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Man Who Tackled WWE Star Bret Hart Reportedly 'Felt Like It Was The Right Moment'
Bret “The Hitman” Hart was attacked by a man who ran into the ring during a WWE Hall of Fame event, but he only suffered minor injuries.
There was nothing fake about what went on in the squared circle on Saturday night.
Legendary pro wrestler Bret “The Hitman” Hart was attacked by a man who ran into the ring during a WWE Hall of Fame event at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“I just felt like it was the right moment,” suspect Zachary Madsen told authorities, according to the New York Post.
The “right moment” referred to when Hart was accepting an induction into the Hall of Fame as part of the tag team The Hart Foundation, along with the late Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, ABC News reports.
"I couldn't believe that the security had missed him in the first place and the next thing you know there was Shane McMahon and Travis Brown on top of him the crowd was going crazy booing," spectator Alan Fisher told The Associated Press. "Everyone was cheering when one of the wrestlers punched him."
The suspect was restrained by several onlookers immediately after. Hart only suffered minor injuries, as did a security guard who tried to help him, according to CBS New York.
Madsen, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was hauled into the NYPD’s 78th Precinct in Brooklyn and charged with two counts of assault and trespassing, CBS New York reports. He was ordered held on $1,500 bond.
Madsen’s lawyer asked the judge to not set bail, since his client was “agreeable and cooperative” and it would be a challenge for him to come up with that kind of money, the Post reports.
The judge also granted an order of protection against Madsen to both Hart and Thaddeus Jones, the security guard.
Madsen allegedly has a history of trailing figures in the wrestling and mixed martial arts worlds: according to police records viewed by the Post, he was arrested in September for allegedly stalking MMA fighter Haris Talundzic.
Natalya Neidhart, Bret Hart's niece and a fellow professional wrestler, tweeted about the incident on Saturday.
"Bret is a cancer survivor, a stroke survivor and one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He didn’t deserve to be attacked or have his moment or my dad’s diminished. We got it back on track," she wrote.
