The season premiere of WWE Raw was hyped up with the presence of Bret “The Hitman” Hart from his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Heading into the show, there have been some rumors about plans around him could be jeopardized due to illness. But the legendary persona eventually managed to come out and promote the current WWE world heavyweight champion.
Bret Hart returned on WWE Raw amid a thunderous reaction from the hometown audience and said he’s a proud Canadian champion and that Canadian champions are the best. This discussion led to the current World Heavyweight Champion Gunther not being willing to defend his title against Canadian Sami Zayn.
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Gunther came out on WWE Raw and called Bret a childhood hero. Gunther said this also felt like a passing of the torch moment between the two because Bret’s the best there WAS, but The Ring General is the best there is right now and the best there ever will be. Taking a jab at the WWE Hall of Famer, Gunther also said Bret is actually his second favorite wrestler of all time because Bill Goldberg is his actual all-time favorite.
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WWE Raw: Gunther and Sami Zayn got involved in a brawl
Zayn would eventually make an appearance on WWE Raw to defend the icon from Calgary and criticized Gunther’s reluctance to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against him. Hart dubbed this hesitance as cowardice, which triggered a brawl between the champion and Zayn. WWE officials had to intervene to keep the two apart.
Gunther retreated from the scene while Zayn stayed to close out the segment to receive a warm hug from Bret Hart amid cheers from the audience present at the Scotiabank Saddledome. As of writing, it is unclear if Hart’s opinion will set up Zayn for a world title match opportunity in the future. WWE Bad Blood should be the next stop for Gunther to defend the title.
This week’s WWE Raw marked the first time that Bret Hart made an appearance on WWE programming since his 2022 appearance at Clash at the Castle. Hart previously criticized Gunther’s match with Sheamus at that same event but that criticism possibly didn’t play any role in the planned segment from last night.
