Here’s a little debate for a Friday afternoon. In a recent interview with UK Maxim Magazine made some statements as to how he feels he rates in wrestling history. When asked if he thought he was the best wrestler there was Hart had this to say:

I’d never say I was better than The Dynamite Kid or Curt Hennig [Mr Perfect]. But I do know I was better than Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan and a lot of the other guys. Mark Calaway [The Undertaker] was a great pro: if you had to dive over the top rope and he said he’d catch you, trust him, he’d catch you. Pro wrestling is about trust and respect.

Of course in the past Brett has displayed a strong dislike for Flair and is very critical of Ric Flair’s wrestling ablity in his book Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling:

Page 273: After Flair jumps to the WWF after being fired as champion by WCW. He wrestled Flair for the first time on Nov. 13. Bret looked forward to seeing just how good Ric was & said his Dad Stu called Flair a “routine man” because “he did the same match every night no matter who he worked with”.

Flair called the match & gave little input to Hart. The finish had Flair catching Hart doing a flying tackle & both would fall back over the ropes for a double count out. When the time came Flair was out of position in making the catch & not strong enough to hold him & both fell to the mat. Flair then came up with a makeshift finish that benefited himself. Back in the dressing room, Flair cried to everyone that Bret screwed up the match. So Hart learned not to trust Flair.

Page 296: In talking about the title win over Flair, he put this in: “Flair called every spot, even the outdated ones, including a barrage of his painful, stiff open-handed chops that left red hand prints across my chest. Some guys like it stiff, while some worked too light and phony. To me, chops were stupid and brainless and went against everything logical about the business. We’re only supposed to pretend we’re hurting each other; when you really are hurting and being hurt, you’re the mark.”

Page 299 “Soon enough, I was launched on return bouts with Flair, who seemed bent on sabotaging our matches.” Hart wasn’t sure if Ric was doing it on purpose or by accident, but he would screw up Hart’s comebacks & mess up finishes. “I began to refer to Ric’s ring style as full blast, non-stop non-psychology. He made things up on the spot & did them whether they made sense or not. As a technician Flair was one of the best, but I was baffled by how little he really knew about building a great match. And I was baffled by how this went undetected by fans and sheet writers, who continued to worship him.”

I know this is not a new question but I don’t think we’ve ever talk about it on The New PWB. Taking into consideration just what happened between the ropes, not promo cutting or over all popularity, is Brett Hart right in saying he was a better wrestler then Ric Flair? And furthermore would you also put Curt Henning, The Dynamite Kid or even The Undertaker above Flair? And while we’re at it feel free to throw HBK’s name into the conversation.

@sideshowRaheem on twitter