Bret Hart Witnessed A Fake Sammy Hagar Snort Cocaine Backstage At MSG

03/27/2025 04:12 PM

Bret Hart had one hell of a run-in with "Sammy Hagar."

You might be familiar with a video that has made its way around the internet for several years, which shows Sammy Hagar being introduced during a WWF live event at Madison Square Garden. Ring announcer Howard Finkel and the broadcast team welcomed Hagar as he took the mic… but anyone with good eye sight can clearly see it’s not Sammy Hagar in the ring.

For reference, this is Sammy Hagar:

For many years, fans have tried to figure out who the man in the ring was, and how WWF didn’t realize that it was an impostor. (If anything, he looks more like Dana Carvey than Hagar…)

As it turns out, Bret Hart might have had a hand in "Sammy" making it into the arena.

Bret Hart reveals how he met the imposter rock star

Hart filmed content for season six of Dark Side of the Ring and he was spotlighted on the Dark Side of the Ring: Unheard companion podcast. One outtake features Hart describing his run-in with a fake Sammy Hagar on an airplane.

"I remember Adrian [Adonis] was in front of me, right in front of my seat. And I was talking to some guy, he's sitting right beside me. He had on kind of like a rock 'n' roll jacket, almost like one Jimmy Hart would've worn," Hart explained. "He's all excited, he goes, 'You guys are wrestlers, aren't ya? WWE wrestlers.' I go, 'Yeah, we're wrestlers and start talking to him about wrestling. I asked [what he did] and he goes, 'I'm a rock 'n' roll singer. I'm Sammy Hagar.'"

Hart said he'd heard Hagar's music before, but didn't actually know what he looked like. Hart gave more context and said Hagar (the real one) had just joined Van Halen to become the band's new lead singer, replacing David Lee Roth. As it turns out, the fake Sammy Hagar ended up sharing a limo and went to MSG, where WWF had an event that night. Hart’s partner, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, insisted that Hart was not talking to Sammy Hagar.

"I'm sitting beside Jim, and Jim kept going, 'That's not Sammy Hagar.' I go, 'What do you mean it's not Sammy Hagar? It looks like… it could be Sammy Hagar. Why wouldn't it be Sammy Hagar?' 'It's not Sammy Hagar.' I said, 'Have you ever seen Sammy Hagar?' And then Jim goes, 'Well, look at his watch.' He's got a Timex watch. He goes, 'Sammy Hagar wouldn't wear a Timex, he'd be wearing a Rolex. It's not him.'"

Bret Hart then witnessed "Sammy" rip a line of cocaine backstage

Bret kept insisting that it was Sammy Hagar, much to his partner's chagrin. Hart described what happened next, which hilariously made Neidhart change his tune.

"Adrian passes a dollar bill to Sammy Hagar, who snorts a big line of cocaine in the dressing room," Hart said. "There's people trying to get in the room, we're like, 'Go, go, go!' and he's snorting this big line of cocaine. And I remember as soon as he snorted it, he looked at me and Jim and this little trickle of blood came down his nostril [motions it dripping down his lip]. And I remember Jim looked at me and he goes, 'It IS Sammy Hagar!'"

Husney said that this was one of Hart's many stories about wrestlers doing cocaine, with co-host JP Sarro joking that Hart made several references to it "snowing that day" in his stories. Husney said some of the stories made it to the Adrian Adonis episode, but the Hagar story was by far the best one of them all.

The event in question would have taken place on May 19, 1986, considering that was the only match on record where Dan Spivey faced Paul Christy at MSG. Hart beat SD Jones in singles action, while Neidhart and Jim Brunzell went to a time limit draw.

Husney recently spoke with WrestleZone about the "Hell In A Cell" episode of his show. During the interview, he explained why he supports the Mick Foley vs. Undertaker Cell match getting its own WWE Hall Of Fame induction.

The post Bret Hart Witnessed A Fake Sammy Hagar Snort Cocaine Backstage At MSG appeared first on Wrestlezone.