Bret Hart recently talked about refusing to take Scott Hall’s Razor’s Edge finishing move during his career. His reasoning was straightforward. The move involves a much larger man lifting you overhead and falling backwards, with your head and upper back hitting the ground first. Hall was 6’6. Bret wanted no part of it and held that position without budging.

That is not weakness. That is wisdom.

If you know anything about Bret Hart’s career you know he dealt with serious neck issues. Taking a move like the Razor’s Edge with that kind of physical history is not just risky, it is potentially career ending or worse. The fact that he recognized that, stood his ground, and refused regardless of the pressure that comes with being a professional in that environment says a lot about how he operated.

Some of those finishing moves are genuinely dangerous even under the best conditions. The Razor’s Edge is one of the more extreme ones when you really break down the physics of it. A larger man dropping his full weight backwards with another person inverted overhead, the first point of contact being the head and neck. There is very little margin for error there.

Bret Hart is still fairly healthy by the standards of someone who spent decades in professional wrestling, a sport that puts an enormous amount of wear on the human body. Most wrestlers from that era have had significant surgeries and physical setbacks. The fact that he drew clear lines around what he would and would not do probably contributed to his longevity more than people realize.

Knowing when to say no is a skill. In wrestling, it might also be what keeps you walking straight in your later years.