Bret Hart doesn’t sound keen on a TV role with AEW: ‘I’m happy at home’

The roller coaster ride that is “Will Bret Hart return to AEW to work with FTR and/or CM Punk?” continues.

Punk, Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler have been paying homage to and shouting out The Hitman for months — just this week, the tributes became part of the build to Punk’s upcoming PPV challenge to World champion Hangman Page. He’s working with FTR on a per appearance basis outside AEW. But we heard Hart couldn’t do anything with Tony Khan’s company because of a deal he signed with WWE. Then we heard maybe he could because his contract with Vince McMahon wasn’t too restrictive.

Now, we’ve got the Excellence of Execution himself saying in an interview that he’s flattered, but not interested. Bret told Mike Dagger of Lucha Libre Online:

“I’m happy retired. I’m a ‘home’ guy now. There’s not a lot I can do in wrestling. People say, ‘What are you going to do? What would you do in AEW?’ It’s like, what would I do? Referee? Manage? Be a chairman? I don’t want to be remembered that way. I want to be remembered as a wrestler.

“I’d be happy to help a lot of them... and I know a lot of them, and I talk to them, a lot of them sometimes, by text or on the phone, and people call me up and I always got advice and I can always pinpoint little things that can make a difference in a guy’s match or something he’s doing but, I’m a guy that likes being home. So, they’re gonna have to call me on the phone.”

This probably isn’t the end of the ride, though. For one thing, Bret’s a worker, so he if he’s supposed to show up at Forbidden Door or something, he’d be saying stuff exactly like the above. For another, this a “never say never” business, and even here Hitman’s not saying “never”:

“There’s a lot of things I would love to be part of with AEW and what they’re doing. I know they’ve got some great wrestlers there and I have a lot of respect for the organization and all that but right now, I’m happy at home.”

Check out Bret’s entire conversation with Dagger here, and h/t SEScoops for transcription.