[MEDIA] UK Sun 7.15.08 Excellently executed
Evad Seltzer
Excellently executed
By ROB McNICHOL
Published: 15 Jul 2008
THERE are many debates that will remain BIG talking points in
wrestling circles forever.
One would be about who the greatest wrestler of all time is. Some
people would say Hulk Hogan, because without The Hulkster and
Hulkamania wrestling would likely not have had the boom it experienced
in the 1980s.
Some would point to the recently retired Nature Boy Ric Flair, for the
many quality performances he put in over his 36-year career.
Others would suggest that - as probably the highest drawing wrestler
of all time - the accolade should go to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
However a great many people, all over the world, would say Bret Hart.
And now, as well as being perhaps the greatest wrestling performer of
all time, he may have produced the best book on the business.
The Hitman had a lengthy and illustrious career, from his upbringing
within a famous wrestling family to his beginnings in the ring in
Calgary’s Stampede Wrestling to his stints in the WWF and beyond.
All this is documented in his book, Hitman: My Real Life in the
Cartoon World of Pro Wrestling, written completely by Bret himself.
Although it is not currently available in the UK, our friends at
Canada’s Fight Network have kindly supplied us with a copy so that we
can let you know if the book lives up to the standard of Bret’s
career.
And it does.
It's a 550-page tome which covers the whole of Hart’s career in
detail, but this book is about so much more than wrestling. It is
about family, relationships, respect and, perhaps most importantly,
being a hero.
Bret never demeans the reader by trying to suggest that wrestling is
real, but he clearly believes in good and evil; in right and wrong; in
heroes and villains.
Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are obvious villains of the peace and
get the treatment you’d expect, but it is fascinating to read Bret’s
views on virtually every pro wrestler of any note of the past twenty
years.
Since Bret is no longer entrenched in the world of Wrestling and has
no one to answer to, you get far more by way of shocking exposés and
forthright opinions.
But this isn’t a book written to be controversial or to shift copies.
In fact, the person Bret is as scathing about as any is himself. He is
frank about his unfaithfulness whilst on the road, and is notably
apologetic about his treatment of his wife, Julie.
Family is perhaps the most predominant theme in Bret’s story.
Obviously there are plenty of tales of his multiple brothers and
sisters plus extended members of the family, such as Davey Boy Smith,
Dynamite Kid and Jim Neidhart, wrestlers who married into the Hart
clan. But you also get an insight into Bret’s other family – the
wrestling family.
The two overlap and, sadly, both stories are tinged with tragedy.
Bret often talks of the losses of his wrestling ‘brothers’ – those
wrestlers who lost their lives at a tragically young age - with great
regret.
Advertisement
But it's clear The Hitman has a sense of relief that despite admitting
dabbling with recreational drugs, steroids and painkillers, his
biggest vice - women - was perhaps the one thing that saved his life.
More heartbreaking is the break-up of the Hart family, which seems to
stem from the death of Bret’s brother Owen and The Hitman's own
personal decline from the famous Montreal Screwjob”.
The famous incident at 1997's Survivor Series is discussed at great
length, as is his miserable WCW stint, his career-ending concussion
and subsequent stroke.
It is impossible not to sympathise with a man who has suffered as much
as Hart has.
This is the most in-depth wrestling autobiography ever written. It
should be noted that it is very different to Mick Foley and Chris
Jericho’s efforts.
Although Foley and Jericho’s books are tremendous, they are much more
light-hearted and based on entertainment.
Bret’s life-story is one which will shock, educate and enlighten you.
For anyone with knowledge of wrestling who wants to expand their
awareness of the industry, this is required reading.
This may well be the best wrestling book there is, the best wrestling
book there was and maybe even the best wrestling book there ever will
be.