Backstage Details on WWE Quietly Removing Several Documentaries Featuring Bret Hart

— The WWE Network took down several documentaries last week with the common link being that it contained footage of Bret Hart and multiple sources confirmed that the removal had to do with Hart actually owning the footage. According to the Observer Newsletter, while WWE purchased the tape library of Stampede Wrestling, Bret actually purchased the rights to his own footage prior to that, leaving WWE with everything from Stampede Wrestling except Bret’s matches. When the Hart Dynasty DVD was released, it contained footage of Bret and there was a bit of a dispute over that but Bret reportedly didn’t push the matter as he didn’t want to complicate the situations of Natalya and Harry Smith and the fact that he felt the entire Hart family was benefiting from the coverage.

— However, WWE then used more of his footage for another documentary, prompting Hart to call up Mark Carrano to ask him to take his footage out because he owned it. Carrano then told Bret to take it up with the legal department because he felt that WWE owned it. Bret instead texted Vince McMahon directly, who said he would look into it. When Vince realized that Bret was correct, he immediately took down the content and apologized. This week, someone noticed that more Bret footage from Stampede Wrestling was still on the Network so he again texted Vince and Paul Levesque and they once again took swift action to have it removed.

— The docs that were recently removed include: “Hart and Soul: Hart Family Anthology” from 2010, “WWE Top 50 Superstars” also from 2010, “Greatest Rivalries: Bret vs Shawn from 2011, “Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection” from 2013 and the 2019 feature “The Most Powerful Families in Wrestling.”

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