couple of rounds with anybody in the UFC. I don't think I'd win a fight against any of them, but I'd last a round or two before getting tapped out or knocked out," Hart said.
Hart also noted he has a great deal of respect for fighters, in addition to skateboarders and break dancers.
You can check out the full episode of Wrestling Inc. live, where we talk with Hart for nearly an hour about several topics. They include:
- Who he's been negotiating with.
- Beating his sexual assault charges
- Wanting to fight, but respecting CM Punk (starting at the 16:40 mark)
- How his fight with Punk in TNA happened
- Marijuana in wrestling, and how it could help
- Tyson Kidd's injury update
- If he watches WWE
- His relationship with Bret Hart
You can check out the full episode in the video above or the audio player below. For a direct download, Click Here. If you want to subscribe, you can do so through iTunes as well as our RSS feed, which you can use this to subscribe through any podcast app. If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and rate on iTunes! Also don't forget to give us a thumbs up and subscribe on Youtube!