Tony Khan Rules Out Bret Hart AEW Return

It’s the wrestling saga that has come to define the first half of 2022 - will Bret Hart make his way to AEW full-time?

All signs seemingly pointed to ‘no’, but now AEW President Tony Khan has removed all doubt and closed the book on Hart coming back, saying the following to TSN:

“Not right now. I think Bret himself said that,” Khan said. “First of all, we have a great respect for Bret Hart as a company and as individuals. A lot of the wrestlers here and myself respect Bret Hart as a great person and a great wrestler. He would always be somebody we would treasure whenever he’s around. He was involved in the first Double or Nothing [in 2019, when he unveiled the AEW World Championship for the first time]. He said he’s happy at home right now. It’s a great thing he’s got going and we’ve just got so much respect for Bret Hart.”

The Bret to AEW rumours started when the likes of FTR and CM Punk started paying overt homage to ‘The Hitman’ on social media and AEW TV:

“It’s an honour to pay respect to Bret Hart and, of course, and it’s something that Dax and Cash and CM Punk in particular have bonded over and had great matches with each other and with other people along the way – Dustin Rhodes had a great match with CM Punk, also, that I think reminded some people of the matches he had himself with Bret in the past,” Khan said. “Now there’s opportunities ahead for big matches with all of those people.”