Bret Hart Discusses The Origins Of The Sharpshooter, His Rumored Relationship With Sunny
On episode 29 of Confessions Of The Hitman, two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart weighed in on a couple of questions from fans. Notably, Hart discussed developing The Sharpshooter submission finish for his singles run in WWE. Also, Hart shared his opinion on what is the most ludicrous rumor about himself.
With respect to The Sharpshooter, Hart acknowledged that he first became aware of The Scorpion Deathlock in Japan. When 'The Hitman' was being primed for his singles run in WWE, Pat Patterson and Vince McMahon told him that they wanted him to come up with a submission finish. When the Scorpion Deathlock was mentioned, McMahon asked if Hart knew how to put apply the hold. Hart told McMahon that he would have to go to the locker room to see whether any of the other pro wrestlers could teach him.
"Well, The Scorpion Deathlock was something I first saw in Japan. It's a bit of an intricate, complicated wrestling move that I had seen done before and I've had guys put it on me. It's pretty [similar] in a lot of ways to a Boston Crab, but it's a different way of twisting your legs. But anyway, when I really got launched as a singles competitor – a solo – Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson had a little meeting with me, and they said they wanted me to come up with a submission move. And I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but we came up with a couple of different options of something I could do, and The Scorpion Deathlock came up and Vince asked, 'can you put the Scorpion Deathlock on?' I said, 'well, I'd have to check into it, or look into it and see how it works and everything.'" Hart added, "so I told Vince I would go see if any of the other [pro] wrestlers knows how to put it on."
Hart did not have much success finding someone to teach him how to put on The Scorpion Deathlock until Konnan showed him how to do it in, of all places, the showers.
"I went kind of to the dressing rooms and started checking with different guys, and you had to be a pretty knowledgeable wrestler to know how to put it on. I had it put on me lots of times but I never really put it on anyone ever. And anyway, I asked around and nobody knew. And finally, I remember it was Konnan, a Mexican wrestler I knew later on in WCW, he goes, 'I know how to put it on.' So I said, 'okay, show me how it works!' And we went in the shower because we needed some space to put it on." Hart said, "so anyway, he showed me and it was pretty simple. He showed it to me in the shower room, and I found Vince and I said, 'okay, I know how to put it on.' And the rest is history."
Hart thinks it is funny that fans made the story out to be that his father, Stu, taught his kids The Sharpshooter when it was really Konnan teaching him in the shower. When Hart delivered the good news to McMahon that he learned how to apply The Scorpion Deathlock, he also came up with name 'Sharpshooter' for the submission. Also, 'The Excellence Of Execution' mentioned that his brother, Owen, would also perpetuate the myth.
"When Vince approved of it, we had to rename it, and I remember that I think I was the one that came up with The Sharpshooter [name]. And the funny thing about all that is they always think, the way the fans think of the history of it– 'oh, Stu taught his son The Sharpshooter in the basement,' kind of a thing. I think Owen even played that same sort of storyline – that my dad taught all of us those kinds of things. He taught us a lot of stuff, but he didn't teach me The Sharpshooter. But it's funny that I learned it from Konnan of all people."
As for what is the most ludicrous rumor about Hart, 'The Hitman' named his supposed relationship with Sunny. Interestingly, Hart admitted that he wished that he did have a relationship with Sunny in a way, but it never happened.
"Probably the most ludicrous one is that same old one that comes up about Sunny all the time, which is kind of funny for me because I always got along well with not just Sunny, but all of the girls that were involved in [pro] wrestling. The one where they talked about me having a relationship with Sunny, I almost kind of wished I did, but the fact of the matter is that I never did and there was never any truth to those rumors ever. And I don't know where they came from. I've never really been much bothered by that one. That's probably the only one, to me, that really stands out."
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