Former WWE star says Bret Hart told him to refuse to lose against Steve Austin

Duke “The Dumpster” Droese has recalled how two-time WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart advised him to refuse to lose against Steve Austin in 1996.

Austin debuted in WWE as The Ringmaster on the January 8, 1996 episode of RAW. Around that time, Droese had grown frustrated with his role in WWE and he wanted to quit.

Speaking to Kee On Sports’ Vince McKee, Droese said Hart told him not to lose against the debuting star. The 52-year-old, who worked for WWE between May 1994 and July 1996, decided to take Hart’s advice:

“He was giving me what seemed to be good advice,” Droese said. “I thought he was giving me good advice, especially because that time seemed to be when my contract was coming up, and that’s when I refused to work with Steve in his first match, which I explained to him why. It wasn’t him, and we became good friends after that. But I stood up for myself in that situation and it worked. They gave me the angle with Triple H, so I said, ‘Holy cr*p, there’s something to this [complaining].’”

Steve Austin as The Ringmaster getting his first Raw win on Matt Hardy pic.twitter.com/sy8NVcwj5l

— I had it coming (@Maffewgregg) December 4, 2017

In February 1996, Duke Droese lost to Triple H at In Your House 6 in what turned out to be his only pay-per-view singles match.

With Droese unwilling to face him, Steve Austin ended up winning his debut match against Matt Hardy instead.

Duke Droese’s WWE status before he was booked to lose against Steve Austin

Steve Austin vs. Duke Droese never happened on WWE television

Duke Droese explained that his WWE contract was due to expire after WWE’s decision-makers booked him to lose against the debuting Steve Austin.

He said Bret Hart’s advice worked in that situation, but Hart’s attempt to help also landed him in trouble on another occasion:

“I thought Bret was giving me good advice, and I would take advice of his later on that wouldn’t necessarily be so good [laughs],” Droese added. “I think at times he was just winding me up, but it is what it is. I was inexperienced and I didn’t know any better. I was clueless in a lot of ways. That’s the way it was, but yeah, he did, he told me on a couple of occasions just to refuse to do it or not do the job. That one time [with Steve Austin] it definitely worked but that’s only because my contract was up.”

Duke the Dumpster Droese #WWF #WWE #RAW #MondayNightRaw #DukeTheDumpsterDroese #NewWWFGeneration pic.twitter.com/VivtkVqvtY

— New WWF Generation (@NewWWFGen) February 15, 2018

Droese left WWE after losing a match against T.L. Hopper on an episode of WWE Superstars in July 1996.

Please credit KEE On Sports’ Vince McKee and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.