“Whatever You Do, Don’t Hurt Me.” – What Bret Hart Told Bill Goldberg

Bret Hart and Goldberg openly talked about the botched kick that ultimately led to Hart’s retirement in 2000.

Bret Hart to Goldberg: “Whatever you do, don’t hurt me.”

Bret Hart and Goldberg would clash in the main event of WCW Starrcade from the MCI Center in Washington D.C., on December 19, 1999.

In his autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, Bret Hart wrote of what happened and where things went wrong in this match.

“I fired [Goldberg] into the ropes, and as he reversed me, I heard him call, ‘Watch the kick!’

“I had no idea what kind of a kick he meant, and there wasn’t much room coming off the ropes. Goldberg’s right foot flew just under my right hand, WHAAAAM!”

The kick, unfortunately, would lead to life-long consequences for The Hitman.

“It felt like someone chopped me with a hockey stick,” Bret continued. “It was an agonizing blow that sent me crashing to the mat where I lay holding my neck just behind my right ear at the base of my skull.”

After the errant kick to the head, Bret remembered nothing. He just remembered thinking, “I’ve got to get up for the finish, but I can’t remember what it is.”

Regrettably, people with concussions are the last ones to figure out how badly hurt they are.

“I was more responsible than anyone for downplaying my condition to myself and everyone else. I let myself go on, believing that the problem was a sore neck.

“I drifted through every day in a pale-faced, sweaty, head-pounding stupor, pacified to the point of numbness by the four Advils I took every three hours.”

After his match with Goldberg, Bret Hart flew home to Calgary to visit lauded NHL Concussion specialist Dr. Willem Meeuwisse.

“I sat in Dr. Meeuwisse’s office in Calgary. He noticed that I was slurring my words. The doctor said, ‘I can feel a hole in the back of your neck the size of a quarter…’

“He felt around the back of my skull. ‘This part here feels like hamburger. I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but your career is probably over…’”

In a later interview with The Columbus Dispatch, Bret Hart spoke of the wishes he made clear to Goldberg before the match.

“One of the last things I said to Bill before I walked out to the ring was, ‘Don’t hurt me.’ I wish he heard me a little better.”

Hart continued, “I’ve always had a lot of respect for Bill. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, and what happened- it was just part of the job. I do wish he had been a little bit more careful, but we’ve always been friends over the years.”